We go to Church without Ashes

St Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church, Clovis, California
There are some interesting quirks in the calendar this year. Easter falls on April Fool’s Day, which always seems appropriate; the Resurrection is the greatest practical joke played on Death and the Devil. Last week there was another of those quirks -- Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday shared a date. Mindy and I didn’t celebrate with a dinner date (I’ve known enough people in the service industry to know that Valentine’s is one of the worst possible nights to go out. Prices are hiked, and the strained waitstaff can’t give romantic guests the attention they expect).

Instead, we looked for an Ash Wednesday service to attend that evening. I was a little concerned that somebody would draw a heart on my forehead instead of a cross as a very early April Fool’s prank, but as things turned out, I didn’t need to worry. The church we attended didn’t do ashes.

Ashes -- and Ash Wednesday worship -- have traditionally been a Catholic element of Lent, but over the past few years, more Protestant churches seem to have begun the practice. St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church is not one of them. The service we attended was the first of their Wednesday night Lenten worship services. They referred to ash but didn’t use it.

That was just as well, because Mindy wasn’t sure she wanted to receive the ash, and I knew I had to go to work later that night. But again, it wasn’t an option. As it turned out, Communion wasn’t an option for us either.

When we entered the sanctuary as the service was beginning, an usher told us it would be best, as visitors, if we didn’t take Communion. The program explained more. “To our Guests: Scripture teaches that those commune must be properly instructed and share a complete unity of faith before receiving the Lord’s Supper together. In the best interest of your spiritual care, we ask you to refrain from communing until we have an opportunity to study the teachings of the Bible together. Please speak to Pastor Schewe after church if you are interested in learning more about the Biblical beliefs we hold to here at St. Peter.”

It is an understandable concern. The Apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians 11: 29 & 30: “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” (Paul was not writing the about the kind of “asleep” that happens during a boring sermon.)

Those verses from First Corinthians are the reason churches have different policies concerning Communion (aka Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper). In the Roman Catholic Church, only those baptized in the church may receive the bread and the cup, so when we’re in a Catholic church, we honor that. Many Protestant churches offer the elements to all who acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but when a church mentions other conditions for partaking, we try to honor those. (On the other hand, we’ve also visited churches that offer communion with no restrictions whatsoever. One church danced while celebrating the around the table.)

At St. Peter, old hymns were sung in the service, songs that I couldn’t recall singing before (“Jesus, My Great High Priest,” “Savior, When in Dust to You”). The congregation read responsively, and Jesus’ Passion Story (from various Scripture passages) was read from the pulpit. We learned the pastor was out of town caring for his ailing mother*, so a member of the congregation read the sermon.

After the sermon, people went forward for Communion, with a choice between drinking from a shared cup or from individual cups. I assume the one cup is offered in acknowledgment of the One Cup Christ offered, what He called “the cup of the new covenant in My blood,” symbolizing the way all His disciples would be one. I assume some people have concerns about the unhygienic nature of drinking from the one cup, so they opt to drink from small, individual plastic cups.

It’s odd though. Because of the second option, the “common cup” isn’t truly common to all.

As the service ended, the bulletin instructed us to “please remain seated for the extinguishing of the lights and singing by the soloist.” So we did. The lights dimmed, the candles were extinguished, and the lights went up again.

Afterward, at the door, many people introduced themselves, asking about us and doing their best to make sure we felt welcome. We appreciated that.

Lent has begun, and we look forward to the services to come over the next six weeks. We look forward to the communion we expect to have with people, and maybe even to having something to eat and drink -- but the ashes will have to wait until next year.

*We were sorry to learn that Pastor Schewe's mother passed away over the weekend. We join the St Peter congregation in prayers for the family.

We go to Church for Very Traditional Reasons

First Presbyterian Church, Fresno

I happened to catch a little of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night monologue on Ash Wednesday. He was talking about what he thought the day meant. “My mom goes to church, and they put ashes on her forehead to show she’s more religious than I am.” This tension between religious practice done to please God or to put on a show for yourself didn’t exactly originate on Jimmy Kimmel Live! After all, Jesus brought the issue up a time or two.

In Matthew 6: 16 - 18, Jesus said, “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

I really appreciated that particular Scripture passage being read together with the Isaiah 58 passage about true fasting because Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time when Christians traditionally prepare for Holy Week/Good Friday/Easter. But not all Christians participate.

Pretty much all Christians are down with Good Friday and Easter, but it’s Catholics and Orthodox who have, through the centuries, maintained Lenten traditions. Episcopalians (and a few other Protestant denominations) have recognized the season, but when Mindy was growing up in Presbyterian churches, Ash Wednesday wasn’t especially noted. For me, growing up in the Evangelical Free Church, the day was never mentioned (and still wasn’t in the Ev. Free Church we attend now).

