Ash Wednesday

A Time for Listening

Readings: Joel 2:1-2, 11-19; Psalm 103; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

The trumpet call of Joel is sounded as a warning. A locust plague is about to descend on the people of Israel. The sky is black with its approach. It is devouring everything in its path. "Even now," he tells them, "it is not too late." He calls them to fast and pray. It is a call to conversion. It is a call to return to God.

Such a call could go out into the world in which we live every single day. The world needs to be converted, not primarily to Christianity, but simply to humanity. Look at the injustice in our world. How many children will go to bed hungry tonight? How many people, even in our own wealthy cities and towns, lack shelter? How many people have died in the struggle for freedom?

We live in a world of injustice and cruelty. What a topsy-turvy place it is. There are hockey players who earn more than entire towns in Africa! There are people whose personal wealth could wipe out the national debt of any third world nation. What greed exists in a society that allows a few people to control that much wealth when millions are living in poverty, even in first world countries? There is more than enough wealth in the world to wipe out economic poverty. Do we care enough to make it happen?

Joel calls us to rend our hearts, not our garments. Romero, the Bishop of San Salvador, martyred for his advocacy of the poor, calls us to a preferential option for the poor. Jesus calls us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven rather than on earth. They are all calls to examine our lives and consider how we might live differently.

There are many ways that we can begin to live more responsibly, creatively and compassionately. I hope that this Lent we will take seriously our call to change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. In a world like ours, we truly have to rend our hearts, acknowledge our guilt and ask God to create in us a clean heart. Then we have to act on our convictions and change the way we live our lives to reflect our faith.

We think of Lent as time for giving up. I think that Lent is primarily a time for listening, for going into the sanctuary of our hearts and searching the corners and shadows for the way God wants us to live.

Lent is a time for listening. It is a time for resting in the life, passion and death of Jesus. It is a time for choosing a unique, personal path of discipleship. It is a time for listening. It is not a time for self-denial unless that is what we hear in our hearts. It is not a time for giving or self-giving unless we hear those words within our hearts. It is not a time for fasting unless we hear those words in our hearts.

Lent is a time for listening. Let us listen to God's call for the way God wants us to live. Let us trust our hearts and live as God calls us.

Ash Wednesday

"We are But Dust"

Readings: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a; Psalm 103:8-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm,” says Joel to the people of Israel. He sends out a terrible warning to the people as he warns of a dreaded locust plagues. He describes the threat with dire warnings that fill the people with fear and a sense of helplessness. He calls them to turn back to God. He calls them to do more than simply go through the rituals. He admonishes them to acknowledge who God is and that God is in contol. Even though they face a terrible threat, even though everything seems to be out of control, yet God reigns. “Even now”, he is saying, “it is not to late. Turn to God and ask God to spare the people.”

What does it say to us as we celebrate Ash Wednesday, as we begin this Lenten Season? For that matter, why do we do what we do on Ash Wednesday? As I reflect on it, the call of Joel is still, twenty four hundred years later, a contemporary message. We all know what darkness the future can hold. In this wealthy country of ours we know what darkness the future can bring. The economic problems of last year leave many seniors wondering whether they will have enough for their future needs. There is unemployment. More people are working part time simply because they cannot find full time employment. Shockingly, there are children who go to bed hungry even in Canada. There are homeless people living on the streets of our cities. Worldwide people face war, famine, pandemic … The people of Haiti must feel as if everything is out of control. They must feel totally helpless as they try to pull the pieces of their lives together following the dreadful earthquake.

Is God calling us to examine why we do what we do? Is God calling us to understand that we need to return to God in a real way?

Why do we do what we do on Ash Wednesday? Why do we take ashes and smear them on our foreheads? Why do we look for things to give up or take on during Lent? We need to drive home a message about ourselves and our destiny. We were formed from the dust of the earth. God has breathed into our dust giving it life. Those facts are the foundation of human hope. We are more than the physical entity that we see. We have immense significance. We are sacred. We know sin and violence. We know too that we have need for atonement. Ash Wednesday convinces us of our dark side.

Our modern age denies that we are dust. We take charge of our humanity. We see ourselves as the owners of our destiny. We need reminders that we are but dust. We need to remember what we really are. We need to remember as well that we are creatures who can turn this planet into dust. Ash Wednesday can be a clear reminder to us of the charge over creation that God has given us. It can be a call to us to be stewards of God's creation.


