The intersection of faith and [pop] culture is ever-changing. Obviously. To find either in stasis would be akin to happening upon a dead body in the woods. Which is never fun. Not that I’d know. But I can imagine, because my mind makes it into places like that far too easily.
Many of us, believers- or not, celebrated Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) or Mardi Gras last night. They’re basically the same thing, just approached with different attitudes and goals. Shrove Tuesday is a feast wherein believers clean out their pantries to remove temptation or get rid of things that could spoil in the lenten weeks leading up to Easter. It involves a lot of eating. Fat Tuesday is an excuse to get super drunk and do questionable things in order to earn shiny plastic beads. These beads are magic with the power to instantly and permanently remove STDs, hangovers and regrets.
I’m not writing to judge that tradition, though. If anything, I actually understand it too well. My subject is much more monstrous than that. I want to talk about what comes today- Ash Wednesday. But first, further explanation is necessary.
Ash Wednesday is so-called because Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans and Presbyterians (did I miss anyone?) gather for a short service, during which congregants receive an ash cross on their foreheads while their presbyter says, “For dust you are and to dust you shall return”. God said this to Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit. The point is that the wages of sin is death. Ash Wednesday is about death. Because Lent.
During Lent, believers fast. This is a form of dying to self as we consider Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem and the crucifixion. It’s a time of penance and preparation for things to come.
Here’s the point that I have been working toward this whole time: It meets at the intersection of Ash Wednesday and Seflies. Today, the internets will be inundated with ash-faced seflies. And it makes me want to rage, just a little (A little rage goes a long way, they say). One Catholic diocese in Texas- I’m assuming as an attempt to get young people interested- has created a campaign entitled, “Show us your #Ashtag”. It’s witty and maybe fun, but I just can’t. Catholic church- you know better and I thought we were friends.
Death to self means not focusing on yourself. So when one happens to take a selfie while wearing a visible symbol of death, the universe shrinks just a little and significant things break. Just sayin’. Friends, please don’t break the universe today. We live here and we need it. So do the puppies. Please, think of the puppies! Sarah McLachlan will thank you.
