Ash Wednesday - a time for Pause

The journey of Lent and Easter is a remembering and discovering that life comes out of death and it begins with Ash Wednesday and the solemn reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return! We remember that this was the journey of Jesus for us and as one of us. And we discover that this is our journey also. An interior journey that we make in the company of others.

Sentence:

“And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.” Matthew 6:16

Collect:

Gracious God, our beginning and our end,

your presence is like lighting that splits the sky and starts fires.

Look upon us with compassion and grant us both courage and desire

to step out on the path of Lent and be remade by the journey

that your Beloved Son took as one of us, for us.

When we are proud or careless humble us with truth;

when we are afraid or ashamed tend our wounds;

when we are thirsty or hungry remind us of your sustaining presence;

and if we should become disorientated call us toward our true home.

This we pray in the name of your Son, our Saviour. Amen.

Reflection:

The Ash Wednesday service invites, challenges, us to remember that we are but dust and then marks us with ash and asks us to repent.

You may like to read previous reflections on dust.

A Meditation on Dust

Or you may like to reflect on ash.

A meditation on Ash

Although I am not one who spends much time reflecting on sin or repentance this is a time of year, a time in history, when such a reflection seems desirable. A time to pause and to turn again towards Jerusalem and the journey that leads to life through death.

The Scriptures we hear this day strip away our defences and pretences until we are ready to admit our sin - our brokenness and distraction, our despair and pride, our shame and our too small goals for improvement - until we are ready to surrender. We surrender not simply to a judgement of sin and self deception but we surrender to the process, the reckoning that considering our reflection in the mirror triggers, and we acknowledge how much time and effort we spend trying to avoid certain truths or reassurring ourselves it’s not that bad. Such honest repentance is a fearful prospect but entered into can become a healing and transforming process.

While repentance is an anathema for many of us modern people of faith there is relief in giving up the defences against ourselves, others and God’s good opinion of us. Repentance also gives us an opportunity to lament as community our corporate sins, our failures as a community. And yes, some are more sinned against than sinners but naming our societal failures can still be powerful and liberating. And in naming our corporate sins we name our sins of complicity, of blindness, of faintheartedness. So, repentance can be a turning point, a rock bottom that enables us to push toward fresh air, a moment of letting go that leads to taking up what is ours to do. And repentance within the sacred and certain tradition of the church can provide a degree of safety and guidance as we undertake this reckoning. (And yes the church is not automatically or always safe.) Repentance within the church can also mean that although hugely personal and interior it is not only about the individual but about us the body of Christ.

And at the other side of a season of repentance there can be renewal, healing and transformation as we emerge real and realised. And such change is the true meaning of repentance – of turning around, of having our minds changed and made new.

So why might we need to repent year after year, Lent after Lent, for after all we know where the journey leads. To the cross yes, but beyond to the empty tomb and a new dawn. Speaking for myself I am forever trying to take back control of my ego, of my life, of my imagination and intentions and over time I invariably list to the side of atrophy and compromise. Repentance makes me momentarily smaller and humbler but also liberates me into a bigger, more joyful, more abundant kingdom. Lent for me is like turning over the soil in the garden, or pruning, or pulling up what is not doing well, in order to prepare for a new season of growth and plenty. For me Lent is seasonal wisdom.

Even so, come Lord Jesus the Beloved and Broken one, come let us fall in step with you on the way to Jerusalem and the renewal of life.

Intercessions:

Gracious God,

Creator of beginnings and new beginnings,

remake us in your image,

renew us by your vulnerable love that reaches beyond our defences and false ambitions.

We particularly pray for those parts of your world broken, or parched, or decimated …

we pray for those forgotten, mistreated and used for others gain …

we pray strength and safety for all who go to the aid of others …

Loving Creator,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus, Beloved and Broken one,

Forgive and heal us of our pride and shame …

Forgive and heal us of our fear and false confidence in the appearance of things …

Forgive and heal us of our need for certainty and novelty when you offer truth …

We particularly pray for those who are cast aside by our world as unimportant or unloveable …

We pray for those known to us who struggle to know their worth and those who anxiously seek to convince us of their importance …

Help us to be humble and hopeful,

help us to trust in your company as we seek to enter in to the mystery of life that comes out of death.

Jesus, Beloved and Broken.

Hear our prayer.

Sustaining Spirit,

Come keep us company when we fear we are alone.

Come speak our name above the noise when we are overwhelmed.

Come shine upon the right path when we are lost or distracted.

We commit again to surrender to your eternal presence and good and loving purposes for us.

And we remember our beloveds now in your presence, may they be at peace and at home in your joy.

Sustaining Spirit,

Hear our prayer.

Living God,

Creator, Redeemer of all, Spirit that Sustains,

We pray in the name of your Beloved Son, the Christ, who was broken as one of us, for us. Amen. 

 This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.