Readings: Matthew 6. 1-6, 16-21
I wonder if you’ve ever read about or heard about near death experiences. Not so much the ones where they talk about seeing a light or that kind of thing. But those moments that happen where people almost die, perhaps they were just moments from stepping out into the road when for some reason they paused and a lorry flashed past. Or they were in some accident that put them in hospital and they realise or are told that they almost died. And what these people will say more often than not is that it gave them a new perspective on life. That it’s caused them to rethink things, their priorities or how they might feel they’re wasting their life or it causes them to make more time for what they’ve realised is truly important. Near death experiences change people, being faced with their mortality caused them to radically reassess their priorities.
And today as we being Lent together we are faced with our mortality. As we come to the front we’ll have ash marked on our heads and reminded that we come from dust and will one day return to the dust.
Dust and ashes are a major theme of mourning and sorrow and repentance in the Old Testament. We read in Genesis that God forms us from the earth, from the dust of the ground. And so when overcome with grief or demonstrating their commitment to turn from their old ways and start again people would tear their clothes, put on sackcloth and sit in dust and ashes. Now that may seem a little overdramatic for our British sensibilities but the point of the dust and ashes at least was an acknowledgement of our mortality, of our limitedness, our createdness. In many ways we are just dust, the stuff of the earth, and one day we will return to that.
And as we are marked with the symbol of our mortality it’s meant to make us stop and think, as we are faced with death, what is most important to us, what are our priorities, are our lives headed in the right direction? Or are we veering off to one side, or even headed in the wrong direction entirely?
But we are more than just dust aren’t we. In Genesis we read that we aren’t just formed from the dust, but that as we are formed God breathes into us, breathes his life into us. We are dust, but we are dust breathed into life by God, and we’ll pick up that theme right at the end of this cycle as we come to Pentecost.
He doesn’t do this for any of the other animals, it is only us he breathes life into. We’re different, set apart. And as we read on we find that part of this difference is that we are created for relationship with one another, but crucially for relationship with God. We can either choose or reject that relationship, but it’s part of who we are created to be.
So where are you at with God? How’s it going? How have things been since these ashes were palm crosses last Easter?
As you’re reminded of your mortality, as we reassess our lives in the light of that you’ll also hear the call to ‘turn from sin and be faithful to Christ’. That call to assess the direction you’re moving, are you headed towards Jesus or away from him. Are you being faithful or are you flirting with other things. We’ll think about these themes are we go through Lent but for now I want to briefly challenge us as Jesus does in our Gospel today.
Because Jesus doesn’t say if you pray, if you fast, if you give alms. He says when. He presumes this will be something we will do, and do with some regularity. And for us Lent has become a focal point particularly for the latter two.
So this Lent what prayer practice are you going to pick up to bring you closer to Jesus? What change might you make to your life of prayer, your rhythm of speaking with God, that will draw you closer to him? Perhaps a reflective way of reading the Bible, a more structured time of prayer like using the Morning Prayer or Compline liturgies. Perhaps taking up a more meditative practice like the Jesus prayer. What will lead you closer to Jesus this season? What will breathe life into that relationship?
This Lent what do you need to put down? What are you going to fast from? It may be something good which you’ll do without to better focus on Jesus, a way of expressing how he is more important that those things. Or perhaps it’s something which has got on top of you, perhaps something good which has got out of proportion in your life and become sinful, or something inherently sinful which you need to get out of your life? What’s leading you away from Jesus and how in this season might you put that right?
And finally this Lent how can you be serving others? The concept of Almsgiving is often about giving money to those less fortunate but it can be bigger than that. It might be volunteering time. It might be giving clothes or food. There are a myriad ways we can serve others, what might you do this season?
And those three themes all come down to that core idea we started with, priorities. As we look at what we might start, we inevitably have to look at what we need to stop. What might need pruning so new growth can come? As we are faced with our mortality how do we need to reassess the balance of our lives?
This Lent ponder those three questions; What is leading me closer to Jesus? What is leading me away that I need to stop? And what can I do to serve others, even as Jesus has served me? Do not come to Easter unchanged, do not squander this season but lean in.
Because as in a few moments we are faced with our mortality, as we are challenged, we are reminded that God is fundamentally for us. He is pursuing us, longing for our good. As we are marked with ash it is not merely a smudge, but rather the cross, the place where we see that most clearly, the depths he will go to save us, the depths he will plumb to bring us home. We do not pray and fast and give in order for him to like us, we are already beloved, we do so to bring us closer to him, to know more truly the greatness of his love.
And as we come to his table, marked with our mortality and the cost of our freedom, we come knowing that we do not make this journey alone, that God feeds us on our pilgrimage, walks beside us by his Spirit, and will at last bring us to that heavenly banquet when our mortal life is laid aside in death and we are clothed with immortality.
Amen.