Of all of the seasons in the Church calendar, only Easter, Christmas and Lent seem to break into our secular society with any influence at all. For many people the idea of giving something up for Lent is still something that appeals to them, although they may long since have forgotten, if they ever knew, the Christian importance of sacrifice.
A former Trappist monk recalled Ash Wednesdays at his Abbey. He remembered how the monks would walk barefoot through the stone church, keeping time to Gregorian chants, marching eventually into the old church where they received the ashes on their foreheads as a visual reminder of their need for repentance. He said, "It was cold at this time of year. You would try to step in the spots where someone had stepped before, in order to feel some warmth." (Fr. Thomas Culleton, Salt Lake City)
Cold is a good word to describe the season of Lent, though we may have the heating turned up, and even though the weather is not that cold at the moment. But it is a cold time spiritually, as we confront the darker side of our humanity...our sin...our need for repentance. And it can be very cold in our souls until we do this, this coming face-to-face with darkness, with despair, with death.
But thankfully, we do not journey through this day, or any other days like it, alone. There are others who have gone before us and in their footsteps we, like the Trappist monks, do find some warmth and some direction.
In Lent, it is important that we step out on the cold stone floor of that place in our souls where we meet God, in the midst of ashes and repentance, undertaking a journey that will lead us through the days of Lenten preparation, into Holy week, to the glorious new day of Easter, and on to the fires of Pentecost and the burning promise of God's eternal presence in our lives...it is a journey from ashes to fire.
I read once of a man who described a time when he was a boy, and the home of a neighbour was burned to the ground. The trees all around were scorched. The grass was brown.
A few blackened timbers stood near the back of the house, and the remains of the cast iron plumbing system rose out of the ashes. The day after the fire, as he walked to school with a friend, he saw the woman who had lived there, standing in the middle of what had once been her home, weeping and wondering what would become of her and her family.
As she gazed at the ruins of her life, she despaired.
But her husband was comforting her. "We can rebuild," he said. And they did. One year later, a beautiful new home was completed.
The season of Lent is a time when we say to God, "Here I am! Imperfect, incomplete, weak and broken, sorrowful and mourning.
Here I am! Sinner and saint all rolled into one.
Here I am! Frightened and needy and uncertain.
Here I am! Confessing and repentant, and hesitantly hopeful.
Here I am! In the midst of ashes, cold, wasted, wanting.
Here I am! Looking for the fire of hope, the fire of forgiveness, the fire of love, the fire of salvation.
Our journey begins when we say to God, "Here I am! Mould me, make me, create a new heart in me."
We come to make our confession, to receive God's promise, to step out in faith that Christ walks with us, that the Spirit will guide us, and that God's love for us can rise up from the dark and ashes of Ash Wednesday to become the bright and glorious day of Easter and the burning fire of Pentecost.
Thomas Carlyle once said, "Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none." God calls us to repentance. It is a divine thing we do, but for many people their greatest fear is that God will reject them for their sins.
But then we have this promise! "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus! Nothing!
There’s an illustration of a boy helping his grandfather on his farm. One of his jobs was to carry water from the tap to the house. The boy said, ‘I would put a pole across a shoulders and a bucket on each end. The house was a good distance away and the first time I tried this, I just could not make it. The buckets were too heavy. And I'll never forget my grandfather coming out, taking the pole and placing it on his strong shoulders, then carrying them for me. It sure felt good to get rid of those heavy buckets.’
And that's the way it is for us during the season of Lent if we are truly prepared to immerse ourselves in the season. It is a 2 way journey. In response to God’s love and mercy we seek to grow closer both to him and to each other, to live more closely the lives that he wants us to live, to know him better through fellowship with one another, through prayer, through Bible study.
The journey we travel with God is a wonderful journey of love, peace and joy, but it may also sometimes be difficult and the burden we bear may seem heavy, but God is here to carry it for us. We bring it to the altar and let him take up the weight.
Inevitably, all of us have some sort of burden or many burdens that God can lighten, so come and give God your burden, and take away the knowledge of his undying and unchanging love for you. AMEN
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