Tonight, I want to talk about three things. Ash, Joel and Sin. Putting ash on your forehead is a pretty odd thing to do. I remember when I was at school and we had a special service for Ash Wednesday which was popular for at least two reasons. Firstly, you got time out of lessons and Secondly, you got to go around all day with a dirty smudge on your forehead. What more could a schoolboy want?
So, where does tonight’s strange service come from? Ash Wednesday and Lent have for centuries been part of the Church’s preparation for Easter. Ash Wednesday used to mark the public repentance of what the prayer book refers to as ‘notorious sinners’ and in years gone by Lent has been used as an opportunity for teaching new believers before baptism. More recently the Church has found that an act of repentance and a special time of prayerfulness and self denial is good for the whole Church as we prepare to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection.
So, as we gather here tonight we are in good company. Not only from the past but also from around the world. Where Christians are using a whole host of differing prayers and actions to remember that we are imperfect and rely solely upon the grace and mercy of God.
Many of these services will be active, noisy and colourful. All characteristics that might well make us feel uncomfortable, in our anglo-Saxon corner of the world. We don’t like to show our emotions, certainly not when it comes to something as personal as faith- God forbid!
However, you don’t have to spend long reading the Bible to see that it is littered with actions that have special meanings; the feast of Passover, the temple ceremony, the odd actions of the prophets, Jesus’ healings, the last supper and the sending out of the disciples to preach and baptise. All of these are ways in which people of faith have used everyday things to worship God. And that is what we are doing tonight. We are using this ash, as a sign of our sorrow before God. As we are invited to fast and pray and weep.
So, let me move on and talk about Joel- our Old Testament reading. Joel was a prophet who lived in Jerusalem around 340 years before Christ and his preaching is driven by a sense of disaster. Israel had recently suffered a terrible plague of locusts, that had stripped the crops bare and led to a famine. For Joel this was a warning that the ‘Day of the Lord’ was coming.
Now Israel had understood the ‘Day of the Lord’ as the time when the nation would be saved from its enemies but Joel turns this on its head, saying that the Day of the Lord will actually be a day of judgement when Israel will be punished for its rebellion against God. And so we read, ‘Sound the alarm, the day of the Lord is coming, a day of darkness and gloom.’ And in response Joel tells his hearers to fast and pray and weep.
So what has this alarming story to do with us? Have we rebelled against God? Have we been warned? Do we face potential disaster? I believe that the answer to each of these questions is yes. And I am sure that as each of us think about the state of our world we could easily choose examples of inequality, violence and injustice.
The recent shootings of black teenagers in London speak of poverty, broken families and the impact of drugs in our inner cities. Alternatively, earlier this week Christian Aid launched their climate chaos campaign, drawing attention to the catastrophic effect of climate change on poor communities around the world. Meanwhile our government seems keen on spending at least £40 billion replacing our nuclear deterrent. Weapons that destroy cities, killing millions of people and poisoning whole regions for generations to come.
Now each of these are huge issues. But they do all connect with us as individuals. The decisions we make at the ballot box, in the supermarket, with our money and in our relationships all play a part in shaping our broken world. And so tonight we are invited to fast and pray and weep.
I spoke earlier of violence, inequality and injustice. These are all words that appear in the Bible but can be summed-up in one word. Sin. Which bring me to the third theme tonight. Too often we think of our sins as individual mistakes that we make in our personal lives for which we should say sorry- and we should. But we need to have a bigger understanding of sin. Because whether we like it or not, we are part of world which although beautifully made by God is also affected by sin.
The fifth century Bishop and theologian Augustine called this ‘original sin’. Let me sketch out his thinking. At creation we were given God’s eternal grace. However, because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, we are imperfect and confused within ourselves. Our chief sin is that of Pride in failing to see God as our Creator. And so we are left to be driven by our own selfish desires. In this state of weakness we can only, ‘see through a glass darkly’ and so are led into specific sins.
A feature of Augustine’s thinking is the truth that as well as being personal- sin is also social and structural. Because as imperfect human beings we also create cities and societies that are imperfect. Indeed when you look at our world it is not difficult to see that pride, greed and fear are often powerful motivations.
Joel spoke of the Day of the Lord coming as an army of judgement. As Christians the Day of the Lord comes in Jesus crucifixion where we see God’s judgement combined with his love. And so as we approach Easter we are approaching the Day of the Lord. A day when God doesn’t send an army to the rebellious city- but his Son. A son who flings his arms wide upon the cross as God reaches out in love to his fallen creation.
Now you may not feel that we are all going to hell in a hand cart. You may feel that the chorus of, “We’re doomed, we’re all doomed!” is over the top and that quite tonight all I am doing is rubbing your faces in it.
But the thing is- and this is the important bit- that once we give up desperately trying to be good on our own account- we begin to give God’s Spirit a chance to work in us. Once we realise the seriousness of Sin we can also appreciate the breadth and depth of God’s overflowing love revealed in Christ. Once we stop desperately clinging to God we will realise that he has gently been holding us all along.
So this year, begin Lent by knowing that you will probably break your fast, that you may well not finish your improving book and that by the end of it you will still be dissatisfied with your prayer life. But in God’s gracious economy that is just fine. As Psalm 51 says, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
And so tonight I invite you to lay aside your anglo-Saxon sensibilities to fast, pray and just maybe shed a tear.
Amen.
With thanks to Famous potatoes for the top photo: Famous Potatoes.
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