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13th
February 2013 - Ash Wednesday - Revd. Preb Maureen Hobbs |
Sermon
for Ash Wednesday 2013
2 Corinthians 5. 20b
- 6. 10
John 8. 2-11
Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.
Those are the words that I shall be using today as we offer you
the opportunity to come and receive the mark of the cross - either
on your head or on your hand as you prefer.
Why do this? We are Anglicans after all! Not used to making much
fuss in the way we worship! Certainly not wanting to appear different,
or holy, to our neighbours... No, we would much rather just slip
quietly into church, say our prayers, make our communion and
then slip quietly home again. We don't want everyone or indeed
anyone else knowing our business, do we? And anyway, it is embarrassing
to walk around with a big black smudge on your forhead for the
rest of the day!
Well, yes, it is. But that is rather the point!
This is a day when we can admit to being embarrassed. Embarrassed
by just how weak in our faith we are. Embarrassed when we think
of all the 101 little ways in which we FAIL to turn away from
sin and be faithful to Christ. But a day too when - however embarrassing
it may be to reflect on all that, we can still rejoice and praise
God that we are forgiven.
Yesterday was Pancake day - otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday.
Shrove as in shriven - which implies confession and forgiveness.
A time to use up some of the rich foods we enjoy, to prepare
ourselves to live a bit more simply perhaps, as we make our Lenten
fast.
Christians are different because we know that we have God's forgiveness
- through the person of Jesus Christ. And not because of anything
good we have done or not done, but just because God loves us
and all this world so much that he could send his son to be our
special friend and Saviour.
Ash has been used since ancient time to signify mourning. Tearing
one's garment and putting ash on one's head is mentioned a number
of times in the Bible.
Receiving the ashes today at the beginning of the season of Lent
calls to mind two things. The use of ashes, which goes back to
the Old Testament, symbolizes the contrition and humility of
the sinner before the all-just God. Like the penitents of old,
we "put on sack-cloth and ashes" as a sign of repentance
for the evil we have done.
The second thing the ashes call to mind is a verse from Genesis:
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return. It is this verse that
we cite as we impose the ashes upon the believers' heads, "Remember,
that you are dust, and to dust shall you return." Our
lives pass in an instant, and soon the grave will dissolve our
bodies into the ash and dust from which we were formed.
These two ideas go together as we enter this season of Lent,
a season of fasting and penitence: now is the moment for conversion,
now is the acceptable time. Not tomorrow, not next year. Today.
We have a way of putting off the changes we know we must make,
like St Augustine who in his youth had prayed, "Lord, make
me chaste, but not just yet." The problem is, of course,
that none of us knows how long we have to repent.
So, the Lord has given us this day to turn from our sins and
convert to Him. While we still have our life, we repent of our
lies and dishonesty. We repent of our adultery and impurities.
We repent of our rash judgment and lack of charity. We repent
of our violence and anger. We repent of our faithlessness and
ingratitude. We take up the sign of the ashes, and ask the Lord
to deliver us from the punishment we so rightly deserve. This
is what Ash Wednesday means, and it sets the tone for the next
forty days.
I well remember some years ago (and in another place!) one of
my lovely churchwardens coming to see me after the morning service
when Ash had been imposed on my forehead.
"You had better wash that off!," was his reaction,
"you don't want people to think you are odd or peculiar,
walking around with a black mark on your face!" It was kindly
meant, of course, but could not have been more wrong....
No, I am not peculiar (well, not about this anyway!) I am the
same as every other human being on this planet in one important
respect.... I am just as guilty as the next man, woman or child,
of sometimes putting my own needs and wants first - above those
of others. I know perfectly well that the food I eat and the
clothes I wear may have sometimes been produced through the exploitation
of other people or animals or the earth itself. In that I am
as big a sinner as anyone and I need God's forgiveness if I am
to approach his table and receive the bread and wine that signifies
his great love for me, his wayward and selfish child.
Now is the moment for conversion, now is the acceptable time
- now is when I begin the journey that is Lent as I look forward
to the glory of Easter Sunday and the resurrection joy of that
day. But I cannot - even if I wanted to - get there without all
that Lent means and will prepare me for. So I can stand a little
embarrassment today, if it brings home to me - just for one day
- quite how far I still have to go before I am fit and prepared
to stand in the presence of the one who went through hardship
and temptation in the desert; betrayal and desertion at the hands
of his friends and followers; and torture and death at the will
of his enemies and the heartless bureaucracy of his day. ...
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way,
and from now on do not sin again." Amen. |
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