St. John, Aliceville, will observe Ash Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. with a light supper to follow. All are welcome. A meditation for Ash Wednesday. “Yes even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me witih all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; And rend your hearts and not your garments. Today we begin a 40 day period of wilderness wandering. Forty days because that’s how long Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Even those in our society who don’t really observe Lent know it’s a time when some people give up things. But why? So we’ll impress God? That passage from the prophet Joel – return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning – seems to set things up pretty well. Fasting. Weeping. Mourning. Some of us who see Lent as a competitive sport see this text from Joel as a pretty awesome starting place. But, why does God say to return to Him with all our heart rather than return to Him when we get everything together? In Lent, many times we really focus on our behavior, and there’s a lot of good in that. But if God says “return to Me with all your heart,” perhaps there’s the implication our hearts have strayed, that we give our hearts to a lot of things that are not God. So if we think Lent is about giving up things to impress God, maybe we should ask ourselves: - which is harder – the fasting part or the returning to God with all our heart part? Because I don’t think my real problem is I spend too much time on Facebook or watch too much TV or drink too much pop. Perhaps my real problem – and perhaps your problem, too, is that we give our hearts to things that can’t love us back and can’t satisfy ultimately. We give most of our hearts and time to career advancement and saving for our future and things that promise but don’t deliver peace and the next spiritual practice or restricted diet that promises to make us whole. So, again on this Ash Wednesday, we gather the pieces of our broken hearts and our broken selves and come together to be told, of all things, that we are dust and to dust we shall return. That’s the very thing we try to pretend isn’t true because it shows how vulnerable and dependent we really are and the same end waits each of us. Being told we’re basically just dust and to dust we will return might seem like really bad news, but not so. Because here’s the thing: in the Creation account in Genesis 2, is says “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” So, yes, you are dust and to dust you shall return. But remember this: it is from dust and the very breath of God you were created out of divine love, a love which mends the pieces of your heart back together whenever you return to it. There’s a term for that – repentance. I used to think repentance meant feeling so bad about being bad that you promised never to be bad anymore. But now I see repentance as just returning to God. There’s a story about a nun who loved contemplative prayer, spending long periods of time in conversation with God, but found it difficult and frustrating because her thoughts would wander 1000 times during a 20 minute prayer session. She was sure she would be rebuked for her failure, but her teacher surprised her. She was assured that her wandering thoughts were just 1,000 opportunities to return to God. That’s what Ash Wednesday and Lent is – 1000 opportunities to return to God with all your heart. Returning again to the only thing that truly gives us assurance and hope and self-esteem – the eternal and divine love of God which created you from dust and breath and the eternal and divine love of God to which you will return after your last breath. Return to the Lord your God, For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Amen. May the peace of God be with you on this Lenten journey.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:03:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015