I wonder if numerous instances in ministry are filled with “yes, but…” including for Ash Wednesday. Yes, today, will have its fair share of mentions of sin: our own individual messing up’s harming others (and God along with it), our own seemingly impossible-to-escape human nature of it, not to mention a worldwide reality of it. Yes, but…the church is also obligated today to ensure that no one gets bogged down with that not-so-Good-News to the point that some might wonder if it’s really worth trying to pull off acts of love and compassion and mercy.
Today will also have its fair share of mortal recognition: “Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return,” while dust is nearly emblazoned on who knows how many millions of God’s children throughout all the hours of this Ash Wednesday. Yes, human bodies are not meant to last forever, but…Christ is, and that Christ went into the depths of a dust-enclosed death and rose victorious, including for you. Yes, even on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and every Lenten day in between, not to mention more than our fair share of human dismal days throughout a lifetime, hope still somehow, someway, remains…for you, too.
Yes, Ash Wednesday insists sin and death gets pushed to the forefront, even to our own forehead, as if we cannot escape it. But even though Christ does not promise a complete escape from it, as we are daily reminded of that not-so-Good-News, Christ does promise that it will not define your reality. Yes, our body will not somehow defy the near laws of nature, but Christ promises that even out of dust can eternal beauty emerge.
Yes, this day is not the most cheerful on our church calendar, but for some reason, who knows how many millions of God’s children will still show up to take on the ashes and take on the sin-and-death near-insistence from the world. It’s as if they’re taking it all on with near defiance, because they have this yes, crucified, but Risen Christ within them. They know they have the One who can more than take all the sin and death on and reign with love and compassion and mercy; all to set us free to keep on trying not just these 40 days, but throughout our time, for however long we have, in this world that God still cherishes with a grace that a tomb could not contain. Thanks be to God, indeed!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad