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Sunday February 9, 2005 - Ash Wednesday, Year A

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The words from the service of burial
form the background
to our annual observance of Ash Wednesday.

The traditional association of ashes with death
has roots that go back deep into the Old Testament.
It was a sign of mourning: people would dress themselves in rough cloth and smear ashes on themselves. Think of it as the absolute opposite of dressing up for a special occasion, the equivalent of the tradition of wearing black after a death.
Sackcloth and ashes
reminded people was a tangible, physical way
of mourning,
and came to be used
when death cam e near,
but also at other times as a reminder
of the inevitability of human death
and of that things that is close to death
in its destructive power,
the pervasiveness of human sin.

And just like death, sin is something we don't talk a lot about,
not in our culture at large
or in the Episcopal branch of the church.
It's easier, on the whole, to speak about making mistakes, about getting something wrong on occasion, than really acknowledging
that there is a more pervasive, deep rooted thing, that has to do not just with us but with the world at large and with God,
and it needs fixing. Fixing on a large scale.

Because what's distinctive about the notion of sin
versus just messing up some,
is that it's talking about a whole way of life, something that invades us through and through. And the reason is
that sin is a consequence. It's a consequence
of having messed up our relationship with God.
And once that's messed up,
there are no simple fixes. Nothing will work
except restoring that relationship with God.
That's what the story of Adam and Eve is all about - the problem is not
so much that they ate the apple
or whatever kind of fruit it was,
but that they disobeyed God,
that they decided that this God who had created them
and given them everything they ended to live
couldn't be trusted.
They had messed up their relationship with God.

And it's the same throughout the Bible. Time after time
God reaches out to people
and they are too scared, too ornery, too whatever
to trust God
and they mess up
the relationship.

And sin
is just what follows
from being out of that relationship.
Because when the relationship is messed up
we no longer take God's words seriously,
there's no longer any real argument
against lying and stealing, and being greedy and gossipy and ....

We begin to think of
Well, if it doesn't hurt anybody
it's really okay.
And so we get into the idea
that the primary reason for doing
or not doing
something
is whether or not it hurts someone. If it doesn't,
then it must be fine.

But the way scripture looks at it,
the way we determine whether something is good or bad
is not first and foremost by the result;
it's by comparing it
with the character of God.
Is this something God would do? Is this consistent with what we know of that character of God? Does it treat others as God would treat them?
It's a completely different question — even though we often come up with the same answer.
It's different, because it shows up sin as being a consequence, a consequence of paying too little attention
to who God is
and therefore who we are called to be
as beings made
in the image of God.

What sackcloth and ashes is all about
is not just mourning sin and death, but more than that, mourning the relationship that is broken. Mourning the fact
that we have lost sight of who God truly is
and who we are and who we are called to be,
beings made and living
in the image of God.

And the remedy, what we are doing today
is turning back to God, rediscovering the God who gave us life
and will continue to bring new life
if only we are willing to trust.

And so today
as we mark ourselves with ash,
we hear the call
to turn away from our sin, to turn away from our failure to trust God
and instead, be faithful.
We turn to God
inviting God
back into the center
of our lives,
opening ourselves
to rediscover
and to worship God
in all we think
and say
and do.

 

Sermon ©Raewynne J. Whiteley 2005