Online Sermons
Ash Wednesday: February 25, the Rev. Dr. Barbara Schlachter
Welcome to our website. You are here: The Word --> Online SermonsAshes to ashes, dust to dust. We hear these words once a year on Ash Wednesday. They are reminders of at least two important things:
We are creatures, not the Creator. We have been molded from the clay of creation and we will return to it one day. Lent is the time to reflect upon our mortality and our role as creature. But that is only part of the story because there is a part of us that is pure energy, pure spirit, and that part will rejoin God when we are finished with our clay. Yet, that part of the journey is unknown and is undertaken only by faith. Lent is a time to increase in faith that the God who made us will never abandon us, even in death. We are invited to grow in trust in God and our ability to depend upon God and not our own efforts. In other words, we are invited to experience Grace.
Second, we are dust. We are stardust. We are part of the great matter that exploded at the beginning of all time, 13.7 billion years ago. Our atoms are atoms that have been used by many other parts of creation over these years. The Bible is right: there is nothing new under the sun, and yet, God is always making all things new.
Lent is a time to become aware of both our oneness with God, all creatures and all creation and let God make us new. It is time to reflect on how far we have strayed from living out of this sense of unity and oneness and to return. The prophet Joel says, “Return to me with all your heart.” No more divided interest, divided love, divided time. Union with God and all creation is our journey’s goal.
All that we might do or not do this Lent is to be based on what will restore us to this sense of unity within ourselves and with God and all creation. The area of work is our heart, and any practice should be a way to engage the heart, not the outer appearance. “Rend your hearts and not your garments,” Joel writes. Forget outward observances unless they help you open your heart to God, to be absolutely honest with God and yourself about how you experience disunity, about how far you have wandered since last Lent. Jesus also warns us against practicing our piety in front of others, for it tempts us to let our work be on the surface of life rather than deep within.
So be careful what you choose to do or not do this Lent. I hope you will start it by coming to the Quiet Day on Saturday. That would be a great start. I hope you will come to the Adult Forums and to the Wednesday evening suppers, worship and discussions. These are there to help you in the journey of return and reconnection. They are not there just to make you busier. Few of us need to be busier. But we all need to reflect upon whether we are busy with the right things. Are we savoring life or simply consuming it, racing on to the next thing?
Lent is the Church’s gift to you to go slowly: to stop, look, and listen and to return to God so that at Easter you may sing with joy. Amen.