Ash Wednesday 2023

Ash Wednesday 2023

Isaiah 58:1-12, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10, 

Matthew 6:1-6,16-21, Psalm 103

 

Just as Advent is the beginning of the New Year, Ash Wednesday and Lent are the beginning of our new life. I think we have a deep desire to start over, to begin again, to turn to God and take a deep, refreshing breath of new life, and to say, here I am Lord, I have heard you calling in the night. Today we are marked with the ashes that remind us of who we are, and whose we are. We are God’s beloved, at our baptism we are marked and claimed as God’s own children, forever. Today we retrace that indelible mark with these ashes, this dust. We are reminded that we don’t get out of this live alive, we are dust, and to dust we shall return. These ashes remind us that God is God, and we are not. These ashes remind us that we are chosen and marked by God’s love, delight of God’s life.

 

This is an opportunity and our call. We present ourselves to God, just as we are, confident in the promise of starting over and confident that we belong to God. Ash Wednesday, and all of Lent are an opportunity. An opportunity to put all our attention toward the Gospel call to love as Christ loves. Ash Wednesday and Lent are an opportunity to examine ourselves and find where we miss the mark of that love. Ash Wednesday particularly is an opportunity to come to our senses, to be reminded of who and whose we are, to start over, to loosen our heart’s grip on the things that separate us from the love of God and from our siblings. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to do that which is described in our gospel reading, to give alms, to pray, and to fast.

 

Far from being a sad story, this is a story filled with hope. It is a story filled with forgiveness. It is a reminder that forgiveness isn’t a one-time deal, forgiveness is every day. This kind of forgiveness doesn’t assign shame or hold a grudge. This kind of forgiveness holds our souls in compassion, this kind of forgiveness heals us and frees us. 

 

Forgiveness is not a single act, but a matter of constant practice. Turning away from all that distracts us from God and God’s love for us, takes constant practice also. We often fall off the shoulder of the road and into the ditch on this journey, and in that ditch, life seems much darker. But we have been marked as Christ’s own forever, we belong to God.

 

On this day, we recognize our tendency to sin. We recognize our wretchedness, a word that is hard to hear about ourselves, but a word that describes our tendency to fall in the muck and the mess of live, and sometimes even wallow in it. But we are not left there to fend for ourselves. We come to this place of dust again and again. We come because this is the beginning and the end. We come because this is creation, and this is love. We come because we belong to God and to one another. We come because our memories are so short, aren’t they? We so quickly forget about the love that brings us to this day of dust. The love of God in creation, the love that gives up everything for us.

 

Lent is an opportunity. This journey we begin today shows us what true love looks like. It shows us that God’s heart’s desire is to be with us not only when times are rosy, but also and maybe especially when it seems like our brokenness and vulnerably will get the best of us. God’s love creates us and blesses us and puts us back together when we have disintegrated into the dust. When it seems like we will fall apart into the dust of which we are made, God is there to raise us up, and make us anew. 

 

I encourage you to take this lent opportunity and be intentional. Lent is traditionally a time of prayer and fasting. How can you be intentional about your prayer? There are many ways here at the church. Come to bible study, or come to Wednesday night soup suppers, or come after church on Sundays for coffee and conversation. Each of these is an opportunity to be in prayer with one another. And be intentional about your prayer at home. 

 

Especially in these chaotic times, find a place for quiet, open your prayer book, or the app on your phone, or join us at 10 each day, and pray morning prayer, “O Lord open our lips, and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.” Or evening prayer or compline, “guide us waking o lord, and guard us sleeping, that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.” Make space in your heart, and your mind, and your soul, for Jesus to show up.

 

How can you be intentional about fasting? When I was a little catholic girl, like many of you, Friday fasting during lent was an ordeal. Today I would like for you to consider what it is that you may need or want to fast from. What is it that is making you anxious? or annoyed? mad? sad? Do you want to put your phone down for an hour each day, and fast from the news? Do you want to fast from the cacophony of noise and sit in the silence for some time each day? Do you want to fast from food that consumes you, and give some away for another to consume? 

