194 Living in Ashes

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Living in Ashes”, originally shared on February 28, 2022. It was the 194^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

    Someone once actually asked me, “What day is Ash Wednesday this year?” Ok, I’m pretty sure they meant, “What date…?”, but there are things about Ash Wednesday that may seem obvious, but that are not clear to everyone, like the meaning of ashes for living life. Today, we’re going to see what that means.

   “Finlandia” is a powerful tone poem written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in 1899 and 1900 to represent events in Finnish history after the Russian empire occupied Finland and had begun to censor the press. It is a protest song, a song of resistance.

   There are two hymns that use the “Finlandia Hymn” portion of “Finlandia” in ELW, or “Evangelical Lutheran Worship”, published for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America movement. It’s informally known as “The Cranberry Book, not “The Red Book”, which was “The Service Book and Hymnal”, or SBH published two hymn and service books ago. (Shout-out to all of you hymnal nerds out there.)

   One is # 792, “When Memory Fades”, a hymn of praise to God as we approach old age or diminishing capacity. I saw a T-shirt the other day that said, “It’s weird being the same age as old people.” But if, like me, you’re old, or you think that someday you might be old, this hymn might be worth taking a look at.

   The other is # 887 “This is My Song”, which is found in the small National Songs section of the ELW. It’s a hymn that that acknowledges the love that everyone has for their country and emphasizes God’s love for all nations. The second verse of the hymn ends with a song to God, who is God of all, for peace for our nation and for theirs.

   This coming Wednesday we will celebrate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Church’s season of Lent. We will have the sign of the cross smeared on our foreheads with oil and ashes (typically made by burning some of last year’s Palm Sunday palms).

   This year, we will be thinking about the people of Ukraine, living in ashes, walking in ashes, fighting in ashes, and watching ashes being made. We will be praying for peace in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, for our nation and for theirs.

   We will pray for the day when rebellion against God ends, and sin no longer brings evil and suffering into the perfect world God created, and there is a new heaven and a new earth without end.

   And we will begin the 40 days of Lent between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday (excluding Sundays, which are like little Easters) as we prepare to celebrate the reconciliation between God and humanity that was accomplished for us on the cross. It is a model for how we are to be reconciled with one another.

   Lent is a time for honest self-examination, a time to repent of the wrong that we have done.

   Part of that repentance is the resolve not to repeat what we have done that grieves God and has led us away from God.

   Lent is the engagement in that struggle against the things that are killing us and a time to turn to God and know the abundant life that is God’s will for all people.

   We will begin the season of Lent, the preparatory season of the Easter Cycle, with these words from Jesus in Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21.

   They begin with verse 1,

 6 “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

   Doesn’t it seem odd to read these verses on Ash Wednesday, when we practice our piety in the most public fashion of the whole year?

   I mean, we could say that we are doing it at night, and most of us will be going straight home after the service. Still.

   But the verses don’t stop at “Beware of practicing your piety before others.” I mean, isn’t this the same Jesus who said, in Matthew 5:15-16,

¹⁵ No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

   The warning that Jesus gives is against the religious expressions we do before others, “in order to be seen by them.”

   It’s not the action, it’s the motivation. What could fall into this category in a culture that is increasingly indifferent, if not hostile, to expressions of religious belief? We can’t see a person’s motivation, but I sometimes wonder about people who put lots of praying hands emojis in their texts, or wear big crosses on TV, or do things that are the religious equivalent to what our secular culture calls “virtue signaling”.

   We are to let our lights shine, but to glorify God, not ourselves. We continue Matthew 6, verse 2,

² “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

   Rich guys used to literally have public parades in the Temple, complete with trumpeters, to call attention to their giving as they dropped bags of coins into the alms boxes! Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t do that.” 😊

   We are to let our lights shine, but to glorify God, not ourselves. The reading continues with Matthew 6, verse 5,

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

   How many of us have said, “I’ll pray for you,” and don’t and then see that person and send up a quick prayer and say, “I’ve been praying for you”? 😊 Yeah, I’m not the only one. God sees and God knows.

   We are to let our lights shine, but to glorify God, not ourselves. The passage continues with Matthew 6, verse 16,

¹⁶ “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

   Pro tip: don’t fast unless you check with your doctor first. If you do fast, or do anything that you believe will help you grow spiritually, don’t do to make yourself look good to others. God sees the heart.

   I fasted once for three days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The college food service said that if we wanted to fast as a sign of repentance and regret and if we registered our action with them, they would send the money saved to an organization supported by Dr. King. So I did, but I kept up my regular activities, including running which was not very smart. I was younger then but still. If you’re going to fast keep up your regular activities, sure, but check with your medical professional first. And, yes, I guess I am kind of virtue signaling here. :-/       

   We are to let our lights shine, but to glorify God, not ourselves. Jesus concludes this passage, beginning at Matthew 6, verse19,

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

   Our money is a portable form of value. The way we use our money is an expression of what we value. Do you want to know what you value? Look at your credit card statement, or your checkbook records, or your budget.

   Martin Luther, the 16^th century reformer, once said, “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.”

   On Ash Wednesday, the sign of the cross will be drawn on our foreheads with ashes. It’s a reminder to us of, as we have seen in Ukraine, how quickly things can turn.

   The ashes will be applied to us with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

   We will be reminded of the big picture.

   Jesus once asked, in Mark 8:36-37, speaking of those who would be his followers,

³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

   This week, the source of our lives will be drawn with ashes.

   Ashes seem to be the end of things, but they can also symbolize its beginning.

