On Ash Wednesday, March 5, ashes were spread across people’s foreheads, and the person spreading the ashes said, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This phrase and the ashes symbolize human mortality and the fact that humans will not be on Earth forever.
The Point Loma Nazarene University chapel team recently offered this practice to students and faculty on March 5. Six chapel faculty and staff made rows for students to line up and join in spreading ashes.
Meghan Bishop, resident director of Nease Hall East, was the speaker for the Ash Wednesday chapel and preached on the history and purpose of Lent.
After Bishop’s speech, the chapel team encouraged students to receive ashes either on their forehead or the palm of their hand.
Rebecca Laird, interim dean for the school of theology and Christian ministry, said that this statement reminded her of this limited time on Earth and to be grateful for each day spent with loved ones, as her mother passed on March 10.
“This year, I learned of my mother’s rapid health decline on Ash Wednesday,” Laird said. “I sat in the service thinking about the end of her life with gratitude and awareness that we all have limited days. She lived her life well. Ash Wednesday reminds me to honor the gift of each day. Lent has been a time of loss for us and I’m grateful for the space Lent affords for grief and absence and longing.”
According to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert and avoiding the temptations of Satan. These three ways of temptation were turning stones into bread, to have Jesus throw himself from the temple, and to worship Satan in return for all the kingdoms of the land. In response, Jesus quoted scripture.
This written example of Jesus avoiding temptation has served as an example for several Christians of different denominations, specifically for those who practice Lent.
Lent serves as a time of preparation for Easter through fasting. This practice lasts for 40 days, similar to the time Jesus spent in the desert, and begins with Ash Wednesday. While Lent deals with these heavier topics of death and sorrow, the purpose is to remind those who live and follow God that he gave his son to save the people of Earth, according to Kirstyn Teegarden, associate director of discipleship at PLNU
“We can’t proclaim the good news of the resurrection without first sitting with the weight of his death on the cross,” Teegarden said.
Laird was a speaker for Ash Wednesday chapel in 2023, where she described Lent in four words: “lengthen, stretch, resist and bracket.” Laird said that the word “Lent” means the “lengthening of days,” while resist meant temptation, and bracketing meant walking with Jesus during one’s lifespan and the “short span of days.”
“Easter calls us to remember the light has already come; despair is not the last word, eternal life is ours,” Laird said, ending her chapel speech. “New life, renewal, everlasting hope awaits.”
“It felt like a very deep time of reflection and prayer,” Teegarden, one of the six spreading ashes, said about this year’s chapel. “It was also really inspiring and hopeful to see how many students chose to come forward and receive ashes. It shows that there is a deep yearning in our community to become more aware of God’s presence and work in our lives.”
Teegarden said that the chapel planning team took into account that many students might not practice Ash Wednesday. She said the hope was that students would “hear this call to follow God deeply.”
For several students, Ash Wednesday was a new experience, while for others, they were shocked that the Nazarene church also practiced Lent.
One of these students was Meghan Snyder, a first-year psychology major. Having grown up attending Catholic school from preschool through 12th grade, Snyder said she is familiar with the practice of Ash Wednesday.
“I wasn’t at the Ash Wednesday chapel and I was so shocked to see people walk out with ashes on their forehead because I thought it was just a Catholic tradition,” Snyder said. “Lent is a very big deal in the Catholic church. We would have Ash Wednesday mass, where the ashes would be drawn on our foreheads as a cross. I feel like since I’ve converted to a Christian nondenominational church, I’ve strayed away from practicing Lent except for when I’m at home.”
Despite Snyder not practicing Lent as often, it still holds purpose for her, as she described it to be “preparing ourselves for the resurrection of [Jesus] Christ” and “a time for renewing ourselves and giving something up for Christ.”
This act of giving up a habit, extra hours of sleep, social media or types of food represents Jesus fasting for those 40 days, according to Laird. She said that saying “no” to something serves as a “yes” to God.
This concept of fasting has been a common practice throughout scripture, seen with David in 2 Samuel 12:16-23 and Daniel in Daniel 10:3. Several churches began to follow this practice annually, following scripture to mark the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, according to Teegarden. This practice did not have a regularized date until Pope Gregory I created the 46 days before Easter in the year AD 601.
“When it comes to giving something up, it’s challenging because it feels like a New Year’s Resolution,” Snyder said. “You say you’re going to give it up, and it doesn’t really follow through.”
During the chapel, PLNU announced its 2025 Lent Giving Campaign catered toward the organization Empower Her Life, a community of indigenous women in the Ecuadorian Amazon who seek support to provide for their families, according to the 2025 Lent Giving Campaign page. All donations raised are used to train these women in creating ceramics, jewelry making and art using local plants and beads.
Students were encouraged to support the mission by donating through the information page or by scanning the QR code that was on the screen.
“Practicing Lent with students from many different churches and cultures helps us to build bonds of faith that reach beyond family units and local neighborhoods,” Laird said. “Lent is about living according to a calendar that pays attention to the life of Christ and not just focusing on the next assignment or exam.”
Tessa Balc