Ash Wednesday the day that Marks the beginning of Lent, the
season of repentance over these next forty days. A time when we reflect on our own mortality, marking our
foreheads with ashes with the words you are dust and to dust you shall
return. What does this all mean to
us today?Traditionally in the church this day was as if it were a day of mourning, reflecting on our sin and sinfulness that we might strive to live better. Recalling the Ash Wednesday service from my early years growing up in the Anglican church, I can remember our school day beginning with all the children being marched of to church for the Ash Wednesday service. And while I am sure at the time we had little understanding of what it was all about, or why we were doing it, we knew that there was great significance in it for us. When we left the service to go back to school I always remember the overwhelming solemn feeling I came away with, but yet feeling so much better because of it. It was as if I knew that somehow I had been given another chance, perhaps to get things right again.
That opportunity to get it right, is what Ash Wednesday is really about, it is about
recommitting ourselves to having a better relationship with God. And why we put ashes on our foreheads
as a sign of our recommitment to that relationship.
St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, says, “we entreat
you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God.”(2 Cor 5:20b) We are to put our life right with
God. “As we work together with him”(6:1),
he says. We work with Jesus, we
don’t do it on our own, but through Christ working in us, we make the change
that is needed. That is what lent
is about making space for God to move in, that we might live more fully in him.
Jesus in the gospel for this day, (Mt: 6:1-6,16-21) speaking
to the three spiritual acts of Piety, shows how even these can be used for ones
own self-glorification, or gratification rather then for the purpose of
strengthening our relationship with God.
The Pharisees were known for putting on great shows of piety and while
they were the ones who were supposed to be the teachers of faith, the religious
elite, in the sense that their practice should have set an example for others
to follow, in essence it was creating self-worship, rather then worship of God.
They were becoming devoted to self, giving alms in a way,
that others knew what they give, rather then giving for the sake of
contributing to the work of God in the world. There prayer life and fasting
became acts of show, so that others could see how righteous they were, rather
then about spending time with God, enhancing that relationship.
Lent is a time for us to consider too, how our own acts of
spiritual disciplines could become about self or show rather then about our
relationship with God. About what we do and how we do it, placing self-importance
on that, rather then about spending time with God, or giving because our heart
calls us to give, in caring for the least among us.
In the old testament reading the prophet Isaiah speaking to
the people of his day, when they complained that they were doing all the right
things, but God was not responding to them. He says, “look
you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers, you
fast only to quarrel and fight and strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting you do today will not make
your voice be heard on high.” (Is.58:3b-4)
Although the people performed their acts of repentance, they did not change
their ways. They continued to live
in the same old way, and so their acts were purposeless, no point to them. Fasting is an act of devotion that is
meant to turn our hearts toward God, with a commitment to change, to turn our
lives around, live more fully as
God intends us to live.
Perhaps fasting is not something even taken seriously in our
culture today, but if it is
something done for lent over these forty days as a self-decipline, or has a
religious practice through out the year, then there should be some thought put
into it as to what this is about and why. It should be about creating not only a positive change for oneself,
perhaps physically if it is giving up chocolate or some other self indulgence, or over-indulgence for that matter, but
also about spiritual improvement. It
should also create change in our relationship with God and with others. Jesus (speaking of those who were putting on public shows of
piety), said, “truly I tell you, they have already received their reward.”(6:2b)
If you are going to fast from anything this Lent, make it
count, it should cost you something. There should be some real commitment in
it. Don’t just go through
these forty days with the end result or goal to be just that, you made it through
these forty day and start doing
the same things again, make it a change that contributes, gives back in a way
that will last.
Isaiah speaking to the people of his day about their
wrongful understanding of what God expected of them, says , “is this such the
fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a
bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day
acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to
undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break the
yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless
poor into your house….?(Is 58:6,7).
Let your fast create real change, maybe there is some
charity you can step in and help out with, give a hand at some neighbourhood
function in your community, there are a million things that one can do to help
the least among us, just take a look around you. Or has Pope Francis said in a recent article posted on ‘what
to give up for Lent this year’, he said, “you should give up indifference
toward others. “ “Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own
interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the
poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer
felt, and the desire to do good fades.”(Christopher Hale, “Pope Francis’ Guide
to Lent).
Perhaps our prayer life haven’t been what it should be,
perhaps our giving hasn’t been up
to par, perhaps we have committed some wrongdoing or other, that
we haven’t made right, and we need to make our confession, or perhaps offer
forgiveness to another. But unless we make a serious effort to follow through,
to change, to do better, then , all the ashes in the world will do nothing for
us in bettering our relationship with God.
As Jesus says in the gospel, “do not store up treasures for
yourself 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.” (Mt 6:19-21)
God wants us to commit our lives to him, in that we strive
to do better, and we do that through following our practices of piety not with
our self in mind but with God in mind, asking God, as the psalmist says, to “create
in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit with in me.”
Ash Wednesday
calls us to spiritual reflection, it calls us to reflect on our own acts of
spiritual discipline, prayer, fasting and alms giving, and to consider how it
is we might need to change or improve the way we do these in our own lives that
they might better reflect who we are as a people of faith, those who believe
and trust in God.
So I Invite you in the name of the Lord, to Keep a Holy
Lent….
Amen, God Bless.
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