Tag: ash wednesday

Remember

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality BlogLeave a comment

remember you are dust

Here’s a thought for your mind to consider: Remembering is a spiritual practice.

It doesn’t take any effort to forget.  But it does take an intentional plan to remember.  If you have a habit of losing your car keys, you make the effort to build some ritual in your life to not lose them.  Maybe they always live on the same hook just inside your back door or are always with you in your pocket.  That way you never have to “remember” where they are.

I look at my planner every day.  Every morning it’s a ritual.  Before doing any work, I access my planner and go over my schedule and my goals.  I will forget my best laid plans unless I review them each day.

Christians are about to enter the season of Lent.  Lent is a 40-day observance of journeying with Jesus to his cross.  It’s a time for believers to remember their baptisms, that is, to remember that they belong to God – to remember and to never forget that our primary identity is in Christ, known and loved by God as his people.

We even have an entire book of the Bible dedicated to remembering: Deuteronomy.  The book of Deuteronomy is a restating of the Law for a new generation of Israelities about to enter the Promised Land.  They were to remember why they existed as a nation, and to whom they belonged.  The Israelites needed to remember through restatement and ritual that God delivered them with power from the mighty Egyptians.  God is their trust – which means there is no need for a trust supplemental insurance policy with another deity in case he doesn’t come through for them.

dont-forget-to-remember

“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” (Deuteronomy 5:15, NIV)

“Remember the long road on which the Lord your God led you during these forty years in the desert so he could humble you, testing you to find out what was in your heart: whether you would keep his commandments or not.” (Deuteronomy 8:2, CEB)

“Remember the Lord your God! He’s the one who gives you the strength to be prosperous in order to establish the covenant he made with your ancestors.” (Deuteronomy 8:18, CEB) 

“So all your life you will remember the time you left Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 16:3, NCV)

“Remember a time long ago.
Think about all the past generations.
Ask your fathers to remind you,
and your leaders to tell you.” (Deuteronomy 32:7, GW)

We cannot expect the next generation to simply know God because we do.  If it’s so easy for you and me to forget about God in our workaday world, then how much more do we need to be intentional about passing on the words and ways of Jesus with routines and rituals which help us to remember?

On Ash Wednesday the minister applies the sign of the cross to the forehead of the penitent with the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It’s not meant to be a downer, or a morbid display that we are going to die someday.  The ashes are to be a reminder that we only have one life to live on this earth, and it is to be lived knowing, trusting, and finding our truest identity in the Holy Trinity whom we serve – Father, Son, and Spirit – the God who has orchestrated salvation for his people.  Remember, and do not forget, your life belongs to God.  He cares for you, and you can trust in his goodness.

ash wed

“The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26, NKJV)

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35, ESV)

“Then he broke it in pieces and said, ‘This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.’  For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.” (1 Corinthians 11:24-26, NLT)

“They only asked us to remember the poor, and that was something I had always been eager to do.” (Galatians 2:10, CEV)

“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” (2 Timothy 2:8, NRSV)

“Remember, then, what you were taught and what you heard; obey it and turn from your sins.” (Revelation 3:3, GNT)

If you think about it, caring involves consistency.  Others know what to expect from us.  We continually show up with the grace and kindness given to us in Christ.  People don’t have to wonder what kind of mood we’re going to be in.  We’re there for them.  We have provided for them a history of consistent rituals they can remember – a history of patient assistance and quiet strength on their behalf.

We’ve been given one life to live.  It is to be a life dedicated to practicing remembrance. We’re to live in the remembrance that Christ has delivered us from brokenness to be an agent of healing in a world in need of remembering who they are.  There’s no need to invent new rituals for remembrance.  We just need to remember to show up and participate in the rituals the church has practiced for centuries.

Remember That You Are Dust

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            Today is Ash Wednesday.  This is the first of forty days in the season of Lent.  It is a time of reflection, contemplation, spiritual discipline, and especially repentance as Christians anticipate and prepare themselves for the redemptive events of Christ’s passion. 
 
            Last night I took the dried palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration, broke them all up, and put them over a hot fire.  Over the course of the next forty-five minutes, I watched the dried branches slowly wither and turn to dust and ash.  By the time it was all done, no one could ever recognize that the dust was ever palm branches.  It could have been just about anything.  And there we have the sign and the meaning behind Ash Wednesday:  In the end, we are all dust.  All of our mortal striving, worrying, and pride to get ahead, posture ourselves for good positions, and preening to look better than we really are will eventually result in absolute diddly-squat.  The richest person on earth, as well as the poorest, will both look exactly the same in the end.  We all will be dust and ashes.
 
            Today I will take that unrecognizable palm branch dust and apply it to the foreheads of my parishioners in the sign of the cross – a tangible reminder that this is to be a season of repentance.  To be mortal means that we will all die someday.  But, for the follower of God, death will not be the end.  Something will arise out of the dust and ashes.  New life, a life unrecognizable from the first, shall come out of it all.
 
            The words I will utter when putting the ash to the forehead will be:  “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.”  Yes, it is both an ancient and a very solemn saying.  But there is much more than solemnity and tradition here – there is the hope of something different, of observing something sacred in the ashes, of knowing Christ.  If you think about it, there cannot be ashes unless there is fire.  When something comes close and exposed to fire, it is changed and becomes dust and ash.  It is no longer distinguishable as to its original form.  It will not and cannot ever be the same again.
 
