Ash Wednesday Reflections

“Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

I can still hear those words hanging in the air around my ears and can feel the gentle nudge of my forehead as the priest marked me with ashes last night. I have to admit, this is the first Ash Wednesday service I have ever attended.  My tradition and tribe doesn’t typically celebrate Ash Wednesday, yet I don’t know why.

The ashes on the forehead literally “mark” the beginning of a period of time that is so important – the 40 plus days leading up to Easter. It reminds us of all that Jesus suffered for you and for me as he experienced the 40 days of fasting and temptation in the desert and then the tragic final days of the Passion – his arrest, abuse, trial, crucifixion and death.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “Have you turned Catholic or something? What’s going on with this guy? Ash Wednesday? What’s the deal?” Well, let me see if I can explain.

I need something in my life to help motivate me toward holiness. I need a model. I need to be called to fast and pray. I need to want to be holy. In my tribe we have a holiness tradition. We have always preached holiness.

Holiness, holiness, holiness.

And, maybe the familiarity did breed some contempt for it. But, the contempt, I am realizing now, is for the cultural way holiness is so often expressed. It is a man made form of holiness that has become, well, mundane, old hat.

Of course, holiness is not a style, a fashion that goes out. But, the way it seems to get “lived out” in front of us, ha. It has become a method of doing holiness that is acceptable to others in the denomination but not necessarily to God. In fact, there are several very UNGodly things going on in the local expression of our tribe, mainly to do with power-grabbing political maneuvering, that break my heart and cause me to seriously question the integrity of our leadership and the direction we are headed.

Now, who am I to tell someone else, “You need to repent.” So, I won’t do that here. What I will do, however, is ask a question; Are you living a “holy” life that is pleasing to men or are you living a holy life that is pleasing to God?

Ash Wednesday is a reminder for us to focus on the eternal rather than the temporary, to value the spiritual more than the natural. This world and everything in it (including us) is passing away. We are dust and to dust we shall all return. The glory of it, however, and the truth we are to celebrate today is this – Divinity has touched dust and given us a new destiny, an eternity with Christ (Thank you, Larry Hickey, my brother, for the sermon that inspired this thought in me).

Are you interested in being more holy? Seriously. Is there any natural motivation there in you to say, “I am going to start pursuing God with greater intensity. I am going to seek to be more pure, set apart from the world, focused on living a Godly life.”  If not, what would it take?

Many times, it is a hardship or tragedy that causes us to turn to God. We suddenly become the holiest Christian we know in order to get God to like us and help us out of a jam. I know this is true because I have done it myself more times than I would like to admit.

There is something in my heart right now, however, that is drawing me to Him. When I heard those words, “Remember you are dust…,” it was as if God had said, “Enough. Enough striving. Enough working hard. Enough doing. Enough trying to please me in your own strength. Now, come to me. Lean upon me. Depend only on me. Give yourself wholly to me and I will make you holy.”

I can hear him saying, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1

And again, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5

So, on this part of the journey, I find myself really wanting that… to be holy. I want my life to be wholly his and not my own. Yet, I know I can’t do it on my own. I need his strength.

“Father, help me to be holy.”