Year A Ash Wednesday 2026 Forgetting for Lent

 Year A Ash Wednesday, 18 February 2026

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

“Forgetting for Lent”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Greetings on this day of devotion we set aside to begin our most holy Lent. I want to start with one of our Baptismal Covenant vows, the second one in fact.

• Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

People I will, with God's help.

We have promised to be disciplined and to intentionally work on our growth by continuing in the apostle’s teaching and in fellowship. We have promised that when we sin, not if, but when we sin that we will change our ways relying on the Lord to enable that. Friends, we all sin.

We could be like the lost coin, rolling along and find we are in a space we should not be. We could be like the lost sheep, going our own way and finding that that led to a place where our shepherd needs to bring us back into the fold. We could be like the flagrantly lost child, the Prodigal, willful and deliberate, rejecting our loving parent and all we were taught and finding that their rules are better than the muck in which we find ourselves in in our sinfulness. There are all kinds of ways to “miss the mark” which is what sin is.

Today we come to an old ritual, an echo of our baptism when we are marked as Christ’s own with the Oil of Chrism. The imposition of ashes is a reminder of our nature, both sinful as well as so very mortal. We come from the earth, and back to it we shall return. There is a reason we are human beings, human coming from humus in Latin, or dirt.

Growing up there were not a lot of liturgical folks in my circles who received ashes, so it was not until college that I was around it a lot. I remember early one Ash Wednesday I had to get a piece of wood for a project, and being a college student I had to have it cut for me not having tools in my dorm room. I ran to Hechinger’s, (Remember Hechinger’s before Home Depot or Lowe’s?) and waited in line to have the employee cut it for me. I was about 4 deep in line waiting for the man working the saw.

The first person in line mentioned to the worker that he had a smudge on his forehead. He just said thanks, and that he would take care of it.

The second person in line also mentioned it saying the first person was not joking. The employee again, thanked them and said he would get it later.

The third person pulled out a handkerchief and offered to wipe it off for the employee. He actually had to stop them. And remember, he has been cutting wood this whole time as well.

When it was my turn, he looked at me and seemed to anticipate that I would mention his ashes that he had had to save three times already. Now, thankfully, I knew what the smudge was and how he had gotten it, pretty early I might add because I was there when the store opened. Looking at me I handed him the plank I needed cutting, and said, “The smudge everyone keeps mentioning…” And he responded, “Yeah…” looking totally exasperated. And I said, “It doesn't pay to be pious, does it?” That at least made him smile.

Friends, we mark ourselves as a reminder of whose we are, and our hopes to be more and more of who Jesus would have us be. Jesus taught us to be diligent in our devotions and quietly follow them. He spoke of  when we give alms, not if. When we pray, not if. When we fast, not if. Devotional acts are part of Jesus recognizing that these bodies are part of our journey through life. We are dust, and we recognize that. By tying our devotions to these corporeal vessels, we acknowledge them and honor them by letting them be holy and sanctified vessels of our very souls. We make the ordinary sacred.

This year, as you may have heard me mention before, is the 800th anniversary of the Transitus (or Death) of St Frances of Assisi. In his final days he was deep in pain, and having a hard time. In his poetic prayer you probably know The Canticle of the Creatures or more often as Brother Sun, Sister Moon, in his final hours he edited this prayer he had been composing for years and added these lines about his imminent death:

Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.

Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.

He embraced this unavoidable fact of life. He did not shrink from it. He did not ignore it like our culture seems to do. He looked her (and I say her because he named her Sister Bodily Death), he looked her in the eye and praised her. She is a part of this life, and can be a beautiful one if seen appropriately.

Friends, we take on this yearly reminder of our limited lifespans so that we have the gumption to do what needs to be done. We have an expiration date. We have a time by which we must be used. Francis was known to remind his follower brothers and sisters, with this.

“Let us begin again, for until now we have done nothing.”

This was not to belittle what has happened but to let us not become complacent. It was about making sure we focus on the gift of being given another day to do good, to be our part of the Body of Christ still at work in this hurting and dying world.

I remember the first time I received the ashes on Ash Wednesday. My sophomore year in school, my roommate was Roman Catholic, and he invited me to come to the Ash Wednesday service. I decided, “Why not?” 

What I found deeply moved me. In the denomination of my birth, we emphasized the local congregation as the most important body in the authority of the Church. But that night, as I joined the line of the penitent, I caught sight of a bigger vision. I began to see the holy catholic and apostolic church in its unity, that one thing that Jesus prayed for and has not happened as of yet. “May they all be one.” But that night I could see it. I could envision those around the world pausing from the normal to prepare for a Holy Lent. It stayed with me. I do not think it was accidental that that simple impact of that act of devotion 38 years ago lead to my being a priest today. That long and winding road continues on, thanks be to God!

So we are in Lent. And we come to it in many ways to show our devotion:

by self-examination and repentance;

by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; 

and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word; 

and, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, 

we kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

I came here today, just for that. I am guessing you did, too.

When my daughter was young, she made a malapropism that informed my view of Lent ever since. A malapropism is a slip of the tongue that may be more true or more enlightening than what was meant to be said. The words that came out were, “Dad, what are we forgetting for Lent this year?” 

Not giving up, but forgetting. Totally going blank on. Not even recognizing their existence. I loved it. What am I FORGETTING for Lent?

It reminds me how God sees the sin of the repentant. As we read from Psalm 103(:11-14)

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

    so far he removes our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion for his children,

    so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.

For he knows how we were made;

    he remembers that we are dust.

Friends, if we think of our Lenten devotions as giving something up, or a hardship, they will be. But if we let whatever it is go entirely, that is an entirely different perspective.

Those things I am forgetting for Lent, I do not even recognize them. They are gone, not missed.

Those things I am taking on, I forget what I would normally do. I run to the new, embracing and normalizing them as part of my routine and maybe even myself.

But most importantly, I forget myself, the guilt and shame of my sin, my ego that gets in the way of kneeling before God, the distractions that hinder my focus from where it should be.

Blessings on you, the penitent and righteous of God, and may your path be smooth the coming 40 days! Amen