February 17, 2021 – Ash Wednesday: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Last year on Ash Wednesday, as we received the ashes, and heard the words “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” – words that remind us of the fragility of life – words that are the great equalizer because nobody gets to escape the reality of our mortal plane – we could not have known just how real those words would become. As we gather tonight in a year filled with upheaval, we are faced with yet another change – the lack of ashes. But if there was ever a time when ashes were not needed, it is now. The pandemic has exposed us all to the fragility of life – to the very real and far too near reality that death is not something any of us will escape. COVID-19 are the ashes we bear this year.
Over this past year, we have experienced so much loss – of people we love, of physical relationship, of movement and experience as our travel and activities were limited, and more. We have had our innocence and our ignorance of the pain of others stripped bare in the streets of our towns as we watched the killing of George Floyd and others. And our sense of security in the stability of our nation was shattered on January 6th.
Ashes are not needed tonight– we have been facing death all year – we know deep within just how fragile life really is.
Yet, the ashes we usually wear are also a sign of our returning to God, and in a very real sense – we have been wearing a form of ashes this entire year – our masks.
Our masks have been for us a reminder – not only of the fragility of life, or the equality of death – but also of Jesus’ commandment to us before he faced the cross – to love one another as he loved us.
Wearing these masks, we acknowledge our own mortal nature, while also recognizing our responsibility to care for one another. Our focus is not on our appearance, or what is convenient to us – but on the other – and by this, we begin the turn toward God, the very meaning of repentance.
This is what this day/night is all about – stripping away all of our perceived notions of what is important and acknowledging that we are not in control of everything. That no matter who we are- rich or poor, gay or straight, republican or democrat, all races, cultures, and faith traditions, we are all created in God’s image, and we are all mortal. And even while we cannot always recognize one another behind our masks, one thing is certain. While our face may be hidden partially from others – it is not hidden from God.
God sees us, and longs for relationship with us.
The question for us tonight is – are we making ourselves available to that relationship?
Relationship is a thing of the heart. Jesus, in our gospel text tonight says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Treasure is what we hold dear.
What is it we hold close to our hearts? Are our hearts centered on the right thing – how do we know?
One of the things that Jesus tells us in this gospel reading has always been a bit perplexing, right? On the very day/night when we usually have ashes on our forehead, he says to “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them,” and points to those he calls hypocrites who pray so that they may be seen, or fast that they might be noticed. And so the question sometimes comes to mind is whether, in wearing the ash cross on our forehead as we usually do, are we not doing as those hypocrites he criticizes. It is a good question.
And the answer lies in the text. Jesus doesn’t say not to practice piety, not to pray, not to fast, but he does criticize the motives behind the actions. Listen again “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them,.” He doesn’t say don’t practice piety, but not to do it in order to be seen, in order to be noticed by anyone other than God. In other words, it is what is in your heart that matters, not what you do.
If we wear the ashes, or for that matter, crosses around our necks, or any other sign of our faith, so that we may be seen – not as in invitation into dialog, but as a distinctive mark of being on the inside, as being one of a special group, then we are indeed hypocrites. The treasure we value is in the opinion of others. If we wear them as a sign to ourselves of our need to re-order our lives in Christ, then our treasure is found in relationship with God.
Tonight is a moment for us to consider where our treasure is and to return to right relationship with our Creator, for that is the very meaning of repentance – it is to turn our lives toward our God.
And if we have any doubt as to how we are to reorient ourselves, how we are to build relationship with God, we need only to hear again these words from the passage in Isaiah today/night:
“Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly…”
Tonight, we are reminded of how our hearts have been focused on earthly things, and we turn once more toward home – toward a deeper relationship with our God. And we are reminded in this time that the way in which we engage in that relationship isn’t by piety alone, but by love – love shown in service to others.
Our masks the fast of our willingness to discard our vanity for the sake of love.
Our distancing and separation from in-person worship and other activities the fast of our service to one another in Christ’s name.
These are the fasts we choose, because these are the fasts our God call us to, that Jesus commanded of us, because these are the fasts that come from loving one another as we love God and ourselves.
So, tonight I will invite you on behalf of the church into a Holy Lent, and perhaps we might consider this Lenten discipline to take on – to say a small prayer whenever we put on our mask this Lent, so that in wearing this cloth we turn our face toward God, and enter into a closer relationship with Jesus through our fast of love and service.
Amen.
For the audio from the this service, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here:
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
February 17, 2021
Ash Wednesday
1st Reading – Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103:8-14
2nd Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Gospel – Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