 

And that brings us to hope, this day is a day of hope. This dust that we mark our foreheads with today is the burnt palms of Palm Sunday, the palms we wave in triumph as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem. This dust gives us hope. The story we stake our lives on is the story of resurrection, and resurrection is always preceded by pain, and suffering, and death. Soon enough we will be walking with Jesus to the cross, soon enough. God loves us so very much, that God puts Godself in our place, wraps us in love, and gives us new life, life that we cannot even begin to imagine. Hope is God’s dream for us, that we may walk a journey on this earth, of intention. Love, compassion, prayer, forgiveness, we are given this opportunity of Lent to practice these intentions. 

 

How will you practice love this Lent?

How will you practice compassion this Lent?

How will you practice prayer this Lent?

How will you practice forgiveness this Lent?

Ash Wednesday 2017

The ashes of this day remind us of who we are. We are God's beloved, God's delight. Every person is named and claimed, marked as Christ's own forever, by the God who created her. The ashes of this day trace the mark of our baptism, the mark of our identity as God’s beloved. There is no one or no thing that can change that. No one, no thing. The ashes of this day remind us that we are God's, God created us out of the dust, and to the dust we shall return. 

The Lenten journey is the journey with Jesus and one another to the cross of Good Friday. The Lenten journey is not a personal journey of "I am not worthy", but a journey we take together of discovery of our identity. Our identity of God's beloved, God's delight. On this journey we experience the God who weeps, the God who suffers not only for us but with us. Nowhere is the presence of God amidst suffering more salient than on the cross. This is a God who does not cause suffering, but a God who bears suffering. This is a God who does not initiate suffering, but God who transforms suffering that is ever present, ever real. 

The season of Epiphany has taught us that God, who is revealed and incarnated in Jesus, loves us and names us. God, who becomes flesh and walks among us full of grace and truth, this God loves us, and is with us so completely, that God goes all the way to the grave on our behalf. There is nothing we can say, or do, or believe, that makes God's love any less. The ashes of this day, remind us of that.

The ashes of this day remind us of who we are. The ashes of this day remind us that God's love wins. The ashes of this day remind us that God's victory over death, Jesus going to the cross and the grave, does not mean that we do not die, but that we have new life, and freedom in God's love.

God is already calling us into relationship, sometimes we need to make room. God shows up, all the time, we though are often just too busy, or too loud, to notice. 

It may take a while, it may take the whole 40 days, but you may make room for remembering who you are. You may make room for remembering that you belong to God, that you have been marked as Christ's own forever. As that reality dawns on you, as the reality of God's amazing and abundant love takes hold in you, as you remember that Love wins, you may feel compelled to respond. 

You may feel the need to ask for forgiveness, for that which you have done or left undone. You may feel the need to forgive someone in your life. You may need to lay down that which is killing you. You may feel the need to serve, or to give. You may feel the need to repent, and return.

Or you may just need a place to sit, and be quiet, a place to deposit all your questions, all your misgivings, all your feelings of emptiness. Relinquish control, let go, trust yourself to be a part of something beyond yourself. Open up the quiet space, be connected to the community of faith, and remember the words, into your hands oh Lord, I commend my spirit. 

Lent isn't just the lead up to the party at Easter. It's actually much more like life itself. We get cleaned up, all ready to go, and the next thing you know we fall back into the mud. Life is hard, it's messy, just like this dirt, just like these ashes, this smudge reminds us of who we are and whose we are, loved, imperfect, forgiven. Everyone one of us the same before God, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There is no getting out of it.

We are invited to a Holy Lent. A time of quiet, a time of renewal, a time of examination, a time to be filled. I invite you to consider embracing the quiet. What is it you need to set aside, what is it you need to forgive, what is it you need to heal, what is it you want to do this Lent. I invite you to write that down.