Is God calling us to “sanctify a fast”? Is Lent calling us to make sacrifices? And I don't mean giving up chocolate, although that might be something we decide to do. For we need to ask ourselves for what reason we are giving something up? We know that as Canadians we are the ultimate consumers. Is Lent a call to examine our footprint and to make changes that cut down on our consumption? What worthy causes can we support ? Can Lent be a call for us to exmine our givings to the Church and to other worthy causes? Is it time to make some changes in our life style? Are their healthy alternatives to our usual diet? Can we walk more instead of getting into the car? Is it a call to a sacred agenda, to find time for prayer, study and fasting? Are there issues in our personal faith that need to be addressed?

Jesus says in the Gospel, “Give alms, pray, fast!” Lent should remind us that we do not have to impress God with our goodness. We do need to acknowledge our sinfulness and our need to change. And so I offer you an opportunity to begin a Holy Lent. Let us reflect on our call and begin the Lenten journey with new resolve to be all that God is calling us to be.

Ash Wednesday

Ashes to Ashes

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is named for its primary symbol. Using ashes as a symbol of penitence is a custom which goes back over a thousand years and has its basis in Hebrew Scriptures. While we share in a very ancient ceremony, ashes have real meaning in our modern day world. What images emerge for you as you think of ashes? Perhaps it is the image of the World Trade Centre in the aftermath of the terrorist attack as Manhattan was blanketed with dust. Perhaps it is the devastation caused by the war in Afghanistan. Perhaps you see in your mind’s eye a picture of a child lying in a hospital bed, limbs blown apart by a bomb. Perhaps it is the image of our city blanketed in smog, the result of our careless stewardship of the earth’s resources.

Whatever the image, it is a symbol of death. Ashes remind us of the fragility of life, of how tenuous our lives really are. We may think back to the funeral of a loved one. “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” we say at the committal as we toss the first handful of earth onto the casket. It is a stark reminder that we are committing the person who has died into God’s care. As we hear the words today as that smudge of ash is placed on our forehead, we are reminded that God created us from the dust of the earth and in death we return to that dust. And so today we are called to wear a symbol of our mortality right on our faces in plain view.

Given the world in which we live, given the ashen weight of the world’s pain and terror, ashes may be the last symbol we want to embrace. Why do we do this? Why do we begin our Lenten journey in this way?

Lent is a season of penitence. As the prophet Joel called the people of Israel to repentance, so we are called to repentance. They faced the devastation of a locust plague. They felt totally helpless. They saw only death and destruction around them. Joel called them to acknowledge that despite all appearances to the contrary, God was in control. He called on them to show God in some tangible way that they trusted in God’s promises, that they trusted that in the midst of death and devastation God would be with them. The people showed their faith by fasting and mourning. They rose above the ashes of their lives. The ashes of their fasting and mourning became a symbol of hope.

So it should be for us. That smudge of ash on our forehead is a symbol, not only of death and destruction. It is also a symbol of hope. Ash Wednesday offers us the grace to examine our lives with a sense of honesty. It challenges us to admit to our own sinfulness. How have we been complicit in the devastation around us? How has our sinfulness contributed to the brokenness of the world? More importantly, what are we going to do about it?

Lent is an opportunity to admit to ourselves that something is wrong with us, individually and collectively. On our own we will never fix everything. But as a community we can get down on our knees in prayer. We can resolve to begin anew. We can resolve to ask God’s forgiveness for our complicity in the state of the world. We can ask God’s grace in moving ahead, in accepting forgiveness. We can remind ourselves throughout these forty days through prayer, fasting, and study that we are determined to make things right.

Lent means springtime. The hope of Lent is that spring is coming. How do we bring hope to this day? A little Koala bear, affectionately named Sam, rather bewildered and quite badly burned emerged from the ashes of the bushfire in Australia. He became a beacon of hope in the midst of the devastation. A volunteer firefighter came across Sam cowering in a burned out section of the forest. He approached the terrified animal, offering it a drink of water. He talked gently to the animal until it trusted him enough to put a paw on his hand and begin to drink from his plastic bottle. The animal was taken into care and its burns treated. Another picture emerged. That of Sam recovering from his burns lying in a cage, another koala with a protective arm around him.

That is a good image for us of this season that begins with the ashes of Ash Wednesday, takes us to the devastation of the cross, and then to the glory of the Resurrection. Thanks be to God.