So what is Ash Wednesday? It is the beginning of the season of lent, preparing for the remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ashes were in Scripture a symbol of grief and mourning. In Christian tradition, the ashes on this day symbolize sorrow for sin. Traditionally, churches often use the palms from Palm Sunday, to be burned for Ash Wednesday ashes. The ashes are also a symbol of the transitory nature of life, referring to Genesis 3:19, “For dust you are, and to dust you will return.”

Over the past few decades, many Presbyterian churches have begun recognizing Ash Wednesday with special worship services, so we were pleased to be able to attend an Ash Wednesday service. (We were even more pleased, because we had already decided that this month, we’d visit churches for Wednesday night services and events, because a lot of churches seem to have Wednesday evening gatherings here in Fresno.)

Upon entering the church, we were greeted by ushers; as first time visitors we were given a pine slice with a thread with Habakkuk 3: 17 & 18 inscribed on one side. (“It’s Scripture,” the usher told us.)

First Presbyterian Church of Fresno is an Evangelical Presbyterian Church and has been since 2009, but the church traces its foundation back to 1882 and has been in its current building since 1950. Formerly the congregation was a part of the larger PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of the United States of America) denomination. (Tangential story: Years ago, Mindy had a temp job as a corporate spy, sort of. She was sent out to investigate whether a restaurant that used to be an A&W, was still using any A&W trademarked materials. Among other things, we found the A&W logo on the inside of lamps and on napkin dispensers. We were reminded of that experience at Fresno First Presbyterian when we noticed a children’s book in the pew. It was put out by the PCUSA to help children learn about worship services, and it featured worshiping mice.)

The service opened with the bell choir. As the worship service continued, we sang both hymns and choruses. A prayer for illumination preceded the Scripture reading, and after that, Meagan Bergem, the church’s director of junior high ministries (it’s a full time staff position) delivered a short sermon. Another staff member  member stood by her and prayed for her before the message.

Meagan first acknowledged her students, “It’s awesome to see beautiful junior hIgh students in the front row,” and then the rest of the congregation, “It is a privilege to talk about Jesus with you.” Her message was called, “When the Infinite Meets the Finite,” and she used I John 4: 7-10 as her text, focusing on God’s love for us and how we should express love to others. She used the old saying, “Love people, use things; the opposite never works.” But, as she pointed out, loving people requires risk and vulnerability. She encouraged students to risk spending time with people who are different. She encouraged adults to go to lunch with someone who votes differently (we do live in odd times when that’s a thing).

The sermon served as an introduction to the Lenten season as, we were told, “a time we dwell on the brokenness of our sin but there is hope.” The season is all about “bringing the infinite love of Jesus into our finite lives” and reminding us that “to know joy, we must know suffering.”

Before the “imposition” of ashes, another staff member led in a time of prayer. “We’ll be silent for two to five minutes,” she said, “which is longer than some of us are used to. But I’ll watch the clock so you don’t have to.”

After the silent prayer, people were invited to come forward. “We’ll make a sign of the cross on your forehead. It may not look like a cross, -- no guarantees,” the pastor said. People went forward to receive the mark decently and in order, as Presbyterians do. (There a couple people on the worship team who already had an ash cross on their foreheads. I believe there was a service at Fresno State at noon that day, along with other services in the community.)

The service concluded with an offering accompanied by the bell choir. (The bell choir played “Sing Hallelujah” which didn’t involve singing. This struck me as odd.)

After the service, a couple in the row in front of us introduced themselves. They used to go to a large independent church, they said, but came to First Presbyterian a couple of years ago. The first time they visited they found the music “majestic,” and they haven’t considered going anywhere else since.

We will be going somewhere else -- we always do. But we were happy to celebrate Ash Wednesday with the good, sooty people of First Presbyterian Fresno.

Statistics

Service Length: 1 hour 9 minutes

Sermon Length: 16 minutes

Visitor Treatment: Greeters at the entrance welcomed us. We found connection cards in the pew and dropped one in the offering plate. The couple in the row ahead of us greeted us after the service was over. Otherwise, no particular notice was taken of visitors.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none

Our Rough Count: 157

Probable Ushers’ Count: 175

Snacks: none

Musicians: organ (woman)
bell choir (3 men, 5 women)
piano (man)
vocals (man and woman)
violin (woman)
bass (man)
drums (man)
vocals (woman)

Songs: 3 Lenten Impressions (organ prelude)
"Breathe" bell choir
"Our Great Savior"
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"
"I Shall Not Want"
"Lord, I Need You"
"Sing Hallelujah" (offertory, bells)
"Glory Be"

Distance to Church: 6 miles

Open WiFi: no

Tie/Suit Count: 2

Church Website: http://www.fpcfresno.org/