Dusting - Sermon for Ash Wednesday 2017
Sermon:
Text: Matthew 6:
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I
think liturgically, speaking of what we actually do during the service, Ash
Wednesday is my favorite service. Something about the marking of the ashen cross
has always been powerful for me. Part of it is that we only do it once a year,
whereas seeing things like baptisms or communion happen more frequently, so
there’s a special nature to it. But, part of it also is the physical, visual
nature of the ashes. When I visited Israel and Palestine in 2008 one of the
things that really struck me was seeing the steps down to the place of Jesus’
birth and how worn the steps were from millions of people climbing down in the
same footsteps over hundreds of years. For Ash Wednesday if you go out and
about after service is done you will often see other people with ash crosses on
their foreheads. It’s interesting to see all these other people having the same
experience we have in a different location. It would be like if on Sunday’s if
someone had communion they got a stamp on their hand, it would be powerful
walking around seeing how many other people all did the same thing you did in
their church.
Another
thing I really like is that it really sets the tone for Lent. This physical
thing captures all the meanings in, under and behind why we walk through the
Lenten journey every year.
Our
text this evening contains one of the most known sections of scripture, “19"Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and
where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do
not break in and steal. 21For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Why
should we not store up treasures here? Because they’re not permanent. What you
get here doesn’t stay with you, it may go to your family, but it’s not
heavenly, it’s not eternal. So, why be focused on things of this world. Which
is part one of the ashen cross on our foreheads, they remind us every year as
we start Lent, that we are mortal, that dust to dust, ashes to ashes, as we say
at funerals, or remember that you are Dust, and to dust you shall return as
we’ll hear tonight. This idea connects all the way to the Ten Commandments, you
shall have no other gods. So often we put our need for earthly treasures first,
we make those things our idols and false gods. The ashes on our forehead remind
us that things of this world are not permanent, that our only God is God.
The
next thing I love about the ashen cross on our forehead is the simple fact that
it’s a cross. We don’t just smudge ashes on foreheads, it’s not a dot, or a
circle, or just a line, it’s a cross. It’s a cross that reminds us, of course, of
the cross. Which at first seems stupid to point out, of course the cross means
the cross.
It’s
so important though, there are so many times when we reach Lent and also advent
and we have what I think of as liturgical amnesia, we start to think that we
have to pretend that whatever is coming at the end of Lent or Advent, Good
Friday, Easter and Christmas that we have to pretend they haven’t happened yet.
The ashen cross tonight on Ash Wednesday reminds us that the cross of Good
Friday, and the resurrection of Easter have already occurred. While the ashes
remind us of our mortal nature, of the fact that we are dust and to dust we shall
return, the cross reminds us that we are God’s and to God we shall return.
It reminds us that as we
journey to Good Friday and Christ’s death yet again, we do so as people already
claimed by God in our baptism, already saved by Christ through that cross and his
resurrection, and already nourished by God through the body and blood of our
savior Christ.
It reminds us that we are
people already marked as children of God.
I’m not a huge fan of cop
and detective shows, but Sarah’s dad loves them. If there was a cable channel
that showed Law and Order 24 hours a day he would be happy. On these Cop and
detective shows they are always dusting for finger prints, searching for signs
that a certain individual was at a location. The fingerprints that show up when
dust is applied mark that that specific person was there. The dust is not
making the fingerprint, it’s just making it show up.
I like to think that when we
are marked with the ashen cross tonight, it’s not that I’m making a new cross
on your forehead. What I’m doing is dusting your forehead and in that moment,
the dust is just sticking to the cross that was already marked on your forehead
in your baptism. The cross tonight is simply making more fully present the
cross marked on you at the moment God claimed you. Just as a fingerprint shows
who you are, the cross on your forehead shows who you are, or more importantly,
it shows whose you are.
As we begin Lent, remember
that you are dust and to dust you will return, but more importantly, remember
that you are God’s, claimed by God, saved by God and given the resurrection
promise by God, and to God you will return. Amen.
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