            When Moses came into contact with the burning fiery bush, he was never the same again.  All that Moses was before became broken down and unrecognizable.  When Isaiah came into contact with God’s burning coal in the temple as he worshiped, he would never be the same again.  Isaiah was a new person, filled with a mission as God’s emissary.  He became completely unrecognizable from his former existence.  When the early church encountered the Day of Pentecost and the Spirit came upon them like fire, they were completely changed.  The believers became dust and from the ashes there arose a church that went on to impact the entire world.  They were never and could never ever be the same again.
 
            We all share the same fate in the end.  We will all eventually die.  And we will all eventually face fire; it is just a matter of which fire we will encounter.  Either it will be the fire of God’s purifying grace which humbly reduces us to ashes so that we can be renewed and fitted for a life with Jesus Christ forever.  Or we will face the consuming fire at the end of the age that will burn in eternal torment, separated forever from the life giving grace of God.
 

 

            So, today remember that you are dust.  Lay aside all that now seems so important, and humbly allow Jesus to remake you and fashion you after his image.  Go to that Ash Wednesday service and receive a sign of mortality, even death.  For only through dying can we live.

Psalm 51:1-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Today is Ash Wednesday, the first of forty days in Lent (six weeks) on the Christian Calendar which is designed to remind us of our mortality, God’s grace, and the great need for repentance and faith in Jesus.  There is perhaps no better place in Scripture to go than this psalm of David.  It is the consummate prayer of confession and repentance.
 
            If we struggle to know how to respond to our sin when we become aware of it, then this psalm is meant for us.  We are to use it and adopt it as our own.  The words of Holy Scripture are not simply ancient texts for a bygone era; they are living words to be read, prayed, meditated upon, memorized, and engrafted into the soul.  “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”  Notice that David asked for mercy based upon God’s character, and not on the ground of the quality or intensity of his confession.
 
            If we trust only in our hearts, then our hearts will eventually condemn us because they can be desperately wicked.  But if we throw ourselves headlong into the vast ocean of God’s mercy, then we shall receive forgiveness of sins and assurance of pardon because God’s steadfast love never changes.  Ashes upon the forehead today are to be a reminder of our frailty and propensity toward sin; they are a symbol of repentance and desire for mercy.  Of all days, today is the day to set aside the pride of achievement and the pretense of appearing to have it all together, and humbly submit to God in repentance and faith.
 

 

            Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  In Jesus’ Name I pray.  Amen.

Ash Wednesday

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
Each year Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent, a six week (40 day) period that climaxes in Holy Week and the great celebration of Easter Sunday.  These weeks on the Christian calendar are meant to remind us of a very important truth:  the grace of God in Christ forgives us of all our sins, and it came at great cost; there must be suffering before glory. 
 
            It is vital for us to never forget all God’s work for us as individuals – forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, compassion, and satisfaction.  This all has its fulfillment, for the Christian, in Jesus who accomplished this through his cross and resurrection.  It is by his stripes that we are healed; it is through his suffering that there is glory and praise.  Twenty-one years ago at this time of year, my wife was on total bed rest due to her pregnancy with our youngest daughter.  Having gone into labor only three months into her pregnancy, she was immediately confined to staying flat on her back for four months.  We lived every one of those days with the very real possibility of losing a child, having been told by doctors that we needed to brace for the worse, since our unborn girl was only given a 17% chance of making it to the outside world alive.
 
            In a very real sense my wife had to die to herself so that our daughter might live; and, the result of her months of suffering led to the glory of a beautiful and healthy baby girl.  We will not forget all of God’s benefits toward us, redeeming our suffering and replacing it with great joy.  Great praise arises out of great suffering.
 
            God remembers that we are dust, that we are mortal humans.  Sometimes we lose sight of our mortality.  We do not remember that death awaits us and that in some ways a good life is really preparing for a good death.  I once read that each morning a group of monks, when walking to breakfast, take one shovel-full of dirt and remove it from their potential graves.  The younger monks have shallow graves, and the older monks must take the time to get down into their graves and climb back out.  It is a daily reminder that life is to be lived to the full because it will not last.   God sees our mortality and is slow to anger, choosing to abound in love and compassion.  He acts by removing our transgressions completely, even though we do not deserve it.  Some day we will all die, but God’s love will still be here because God’s love is permanent.
 
In order to remember our mortality, and to offer our lives as a sacrifice of praise, in this season of Lent we are encouraged to prepare for the glory of the resurrection by feeling something of the suffering, however small it is, of our Lord Jesus.  In doing so, it is to be a daily reminder that Jesus gave his life for us so that we might have life.  The ash applied to the forehead on this day is symbolic of the thing or things that we are giving up.  Perhaps time is an idol for you; it is the thing precious to you and you want to hold on to it and serve it.  Perhaps there are possessions that you grasp and hold onto in such a way that you can’t imagine living without that certain thing.  Maybe there is an activity that you enjoy to the point of allowing that certain thing to shape and center your day.  This is the time to identify those things, and to make a choice to fast, to abstain from that thing or activity in order to remember Jesus and to worship him only.
 

 

The ministry of the church is to assist us in being aware of the movements, rhythms, and seasons of Christian time.  Now is the time of repentance.  Today is the day to be reminded of our sin and mortality, and God’s grace and immortality.  Let us experience death so that we will experience life.