Ash wed. 2025

Tonight we come together, joined to one another in faith…members of one body in Christ.

Tonight we come together to begin an ancient and sacred journey and one that we walk each year…the path that follows the life of Christ through death… into resurrection, from humanity’s self centeredness to it’s redemption through grace.

We begin with the sign of ashes. 

 Ashes are a sign of our mortality…a sign of our frailty…and not just the frailty of our flesh and bones…but the frailty of our spirit. 

We hear in letter of Paul tonight the expectation that we commend ourselves in everyway…that we bear the fruit of the spirit…regardless of circumstance or situation.  That in the face of affliction, hardship, sleepless nights and through all our labours …we are called to purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love and truthful speech…

All virtues that we too often lack, both individually and corporately as the church, and especially as we hear the news of politics and war.

But Paul adds one more thing to his list of how to commend yourself in difficult times…he adds by the power of God.  Our God who embraced the frailty and mortality of human life and then transcended it,   so that we would have the opportunity to do the same.  So that each of us and the church itself could, by grace, be redeemed and perfected.

 

 

However, we are not perfect yet…nor do we act as ones redeemed. 

So there is a need for the sign of ashes, a need to remind ourselves and each other that we are mortal, that we are frail and that we have a need to repent and try once more to commend ourselves in everyway, just as we are called to.

We have need of this both individually and corporately.  

In our first reading we hear the cry of the prophet Joel, that in a time when the holy city faced plague and disaster what was needed to stave off complete destruction was prayer and fasting…and not just by one or two people, by kings or priests… but by all people. 

Joel calls all the city to enter into a time of penitence…gather the people he cries, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even infants at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.  

Even if we do not hold the same theology, the principle applies.  We as a greater church have not always commended ourselves.  We as a church from very early on in our history have misused the name of God and the authority of Christ…  seeking not God’s will, but ours.  So, we as a church come together annually in a season of penitence, fasting, prayer and charitable works…wearing the sign of ashes to recall that we are in need of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Individually as well, we know all too intimately the many ways that we, as Christian people, have failed to act as such,    failed to commend ourselves as we are called to do.  

So now we are called to return, to repent, to spend the next month and a bit in consideration of how we are living our lives, individually and corporately. 

To reflect on where our priorities are and where Christ figures in our lives.  To meditate on our mortality and frailty, so that we can see ourselves as we truly are…warts and all and, we are called to do this through fasting, prayer, meditation, good works, a spirit of penitence…and a spirit of humility. 

Although Jesus may be somewhat exaggerating in our Gospel when he speaks of sounding trumpets when you give to charities or disfiguring with dirt and ash your face to show you are fasting…his point is clear.  Your repentance is between you and God, the need for the churches repentance may be more public at times, but still this isn’t for show.  As Joel says…rend your heart, not your clothing. 

The true signs of repentance and penitence are not ones you can see, but the change of heart that accompany them.  The ways that we commend ourselves in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love and truthful speech.

We come together this night as a community,  multiple parishes in one church to begin that transformation.  To begin to take a good look at ourselves and our church…to begin our Lenten journey with the sign of ashes.  A sign and symbol for one another …to remind us as a community that we need to take a hard look at ourselves and see where the warts lie...see where the dirt is,

so that we can confess, repent and come clean.

Because that is the true goal…the ashes, the penitence and even repentance isn’t an end unto itself, but they are supports and guides on the way.  Lent is a journey, it is a path not a destination…our goal is Christ…our destination is Easter.

Regardless of what we see in ourselves or our church in this time of self-examination…regardless of what it is that we are repenting of…if we are committed and steadfast…if we seek to change our hearts and not just our clothing, then we are sure of our reward.  

The Psalmist says it best…the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…he does not deal with us according to our sings, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love.  And that is why by the power of God we can commend ourselves as Paul calls us to…

that is how we are redeemed… by grace and love…that is the reason the season of Lent is only a road to Easter…a way to prepare ourselves to receive that steadfast love that is manifest in the resurrection of Christ…

and his gift of eternal life to each of us.                        Amen.