Ash Wednesday 2013 Sermon- Ashes and Dust

Genesis 1:7, 21-23 

⁷then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.²¹So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²²And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.”

Genesis 3:17-19 

¹⁷And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; ¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Sermon – Ashes and Dust

         What a quick transition God made!  In the first scripture from Genesis 2, we have God creating Man and then Woman from the dust of the earth.  Essentially, God is blessing the dust.  God is breathing life into the dust.  If you use your imagination, God isn’t just breathing into the dust, but God is putting mouth against mouth to the human formed dust.  The last time I checked, that was called “kissing.”  Of course, this is a holy kiss – a kiss we probably can’t imagine ourselves – a kiss that only God is capable of giving, but it was a kiss nonetheless. 

         In Scene Two in Genesis 3, the dust now becomes a curse.  It becomes a source of labor.  The very dust that humans were formed from will now be the very dust that they will toil over as they farm, build homes, build cities, and make lives…all of this because of sin.  The sin was eating of the fruit.  Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and God being God knew that Adam and Eve had much better sense than that – They had to face their consequences. 

         The wonder of Scripture is that it’s not just a story of Ancient events or even just words of wisdom.  It’s a living and breathing text that speaks to us in modern times!  We are dust.  That is a scientific fact.  We will return to dust. That, too, is a scientific fact. 

         Of course, the first part of what I just said – that we are made of dust, is something that we don’t mind thinking about.  In fact, when we imagine it, we are God’s special creation.  We are God’s sculpture with God’s life breathed into each of us.  The second part is the part that most of us wish I would not mention, or that I would mention just in passing.  If you want complete honesty, I would love to avoid this topic myself!

          Everyone in this room (and for that matter, everyone out of this room) has a 100% chance of dying.  The reality is that no one escapes this life alive.  Not one of us knows the day nor the hour nor how it will happen.  All we know is that it will undoubtedly happen.  We will die!  For some of us, it will be painless.  For others of us, it may be painful.  For some of us, it may be unexpected.  For others, it may be after a long life.  None of us are promised another day, or for that matter, none of us are promised another minute on this earth. 

         For a moment, let’s dwell in that tension between life and death.  Even those of us who know Christ as Savior, in the back of our minds, we’d probably be lying if we said we didn’t harbor at least a little fear of death.  But, what exactly do we fear? Do we fear that we don’t believe exactly the right thing? If that’s the test, then none of us have hope.  Do we fear that the day we die, we may harbor a little resentment against God or be in a state of sin? Then again, none of us have hope.  Being saved is not about getting every belief perfect, but it does involve serious belief and reflection.  It doesn’t involve never sinning, but it does involve doing your best to avoid sin.  God is gracious enough to know that we are human and to know that we have flaws, but we still are required to cooperate with God's Grace in our lives.  

         The good news is that what we call death is not the end.  Though our body turns back to the dust of the Earth, our soul will be reunited with our Creator.  And one day, when Christ returns to redeem the world – notice I didn’t say “end the world” – When Christ comes to redeem the world, our bodies, in some sort of “heavenly state” will be reunited eternally with our souls.  What this "heavenly body" will look like is a mystery.  I sure hope (for my sake) that it will be better than what I see in the mirror each morning, but whatever it looks like, it will be what God intended.  This dust will be made new again in the form that God first intended that humanity destroyed through sin.

         As we enter the Lenten season, this is a time to reflect on our sins to prepare for the new reality made possible through Christ’s resurrection on Easter.  Some people give something up.  I’ll confess that I’m not good at that because I’ve never seen the point. It does my spirit no good to give up chocolate or meat or bread or TV.  If that works for you, then by all means, do it – but remember WHY you do it.  It won’t make you more holy. God won’t love you more. If you fail, God won’t hate you. And remember what Jesus said about practicing piety and holiness and good works in the book of Matthew Chapter 6.  I’ll summarize – If you’re going to show off or make the rest of us miserable by your complaining – eat the darn chocolate because you’re missing the point and you’re sinning and you're plain being irritating.  Another practice – one I’m going to try this year is something that was thought up by a group called Rethink Church.  (At the bottom of this sermon is a list of what Rethink Church proposed).  On this handout lists each day of Lent.  It gives a theme for each day.  In some way, you can represent or live out that theme.  They recommend you do a photo challenge where you take a picture of that theme and be creative.  But, if you are a poet, why not write a poem?  Why not find a scripture? Why not draw a picture? Why not find a picture and glue it to a notebook?  Your choices are limitless. 

         However you decide to observe Lent, remember that the focus is God – not you. God is always the subject.  We are merely the actors.

         But for a moment, let’s go back to tonight’s them – Dust and Ashes.  Chemically they are very similar.  Ashes in Biblical times represented mourning and grief.  Tonight, we dwell in the land of grief, but again, we know that we don’t stay here.  We grieve our own mortality.  We grieve Christ’s Sufferings.  We grieve our Sins.  We represent all of that by receiving the mark of ashes. 

In a few moments, we will receive the ashes as a symbol of our mortality and repentance of our sins, but first, Let us pray together Psalm 51 as we confess our sins to God.  As an anecdote, it was 5 years ago, not to the date, but to this particular service, that through this Psalm, this prayer that I received a confirmation from God that I was indeed called to the ministry.  It was the assurance that I needed to know that it wasn't just a passing thought or a mere "good idea" to serve the church more deeply but rather a true calling to dedicate my life to God's Church.

Psalm 51

¹Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

⁴Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

⁵Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

⁹Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

¹⁴Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

¹⁷The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,

¹⁹then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Rethink Church's Lenten Challenge

Ash Wednesday Sermon 2012 "Why I Hate Lent"

Yes, the title of the sermon is deliberately misleading....This is not a theological masterpiece, but I do believe it gets to the heart of the matter.  Here is the Scripture and the Sermon:

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

“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. 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. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

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. ⁶But 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.