We’ll take those pieces of paper, put them together, offer them up as ashes. Take a little time to be quiet, and write on your paper. 

Ash Wednesday Yr C Feb 10 2016

Today we begin our journey, pitch our tent, quiet our spirits, listen. We begin by remembering. We remember who we are and whose we are. We remember that we are marked as Christ's own forever at baptism, and that same marking, that same cross, is retraced on our foreheads this day with ashes. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. 

Why do we do this Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week thing year after year?Why isn't just once enough? We do it again because we so quickly forget. We forget who we are and to whom we belong. We forget that we are created in God's image. 

We forget that we are born to die, that we are all in this together. We don't often talk about death in polite company, this day we look at death and say, I belong to Jesus,death does not win, love wins. On this day we embrace our mortality and remember that the God who creates us, the God who yearn for relationship, calls us to Godself at the end of our time on this earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

On this day birth and baptism, dying and death, come together in one brief moment of messiness and humanness, and we are marked with the sign of the cross, the sign that we do not belong to ourselves but that we belong to God.

We forget that we are loved abundantly, we forget that we are the delight of God's life. And as we forget, we have a tendency to place ourselves front and center, and we forget that God is God and we are not. And to help you remember, take one of those rocks you saw when you came in, take it and put it in your pocket or your purse, and carry it with you all through Lent, carry it with you and remember who and whose you are.

This season of Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday is brilliant really. In it we have the opportunity to do nothing. That's really all we have to do. We are invited to spend some time in the quiet each day, and do nothing. No one, not even you, can reproach you for it, because you can just say to them or to yourself that that's what you're doing for Lent. Go ahead, give it a try. Spend 10 minutes each day, sitting in your chair, sitting in the quiet. You may even have more than 10 minutes, but start there. 

Some of you may say to me or to yourselves, I can't do that, I'm too busy, I've got kids, I'll do something else for Lent, like give up gum, or candy, or chocolate, do that too, but also give 10 minutes to the quiet, and see what happens. Pitch your tent, make camp, give it 10 minutes a day.

God is already calling us into relationship, sometimes we need to make room. God shows up, all the time, we though are often just too busy, or too loud, to notice. 

It may take a while, it may take the whole 40 days, but you may make room for remembering who you are. You may make room for remembering that you belong to God, that you have been marked as Christ's own forever. As that reality dawns on you, as the reality of God's amazing and abundant love takes hold in you, as you remember that Love wins, you may feel compelled to respond. You may feel the need to ask for forgiveness, for that which you have done or left undone. You may feel the need to forgive someone in your life. You may need to lay down that which is killing you. You may feel the need to serve, or to give. You may feel the need to give something up, put something aside. Because sometimes, we need to clear our hearts so that we can make space for God.

On the other hand, you may be in a place where you feel bereft. Feeling God's love is just not where you're at. Relinquish control, let go, trust yourself to be a part of something beyond yourself. Open up the quiet space, be connected to the community of faith, into your hands oh Lord, I commend my spirit. 

Lent isn't just the lead up to the party at Easter. It's actually much more like life itself. We get cleaned up, all ready to go, and the next thing you know we fall back into the mud. Life is Hard, it's messy, just like these ashes, this smudge reminds us of who we are and whose we are, loved, imperfect, forgiven. Everyone one of us the same before God, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There is no getting out of it, there are no distinctions.

I invite you now to consider this journey of Lent. I invite you to consider embracing the quiet. I invite you to think about that which you need to set aside so that you may enter a Holy Lent. 

Ash Wednesday Feb 18 2015

Audio Ash Wednesday

We so quickly, so easily forget who we are. In this fast paced world where all information is instantaneous and where photographs travel across the world in minutes, sometimes we believe that we must look like and talk like everyone else in order to be seen or heard. And when violence and hatred are the stuff of our headlines, and images of people being executed are in our news and on our screens, we suffer compassion fatigue and we quickly forget. We put aside the truth that we are indeed created in God's image, for God's love and delight. 

