In our home, here, in the UK (and indeed throughout the West), we feel we are living in an increasingly precarious world. The issues and dilemmas that face us feel uniquely complex to our generation. We feel as if we are entering uncharted territory. Old friends feel more distant, less involved than they have been in the past. Feelings of increasing vulnerability are making us doubt the wisdom of long-standing decisions and commitments of our forebears. Our world feels occupied. Those people and practices that we have traditionally turned to for security seem to us much less confident that they can help in our dilemma.
On Ash Wednesday the imposition of ashes is a Judeo-Christian practice (see Job 42:6; Jonah 3:6; Daniel 9:3; Esther 4:1; Matthew 11:21) symbolising a profound acknowledgment and questioning of the way things are and our role in them. This questioning leads us to a change of mind and heart characterised by humility, sorrow, prayer, fasting and almsgiving as a sign of our turning back to God’s way of being in the world. These practices embody the Lenten season. Lent leads us through Holy Week, Good Friday and the commemoration of the crucifixion and death of Jesus and then on to the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on Easter Sunday.
The pathway of Lent is a pathway of taking responsibility of our part in a life of meeting our needs our own way. It is a pathway that recognises that we have in our ‘self-centred’ way turned our back on the most important aspects of life. It is a path that allows us to recognise the price that is paid for meeting our own needs our own way regardless of others. It culminates, not in guilt, but a turning towards renewed life, the power of resurrection and a new community of cooperation, peace and the rule of God. Those who through the self-sacrifice of destructive ego, recommit to the care of others find what it truly means to be human.
Joel 2 (NRSV)
12 Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
The opening of Joel the prophet is unusual insofar that it's difficult to date his work and place it in a specific time. I think this is the point. Joel is writing to all of us across time. He could mention this leader or that leader or mention some demonstration of power or some event from his time and place, like other prophets do, but he does not. Why? Because Joel’s message is for all time and for all of us. Joel knows that political and religious leaders come and go but the values of the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, remain forever. Joel’s message is of the importance of taking responsibility for our values, attitudes and beliefs that define and direct our behaviour both individually and collectively; Now! It’s not too late!
So, will we take the path, the ‘Narrow Path’ that leads to life? Will we return to the values, attitudes and beliefs that lead to Jesus the source of life? These Judeo- Christian values are alive and we can find them in the person and work of Messiah Jesus the focus of our meditations during lent.
In humility, will you take the imposition of ashes on your forehead and tell your world that you acknowledge your part in the way things are and that things need to change? Will you tell the story of your sorrow and that you commit yourself to change, prayer and meditation for yourself, others and indeed the whole world? Will you accept these ashes to tell your world that you have begun a fast, a giving up of a costly practice or resource as a symbol of the seriousness of how you view your current situation? Will you accept these ashes as a commitment to live under the authority of the cross of the Messiah Jesus our Higher Power for the benefit of others. Will you accept these ashes as a symbol of your commitment that will be demonstrated by conscious acts of kindness and generosity through Lent. Finally, will you commit to putting into practice in your everyday life what you learn throughout this time after the Lenten period has passed?
Will you remember today and everyday, from now on, that you are ashes and to ashes you will return?
Grace and Peace to you
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