Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. Telling the truth can be uncomfortable, and also freeing. Telling the truth can produce both anxiety and relief. Discomfort, and anxiety, because we think, “If I tell the truth about who I am, will others still value me?” Freedom, and relief, because we thing, “Now that I’ve told the truth about who I am, I don’t need to do the exhausting work of hiding any longer.” Through today’s readings and liturgy, we enter the season of Lent knowing exactly who we are.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. In our readings, we hear the truth about our sinfulness: we are sinners. We are sinners because we are human, and we are sinners because of the things we do and fail to do. We cause brokenness and pain for others. We act selfishly, gossip, delight when bad things happen to those we dislike. We do not tell the truth. We think of ourselves too highly, or not highly enough. We carelessly damage God’s beloved creation. We go through the motions and live as hypocrites. We exclude others and erect barriers when we are called to show love and welcome to our neighbors. We are guilty. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. The ashen cross marked prominently on our foreheads tells the truth about our mortality. There’s no escaping death. Wealth can’t stop it, popularity can’t stop it, the hours you put in at work can’t stop it, “being a good person” can’t stop it. Eventually, death comes for all of us. Our breath will cease, our bodies will decay, and we will return to the dust from which we came. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. In our readings, we hear the truth about our belovedness: we are God’s beloved children. The God who made you and called you beloved is always calling you to return, running toward you with open arms. This God is gracious and merciful. This God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This God does not cast us away or abandon us. This God desires and enacts reconciliation. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. The ashen cross marked prominently on our foreheads tells the truth about God’s claim on us. In baptism, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Forever! This cross reminds us of the expansiveness of God’s great love for us. This cross reminds us that God takes instruments of death and destruction and instead uses them to bring about wholeness, resurrection, and life. This cross reminds us that we belong to God, who calls us beloved children and walks with us always. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth about who we are: sinners, broken, guilty, mortal; and also, saints, made whole, redeemed, beloved. We belong to God, and nothing – nothing! – can separate us from God’s love: not what we do or fail to do, not our mortality, not our brokenness, not our sin. God’s love and forgiveness are big enough, abundant enough, to cover our failure, forgive our sin, make us whole, and bring us to life everlasting.
This is most certainly true. It is good news that sets us free.
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| photo from unsplash |
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. In our readings, we hear the truth about our sinfulness: we are sinners. We are sinners because we are human, and we are sinners because of the things we do and fail to do. We cause brokenness and pain for others. We act selfishly, gossip, delight when bad things happen to those we dislike. We do not tell the truth. We think of ourselves too highly, or not highly enough. We carelessly damage God’s beloved creation. We go through the motions and live as hypocrites. We exclude others and erect barriers when we are called to show love and welcome to our neighbors. We are guilty. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. The ashen cross marked prominently on our foreheads tells the truth about our mortality. There’s no escaping death. Wealth can’t stop it, popularity can’t stop it, the hours you put in at work can’t stop it, “being a good person” can’t stop it. Eventually, death comes for all of us. Our breath will cease, our bodies will decay, and we will return to the dust from which we came. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. In our readings, we hear the truth about our belovedness: we are God’s beloved children. The God who made you and called you beloved is always calling you to return, running toward you with open arms. This God is gracious and merciful. This God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This God does not cast us away or abandon us. This God desires and enacts reconciliation. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth. The ashen cross marked prominently on our foreheads tells the truth about God’s claim on us. In baptism, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Forever! This cross reminds us of the expansiveness of God’s great love for us. This cross reminds us that God takes instruments of death and destruction and instead uses them to bring about wholeness, resurrection, and life. This cross reminds us that we belong to God, who calls us beloved children and walks with us always. This is true.
Ash Wednesday is about telling the truth about who we are: sinners, broken, guilty, mortal; and also, saints, made whole, redeemed, beloved. We belong to God, and nothing – nothing! – can separate us from God’s love: not what we do or fail to do, not our mortality, not our brokenness, not our sin. God’s love and forgiveness are big enough, abundant enough, to cover our failure, forgive our sin, make us whole, and bring us to life everlasting.
This is most certainly true. It is good news that sets us free.
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