Finding True North #25: Reflecting toward 9/11/11, Part 1—Ashes

Just over two months from now, we will mark the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001. It is a significant moment in and of itself, and I have heard many religious leaders already thinking through and planning for the commemoration. It is particularly meaningful for Christians that the anniversary falls on a Sunday. My supervisor, Kevin Armstrong, asked me not only to look into worship planning resources for 9-11 but also to help think through what the church’s posture should be on such a day.

In our initial conversation about this, Kevin suggested taking a Biblical, theological approach to the thought process, perhaps focusing on a key image or two that might aid in both reflection and worship planning. His suggestion was the image of ashes; another I will explore is that of tears, and others may come up. What follows is a series of musings on ashes using Biblical references as well as artistic and liturgical ciphers to encourage thoughtful conversation as we approach 9-11-11. At the end, I have included links to various resources, including liturgies, prayers, hymns, interfaith worship planning guidelines, articles and more.

The image of ashes can be somewhat graphic in relation to 9-11. Makoto Fujimura, an artist whose studio was two blocks from Ground Zero (and whom I will discuss more when I talk about tears), talks about his son, whose school was near the twin towers, being covered with "that white dust, later called 'dust of death'" when he emerged from the chaos. Smoke and flames burned through Manhattan, debris indistinguishable from incinerated humanity settling on trees, grass, buildings and people. Two 1300-foot towers and thousands within became nothing but rubble and ashes.

Dust and ashes show up throughout the Bible both as metaphorical images and as tangible materials with a purpose. Dust is actually the medium in which God works to create human life—God "formed man from the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7), and the familiar adage "ashes to ashes and dust to dust" echoes the Scriptural "you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). In the Old Testament, ashes are something insubstantial; Job accuses his friends of speaking falsely, saying, "Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay" (Job 13:12). This image of frailty is one Abraham recognizes in his own humanity when he says, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27). Dust and ashes are the immaterial material from which we ourselves are made and to which we will return.

Another important function that ashes have in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, is their role in the sacrificial system. Burnt offerings were part of ritual purification; Numbers 19 describes a process by which the ashes of the purification offerings are mixed with water (I think the images of tears is related here) to make the unclean clean again. Of course, the sacrificial system is connected with a concept that ashes symbolize: repentance. Repentance and mourning are the main contexts in which ashes appear in the Bible. Putting ashes on your head and wearing sackcloth are signs of both. But the prophet Isaiah insists that such actions are not sufficient as an offering if works of mercy and grace does not accompany them:

Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? (Isaiah 58:5-7)

Ashes are important to ritualized actions of mourning and repentance, but even as they image desolation and destruction, they are not the end but should help us be led by God to choose the fast of justice.

An obvious liturgical tie-in to the image of ashes is the imposition liturgy of Ash Wednesday. The imposition of ashes has to do almost entirely with repentance, but I've been thinking about this more in the context of healing for a variety of reasons. First, in keeping with Elaine Heath's assessment of medieval mystic Julian of Norwich in the book The Mystic Way of Evangelism, I’m starting to think about sin more in terms of wounds. In that framework, what sin requires is healing, not condemnation. Moreover, I have participated in Ash Wednesday services where the ashes were mixed with oil. This not only makes imposition easier, it also carries symbolic weight, since anointing with oil is often associated liturgically with services of healing. How might the imposition of ashes be presented as an image of healing and restoration as well as (or simply as) repentance?

__________


Makoto Fujimura, "Post 911 – Ground Zero Meditations." (link)
General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) Resources: Remembering 9-11. (link)