A Season of Becoming
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John 10:1-18
An Invitation To Pause
I read a story of one little girl who was Roman Catholic, went to confession for the very first time. She was a talker, and she started telling the priest about her whole family, her new dog, her school, her upcoming vacations, everything about her life. After quite some time, the priest interrupted her and asked if she would like to say a thing or two about her sins. The little girl paused and then she said…, “That’s getting kind of personal!”.[1]
Yes, Ash Wednesday is a day when we get “kind of personal” with God and one another. We are invited to pause…to remember who we are as fragile human beings, and as children of God. We pause tonight to reflect, repent, and to embrace transformation that Jesus offers.
REFLECT: From Dust to Life
“Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
It’s in Genesis 3:19 that we read how God reminded Adam and Eve of their origins and frailty, after they had first rebelled against God. God reminded them that they were God’s creation, “out of [the earth] you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
These words take on new meaning for me, in light of many experiences of standing over a casket being lowered into the earth, and declaring, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” while tracing a cross on the casket.
Tonight, we trace the cross in ashes on each of our foreheads…a reminder of our mortality.
Tonight, we confess two truths: our mortality, and, like Adam and Eve, we are sinners.
We acknowledge, too, that our world is broken by sin.
But God does not leave us in sin and death.
REPENT: From Death to Resurrection
I love today’s lesson from Jesus, as he reveals himself as the Good Shepherd.
God invites us into something more.
God reveals sin in every age, but never more clearly than when dwelling among us in flesh and blood of Jesus.
· Jesus’ life revealed the contrast between God’s mercy and this world’s injustice;
· between God’s love and the world’s self-centeredness and hate;
· between the power of life in Jesus and the powers of death all around us.
In Jesus, we see God dwelling among us, revealing the brokenness, injustice, and darkness in ourselves and this world.
I remember when I was in first grade and my mom was teaching me how to walk to school. She walked with me and a few other kids several times to help us learn the way. But, it was one of the first times walking home with mom and several other kids, that I got distracted. We were about to cross a neighborhood street, and all of a sudden mom was gone! I felt lost and had no idea what to do. Apparently, she had crossed first with the other kids and only noticed I wasn’t there when they reached the other side of the street. As I began to panic, a voice came through the air, “Douglas.”. That’s what she called me, and as I heard her voice I saw her waving from across the street…and my peace came over me. It was ok, I wasn’t lost, and she called me to her side.
Lent calls us to recognize where we are lost and distracted from Jesus… where we are weak…where we are moving against and away from Christ. Jesus calls us to follow Him. God meets us in our humanity and calls us to grow, to change, to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd…and to let His love and leadership transform our lives.
EMBRACE: A Season of Becoming
The ashes on our foreheads this Ash Wednesday, are not just a reminder of who we are but also of who we are becoming through God’s transformative work. This season, may we surrender fully to this process of renewal, allowing God to transform every area of our lives, and echoing the prayer of David in Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Lenten Disciplines of Bible study, give-up or take-up…in order to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Each step of repentance, each moment of prayer, and each act of self-denial during these 40 days of Lent is part of a deeper process of listening to the Good Shepherd…part of finding our way back on the path God calls us to (we call this restoration), leading us to Easter’s celebration of redemption. What begins with dust on Ash Wednesday ends with resurrection on Easter Sunday, as we celebrate the new life Christ offers through His victory over death.
Amen.
Pastor Doug Cox