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. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so 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.

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

SERMON

         They say that confession is good for the soul.  So, let me make a confession.  I don’t like Lent.  I never have.  Don’t get me wrong.  The concept is great.  Maybe I phrased it poorly.  Maybe I should have said, “I have never been a fan of how Lent is observed.” 

         In a few minutes, we have the part of the service where I give you ideas for how to observe Lent.  I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it’s going to involve things like prayer, reflection, fasting, repentance, and giving up things you like.

         I’ve always felt weird at Lent.  I’m not good at giving up things I like.  One year, before I was a pastor, I realized that I loved going to church.  I asked my pastor if I caught God in a technicality if I were to give up going to church for Lent.  I only got a blank stare followed by a nervous chuckle for a response.  Seriously, however, I love chocolate.  Trust me, you don’t know how much I LOVE chocolate.  How is giving that up going to bring me closer to God?  I tried it before.  I found myself resenting God because I gave it up supposedly for Him, even though He didn’t ask me to it, and I was miserable.  My fast lasted almost the better part of an hour.  I finally gave into my temptation after about 40 minutes of torture.  Then I worried that God hated me.  I thought I was an evil and horrible person.  Basically I missed the boat of the real meaning of Lent.  Lent isn’t about giving up one thing, it’s about a relationship with God.

         As a child, I attended a church where Lenten discipline was strictly encouraged.  Actually, we were guilt tripped into observing Lent.  The logic went something like this - If Christ could give up his life for us, we certain could give up chocolate for him – or so we were told.  To my 7 year old mind, my sacrifice seemed much more severe than his…he only suffered on the cross for 3 hours….they wanted me to do this for 40 days. 

         As the years went on, and I started to understand what Lent was supposed to mean, I found myself feeling more and more guilty, because I couldn’t, or maybe wouldn’t, give up even the smallest things.  What was the point? I’d ask.  God isn’t going to like me more because I give up something so trivial as chocolate. 

         When the movie “The Passion of the Christ” came out, we got to see in graphic detail the brutal torture Christ went through.  Suddenly, giving up chocolate seemed pointless in comparison.  Christ gave everything…What could I give that could even come close?  Then, suddenly I realized the answer.  I have nothing to give that could be even close to what Christ gave.  And in case you haven’t figured it out, neither do you.  All of this fasting, praying, and giving things up isn’t to give something back to God…it’s to bring us closer to God.  Isn’t it sad that it took a movie for me to get that?  It’s so clear in the Bible – if only we’d realize what discipleship is all about.  Yes, Christ tells us to take up our own cross…but it’s the cross of discipleship.  Discipleship may involve suffering, and yes, even death, but our death does not bring redemption like Christ’s.  It’s just our passing from one life to the next.

         In our Gospel reading, Jesus directly addresses how we should practice our piety.  Now that’s a fancy word – “Piety.”  All it means is the stuff you do to grow spiritually.  That could mean good deeds, prayer, worship, devotions, reading your bible, and so forth.  Basically, he tells us not to be show-offs.

         We sure live in a “show off” culture!  Watch a football game…someone makes a touchdown (in other words, does his job), and acts like he saved the world.  Watch a politician win an election, (that is convince more people that he or she is a better candidate), and you’d think this person thinks he or she is the 2^nd coming.  If you ever had to write a resume, you probably know what I’m talking about.  Your previous jobs go from being a normal everyday job to one that changes the entire rotation of the Earth.  We feel that if we don’t show off, even a little, we’re not noticed.  We need to be “bigger than we really are.”

         Maybe that’s true.  Maybe people won’t notice us if we don’t show off.  But, that’s the point of the Gospel tonight.  Jesus is telling us that people shouldn’t notice us.  Only God should notice us.  And there’s nothing too small for God to notice.

         Maybe I’ve never been a fan of Lent because of how many people treat this season.  What should be a holy time turns into a “show off” time.  We’ve all seen it, and probably most of us, me included, have done it – we act miserable because we can’t eat that piece of chocolate.  We let everyone know that we’re giving more to the church or that we took the money set aside to buy a new (and obviously “well deserved) TV and donated it to charity.  Our faces look paler, we break into a sweat, we look tired, our expressions are dismal, and plain and simple, some of us are just no fun to be around.  Then the issue of sin comes up.  While people should recognize their own sins more, many seem more critical of the sins of others.  Through fasting and reflection on themselves, they “magically” get insight into how others should live their lives.  I’m not quite sure of the logic there, but I’ve seen it happen way too many times.  And they’re never kind about pointing it out.  It’s always blunt and usually rude. I have to wonder if they just ate the stupid piece chocolate they gave up in the first place if they’d be more bearable to the rest of us. 

         So, whatever you choose to do this Lent, and I highly encourage you to do something – give up something, set aside a time of day to pray every day, fast one day a week, donate to the needy, volunteer…something.  Even if you have to change it to something else, please remember that it’s not for God to love you more, it’s for you to get closer to knowing God. 

         Tonight, we’re going to start Lent by placing ashes on our foreheads.  Ashes are a symbol of sin and the fact that we all return to the ground – that is we all die.  But, I’m sure it’s no accident that the ashes will be in the shape of a cross.  That shows us that even though we sin, even though we die, there is the one who died on the cross that made forgiveness and eternal life possible.

         There’s nothing magical about these ashes.  They won’t do anything to you except serve as a reminder. They’ll remind you that you belong to God.  And though you’ll wash the ashes away, you can never wash God away.  Even when you try to chase God out of your life – and we all do that from time to time – God just won’t leave.  And for that, we can be thankful.