Lent, a Call to the Courage of Care

Ash Wednesday        February 22, 2012  

Is.58:1-12        Ps.103       

1 Cor. 5:20b-6:10    Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

Lectonary Link

  Ash Wednesday is a day of public confession for the church.

  We confess that we as persons and as people in this world have not been perfect.

  Well, that’s not much of a scoop.  But even though we know that we are not perfect sometimes we live towards each other in judgmental ways and in ways of assuming we are “better” than others.  We also forget how much we are compromised with our social settings.  If there is corruption on Wall Street, it is not my fault even though my stock portfolio may have benefited.  In our group compromise we can easily absolve ourselves of any personal responsibility.  And how often do we absolve ourselves by thinking, “Well everyone is doing it?”  Everyone has set life styles that are harmful for the environment.  Everyone is doing things that will cause major problems for our children and grandchildren.  And we absolve ourselves by pleading the helplessness of our situation.

  Yes we do need a day when we confess both as persons and as community.   We need a day of acknowledging that in freedom lots of bad choices have been made.  We have inherited the results of bad choices.  We have inherited the results of ignorant choices.  And even when we are given the possibility of new choices offering us freedom from being determined by the past, it is still easy for us to stay in the rut of never wanting to change our lives in significant ways.

  One of the ways in which we tolerate our imperfection is to make an important confession about our human nature.

   Today, when the ashes are applied to our foreheads with the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” we are reminded that there is something in our lives that is so unstable that it is always passing away.  The ashes on our forehead are like a fast forwarding of what our bodies will be like one day.  And we can’t put lipstick on ashes to beautify the ashen state.

  Maybe today we would like to shout out a reminder to God, “Remember God, that we are dust, and to dust we shall return, and what can you expect from people who are made with dust?”  We may want to use this day as a day of protest to God for being made in the way that we are made.  How can a dustly people ultimately be wholesome, healthy, preserved and saved?

  Can you blame us God for our imperfect lives because of the way in which we are made?  The power of our vulnerable mortality is so profound that we are tempted to live towards our future state of being but ashes.  And we really don’t want to get there too quickly.  And it seems sometimes as though we are swimming against the tide, even flailing in the waves in non-productive desperation.

  And as we mourn our dustly beginning and are ready to let ourselves off the hook for our many imperfections both personal and societal, perhaps we can hear the God of Pentecost say to us today:  “Remember that you are spirit and that you will be spirit forever!”

  In the creation story, we are told that the original human being was made of clay and that clay had the wind or breath of the creating Spirit blown into the clay figure and the result was the living soul.

  This reclaiming of our spiritual nature is what the journey of Lent is about.  Yes, indeed our mortal natures anchored by what we see when our bodies are decomposed does not seem to offer us much future hope for our health and salvation.  But we are also spirit animated by Holy Spirit to let us know that we can be inspired by ultimate health and ultimate salvation in the midst of the things of life that are passing away.

  It is our belief in spirit that reminds us that we have genuine freedom.  And that freedom must be inspired by wisdom.

   God grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change.  We are not going to change our mortal endings.  The fast forward state of the ashes remind us about what our bodies will ultimately be.

  God grant me the courage to change the things I can.  Courage comes from our spiritual side.  And from our spirit, we do not mock our mortal natures; we cherish them as long as we can because we know that the only way that we can be spiritual is also to be in our bodies.  Our mortal nature are good because they are created by God.  And since we know the vulnerability of our mortal nature the courage of our response is the courage of care.

  Lent is a season of intensifying the courage of care for our mortal natures.  Lent is season of both personal and social care.  As longs as we are alive we endeavor to cherish our lives and the lives of other by practicing the best possible care.

  I would invite us to observe the season of Lent with the courage of care, care for our selves, care for the people in our world and care for our environment.  In the season of Lent we join together as a community to be intentional about how we can better care for ourselves and the people of our world.

  In accepting our ashes today, we accept the things we cannot change.  But in accepting God’s Holy Spirit on our lives, we embrace with courage to change the things that can be changed.  The courage of care for our lives and the life of people who need our care is the intentional invitation of our Ash Wednesday liturgy.  Let us have the courage to change our world with intentional acts of care during this season of Lent.  Amen.