Ash Wednesday. The beginning of the season of Lent.
This is a special time in the Christian year. It is a time of reflection on who we are, who God is, and what God has done for us in Christ. This season of reflection begins as we consider our mortality-- Remember, O mortal, that you are dust; and to dust you shall return.
I have deep appreciation for our Ash Wednesday liturgy, which includes these words: "We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance, and for the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes. This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life, and marks the penitence of this community." (Book of Common Worship)
If the proclamation of Easter is salvation from our sins, then surely the stark reminder of Ash Wednesday is that we are sinners who need salvation. The Psalm at the center of our observance of Ash Wednesday is Psalm 51, which begins with a desperate plea to God, "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." (Psalm 51:1-2)
I invite you to join us for worship at 6:00 p.m. at Georgetown Presbyterian Church on Wednesday, March 1. Come, that together we might recognize our mortality and declare our utter dependence on God for life.
When my wife and I travelled to Scotland in the spring of 2016, I was fascinated by the old, old cemeteries that were scattered across the landscape. Certainly they serve as a reminder that our days on earth are numbered. And yet...
And yet, even in the midst of death, there were constant signs of hope. It might sound crazy, but I fell in love with the Celtic crosses that dominate the Scottish cemeteries. They rise up so majestically from the ground, lifting our eyes to heaven. The cross, of course, is the symbol of Christian hope, for by the cross of Christ we are told that God has answered our mortality with eternal life.
My point is this: We may come to Ash Wednesday, where the focus is our sinfulness, our brokenness, our mortality -- our need for a Savior. That's how we come to Ash Wednesday, but that's not how we leave. For after we have received the ashes on our forehead (in the shape of a cross, by the way), we come forward once again to receive Holy Communion.
Our confession of sin and our need for redemption is answered with the immeasurable grace and love of God in Jesus Christ!
Because that's who God is. God is love, and God is not content to let us remain in our sin. In Jesus Christ, God comes to us and offers us healing, and peace, and salvation.
"I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a holy Lent by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by works of love, and by reading and meditating on the Word of God. Let us bow before God, our Creator and Redeemer, and confess our sin" (Book of Common Worship).
I promise that God will answer our prayers with his love and his grace.
Because that's who God is.
