Comments on: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

By: Scott Wells

Scott Wells — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 22:28:10 +0000

Scott/bitb here:

I took you up on your challenge to answer.

See Did Universalists do Ash Wednesday?Lots of little tidbits to chew on.

By: PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:32:28 +0000

This is a question for… THE BOY IN THE BANDS!!!

Oh B.I.T.B.? Care to comment?

By: fausto

fausto — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:27:57 +0000

So, I checked out the 1982 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (the one with the liturgy in updated contemporary English), and it says:

"The ashes are imposed with the following words:

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Now the Piskies are half-Catholic, so that makes sense, but the Methodists were an offshoot of the Piskies, so how did the liturgical change come about? I'm guessing it's from the Methodists' tent-revival days. Which leads me to wonder whether the tent-revival Universalist side of our house celebrated Ash Wednesday, and if so, what they said.

I looked in a couple of old Unitarian service books and couldn't find anything. My guess would be that since the Unitarians were an offshoot of the Puritans they had long ago purged all that papist sacramental stuff (except baptism and communion), and saw no reason to revive Ash Wednesday just because their constipated Congregational brethren had stopped talking to them.

By: PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 15:29:18 +0000

Fausto’s question made me the tiniest bit paranoid so I asked a friend about the “Repent and believe in the gospel!” comment. She assured me that that’s a standard Ash Wed. blessing in the United Methodist liturgy.
Kewl. I am thinking of using it as a general greeting.
“Hello Peacebang, how are you?”
“Fine, thanks. Repent and believe in the gospel, George.”
“Will do. All the best.”

By: fausto

fausto — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 12:57:58 +0000

“Wert” is indeed a word, by the way, though I think the formula is more traditionally expressed as, “Dust thou art”, or, “Remember, man, that thou art dust”.

And my understanding is that some variant of “Dust thou art” is the usual litany when you get dabbed on Ash Wednesday, along with a recital of Psalm 51 and lots of good penitential language. (You reading this, cc? If you still are looking for more penitential language, heck out the Ash Wednesday order of service in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.)

I wonder if that Methodist didn’t change the litany only for you, Peacebang, you heretic Unitarian backslider. She probably figured that penitence is something you save until after you repent and believe the gospel.

By: fausto

fausto — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 12:07:25 +0000

Nutmegs? Well, yes, Fausto can understand the connection in those terms. But Fausto would have described it more in terms of an aircraft carrier flipped upside down in drydock to repair leaks in the hull.

Peacebang may not remember, since it was only a fleeeting moment during a busy event, but Peacebang and Fausto have discussed this before, when Peacebang was not yet Peacebang and Fausto was not yet Fausto, at a chance encounter at the UUCF table during the Boston GA. If Fausto’s memory serves, they were introduced by Mike Doonesbury’s pastor, who also happened to be standing around, and Peacebang later delivered a bang-up sermon at the same event.

By: PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 04:31:54 +0000

Fausto and Peacebang have a little something in common, and it has to do with nutmegs.

By: fausto

fausto — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 04:12:13 +0000

In the Episcopalian wilderness where I wandered for a while before returning home like a Unitarian prodigal, Lent was when you gave up your New Years’ resolutions.