Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 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. —Joel 2.12-13 This season marks a time of forty days set aside for introspection and reflection. Messages about Lent are multi-faceted. We are called to fast, weep, and mourn, and yet, we are asked not to tear our clothes as signs of mourning, but to tear open our hearts. Joel reminds us that even as God is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment, so we must be gracious and merciful to ourselves. We must be slow to anger with ourselves and less afraid to open up our hearts and to look inside. Today, may we lovingly rend our hearts and look inside to see more clearly where we need mending.
Ashes remind us, with a shock, that we are God's creation, made for God, and not the other way around.
Ashes remind us of the brevity of the gift of life, and the grace of eternal life in the heart of God. Ashes remind us that we are born to live, really live, before we die.
Ashes remind us of a resolve to a Lent, and a lifetime, of a more authentic relationship with Jesus the Christ. Ash Wednesday is the gateway to Lent. We have forty precious days to open ourselves up most particularly to God, to examine ourselves in the presence of one who created us, knows us, and loves us. We have forty days to face ourselves and learn to not be afraid of our sinfulness. We ARE dust, and to dust we shall return, but with God’s grace we can learn to live this life more fully, embracing our sinfulness, allowing God to transform us. May God grant us: the wisdom to know ourselves; the courage to admit our sins; and the grace to receive God’s never-failing mercy and forgiveness. Amen.
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