Ashes

Ash Wednesday graphic by ME

Well, it's February 1st. That means that Ash Wednesday is not that far away.
That's right folks, Christmas may have only been a few weeks ago, but for those of us who work for the church it's full speed ahead into LENT!

Which means I, as the only person brave enough (you can come up with your own additional adjectives) have to get on with making more ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Palm Ashes

Now usually a church will just purchase ashes from a reputable source like Cokesbury or the Christian Bookstore. These ashes were supposedly made by burning the palm fronds from last years Palm Sunday celebrations. It's supposed to represent the circle that we make each year and to remind us of our own human frailties. Which is all fine and good.

But we don't purchase our ashes each year. Instead I take it upon myself to acquire them the old fashioned way. By burning things!

I wanted to show you a picture here of the actual fire, but I thought it might be better to keep my mind occupied with making sure the flames didn't get out of hand. So instead picture in your mind me sitting outside in front of an aluminum foil pan filled with. . .dried palm fronds? Nope.

I found this out a couple of years ago.  You have to think way ahead of the game in order to have palm fronds that are dried out enough to burn. That's part of the wonder of most palms. They don't burn really well. Unless they are extremely dead. Plus, when it comes to grinding them up and making them into ash, you have to have A LOT of burnt up palm fronds. You might be asking yourself, "why doesn't she just use the palm fronds from worship each year? Or the palm crosses that everyone seems to have?"

This is because
 1. We only use a few palm fronds in worship each year.
 2. The palm crosses don't burn.
       They must coat them with something.

So last year I was desperate because I'd forgotten that I needed to make more ash. I searched in vain for dead palm trees around my house.

Nothing.

However, there was plenty of dead grass.

Well, there it is. The big secret is out.
I use grass for ashes each year.
Laugh all you want. It serves the purpose just fine.

Anyways, here's a few pics of the process after the fire.

Details of process
After burning the grass (very carefully, and do not leave fire unattended) in the foil pan, I let the ashes cool. Then I scoop them with a plastic spoon into my mortar bowl. We had these in the church resource room left over from one of our Vacation Bible Schools. With the pestle (quartz rock) I grind the burnt grass down into a fine powder. However, because the grass doesn't burn evenly (nothing really does unless you can burn it REALLY FAST) I still have to sift it. Scooping the ash into the sifter, I then move it around with the plastic spoon, trying to get as much of the fine ash into my specialized plastic ziploc bag. Fancy, right?

That's pretty much it. Well, I mean besides going and washing all the ash off my hands (and face, if my nose itched!)

On Ash Wednesday at our worship service, this ash will be mixed with oil (sometimes scented with Frankincense) until it forms a black gritty gel.

Well, now you know how much fun I get to have working at a church. Is any of this part of my job description?
No. I do it because I know how and because it is for the Glory of the Lord.