Sermon - 2020-02-26 - Ash Wednesday
Your phone rings and it is your child’s number. “Hi Timmy, what are you up to?” The voice on the other end is not your son, Timmy. “Hello, Mrs. Johnson, this is the Sheriff's Office. I am calling to let you know that your son was involved in an automobile accident. Can you find someone to bring you to the First Memorial Hospital?” You have to sit down. You can not believe what it is you just heard. “Yes, I will be there.” Nothing else matters right now, you want to get to the hospital there for your son. Ellen saw you on the phone and that you had to sit down. She comes over and asks if everything is alright. “I need to get to First Memorial Hospital.” Ellen understands and gets you there. You get to the ER and Timmy is there on a hospital bed, awake, but you can see the scrapes. Timmy says, “I am so sorry about the car. I will buy a new one.” None of that matters though. What matters is he is there and you are there, together.
Ash Wednesday comes in the midst of our busy lives. It causes us to slow down and stop to reflect. On Ash Wednesday, we gather together as million of Christians to be reminded that we have been called claimed and are loved by God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. Being marked by ashes in the sign of the cross, we are reminded of who we belong to. We are reminded that we are mortal, that one day, we will no longer walk this earth. However, we put our faith and trust in God who claims and promises that we will allows be in His loving arms.
To put ashes upon oneself, is an ancient tradition. People would often do this as a sign of mourning with great grief. It is also echoes within our hearts and minds those who have gone before you, who strived to give you what it is that was passed down to you. Today, we remember what Jesus Christ has done for us. That we have been brought into Baptism, cleansed of all our sins, and forgiven so that we are in the family of God. So it is this moment that is the beginning of our relationship with God that we are brought back to so that we begin our journey of life, faith and Lent.
We begin our Lenten season, to reflect upon our lives, to examine how it is we are spending our days. Not simply running from one activity to the next so that life becomes a blur and by the time you come to the end, you wonder what you did. No, Lent causes us to slow down, to become more aware of ourselves and our lives so we actually enjoy and share our lives with loved ones. Along with that, we may be reminded of our Creator and Sustainer and hear our created purpose in the world. That we may be reminded that we are in need of God in our daily lives. So tonight, we slow down, sit and begin that time of reflection in our lives.
The other moment besides Lent that we are reminded of this is at every funeral. Here, at a funeral, I am reminded that we enter into the world on a certain date, then in an instant that we do not know, we are gone. Called home to our Heavenly Father. However, there is a small symbol of a dash that marks all that we have done, the people whom we have loved and the impact that we have had upon the lives of others in this world. This dash has so much within it. So many people, so many events, and so many emotions. However, in the midst of that dash, may we also include the love, grace and mercy that comes to us from our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ. That we may experience that love here and now but also share that love that has no end with our family, friends and this community.
Tonight, we gather together to receive ashes upon our foreheads in the sign of the cross. It is the very forehead, where we, as children of God, receive the sign of the cross at our Baptism. This Baptismal journey of forgiveness is how we shall journey together every week. Truly it is not our works that help us to receive this love of God but it is a gift that is given to us.
Ash Wednesday comes in the midst of our busy lives. It causes us to slow down and stop to reflect. On Ash Wednesday, we gather together as million of Christians to be reminded that we have been called claimed and are loved by God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. Being marked by ashes in the sign of the cross, we are reminded of who we belong to. We are reminded that we are mortal, that one day, we will no longer walk this earth. However, we put our faith and trust in God who claims and promises that we will allows be in His loving arms.
To put ashes upon oneself, is an ancient tradition. People would often do this as a sign of mourning with great grief. It is also echoes within our hearts and minds those who have gone before you, who strived to give you what it is that was passed down to you. Today, we remember what Jesus Christ has done for us. That we have been brought into Baptism, cleansed of all our sins, and forgiven so that we are in the family of God. So it is this moment that is the beginning of our relationship with God that we are brought back to so that we begin our journey of life, faith and Lent.
We begin our Lenten season, to reflect upon our lives, to examine how it is we are spending our days. Not simply running from one activity to the next so that life becomes a blur and by the time you come to the end, you wonder what you did. No, Lent causes us to slow down, to become more aware of ourselves and our lives so we actually enjoy and share our lives with loved ones. Along with that, we may be reminded of our Creator and Sustainer and hear our created purpose in the world. That we may be reminded that we are in need of God in our daily lives. So tonight, we slow down, sit and begin that time of reflection in our lives.
The other moment besides Lent that we are reminded of this is at every funeral. Here, at a funeral, I am reminded that we enter into the world on a certain date, then in an instant that we do not know, we are gone. Called home to our Heavenly Father. However, there is a small symbol of a dash that marks all that we have done, the people whom we have loved and the impact that we have had upon the lives of others in this world. This dash has so much within it. So many people, so many events, and so many emotions. However, in the midst of that dash, may we also include the love, grace and mercy that comes to us from our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ. That we may experience that love here and now but also share that love that has no end with our family, friends and this community.
Tonight, we gather together to receive ashes upon our foreheads in the sign of the cross. It is the very forehead, where we, as children of God, receive the sign of the cross at our Baptism. This Baptismal journey of forgiveness is how we shall journey together every week. Truly it is not our works that help us to receive this love of God but it is a gift that is given to us.
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