   As Paul writes in Romans 6:3-5,

³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 

   I once read about the first missionaries to the Fiji Islands. At that time, Fiji wasn’t a site for destination weddings. The occupants were cannibals. No ship would go there. They would only drop anchor long enough for people to bring boats out to the ships with fresh water to trade for consumer goods.

   The missionaries had to buy tickets to Japan, and when they got to Fiji they asked the captain to drop them off there. The captain said, “You can’t stay here. If you go there they’ll eat you. If you go there you’ll die.”

   The leader of the group said, “We died before we came.”

   Death is a past-tense experience for the baptized. We are living in ashes.

   Our ashes are a sign of hope, a promise given by our baptism, a gift from God, the hope of the world. We have entered into new life, we are a new creation, we have been born again.

   Let that be the value by which we live our lives as we begin a new Lenten season. And may it lead us to renewed lives in the promises of Easter.

193 The Go-figuration

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “The Go-figuration”, originally shared on February 24, 2022. It was the 193^rd video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.) 

   Jesus was transfigured on a mountain and manifested some of his heavenly glory. Peter and James and John, who he had taken with him, had to go-figure what they had seen. Today, we’re going to do the same.

   I was standing the other day on a road on top of a hill next to a house that was built in the 1950’s with a 360-degree-view rooftop patio. We had several sunrise services there when I served a church in San Dimas. On a clear day, you can see quite far, all around and to downtown LA.

   One day during his public ministry, Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter and James and John, to a mountain top where he was transfigured before them. Moses and Elijah, who had been dead for hundreds of years, representing the Law and the Prophets, appeared with him. He spoke with them about his coming death in Jerusalem.

   The three disciples Jesus took with him couldn’t fathom what they were seeing with their own eyes. Go figure.

   They would have about four months to process what they had seen before Jesus was crucified and then rose from the dead, and even then they couldn’t fathom it. Go figure. 

   It wasn’t until about 50 days from then, on the Day of Pentecost, when they received the Holy Spirit and 3,000 people were saved in a single day, that they did understand it. OK, that figures.

   Here’s what happened on the mountain. It’s also recorded in Matthew and Mark, and there are references in 2 Peter and possibly John, but today we’re going to take a look at Luke 9:28-36, starting with the first two verses,

²⁸ Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.

   It was eight days after Peter had said for the first time out loud, when Jesus asked him who Peter said that he was, in Luke 9:20: Peter answered, “You are the Messiah of God.” and now Jesus is transfigured into something of his heavenly appearance, and we see Peter terrified in the presence of God. Go figure.

   The traditional site for the Transfiguration is Mt. Tabor, about 9 miles from Nazareth. It’s not much of a mountain, but it stands out on the plain near Nazareth. I climbed it when I was a student on a semester abroad in college and it’s no big deal. I climbed it in the rain, though, and when I got to the top, the Greek Orthodox monastery there was not taking in tourists. So, I climbed down in the rain. I did not have a mountain top experience. Peter and James and John had one, but they didn’t get it. Go figure.

   We continue with Luke 9:30,

 ³⁰ Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹ They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

   What, was he catching a flight? What departure was he to accomplish? He was to die. He was to take his life back again, and he was to ascend into Heaven. He was going to depart this earth, and his trip was not going to be delayed or canceled. He was talking about it openly with Moses and Elijah. We continue with Luke 9:32,

 ³² Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³ Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 

   It’s interesting, isn’t it that Peter and James and John were tired, but since they had stayed awake, they saw Jesus and Moses and Elijah in their glory. But when Jesus told them to stay awake on the Mt. of Olives on the night he was arrested, they fell asleep! Go figure.

   They were awake on the mountain of the Transfiguration, but they were not thinking too clearly. Peter suggested they make everybody comfortable. Luke was not too kind toward the disciple and included the detail, “not knowing what he said”.

   Now it was about to get better, and worse! We continue with Luke 9:34,

³⁴ While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

   Just like on another mountain, Mt. Sinai, a cloud came and overshadowed them. The disciples were terrified. They knew what it meant. Then a voice came from the cloud, and it was the voice of God!

   And when God had finished speaking they looked again, and Jesus was standing there without Moses and Elijah. “Jesus was found alone.”

   I’ve had mountain-top experiences. Like Mt. Tabor, they don’t have to be huge. They just have to stand out from the plain. They stand out from ordinary life because they allow us to see the bigger picture of things.

   But, like Jesus showed his disciples, we can’t live in those mountain top experiences. At least, not yet. And we can’t really commemorate those events. They are, by definition, singular experiences.

   That is the way it should be, I think.

   I look at the mountains near us and I know why. Nothing grows at the top of the really tall ones. Growth takes place in the valleys, where the fertile soil is.

   Mountain top experiences give us a vision of the big picture and what is to be in the Kingdom of God. Change, transformation and growth happens in the here and now down in what often seem like the valleys of life, the places where God makes things grow.

   Jesus was not just a prophet or a teacher or a moral example. Jesus was God. And Jesus went to Jerusalem to die. Could the message be any clearer?

   And yet, when the events in Jerusalem began to unfold, the disciples acted like nothing had happened on the mountain. Go figure.

   We see the disciples at the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, and we respond with a lot of “Go-figuration.”

   The Holy Spirit, the streams of living water welling up from within us, finally enlightens us and empowers us to share what we have seen and know.

   In the end, like those seemingly dense, and imperfect, disciples, our “Go-figuration” ends with the commission of Jesus on yet another mountain with just “Go”, as in Matthew 28:16-20.

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”