Ash Wednesday 2011
It’s very easy to forget it, but Ash Wednesday is, I think, one of the most important days in the whole of the Church calendar. People think of the obvious days of celebration such as Easter and Christmas, and even the days building up to Easter – they think of the celebration of Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit – but in many ways, Ash Wednesday gets even closer to the heart of the Christian gospel.
On Ash Wednesday we recognise our weaknesses before God in a way that we probably do on no other day – we reflect that we are but a tiny part of God’s creation – a tiny and rather imperfect part. But as we reflect on our weaknesses we do so with the knowledge that God is loving and merciful and always ready to accept us just as we are… And that however tiny and however imperfect we may be, God loves us with an incredible unbreakable love…
On Ash Wednesday we begin a journey through Lent in which we seek to build up our relationship with God – and when we think about it those things make a wonderful very brief description of the gospel message – God created us, but we so often have failed to live as he wants us to live. In spite of this he still loves us, but when we say sorry and when we turn to him for help and guidance, then he is ready to receive us with open arms, and ready to walk with us on every step of our journey of life….
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.
Ash Wednesday is a day 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 tonight, when we say to God, "Here I am!
Mould me, make me, create a new heart in me."
The wonder of the Christian gospel and the grace of God is such that whatever we’ve done or been, whether we’ve been fairly good or very bad, if we come with true repentance God will walk with us to rebuild our lives…
And so we come tonight to make our confession, to receive God's promise, to step out with the 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 this Wednesday to become the bright and glorious day of Easter and the burning fire of Pentecost.
The American author Max Lucado wrote, ‘If there are a thousand steps between us and God, God will take all but one. God will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours.’
As we journey through Lent we know that Jesus has taken every step he can for us – and he just needs us to step a little closer to him. One of the things associated with Lent is fasting, and the following reflection speaks of the life that God desires for each one of us, it speaks of the characteristics of Jesus that he calls us to follow, and it reminds us that a life of fasting will bring little peace and little happiness by itself, but with Christ’s power we can know and we can taste the feast of a life lived with him :-
Fast from judgment, Feast on compassion
Fast from greed, Feast on sharing
Fast from scarcity, Feast on abundance
Fast from fear, Feast on peace : Fast from lies, Feast on truth Fast from gossip, Feast on praise : Fast from anxiety, Feast on patience : Fast from evil, Feast on kindness
Fast from apathy, Feast on engagement
Fast from discontent, Feast on gratitude
Fast from noise, Feast on silence
Fast from discouragement, Feast on hope
Fast from hatred, Feast on love
What will be your fast? What will be your feast?
AMEN
On Ash Wednesday we recognise our weaknesses before God in a way that we probably do on no other day – we reflect that we are but a tiny part of God’s creation – a tiny and rather imperfect part. But as we reflect on our weaknesses we do so with the knowledge that God is loving and merciful and always ready to accept us just as we are… And that however tiny and however imperfect we may be, God loves us with an incredible unbreakable love…
On Ash Wednesday we begin a journey through Lent in which we seek to build up our relationship with God – and when we think about it those things make a wonderful very brief description of the gospel message – God created us, but we so often have failed to live as he wants us to live. In spite of this he still loves us, but when we say sorry and when we turn to him for help and guidance, then he is ready to receive us with open arms, and ready to walk with us on every step of our journey of life….
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.
Ash Wednesday is a day 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 tonight, when we say to God, "Here I am!
Mould me, make me, create a new heart in me."
The wonder of the Christian gospel and the grace of God is such that whatever we’ve done or been, whether we’ve been fairly good or very bad, if we come with true repentance God will walk with us to rebuild our lives…
And so we come tonight to make our confession, to receive God's promise, to step out with the 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 this Wednesday to become the bright and glorious day of Easter and the burning fire of Pentecost.
The American author Max Lucado wrote, ‘If there are a thousand steps between us and God, God will take all but one. God will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours.’
As we journey through Lent we know that Jesus has taken every step he can for us – and he just needs us to step a little closer to him. One of the things associated with Lent is fasting, and the following reflection speaks of the life that God desires for each one of us, it speaks of the characteristics of Jesus that he calls us to follow, and it reminds us that a life of fasting will bring little peace and little happiness by itself, but with Christ’s power we can know and we can taste the feast of a life lived with him :-
Fast from judgment, Feast on compassion
Fast from greed, Feast on sharing
Fast from scarcity, Feast on abundance
Fast from fear, Feast on peace : Fast from lies, Feast on truth Fast from gossip, Feast on praise : Fast from anxiety, Feast on patience : Fast from evil, Feast on kindness
Fast from apathy, Feast on engagement
Fast from discontent, Feast on gratitude
Fast from noise, Feast on silence
Fast from discouragement, Feast on hope
Fast from hatred, Feast on love
What will be your fast? What will be your feast?
AMEN
Comments