Ashes

Ashes….this day is all about ashes.  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” they say.  Out of the dirt, humankind was made and to the dirt we will return.  Ashes are to remind us of our mortality.  Morbid thought?  No, it is a healthy thought.  The Bible says, “He is a fool who does not consider his own death.”

                Like ashes caught up in the wind, we are here one minute and gone the next.  That is what makes this life so incredibly precious.  Live this life in view of death and you will either live in self-indulgence or live for what really matters—relationship with God and others.  Whatever we have or lack, achieve or lose, is nothing compared to giving and receiving love.

                Ashes…today is all about ashes.  Ashes are dirty.  Touch ashes and they will leave their mark.  So will this world.  Do I need to convince anyone of the dirtiness of this world?  Violence, hate, pain, abuse, suffering, loss, sickness, division, lies, lust, greed…this world is dirty and because we live in it, so are we.  Some try to hide it. Some point fingers so that the ashes of others stand out that theirs might go unnoticed. Some deny it.  Some rationalize or minimize and still others wallow in it.  But we are all left dirty…’For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ the Bible says.  And because of that I cannot be in the presence of God.  Even one speck of the dirtiness of this world would be too much to allow me in the presence of God’s purity.  And that is why He came!

Jesus came to enter into our ashes.

                For the lonely, he became rejected.

                For the abused, he was beaten.

                For the sick, he agonized.

                For the ridiculed, he was spit upon.

                For the sins of us all, he suffered.

                For the death we fear, he made his own.

                Ashes…that is what today is about.  I suppose we’d rather skip ahead to the joy of Easter, but we cannot understand Easter, if we don’t first look at the ashes.  Today, Ash Wednesday, begins the 40 days of Lent (Lent is derived from the word that means to lengthen for this is the time of year at which the days begin to grow longer).  The 40 days of Lent call us to REFOCUS on such disturbing themes as repentance, sacrifice and submission reminding us of the sacrificial love of Christ.

These 40 days present to us a personal challenge: “What will you give up for the next forty days leading up to Easter?  (And no, it is not a Catholic thing…it is a Christian thing).    The purpose of making this choice to give up something that you will miss and crave is so that you might turn that longing to Christ; that you will allow that sense of loss to focus you on your dependence on Christ. It is really a type of forty day fast. The forty days are the Mondays-Saturdays from now until Easter.  Not the Sundays, because every Sunday is a mini-Easter celebration.  So, for the next 40 Mondays-Saturdays, what will you give up as your way of remembering what Jesus gave up for us?  Let every time you think of that which you gave up be a moment of reflection and prayer. 

Someone once said we can either walk the long, hard journey up the mountain called Lent or we can take the air conditioned bus straight to Easter?  Which will you choose?  For those of you who will choose the former you will find that it is the burden of the climb that makes the brilliance of Easter shine all the brighter.  Come on…what do you say?  Let’s get off the bus and follow Jesus up the hill called Calvary.