Re-Ash? Certainly! Re-Wash? Never!

It has become a tradition at Parkland Lutheran Church and School that we offer the imposition of ashes at our three services on Ash Wednesday. The first service of the day is our weekly chapel for the students of our school. One of the most memorable Ash Wednesdays was back in 2001 when later that morning there was a 6.8 earthquake. As the students filed out of the buildings (which we learned later was the wrong thing to do), the students still had their ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. The girls emerged sobbing while the boys for the most part were laughing! (Tell me that God did not wire females and males differently!)
Ash Wednesday gets its name from a very old tradition among Christians. This day starts the season of Lent, the time during which we as Christians especially remember Jesus came to earth to suffer and die for our sins. Ashes are a symbol of our sadness over what our Lord had to endure to make payment for our sins. We have accounts of believers in the Old Testament who wore ashes as a symbol of their sorrow over their sin (Cf. Esther 4:1-4 and Daniel 9:3-15). The imposition of ashes is a human rite that can serve as a wholesome spiritual practice for us, just like the rite of Confirmation was retained from our Roman Catholic roots and is still observed among us Lutherans today.
With the imposition of ashes, we are reminded first of all that we are sinners and that the wages of sin is death. Remember what God says to Adam after he sinned: “Dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Ashes are placed upon our foreheads in the sign of the cross to remind us of what was done and said at our baptism: The pastor made the sign of the cross over our forehead and heart, saying, “The merciful and eternal God, who alone saves from all evil, and who graciously called you to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light through our Lord Jesus + Christ, deliver you from the + power of darkness, sin, death and Satan.” In other words, the ashes remind us that eventually we will all die, returning to dust, but the cross reminds us that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, so our sins are forgiven and we too will rise from death to live with Him in heaven forever – from dust we shall rise again!
Now for the memorable 2016 Ash Wednesday story: At our traditional soup supper prior to the third service for the day, Grey, one of our Kindergarten students, came to me and asked, “Pastor, can I be re-ashed?” I looked at her forehead and indeed her black cross was no longer visible. I assured her I could do as she requested. She was in Pastor Ring’s line with her grandparents to have the imposition of ashes reapplied. At the last second, she darted into mine; it was from me she had received permission, after all. So Grey was re-ashed that day.
Some weeks later at our Faculty Study, we were discussing the episode in The Hammer of God (a must-read for all Lutherans by the Swedish Lutheran Bishop Bo Giertz) where Conrad, a longtime friend of Pastor Fridfeldt, had written to him, proudly telling him how he had been re-baptized with “the true baptism” (p. 155 ff.), rejecting his infant baptism. But as the Nicene Creed clearly states, the Christian Church acknowledges only “one Baptism for the remission of sins,” not multiple baptisms. This afforded me the opportunity to speak about granting Grey’s re-ashing request. However, there is no rewashing because Holy Baptism is God’s work, which does not diminish even if we become unfaithful. The imposition of ashes is a human rite and can be repeated yearly or, in Grey’s case, repeated the same day.
Many Christians in America today follow the false teaching and practice that Baptism is the work of sinners supposedly showing God and the world they have chosen Jesus as their Lord. Subsequently, when they fall seriously into sin again, often called “back-sliding,” in order to return to God, they assume they must be re-baptized. How can baptism be the sinner’s work? We read in God’s Word that Baptism saves (1 Peter 3:21) and through Baptism our sins are washed away, forgiven (Acts 2:38; 22:16). Consider how arrogant it is to suggest the sinner’s work saves and somehow earns forgiveness. Such a perverted teaching can only come from the bowels of hell to be sure.
Over five years ago, I had the privilege of baptizing Grey. I pray she will never be misled by the lies of those who re-baptize and convince her to be rewashed. But I do expect to see her next year on Ash Wednesday to be re-ashed and, who knows, to be re-ashed again before the day is over. This pious practice of being ashed does not confer forgiveness, but is only an outward sign to remind us of our great need to be forgiven by God through the holy blood shed on the cross for us all, whereas being washed in Holy Baptism, the cleansing fountain, red with the dear blood of Jesus (ELH #247.7), sins are truly forgiven by God Himself.
Reverend Glenn Obenberger
Contributing Writer
Parkland Lutheran Church & School
Parkland, WA