This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10*
We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
”At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Matthew 6:1-6,16-21*
Jesus said, "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.
"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. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"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. 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.
"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. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
REFLECTION
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Unlike this cold start to Lent, on a rainy day in first or second week of Lent 2009 I heard what I took to be a true sign of Spring’s arrival, a distant thunder clap that slowly rumbled into silence. It awakened in me a sense of what Lent (Spring) is all about and led me to write the following poem:
O thunderous Lent, that awakens Earth from its winter-sleep,
That dissolves the pall of sleet and now in foggy mists and pattering rains:
That makes the ground fragrant before leaf and bud appear,
That fans chilled air to warmth by the winged beat of returning bird, and
Marks the end of death and life’s return;
O thunderous Lent, awaken the human soul from its wintry slumber
Dissolve the pall of its certainty within the mists of Mystery
and the waters of Truth;
Arouse it with the fragrance of life yet to be seen;
Warm it with the winged beat of a loving heart, and
Mark it for resurrection, to Life returned..
Ash Wednesday is about wakening the human soul from its slumber, to take an account of itself and rend one’s self open to both the mystery and the truth that we are part of something bigger than the sum of our parts, something bigger than the sum of us all. We share in our being the substance which makes up every being; the solar ash and the cosmic dust that resulted in the formation of earth and permeates all of life which emerged from its primal sludge.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that our time on this planet is short; that life as we know it will come to an end and our physical bodies will return to the dust and ash it proceeded from.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that our fasting is not meant to be a show or a demonstration of what we can live without but rather, as Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians reminds us, what we can live with in order to avoid becoming an obstacle to the grace of God offered to others. In that letter, fasting is cast as endurance of the hardships that life brings; an endurance grounded in “purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God.”
Ash Wednesday is both a sober and liberating moment at the beginning of Lent:
Sober - in the sense that we take a serious look at ourselves and consider deeply what we are doing with our transient lives, where we have been and where we are going; what we have done and what we have left undone. Our consideration is liturgically aided by the Litany of Penitence which serves as a checklist of things we should be thinking about on this day and every day going forward.
Liberating - in the sense that this service is like an annual spiritual exam in which we ask God in Psalm 51 to check us out, to find what is true in us and purge us from what is not; to create in us clean hearts that pulses with love and renewed spirits that refresh us with life-giving breath.
In this unusual time where we are socially distanced, we miss out on the imposition of ashes in the shape of a cross on our foreheads. We miss the human touch of someone imposing on us a greater reality contained in the symbolism of that smeared-on, ashen cross. So let us, on this day, spiritually receive the imposition of that ashen cross on our hearts and minds to not only remind us that we are dust and to dust we will return, but also to remind us that we are marked for resurrection - to Life returned. Amen.
PSALM 51**
Miserere mei, Deus
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
loving-kindness; *
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, *
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned *
and done what is evil in your sight.
And so you are justified when you speak *
and upright in your judgment.
Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
a sinner from my mother’s womb.
For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
that the body you have broken may rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins *
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence *
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again *
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
I shall teach your ways to the wicked, *
and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from death, O God, *
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
O God of my salvation
Open my lips, O Lord, *
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice, *
but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; *
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
LITANY OF PENITENCE**
Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
And to the whole communion of saints
In heaven and on earth,
That we have sinned by our own fault
In thought, word, and deed;
By what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not love you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We have been deaf to our call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives.
We confess to you, Lord
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people
We confess to you, Lord.
Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.
Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.
Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.
Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.
For all false judgments, for uncharitable thought toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt for this who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.
For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.
Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for you mercy is great.
Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.
By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.
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May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen
*The Bible texts of the Old Testament and the Epistle lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
**The liturgy and Psalms are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979
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Until next time, stay faithful.
Norm
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