The cross that we were marked with at our baptism is the very same cross that we trace this day. The cross that we trace over with these ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us especially that we are God's delight, we are God's beloved, we are claimed and marked as God's own forever. And in this holy season of Lent, we have a chance, we have an opportunity to remember that. We have an opportunity to turn around, to face God, to face others, to face ourselves and to lay down that which keeps us away from God’s love. We have an opportunity to remember who we are in our baptismal covenant and to live that out in the world in every time and in every place. 

The invitation of Ash Wednesday is to go deeper into the heart of God. The whole point is not that we are just dust, but that we are precious, beloved children of God. The whole point is that we are precious enough to God that God would send God’s only Son to be with us, to repair and reconcile us to God, to bring us back to God, our source, our heart. The point is not that God wants us to be buried in dirt and dust but that God wants us to be buried with Christ. Being buried with Christ is the baptismal action, but it is not all that happens, we are also risen with Christ. 

God does not desire separation, and Lent is not about our wretchedness, God desires relationship, Lent is about that relationship. 

So the cross that we trace today not only reminds us who and whose we are, but it also reminds us that by it we are free of the bondage of death. We are freed from the bondage of sin. We are freed from that which holds us hostage. What is that for you? What holds you hostage? What is the thing that keeps you afraid? What is the thing that keeps your attention away from important things? What is the thing that keeps you from being whole? Whatever that is, that is the thing that keeps you from being free. 

This journey that we take with Jesus, this journey to the cross, in the dust and the dirt, and through the cross to new life, this is what Lent is all about. It is about paying special attention to God’s relationship with us, God’s precious love for us. It is about this amazing thing that God has done, and continues to do, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 

And the effect of the love that wins, is that we are freed to be loved, to love and to serve, and to be all that God intends for us to be. We are freed of all that keeps us captive, so that we do not need to be afraid to live our lives as God’s new creations. God's love, and Jesus' journey to the cross and on the cross inspires us with the courage to strive for justice and peace, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to offer compassion and mercy to all.

There are three things I am asking of you today. First, if you wish, pick up a piece of paper, and write on it that thing that keeps you from fully loving yourself or others. What is it that holds you hostage. What is it that you are afraid of. And at the appointed time, drop that piece of paper in the brazier, and it will be joined with the rest and burned for our ashes. 

Secondly, think seriously about what it is you might do this Lent so that you put yourself intentionally in God's presence. There is a book of daily devotions you can take home, there are many opportunities for you to have daily devotions online, you could participate in Lent Madness and learn all about saints, people just like you. You could read our One Book St. Andrew's and come on Sunday morning to discuss it, or participate in an online conversation in our facebook group. And there is always Morning Prayer. The possibilities are many. Your job is to chose one and do it.

And thirdly, as you leave today take with you a cross that you can carry throughout all of lent, a cross reminding you that dieing and rising with Jesus is not a burden, but it is freedom to love and to serve, and to remind you that you are indeed, God’s beloved.

Ash Wednesday March 5 2014

Audio: Ash Wednesday

The ashes of this day remind us of who we are. We are God's beloved, God's delight. Every person is named and claimed, marked as Christ's own forever, by the God who created her. The ashes of this day trace the mark of our baptism, the mark of our identity. There is no one or no thing that can change that. No one, no thing. The ashes of this day remind us that we are God's, God created us out of the dust, and to the dust we shall return. 

The Lenten journey is the journey with Jesus and one another to the cross of Good Friday. The Lenten journey is not a personal journey of "I am not worthy", but a journey we take together of discovery of our identity of God's beloved, God's delight. On this journey we experience the God who weeps, the God who suffers not only for us but with us. Nowhere is the presence of God amidst suffering more salient than on the cross. This is a God who does not cause suffering, but a God who bears suffering. This is a God who does not initiate suffering, but God who transforms it. 

