Ash Wednesday March 1, 2006

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Psalm 51:1-17 2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Remember That You Are Dust

Life goes on for weeks at a time with a normality and a rhythm of its own, but then once a year comes Ash Wednesday with its message: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Ash Wednesday, together with the forty days of Lent that it ushers in, is a time for taking stock and putting things in perspective, remembering that God alone is infinite and yet, through the life, passion, death, and resurrection of the Son of God in our history, the infinite meets the finite. The dust of our humanity can also take on immortality through the power of God in our lives.

In some church traditions, ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of their death and the dust to which they will one day return, "for out of [the ground] you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19, NRSV). The ashes also serve to remind the faithful of the need to repent of their sins. "The LORD said: It isn't too late. You can still return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12a, CEV).

Ash Wednesday and the forty days of Lent that follow is a time for examining our lives once again to see whether we're building on rock or sand -- whether we're building up treasures for ourselves on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, or in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy and robbers cannot break in (Matthew 6:19, 20). It is a time for reflecting on Jesus' words that life that would be saved for oneself will be lost, but those who would lose their life for his sake and the gospel's, will find it (Matthew 16:25).

We, in our mortal bodies, are like the ashes of this Wednesday, finite and, in the end, merely dust. But the season that begins on this day does not end here, but rather with the events of Good Friday and Easter: God delivers himself to dust, and then transforms dust to life so that we might also share in his eternity. Ash Wednesday and the season that follows call us to prayer, reflection, and repentance so that we might put our lives into perspective and affirm with Paul: "I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me" (Galatians 2:20, CEV).

As Christians we affirm that, into this world of human failures, God sent his only son to give his life passionately for us, God's creation, so that we might see our potential, our worth to God, and so that we might do something to reconcile ourselves to each other, to the whole creation, even to ourselves and to our Creator. God invites us to take responsibility for our failures, to repent of our rebellion against God's divine Word and will, and to ask for forgiveness.

This is the mystery of our faith: because Christ died, we also can die to sin; and because Christ has risen, we, too, can rise to changed lives. God's forgiveness is offered freely to all who recognize that they need it. The discipline of Lent is this: to recognize that we sin, and to recognize that in Christ's passion is the power for us to be reconciled to God, to ourselves, to our neighbors, and to the whole creation.

The number forty, representing the days of Lent (beginning with Ash Wednesday, but not counting the Sundays in Lent, and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday), reflects the special meaning of this number. It calls to mind the number of days it rained during the Great Flood (Genesis 7:4,17,18), the days Moses stayed on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:17,18), the years the Israelites wandered in the desert (Numbers 14:33,34; Deuteronomy 2:7), and the days Jesus went without eating in the desert (Matthew 4:2).

The word "Lent" is derived from the same root as "lengthen," since the number of daylight hours lengthens during Lent. The northern hemisphere turns toward the sun, and winter gives way to spring. In Hebrew, the word for repentance is "to turn," just like the earth turns toward the sun.

"But even now," says the LORD, "repent sincerely and return to me..." Come back to the LORD your God. He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise; he is always ready to forgive and not punish. (Joel 2:12a, 13b GNT) The Reflection for Ash Wednesday was prepared by the Rev. Lydia Lebron, who is an ordained minister with the United Methodist Church.