Wearing Ash within a World On Fire
by Jer Swigart

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and preparation. It’s an invitation to journey inward, to confront our temptations, acknowledge our failures, and move toward healing. But in a world marked by deep partisan divides, the rise of fascism, and an increase in armed violence, this season must be more than a personal exercise—it must be a communal call to making peace.

The Ashes We Wear and the World We Face

The ashes smudged on our foreheads remind us of our mortality, our fragility. “From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.” These words humble us, but they should also awaken us. They remind us that the conflicts we perpetuate, the power we cling to, and the weapons we wield—all of it will one day be dust. And yet, even in the face of our impermanence, we are invited to choose a different way.

In a culture of partisan polarization, where enemies are made of neighbors and dialogue is drowned out by outrage, Lent calls us to resist the temptation of tribalism. In the wilderness, Jesus faced the tempter who offered him shortcuts to power, self-sufficiency, and security. Today, we are offered those same shortcuts—demonize the other, silence dissent, hoard control. But the way of the Cross calls us to relinquish these temptations and embody a different kind of power: the power of humility, truth, and sacrificial love.

Confession as Resistance

Lent is a season of confession—not just individual confession, but collective confession. We must name the ways we have been complicit in systems that dehumanize, the ways we have benefited from structures of power that crush the marginalized. Confession is not weakness; it is resistance against the forces that would keep us in denial. To confess is to dismantle the false narratives that justify violence and division.

Waiting and Suffering as Solidarity

Peacemaking requires the willingness to wait—to sit in the discomfort of unresolved conflict, to resist the urge to retaliate, to trust in the slow work of justice. We live in an age of immediate gratification, where leaders promise quick solutions through force, where conflict is met with escalation rather than de-escalation. But Lent calls us to something harder. It invites us into suffering—not suffering for its own sake, but suffering in solidarity with those who bear the weight of injustice every day.

Jesus walked toward the suffering of the world, not away from it. If we are to be peacemakers, we must do the same. We must enter the spaces of pain, listen to the unheard, mourn with the grieving, and stand in defiant hope against the systems that perpetuate violence.

From Ashes to Action

Ash Wednesday is not just a ritual. It is a launch. A call to wake up. A commissioning into the hard and holy work of reconciliation.

Friends, the ashes remind us of our mortality, but they also remind us of our calling. From dust we came, and to dust we shall return. The question is: what kind of world will we make in the space between?


Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash