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February 6, 2008 - Ash Wednesday
The Rev. Canon Grant Carey

Lessons for the day

We have come to this Cathedral to take part in a ceremony whose origins lie in the far, far distant past.

Our Old Testament reading from the prophesy of Joel speaks of a time in the fourth century BC when a devastating plague of locusts laid waste to the land. A solemn fast was proclaimed -- and everyone was bidden to take part in it. Joel perceives that the people had turned away from God to their own ways, and that hope lay in their returning.

"Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love..."

Setting apart a time for prayer and fasting was important to our Hebrew forbears, and the practice passed on into Christian tradition. During the early period of the Church, those who sought forgiveness after falling away during times of persecution dressed in sackcloth, ... and ashes, made from the palms carried on Palm Sunday, were cast upon their heads.

During the centuries that followed, the custom evolved into a rite wherein all Christians might enter into the forty days of Lent with a spirit of penitence. The sign of the cross was traced on the forehead with ash of palm, just as it is today, not only as an outward sign of penitence and a reminder of our mortality, but as an acknowledgment our need.

Living the Christian life in today's world is not easy.

Forgiveness is not easy.

Love is not easy.

Self-giving is not easy

Ash Wednesday reminds us that Christian living is more than appearing outwardly pious and good, as Jesus teaches in today's Gospel.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that are called to be forgiving and kind in a world where hostilities are fostered and greed is rewarded, and even religion is twisted in ways that exclude and demean.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are mortal, finite beings, made of the elements of the earth and that, physically, to the earth we will return.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that we have too often failed to live up to the Christian Way - - that, indeed, we have done those things we ought not to have done, and left undone those things we ought to have done, so that there is no health in us... And it reminds us of the truth of that ancient prayer: "Lord, we are sinners in your sight."

If this were all that Ash Wednesday had to tell us, it would be the most depressing day of the year. But Ash Wednesday goes beyond confronting us with the reality of our human frailty.

Ash Wednesday speaks to us of God's love for us and for all the world, ... that in Christ Jesus, God has entered into the midst of life ... to live and die as one of us and to vanquish death.

Ash Wednesday speaks to us of God's forgiveness and his loving concern for each one of us because we are precious his sight.

And it speaks to us of springtime.

The word "Lent" in its ancient Anglo-Saxon meaning implies the new life and growth of springtime, ... of planting and growing and blossoming ... when that which once seemed dead bursts into bloom.

Acts of devotion, ... special efforts that deepen our spiritual life through prayer, through Holy Communion, through acts of self-control, through reading and sharing, ... all are very important ways of keeping Lent. In our increasingly busy lives, we need to find time to reflect on the presence of Christ, to examine and re-affirm our faith in God, to give thanks for the gifts and blessing we have already received, and to find new ways to live more purposely in an often cynical and uncaring world.

Here are some very practical suggestions:

1. We can let God deepen our devotion through worship, attending one of the five weekday Eucharists and the addition offices of daily Morning Prayer Monday through Friday.
2. We can enter into our Lord's journey Calvary when we have the Stations of the Cross each Friday evening, remembering that there can be no Easter without Good Friday.
3. If we have never walked the Labyrinth, there will be opportunity to do so. The Labyrinth helps us to travel our own spiritual path but in the company of other pilgrims. The quietness of this moment can enrich and bless.
4. We can open ourselves through a disciplined and regular time set aside for prayer and Bible reading, listening as well as asking.
5. We can actively seek out new opportunities and challenges that may lead us to minister to the needs of others.

Whatever we do, do not fail to ask God to reveal the way he wants us to follow in the days ahead.

A man came to church for the first time one Sunday morning and asked the person seated next to him: "When does the service begin?" And she replied, "As soon as we leave the building..."

Pray this Lent that the Lord may strengthen us "to go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit, carrying out to do the work God has given us to do, to love and serve him and one another as faithful witness of Christ our Lord.

And may God Bless us, every one, that, keeping a faithful Lent, that, like Mary Magdalene who found the tomb empty on Easter Day, we, too, may greet him who, having overcome death and the grave, has opened for us the way of everlasting life.

Amen.