Days of Ash
When U2 release new music, it’s rarely accidental. The timing of U2's surprise 6-track EP Days of Ash coincided with Ash Wednesday - a day that symbolises lament and a crying out to God for the world to be restored.
The timing feels especially deliberate with politically charged songs exploring themes of lamentation, defiance against injustice, and spiritual introspection on global suffering. The EP serves perhaps as a musical reflection on human fragility and the need for justice – it’s a meditation on dust and the fragile beauty of human hope.
The title Days of Ash directly references Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. This season for Christians steers us to the cross where we contemplate our fallenness, finiteness and frailty. In the book of Job, we see Job sitting in dust and ashes as a sign of repentance (Job 42:6). The symbolism around Ash Wednesday reminds us of our own fragility and humanness—that we are dust and will return to dust (Gen. 3:19). We echo the words of Job and say, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Bono describes the songs as "defiance and dismay". This mirrors the sorrowful, penitential mood of Lent, where we as believers lament the brokenness of the world and our own failings.
The EP, which explores conflict in Ukraine, the US, and the Middle East, encourages listening to the "tears of things," a, reflective practice that aligns with the Lenten journey of examining one's life. The season of Lent invites us to sit in the smoke of our own failures, our compromises, our wandering hearts.
Like many of U2’s songs, there is a refusal to rush to resolution. The tension remains. The ache is allowed to breathe. That, too, is Christian maturity — resisting easy answers and allowing God to meet us in the unresolved spaces.
Tracks like "One Life at a Time" (about a slain activist) and the overall tone of fighting for truth reflect the Gospel call to stand with the oppressed. The song "American Obituary" reflects a message of community, hope, and challenging immoral authority. "Yours Eternally" inspired by a soldier, reflects themes of self-sacrifice and love, echoing the ultimate sacrifice of Christ.
While “Days of Ash” is an attempt by U2 to capture something of the sorrow and injustices of this fallen world in which we live, the significance of its release on the cusp of Lent is a gentle but persistent reminder for us as Christians. We lament because we believe in resurrection. We confess because we trust in God’s mercy. We face the ashes because we know Easter morning is coming.
Following Jesus means learning to live in two realities at once — honest about the brokenness within and around us yet stubbornly anchored in hope. Lent trains us in that discipleship. It slows us down. It exposes us. It invites reflection. And in doing so, it prepares our hearts to receive again the scandalous joy of the empty tomb.
We walk through the days of ash — not alone, not without grief — but with our eyes fixed on Jesus who, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, “For the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” and in doing so opened for us the way to Life.