God, who loves and names us, who is revealed in Jesus Christ, that is what the Season of Epiphany teaches us, who becomes flesh and walks among us full of grace and truth, this God loves us, and is with us so completely, that God goes all the way to the grave on our behalf. There is nothing we can say, or do, or believe, that makes God's love any less. The ashes of this day, remind us of that.

The ashes of this day remind us of who we are. The ashes of this day remind us that God's love wins. The ashes of this day remind us that God's victory over death, God going to the cross and the grave, does not mean that we do not die, but that we have new life, and freedom in God's love. God is already calling us into relationship, sometimes we need to make room. God shows up, all the time, we though are often just too busy, or too loud, to notice. 

It may take a while, it may take the whole 40 days, but you may make room for remembering who you are. You may make room for remembering that you belong to God, that you have been marked as Christ's own forever. As that reality dawns on you, as the reality of God's amazing and abundant love takes hold in you, as you remember that Love wins, you may feel compelled to respond. 

You may feel the need to ask for forgiveness, for that which you have done or left undone. You may feel the need to forgive someone in your life. You may need to lay down that which is killing you. You may feel the need to serve, or to give. 

On the other hand, you may be in a place where you feel bereft. Feeling God's love is just not where you're at. Relinquish control, let go, trust yourself to be a part of something beyond yourself. Open up the quiet space, be connected to the community of faith, into your hands oh Lord, I commend my spirit. 

Lent isn't just the lead up to the party at Easter. It's actually much more like life itself. We get cleaned up, all ready to go, and the next thing you know we fall back into the mud. Life is hard, it's messy, just like this dirt, just like these ashes, this smudge reminds us of who we are and whose we are, loved, imperfect, forgiven. Everyone one of us the same before God, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There is no getting out of it.

I invite you to consider embracing the quiet. I invite you to think about that which you need to set aside so that you may enter a Holy Lent. That is what you will write down. We will take a little time to be quiet, and write.

Ash Wednesday Feb 22 2012

Today we begin our pilgrimage, pitch our tent, quiet our spirits, listen. We begin by remembering. We remember who we are and whose we are. We remember that we are marked as Christ's own forever at baptism, and that same marking, that same cross, is retraced on our foreheads this day with ashes. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Why do we do this Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week thing year after year? Why isn't just once enough? We do it again because we so quickly forget. We forget who we are and to whom we belong. We forget that we are created in God's image, we forget that we are loved abundantly, we forget that we are the delight of God's life. And as we forget, we have a tendency to place ourselves front and center, and we forget that God is God and we are not.

This season of Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday is brilliant really. In it we have the opportunity to do nothing. That's really all we have to do. We are invited to spent some time in the quiet each day, and do nothing. No one, not even you, can reproach you for it, because you can just say to them or to yourself that that's what you're doing for Lent. Go ahead, give it a try. Spend 10 minutes each day, sitting in your chair, sitting in the quiet. You may even have more than 10 minutes, but start there.

Some of you may say to me or to yourselves, I can't do that, I'm too busy, I've got kids, I'll do something else for Lent, like give up gum, or candy, or chocolate, do that too, but also give 10 minutes to the quiet, and see what happens. Pitch your tent, make camp, give it 10 minutes a day.
God is already calling us into relationship, sometimes we need to make room. God shows up, all the time, we though are often just too busy, or too loud, to notice.

It may take a while, it may take the whole 40 days, but you may make room for remembering who you are. You may make room for remembering that you belong to God, that you have been marked as Christ's own forever. As that reality dawns on you, as the reality of God's amazing and abundant love takes hold in you, as you remember that Love wins, you may feel compelled to respond. You may feel the need to ask for forgiveness, for that which you have done or left undone. You may feel the need to forgive someone in your life. You may need to lay down that which is killing you. You may feel the need to serve, or to give.

On the other hand, you may be in a place where you feel bereft. Feeling God's love is just not where you're at. Relinquish control, let go, trust yourself to be a part of something beyond yourself. Open up the quiet space, be connected to the community of faith, into your hands oh Lord, I commend my spirit.

