Ash Wednesday Meditation

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, Psalm 51

Joel calls for us to gather the congregation, all the people, the aged, the children, even the infants, let everyone come to the sanctuary. Let us declare a holy fast, and let us all be sanctified together. The words of the prophet echo down through the centuries to us, to this day of Ashes. So we gather here this evening, because we are called, called together as a sacred assembly so that we may embark upon this holy season of Lent.

We come confessing that we know are sinners. In my denomination, we like to talk about holiness. We like to talk about sanctification. We like to talk about living the perfected life of those who seek to be holy as the Lord God is holy, to talk about being ones who seek to be transformed daily into the image of Christ. What we do not like to talk about is why we need to be made holy, and why this transformation although being through and through must be sought after daily. The truth is we are all sinners, even the holiest among us. We all fall short of the glory of God. Although, we seek to reflect the love of God and the heart of Christ in all we do, and know what it means to live lives of perfected and perfecting love, we still so often fail to love the Lord our God with all heart, soul and strength, and we do not always love our neighbor as ourselves, as Christ has called us to do.

Even those who know the sanctification of our Lord, do not always see clearly what it means to be a person of God, in all things, at all times. We all bend toward sinning as a reed bends in the wind. And we seek to be straight and turn only toward God in all things.

And so this Ash Wednesday we all have come we all have gathered, we have heard the call of Joel this evening and have made a sacred assembly. We have gathered to remember that we are all in need of the salvation Jesus Christ offers, that we all need to be made holy, and stand before our God this evening are lifted up, hands upturned ready to receive the sanctification of the Lord.

We come ready to repent; ready to turn from all that mars, from all that draws us away, from all that stands between us and our God. We come knowing all too many times we have heard the call of God upon our hearts and our lives and have not turned into that calling. We come realizing there are things we know we should have done, that we neglected to do, even refused to do, or have simply let fall to the side of our busy lives and then passed on by. We confess there are things we have done, we knew we should not have done; which we understood how they would turn us to one side or the other, away from Christ, we recognized the harm found in doing them, but choose to do them anyway. There are things we have done, and we only saw once they were done how they allowed us to participate in unintentional harm. We look at the systems of our world, of our society, the paths down which we are lead and sometimes don’t know how to find a way around; that are broken, that hurt do harm to those around us; that are unjust to which we find we are too often “unwilling” participants, but participants nonetheless. Oh Lord, have mercy. There is all this fallen-ness in our world and we understand the ways in which we participate in the brokenness and pain here.

To all this we confess. We are deeply sorry. Oh, Lord, it pains us. Have mercy on us. We confess.  Forgive us, Oh, Lord! We long for your grace, for your kindness, your mercy; to know your forgiveness anew this evening.

 So we gather, we come here to this place at this time, the beginning of the Lenten season, seeking to be made new, to be cleansed once again, so that we can enter into this season with clean hands and holy hearts. We come together longing to know you more, to be drawn close to you, to know you more fully, so that we may closer resemble who you are in all we do.

As we journey with Christ toward the cross this Lent it is our desire to do so by participating first of all in the great communal fast, for which this season is most known. In this world of plenty, in this culture of more, faster, or better yet, NOW, we choose to make a commitment to abstain from something readily available to us, to something from which we draw pleasure, from perhaps something we need, so that in saying, “No,” we may make space for saying, “Yes” to you; we practice saying, “No,” to the things of this world and learn how to better say, “Yes,” to the things of your kingdom. So we come together and commit to a holy and sacred fast, giving to you that from which we abstain, and receiving from you all that you would give.

We desire to fast worthily. We do not fast communally so that we can be counted among the saints. We do not do so to be counted among the pious, or so others may see and think highly of us. It is not in the eyes of others that we are made holy, but only in seeking after you sincerely. We choose to fast out of a desire to truly know you, to prepare ourselves to remember Christ’s death and come Lent’s end celebrate his resurrection. We know in practicing this kind of “No,” we are training ourselves to ultimately say, “Yes” to you, to Christ’s call to take up own crosses and to follow him.

We also desire to join with Jesus who prayed for 40 days in the desert. So together with the Church, we set aside these forty days specifically for the purpose of prayer. Together with Christians throughout the world (and down through the ages) this in Lenten season we commit to prayer. We set aside these days to pray, understanding this is one of the ways we say, “Yes,” to you this season is by committing to spend time in with you, listening to your voice. We remind ourselves, this is not a practice of asking more of you, it is not an endless litany of all we have to say, what we want for ourselves or even for other, but it is a practice of listening to and hearing your voice. We commit to seeking to hearing and understanding what you have to say. We will to sit in the silence, straining to hear you whisper in the gentleness of the wind, to look with the eyes of our heart at the world with the eyes of Christ, that we may see what it means to truly follow him wherever he leads, whatever that means.

As we join with your Son in prayer, let us commit not only to a sacred time of fasting, and prayer, but also to giving of the gifts you have given to us to others, also known as almsgiving. Let us like the widow sincerely, humbly and faithfully give out of our poverty (or out of our wealth as it may be). Let us give, as Christ calls us to give, discretely so that we may not gain our reward in the recognition and praise of those around us, but to give as Christ gave, so we may share in the nature of Christ, who willing gave of himself and all he is to the Church, and to all the world. Let us give in hope that in following Christ’s example, we may be healed and be reunited in Eden like communion with our God.

We see ourselves for who we are this evening. We acknowledge our brokenness. We are aware of the illness that is our sin and seek to be made whole and holy; to be healed and made clean in your presence. We join with Christians the world over recognizing our fallen-ness, confessing our need for you and committing to participating in the acts of devotion, of alms-giving, prayer, and fasting which are set aside by your Church at this time to help us draw close to you and to worthily consecrate these forty-days to you, as your son did following his baptism. So we take these crosses, we take them upon our bodies, these cross-shaped ashes on our heads, and follow Christ who also took up his cross for us. Let us bare the imprint of Christ’s sacrifice upon us long after these ashes have been washed away and let us follow him down the path which he leads, to his own cross and beyond.

Oh Lord, we ask that you sanctify us anew this evening, cleanse us and allow us to be made holy, transformed in visage and image, so that we may look like Christ in all things and be Christ all people. Help us, Oh Lord to prepare ourselves for a Holy and Sacred Lent this night! We ask all this of you. Amen and Amen.