Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday we went to an ashing service at a local Anglican church. During the service a cross was drawn on our foreheads in ash and we were reminded tht from dust we have come and to dust we will return. So begins Lent.

Ash Wednesday is about  repentance. Repentence in the Greek of Jesus' day doesnt just mean saying sorry, it means a change of
direction. Not just words but a change of intention.

The Old Testament prophet Amos speak of the inevitability of God's judgment on a
society that turns it's back on humility before God and tramples the poor, laying burdens on them in the form of taxes, taxes on food. Judgement will come on the rich, says the prophet, on the leaders, the powerful, who have turned away from humility to a life of materialism and comfort, who have turned away from caring, to feather their own
nests. Such times are evil says Amos. As for the wise, the godly, he tells them to follow goodness and not evil "that you may live" with echoes of Deuteronomy -"Choose life!". There's a health warning here, and a promise-if you seek good, God will be with you. If you seek justice, God will be with you.

In the well known story of the prodigal son, the father is like God. He has riches, inheritance to give and he shares it out with his sons. One chooses to live wildly-that is his choice. He is like some of us, maybe. He is like our society. Live, drink and be merry! He runs out of money and becomes a begger, scrounging the pigs food and finally he comes to his senses and returns to his father. Similarly we have been given an inheritance, our faith is an inheritance and as God's people we can squander it; our society has been given an inheritance and we can end up selling off the silver. Will we return to God as the son returned to his father?

Jesus cries from the cross "Father forgive them, for they dont know
what they are doing".

In these words there is the recognition by Jesus that what we do is inevitably short of the mark. We are always messing things up. We can all look back and realize our failings. We are all capable of
crucifying Jesus in our own way, just as we are all capable of recreating an Auschwitz.

Its not a question of nationality. Its a question of humanity and it's a question of losing that humility, of relationship of the creator to the created one, losing the sense of the sacred, the sense of the divine image within us. And so becoming Godless.

And so we say sorry. Not just for the big mistakes, the mistakes we inherit as part of a flawed humanity but also for our individual failings; for our capacity to treat others whoever they maybe as less than ourselves. We create in this way fragmentation, an unloving, competitive people who neither care for one another or their neighbours. We may excuse our behaviour but God does not. And we cant help it!

And we accept that in some way that we may not fully understand Christ has made an atonement for us and we can be at peace. Forgiven. Whatever we have done. We can make a new beginning, a returning, like a lost wayward child, to make amends, like the prodigal son, to make our peace with God, the God whose mantle covers us all and who we worship ....fitfully.

"Teach us to sit still
Our peace in His will...
And let my cry come unto Thee." Ash Wednesday, T.S.Elliot. 1930.

 

What is Lent?

Lent has traditionally been seen as a time of personal meditation, a cleansing of the soul and also a time of preparation for those receiving baptism on Easter Sunday. It begins with a time of penitence, of saying sorry, on Ash Wednesday.

In the Roman Catholic Church fasting is still practised on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. In the Eastern Orthodox Church not eating eggs, meat and fish is still common throughout Lent, which is why painted eggs are given out on Easter Sunday.

The colour representing Lent is purple and unbleached fabric and in some churches there are no flowers during Lent and all the crosses are all covered.

The Israelites in the Exodus moved from a situation of slavery but where they had food and shelter into a situation of great risk, not knowing where they were going, how they were going to be fed, where they were going...into a desert!

God is there through the trauma, through the storm, yet how do we access that spiritual resource? Circumstances can through the unemployment, through the tough time and cause us to sink into despair, to wish we were back in the old days.

There are spiritual disciplines that can help us. Silence, prayer, reading the scriptures, fasting... and if we are to move on in our lives these moments of risk-taking attendant with danger are inevitable and the only way forward.

The Christian journey requires that we take risks otherwise we stop growing as people of faith. we may move away from being respectable and risks are taken with no quarantee of success otherwise they would not require faith, they woulnt be risks. It is easy to trust God when things are going well but when the going gets tough then many of us look down and start to sink.

Muslim celebrated Ramadan with a month of disciplined fasting from dawn to dusk. What about us? How are we going to give this Lent to God, to allow the Spirit of Christ to work something new in us, to learn more about our faith, to seek God in prayer about our life? The number 40 represents a change; we have 40 days to reflect and maybe to enact change, with God's help.

There are books that can help us on that journey. There are organised times of prayer and reflection.
We may choose to go into a desert or we may be driven there like the Israelites. We may already be in that desert, or on the edge of it. It may help us to be with others or to be alone. Whatever you do this Lent, do it consciously and wisely.