Dan's Marinations

I recently was listening to a lecture by John Bell from the Iona Abbey in Scotland.  A member of the Church of Scotland, he's a popular writer and speaker on the subject of music and worship.  In this lecture, Bell described one of the problems he sees in contemporary Christianity, the tendency to seek too much from worship.  He said that in years past there were three spheres of worship.  First, there was private prayer and study.  This was the foundation of the individual's spiritual life.  Secondly, many also had specific family devotions led by the head of the household.  Thirdly, everyone went to public worship.  The contemporary problem he pointed out was that for far too many Christians there is little private spiritual life.  Private prayer and study, private spiritual disciplines, personal devotion to the means of grace, are far too uncommon.  This is a dangerous phonomenon.  Our spiritual lives are our own responsibility...

What is it with all these Christians with funny smudges of ashes on their foreheads tonight?  Why do folks who ordinarily show some degree of common sense do something as silly as get oily ashes smeared on themselves?  I'd like to muse a little bit on this whole Ash Wednesday business, and hopefully shed some light on why we do it.  In some Christian circles there is great skepticism of Ash Wednesday and Lent, or anything liturgical for that matter.  This can come from learning too well the lessons of the Reformation.  If we believe in Sola Scriptura, why bother with ashes and Lent if neither are mentioned in the Bible?  If we truly are saved by grace through faith, what's the point of it?  Sometimes we "modern" folks can get too suspicious of traditions. The short answer to these objections is quite simply that ritual acts and symbols do actually mean things.   A person can be married with or without wearing the ring, but the ring means ...