ASH WEDNESDAY

FEBRUARY 17 ASH WEDNESDAY

SUBMITTED BY REV. STEPHANIE TUNISON

Dear Ones,

Until I started reading the bible, I assumed the people in the bible the disciples, the kings, or the prophets lived perfect lives. After all, some are called saints, others are known as patriarchs of the faith. Once I started reading the Word, I learned something very different. Humans are human, and we make mistakes no matter when we live.

The scripture for this Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is Psalm 51:1-17. We meet King David in deep despair. He is praying with a contrite heart, seeking God’s forgiveness. Why? What could he have done that this ancient Jewish song recorded?

To understand this psalm, we need to go back to 2 Samuel 11 and the first part of 2 Samuel 12. We discover that King David not only broke one of the Ten Commandments, but he broke four of them! I’ll share more about that in the service on February 17.

Now you and I tend to believe we are good people. We aren’t about breaking the ten commandments so we must be pretty good, right? And yes, for the most part we are. However, we are still human, and fall short of God’s desires for our lives. Lent is a time we can take stock of just where we are and how we are doing as believers in Christ.

First, a little history. Why do we celebrate Lent? The United Methodist Book of Worship tells us the season of Lent is a time for us to “confront our own mortality and confess our sin before God in the community of faith.” Lent focuses on the dual themes of sin and death in light of God’s redeeming love for us through Jesus Christ. For ten centuries Christians have honored Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent. It is a time when we are called to prayer and fasting for 40 days so we can consider Jesus’s atoning sacrifice for our sins upon the cross. Lent starts 40 days before Easter, minus Sundays, ending with the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning.

In the earliest centuries, Christians would repent of their sins and ashes sprinkled on their bodies as a sign of repentance and reconciliation. Around the 10th century, all believers showed their need for repentance by having ashes placed on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. The Catholic Church kept the tradition alive.

Protestants were wary the practice might become a sign of works that misrepresent steps to salvation.

We are not commanded to observe Ash Wednesday. But we do it as a time to become contrite in our own hearts and spirits about how we can better walk with our God. It is a time for us to look inward, yes, into our sin, into those places where we too have missed the mark. This isn’t about giving up trivial items. It’s about the change God wants, and we want, in our lives by spending time with Him. Then, at the end of 40 days, we can name a specific thought, habit, or attitude that we have changed through the reading of his Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.

QUESTIONS FOR REFECTION?

Dear Ones, how will you spend this Lenten Season?

What changes, true changes do you want to make?

How will your life be different, or better, this coming Easter morning?