Lent isn't just the lead up to the party at Easter. It's actually much more like life itself. We get cleaned up, all ready to go, and the next thing you know we fall back into the mud. Life is Hard, it's messy, just like these ashes, this smudge reminds us of who we are and whose we are, loved, imperfect, forgiven. Everyone one of us the same before God, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There is no getting out of it, there are no distinctions.

I invite you now to consider this pilgrimage of Lent. I invite you to consider embracing the quiet. I invite you to think about that which you need to set aside so that you may enter a Holy Lent.

Ash Wednesday 2011

Almighty, forgiving God, help me to accept your healing love today and to practice forgiveness in my daily walk with you and others. In this, the church’s holy spring, we ask you, O God, to renew us. With a gentle breath, blow from our lives the dust of sin, and make us your people again. Lift us from guilt, and shame, and regret, to repair all we’ve broken, and give us the gift of repentance. With the lengthening days, stretch our hearts, too, to be ready for your risen life; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Just as Advent is the beginning of the New Year, Ash Wednesday and Lent are the beginning of our new life. I think we have a deep desire to start over, to begin again, to turn to God and take a deep, refreshing breath of new life, and to say, here I am Lord, I have heard you calling in the night.

This is our opportunity. This is our call. We present ourselves to God, just as we are, confident in the promise of starting over. Ash Wednesday, and all of Lent are an opportunity. An opportunity to put all our attention toward the Gospel call to love as Christ loves. Ash Wednesday and Lent are an opportunity to examine ourselves and find where we miss the mark of that love. Ash Wednesday particularly is an opportunity to come to our senses, to be reminded of who and whose we are, to start over, to loosen our heart’s grip on the things that separate us from the love of God and our sisters and brothers. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to do that which is described in our gospel reading, to give alms, to pray, and to fast.

Today we are marked again with the cross of Christ. We were marked as Christ’s own forever with oil at baptism; today that same cross is traced with ashes. These ashes remind us of who we are, and whose we are. These ashes remind us that we came from dust and to dust we will return. These ashes remind us that God is God, and we are not. These ashes remind us that we are chosen and marked by God’s love, delight of God’s life,

The ashes of this day mark us as human, and offer us another chance to be reminded that we are called to fast from that which gets in our way of relationships, relationship with God, with those we love, and with those we encounter each day. I invite you to think about that which you may fast from,
what gets in the way of relationship for you? Do you need to slow down? Do you need to abstain from electronic media, facebook, internet, television, your phone? Do you need to make a commitment to consume less, food, drink, goods, clothing? Do you need to pay closer attention to something or someone?

Lent is also a penitential time, a time to forgive and be forgiven. God loves us with an abundant love, love that seeks nothing, love that does not exclude. The Greeks had a word for the forgiving kind of love, agape; it means a profound concern for the welfare of another without any desire to control that other or to be thanked by that other. This isn’t an easy love. If we can follow it, it will mean that we will never exclude. Not the old, the ill, the dying. Not the people who have hurt us, or who have done us wrong. Or the people to whom we have done wrong.

Jesus set the standard for forgiveness. What does Jesus' teaching on forgiveness require of us, and how can we begin to practice this kind of love and forgiveness toward others?

How have you felt, for at least a fragment of a second, the forgiveness of God?

When you approach forgiveness with this kind of love in mind, you put yourself in a position to be healed, When you are able to forgive, you begin to be healed.

I invite you to ponder the kind of love God has for you, I invite you to approach the kind of forgiveness that does not want or need or manipulate. I invite you to be marked with ashes, and begin the journey of love and forgiving. A journey that begins with ashes, that includes sadness, silence, and suffering. A journey that passes through some dark and scary places. A journey that moves through ashes once again, but includes the eventual joy of new birth, new life, new creation, resurrection.

