There is something about Ash Wednesday that brings out the the worst in those Anglican panjandra who are desperate to create a spurious aura of relevance in a culture that has no use for them.
Here we have Ashes to Go from the Diocese of Toronto, brought to you by three McDonalds ex-employees who found their way into the Anglican priesthood to continue their fast food vocation in another form:
And in the UK, climate zealots are using fake oil instead of ashes. Remember You are Dust and to Synthetic Oil You Shall Return:
Genesis 2:7 describes human as a combination of what is low (being formed from the common dust of the ground) and what is high (breathed into by God). “Dust” is also a symbol of death – “For dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19b). Perhaps, for our modern Ash Wednesday, we should use “dust” instead of “ashes”.
I think we could fix the Anglican Church by:
(1) Resuming use of 1662 BCP
(2) ending the ridiculous practice of priests making sermons about climate change, gay marriage, etc. Instead, the authorized homilies should be read in a cycle, then repeated.
“In the booke of Genesis, Almighty GOD giueth vs all a title and name in our great grandfather Adam, which ought to warne vs all to consider what wee bee, whereof wee bee, from whence we came, and whither we shall, saying thus, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou bee turned againe into the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, in as much as thou art dust, into dust shalt thou be turned againe (Genesis 3.19). Heere (as it were in a glasse) wee may learne to know our selues to be but ground, earth, and ashes, and that to earth and ashes we shall returne.
Also, the holy Patriarch Abraham did well remember this name and title, dust, earth, and ashes, appointed and assigned by GOD to all mankinde: and therefore he calleth himselfe by that name, when hee maketh his earnest prayer for Sodome & Gomorre. And wee read that Iudith, Esther, Iob, Ieremy, with other holy men and women in the old Testament, did vse sackcloth, and to cast dust and ashes vpon their heads, when they be wayled their sinfull liuing (Judith 4.10-11, Job 42.6, Jeremiah 6.26). They called and cried to GOD, for helpe and mercy, with such a ceremony of sackcloth, dust, and ashes, that thereby they might declare to the whole world, what an humble and lowly estimation they had of themselues, and how well they remembred their name and title aforesayd, their vile corrupt fraile nature, dust, earth, and ashes. The booke of Wisedome also willing to pull downe our proud stomaches, moueth vs diligently to remember our mortall and earthly generation, which we haue all of him that was first made (Wisdom 7.1): and that all men, as well kings as subiects, come into this world, and goe out of the same in like sort: that is, as of our selues full miserable, as wee may dayly see. And Almighty GOD commanded his Prophet Esay to make a Proclamation, and crie to the whole world: and Esay asking, what shall I crie? The Lord answered, Crie, that all flesh is grasse, and that all the glory thereof, is but as the flowre of the field, when the grasse is withered, the flowre falleth away, when the winde of the Lord bloweth vpon it. The people surely is grasse, the which drieth vp, and the flowre fadeth away (Isaiah 40.6-7)… It is not without great cause, that the Scripture of GOD doeth so many times call all men heere in this world by this word, earth, O thou earth, earth, earth, sayth Ieremy, heare the word of the Lord (Jeremiah 22.29). This our right name, calling, and title, earth, earth, earth, pronounced by the Prophet, sheweth what wee bee indeed, by whatsoeuer other stile, title, or dignity, men doe call vs. Thus hee plainely named vs, who knoweth best, both what we be, and what wee ought of right to be called.” (Sermon on the Misery of All Mankind, http://www.anglicanlibrary.org/homilies/bk1hom02.htm)
Both you & above sermon have lots of typos here otherwise called spelling mistakes
Anglish hyas na styndurd arthagrophy, ayt as bey are.
It’s the original spelling as typeset in the first or second edition, AFAIK. There is a modern set of homilies on offer tho.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Homilies-Church-England/dp/1573833916
These are the authorized homilies annexed to the 39 Articles. This edition is from 2008, as far as I know, from the late 19th century until 2008, they were out of print, so, there’d be copies in libraries (some) or private collections, but otherwise, buried treasure resurrected thanks to the internet!
Our church uses ashes from last year’s palm crosses, but uses the phrase, “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” Works for us. But then we NEVER get sermons on Gaia and we don’t accept gay “marriage”.
Just looked up Gaia was curious is interesting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
The Bible never mentions Ash Wednesday. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not observe Ash Wednesday. However, the Bible records accounts of people in the Old Testament using dust and ashes as symbols of repentance or mourning (e.g. II Samuel 13:19). Perhaps, it is okay to call it “Dust Wednesday” for those who prefer to use “dust” instead. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (BAS, p. 285), not “Remember you are ashes, and to ashes you shall return”.