Ash Wednesday 2003

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Ash Wednesday 2003

· Sermon,Lent

This sermon was delivered on February 12, 2003 for Ash Wednesday service. 

So, what are you giving up for Lent? It really is the inevitable question of the season. Traditionally, Lent is a time of giving up, of fasting. We all have different definitions of what Fasting for Lent means. People often “give up” something for Lent to exhibit their willingness to prepare for Easter. Some people give up meat for the 40 days. Others give up something they enjoy such as chocolate or caffeine.

Some don’t give up anything but instead do something more. They add a service activity, they add a time of prayer to their day, they save extra money for a charitable project. And then there are those who do nothing at all. There are some who miss the journey to the resurrection completely and others downplay its importance.

So what’s the big deal anyway? Why bother? Because giving up something or starting something new for lent is a way to show that God can break through the ordinary to give us real change. When we change our ordinary, day-to-day activities, God has room to do something new to us and through us.

Ok, so what does that mean? How do we go about this giving up or starting new? How do we change our ordinary so God can do something Extraordinary? The answers are in the scripture passages you heard read today. These passages provide a map for the Lenten journey.

The point of a “fast” is to return to God with a whole heart-- to fully prepare for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The better we prepare, the more effective our celebrations will be. The prophet Joel says, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Rend your hearts and not your clothing.” The kind of fast God requires is the kind of fast that truly leaves room in our hearts for change. We must prepare for Easter and the change God brings to each of us through the miracle of the resurrection. To prepare for this kind of change our hearts must be clean, contrite, clandestine, and complete. With out these things, we are not ready for the change God is ready to enact in us and through us.

Our hearts must be clean. The psalmist says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” But how do we clean our heart? It’s not like we can go down the isle at the grocery store and pick up a Heart Swiffer or a bottle of Mr. Clean heart. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. We can’t really ask for a clean heart if we aren’t willing to roll up our sleeves and get busy. The first step is identifying what needs to be cleaned. Are there cobwebs of past wrongs? Perhaps dirty dishes from “I want it my way casserole.” Maybe there are just piles of dirty laundry separating us from God. Whatever sludge is in the way, we have to work past it. For some, this cleaning adventure might involve giving up something—like that second helping of “I want it my way casserole”. For others, we may need to dust away those cobwebs of past wrongs by using a little forgiveness. If we can clean up our hearts, we can receive a “new and right spirit”. And it is this spirit that will sustain us during Lent. To prepare for the change that God is ready to make in us, our hearts must be clean.

Our hearts must be contrite. We must be willing to confess our wrongdoings and overcome the power of our own egos. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says we need to be reconciled to God, and then accept the grace that God provides. So, not only do we have to forgive others during this fast, we must also learn to forgive ourselves and accept God’s forgiveness. Ash Wednesday, tonight, is the night that we are to confess our sins, realize our own humanness, and begin making right what has gone wrong. I like to think of Ash Wednesday as a near death experience. Yes, that’s a little odd, but think about it. After a person has a near death experience, what do they usually do? They change their way of living. They mend wrongs they have done, and they work to make their life one they are proud to live.

Ash Wednesday is that kind of opportunity for us. In light of our own mortality we can see that we need to make changes. We need to mend our wrongs and work to make our lives ones we are proud of. We have between now and Easter Sunday to live out the forgiveness we must give and receive. It is with contrite hearts that we repent and receive forgiveness. To prepare for the change that God is ready to make in us, our hearts must be contrite.

The work we are doing in our hearts must be clandestine. We must keep this Lenten journey a secret. The cleansing and repentance we undergo must be done so in quiet contemplation and away from the watchful eyes of others. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that we should hide our fasting from others so that it will only be seen by God. According to Jesus, those that practice their piety in public will have no reward from God. Thus, these acts of fasting and cleansing should not be public acts.

If you “give up” something, don’t announce it to everyone. If you start something new, don’t make a big deal out of it.

These acts of cleansing and repentance are not public matters. They are between the individual and God. We have to keep our fasting a secret. God knows what we are doing and why we are doing it, and that really should be enough. To prepare for the change that God is ready to make in us, our hearts must be clandestine.

When we have clean, contrite, and clandestine hearts, at last our hearts can be complete. After our fasting, we can return to God as more complete human beings. We can give our WHOLE heart to the work of the Holy Spirit, and we will be fully prepared for the changes that God is ready to make in us and through us. It is only with a complete heart that we will be able to completely understand and appreciate the resurrection that will come. So, we return to our original question. What are you giving up for Lent? That seems a silly question now. Perhaps the more appropriate question is the one we will ask ourselves. What am I doing to prepare myself for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ? If that means giving up something that has control over your life, then give it up. If it means doing acts of service, do them. If it means being more intentional about prayer, then do it. Whatever your fast, make it a fast that completes your heart. It is only with whole hearts that we can really get the Easter Message of hopes that glimmers in the future. Let’s use this Lenten season, these 40 days, to truly prepare our hearts for the miracle that awaits us.