Today I ask you to write. What it is is up to you. But it may be something about what you need to fast from, it may be something you wish to do during lent, it may be something that you need to be forgiven for, it may be something or someone that you need to forgive. Whatever it is, it’s between you and God.

Mystery of Goodness, by whose gaze we are called into being and held in life: teach us the secrecy of prayer which seeks no reward; the generosity of love which forgets itself; the gift of a treasure uncountable and unconsumed; through Jesus Christ, the Son of the Wilderness. Amen.

Ash Wednesday 2010

Almighty, forgiving God, help me to accept your healing love today and to practice forgiveness in my daily walk with you and others. In this, the church’s holy spring, we ask you, O God, to renew us. With a gentle breath, blow from our lives the dust of sin, and make us your people again. Lift us from guilt, and shame, and regret, to repair all we’ve broken, and give us the gift of repentance. With the lengthening days, stretch our hearts, too, to be ready for your risen life; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Just as Advent is the beginning of the New Year, Ash Wednesday and Lent are the beginning of our new life. I think we have a deep desire to start over, to begin again, to turn to God and take a deep, refreshing breath of new life, and to say, here I am Lord, I have heard you calling in the night.

This is our opportunity. This is our call. We present ourselves to God, just as we are, confident in the promise of starting over. Ash Wednesday, and all of Lent are an opportunity. An opportunity to put all our attention toward the Gospel call to love as Christ loves. Ash Wednesday and Lent are an opportunity to examine ourselves and find where we miss the mark of that love. Ash Wednesday particularly is an opportunity to come to our senses, to be reminded of who and whose we are, to start over, to loosen our heart’s grip on the things that separate us from the love of God and our sisters and brothers. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to do that which is described in our gospel reading, to give alms, to pray, and to fast.

Today we are marked again with the cross of Christ. We were marked as Christ’s own forever with oil at baptism; today that same cross is traced with ashes. These ashes remind us of who we are, and whose we are. These ashes remind us that we came from dust and to dust we will return. These ashes remind us that God is God, and we are not. These ashes remind us that we are chosen and marked by God’s love, delight of God’s life, and that God is right here in our midst to show us the way of forgiveness.

The ashes of this day mark us as human, and offer us another chance at forgiveness. I think we sometimes dwell too much on our own need for forgiveness, and forget about our need to forgive. Today I invite you to remember your need to forgive. God loves us with an abundant love, love that seeks nothing, love that does not exclude. The Greeks had a word for the forgiving kind of love, agape; it means a profound concern for the welfare of another without any desire to control that other or to be thanked by that other. This isn’t an easy love. If we can follow it, it will mean that we will never exclude. Not the old, the ill, the dying. Not the people who have hurt us, or who have done us wrong. Or the people to whom we have done wrong.

Jesus set the standard for forgiveness. What does Jesus' teaching on forgiveness require of us, and how can we begin to practice this kind of love and forgiveness toward others? How have you felt, for at least a fragment of a second, the forgiveness of God?

What you will write today has to do with this kind of forgiveness. When you approach forgiveness with this kind of love in mind, you are able to lay your burden down. Your burden of perfection, your burden of hurt, your burden sadness, your burden of resentment, whatever it is. And you are able to begin to be healed. When you are able to forgive, you begin to be healed.

I invite you to ponder the kind of love God has for you, I invite you to approach the kind of forgiveness that does not want or need or manipulate. I invite you to lay your burden down, to lighten your load, to be marked with ashes, and begin the journey of love and forgiving. A journey that begins with ashes, that includes sadness, silence, and suffering. A journey that passes through some dark and scary places. A journey that moves through ashes once again, but includes the eventual joy of new birth, new life, new creation, resurrection.

Mystery of Goodness, by whose gaze we are called into being and held in life: teach us the secrecy of prayer which seeks no reward; the generosity of love which forgets itself; the gift of a treasure uncountable and unconsumed; through Jesus Christ, the Son of the Wilderness. Amen.