Pastor's Page

Our worship cycle is built around Sundays. The four Sundays of Advent, the Sundays in Lent, and the Sundays of Easter — the big holiday, Easter Sunday itself, Pentecost — all are on Sundays!

 

But Ash Wednesday sneaks up on us. This year it is February 22^nd. It's not very convenient. It is an interruption. It doesn't even fall on the same date every year. Christmas, which falls on every day of the week at one time or another, at least has the good sense to fall on the same date — December 25. You can't say to yourself, "Ah, it is February 19, or March 5," or whatever, and know by the date that it is Ash Wednesday.

 

And there's another good reason to try to forget. Ash Wednesday is an unwelcome reminder. A memento mori, the Latin phrase that means, "reminder of my death." You are dust and to dust you will return. Or rather, I am dust, and to dust I must return. I, too, will die.

 

Now what do ashes have to do with all this? It's not magic. There is nothing special about the ashes themselves. Ashes are a symbol of the repentance Job expressed after calling out God and God calling back. Take Job. He repents from dust and ashes, he accepts a new life, he lives like there's no tomorrow, because he now knows there really is a God and it really matters!

 

Lent is not about parties or gifts it‘s about: fasting, lamentation, mourning and repentance; especially repentance. Repentance means so much more than saying I’m sorry. It means changing our ways. Turning around and going in a new direction. That’s what the season of Lent calls us to do. It is never too late for us to repent as individuals, as the church, as a nation, as a world. We return to the Lord, our God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

 

God hasn't given up on us. That's why Ash Wednesday is about more than just ashes. God is sending Jesus to die for us, to live for us. Will we accept the blessing that is coming our way? Will we show to others the same grace God has shown to us?

 

Every year during Lent we are challenged to look within our own hearts, to repent, and restore justice and righteousness in the land. This is the heart of Ash Wednesday. What matters is we begin a journey for Jesus and with Jesus, through death and beyond to resurrection.

 

As we begin another Lenten journey together may we grow spiritually through repentance, fellowship, prayer, fasting and a renewed concentration on God’s Word.