I remember when my Internship congregation had a “Bring a Friend to Church” Sunday. We made a really big deal out of it. For weeks before hand we publicized it so that everyone would have the time to determine who they might coerce, I mean, invite, to church. We made it more palatable with special coffee hour treats and beautiful flowers and special favors to give to all of those special friends.
As I recall, I felt slightly uncomfortable with this. It seemed to be a rather passive aggressive evangelism attempt. After all, if people were looking for God would they care if there was extra coffee cake in their search?
Yet, statistics tell us that most people who visit a new congregation come because someone invited them. Those statistics are changing a bit to reflect the influence of accessible and up to date web sites as people search for a church home.
I read this week that if we really want people to understand what we are about as Christians….if we really want them to “get” what Jesus is all about, we should invite them to an Ash Wednesday observance. The writer had many good, sound theological reasons for making this suggestion, none of which I remembered as I wrote this homily. But I would agree that it is on this day in the church year that we are reminded that the ground at the foot of the cross is completely level. We are all ashes, we are all dust. Each one of us.
For some, this may feel like a threat or a warning. REMEMBER…..you are dust. Tiny particles that make up the ground underneath our feet and the sands along the shore and the trees of the field. You are dust. But I don’t believe it is meant as threat or as a gloom filled reminder of our mortality. Rather, this night we are reminded that our time on this earth and in this life is finite. And that, as workers in the vineyard, as brothers and sisters in the kingdom, what we are to be about is urgent work, set before us.
It is the word to us from all three of the Scripture readings tonight. In the Gospel reading Jesus tells us that the practices we observe, fasting and almsgiving, are between God and us. That’s what they are designed for. What we give up or take on during these forty days is not intended for the conversation over coffee or as a Facebook Status. We are not meant to tweet out in 140 characters or less our Lenten discipline. This is meant as a part of our relationship with God. It is meant for something that will bring us closer to God. And Jesus commends this to us, calling us to focus, not on earthly things, but on those things that will last, for surely what captures our focus is what will also capture our hearts.
The prophet Isaiah puts an even finer point on why we engage in spiritual practices during Lent. Specifically, Isaiah says, “you fast only to quarrel and to fight”….Unacceptable! Isaiah brings this word to the people of Israel and we hear it with fresh ears on this night:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
Isaiah’s words are a stark reminder to us that God does not desire our piety if it is not accompanied by our care for the poor. We were given clear commandments as followers of Christ. Care for the poor. Share what you have. Love God. Love yourself. Love one another. As people of God we were called to steward the earth.
And this is the day…the one day in the church year when the words that we hear ought to ring in our ears….not as a doomsday threat…but as a call to action! Paul writes to the church at Corinth and we heard his words tonight: “See, now is the acceptable time; see now is the day of salvation.”
Do these things now…whatever obstacles you might think are in your way, Paul says. Because we all have them: I’m too busy. I need to focus on my family. I have a lot going on at work. I’m too old. I’m too young. I don’t know what to do. Paul reminds the believers in Corinth that Paul and the others had suffered afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger. But now….this day….this time….is the acceptable time.
Remember, you are dust. When else will you do this? The time we have to do what we are called to do is indeterminate. So, now….now is the acceptable time. This moment. This day.
It can feel like an overwhelming thing, living into our calls as disciples. And maybe it should start with an invitation….an invitation to remember the promise that is inherent in being dust.
Isaiah’s words tonight continued with promise. Isaiah writes:
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly;
Your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help and the LORD will say “Here I am”.
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Brothers and sisters, the promises of God are sure and certain. We are all God’s beloved children. We have been entrusted with very specific tasks during our time on this earth. And God is with us…guiding us and strengthening us and using us to bring in the Kingdom of God to a hurting world, marked with ashes, children of the dust.
Amen.
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