Pr. John's Message
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is a wake-up call; we are forced to face our mortality and our sinfulness. We hear scripture that is urgent and vivid. We say words of penitence that take our breath away, or should. Ash Wednesday is a tough day, but take heart; Ash Wednesday is probably the last religious day that will not fall into the clutches of retailers. There aren’t any Hallmark cards celebrating sin and death; no shop windows are decked out with sackcloth and ashes. That makes this day very special; we can face the truth of our creation, we come from dust and the truth of our destiny, to dust we will return. In between is the glorious opportunity to live in freedom… free from human ambition; free from prideful denial; free from fear, free; to echo Dr. Martin Luther King; “Free at last, Thank God Almighty, free at last!”
It doesn’t matter who you are, others will find fault. If you work hard, people will say you’re uptight. If you enjoy life, people will say you’re lazy. If you’re wealthy, people will think you used and abused others to become rich. If you’re poor, people will look down on you, pity you, and assume you are incompetent. It doesn’t matter who you are, people can always find fault; they can always find a way to put you down. The deep truth of Ash Wednesday… all those judgments do not matter.
We are human beings, dust, the beloved dust of God. Each of us is of ultimate worth in the eyes of God. We are created for eternity. What is someone’s criticism compared to that? We are free, free of other’s judgment!
We spend so much energy on things that don’t matter; how we dress… what people think of us… what we have or what others have that we would want to have. Will we get a promotion at work? Whose team is going to win? We spend so much time and energy worrying and wondering about things that don’t matter.
This is why we need to take this time of Lent as a period of self-examination and penance. Stop! Look! We need to look at our lives, remember what we are made of, remember where we are going and let go of all those things that don’t really matter; all those things that get in the way of loving God, loving others and being loved by God and by others.
Our freedom is the manner in which we were created. We are nothing but dust. But we are very precious dust; molded and formed in the womb by a loving God. Precious, precious and beloved are you.John