Sermon - Ash Wednesday

Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas. Some of my friends still have their decorations up, and nearly everybody is trying to pay off debts accrued celebrating. It seems like In the blink of an eye spring has appeared. The seasons are changing and I am sure I actually saw the sun earlier this week.

As the daffodils are starting to spring up LENT is here again, and we are preparing for Easter, in many different ways – some by giving things up, like chocolate, alcohol or biscuits, and some by starting new things, like lent courses and spending more time in prayer or working to help others. I hope that all the things that we do over the next few weeks will help us enjoy Easter more.

Today, Ash Wednesday, we start Lent. We pray for perseverance, and we resolve to walk closer with God for the few short weeks until we celebrate Easter again.

During the service we will have to opportunity (if you wish) to receive what is called the ‘imposition of the ashes’ where the sign of the cross is made on your head, hands or both to signify penitence. The ash is made from the burned palm crosses of last year. The symbolism signifies that our time of reflection is beginning, and that we are ready to begin our Lenten exodus with God. I use the word exodus because it is just that. As we walk with God, we pray that we might be freed from all that enslaves us, and that we might use that freedom to become more like the person God wants us to be.

Each Lenten exodus is the opportunity for us to engage a little bit more with the wonder of God, and then we can see ourselves a little more clearly in relation to God. It is a painful task – to ask those awkward questions in Lent – the ones about belief, faith and calling – the God who calls.

The cycle of Wilderness – Awareness - Cross – Resurrection is one that is most important in Lent. We journey through the wilderness of things worldly, attempting to see a glimpse of things heavenly. Our prayers and actions will give us an awareness of God with us, then each and every year we are shocked by the brutality and inhumanity of the cross, until we are resurrected with our Lord to search again for another facet of God in places where we might not expect to find God.

I can remember every single lent that I have spent reflecting on my own life, vocation, relationships, concerns and successes – There haven’t been that many - I can honestly say that the importance of Lent has passed me by for most of my life.

When I became a Christian , my first few Lenten journeys involved reading theology, attempting to define God, working out what made him tick, trying to understand and solve the puzzle of religion. It was my biggest mistake, because when I ended up with more questions that answers, I gave up.

I spent so much time trying to get the answer to life and faith, that I completely missed the point.

The JOURNEY is more important than the DESTINATION. It is in our journeys with GOD, we start to become more whole. As soon as we think we have all the answers, we are lost – we are lost to the world that DEMANDS proof and GUARANTEES.

We all wasted so much time in theological college investigating possibilities, pushing the boundaries, and looking at other peoples’ always inadequate definitions of GOD, that we lost that all-important PERSONAL JOURNEY with God. We were acting very much like scientists, with GOD in a test-tube, carrying out our experiments.

This, of course makes for stress and an immense amount of pressure. We were encouraged to ONLY SEEK GOD IN BOOKS, not in the places where we know he will be found, in the faces of the needy and unloved – there is so much work to do that we will never be bored.

And it is a temptation isn’t it, that exists for all of us everywhere. Shall we deal with the certainties about GOD we find in books, or shall we risk all by searching for GOD outside the safe and cosy environments of our church buildings or home. The temptation is to set ourselves apart from the lives of others. To care only for the people who attend church and not the others who live in the parishes. To set ourselves on a pedestal with the authority of the past…it is a real challenge for many.

This LENT we are ALL being invited to stand up and be counted for what we believe in.

We don’t need permission to have an opinion on war, poverty, homelessness, hunger and the third world – it is our job. As Christians, we are expected by GOD to call for justice and peace for all.

Our authority is not one that comes and goes, it is one that we receive at baptism and it can never be taken from us. The world may hate us for making demands, but we will be only doing our job.

LENT is only a few short weeks, and EASTER will be upon us.

When we look back at lent in 2003, will we remember that this is the year that we gave up cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate or biscuits?

Or will it be the year that we remember that we called for PEACE and JUSTICE in the name of JESUS CHRIST the prince of peace. Will it be the year that we remember upsetting the powers that be, by making demands for those who have no voice to speak for themselves? Will it be the year that we built a little bit more of the KINGDOM OF GOD on earth?

Let’s surprise ourselves this lent – Let’s do something daft and show the world that we haven’t forgotten how to care. From the greatest gesture to the smallest kindness, we will be making a stand for GOD.

Let us pray;

Heavenly Father, Lord GOD of all creation; Give us strength and courage to all who work for justice and peace. Keep them safe in the knowledge that they do your work. Make this lent for us a time when we meet you in our love for others.

We ask this through JESUS CHRIST your SON our LORD