(Note:
This blog entry is based on the text for “Living in Ashes”, originally shared
on February 28, 2022. It was the 194th 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 16th
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.
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