Ash Wednesday: A Lenten Journey Becomes a Life Journey

Today I gave an Ash Wednesday message before our first Lenten Luncheon this year. I focus on the assigned texts for today from Isaiah and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel.

A Lenten Journey Becomes a Life Journey

Grace and peace to you in the name of Christ our Lord and Savior. So good to see you and have you with us today.

In many churches, Lent begins with a smudge of ash on one’s forehead. It’s a reminder that we are all dust and to dust we will return, and yet we are dust that is beloved of God.

Ash Wednesday ushers us into a season of holy honesty, inviting us to name our brokenness, our limits, and our longing for renewal. It is not a journey of shame, but of grace—a time when we turn again toward the God who meets us in our mortality and leads us toward life. Lent calls us to slow down, to repent, to realign our hearts with the way of Christ, trusting that every step taken in humility opens us up more fully to the transforming love that prepares for Easter’s joy.

This general concept of Lenten preparation takes on a striking, physical reality when we consider the landscape surrounding our own sanctuary, specifically the cemetery that sits just across the street.

Now, think about it. We especially remember that we are dust and to dust we will return. We happen to be located right across from a cemetery. So, every Sunday coming in, I’m reminded of my own mortality as I look out the door. When we lay bodies to rest in a cemetery, we usually mark the grave with a tombstone. Now, what information is usually contained on a tombstone? At the very least, it’ll have the name of the person and it’s followed by dates, two dates. Person was born on this date and then a dash followed by the date the person died.

Well, that dash represents an awful lot. Think of all that takes place between one’s birth and one’s death. What is contained in that dash? Is it a life full of joy and sadness, victories and failures, a selfish life or generous life. In the same way, think of the Apostles’ Creed. The second stanza addresses what we believe about Jesus Christ. It includes the names of two people. It says that Jesus was “born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,” and there’s a little comma that separates those two phrases. What is contained in that comma is nothing less than the life and teachings of Jesus.

While these symbols represent the depth of a life, they also serve as a backdrop for the biblical critique of those who attempt to fill their “dash” with hollow expressions of piety.

Now, the assigned texts that we usually read today for Ash Wednesday include readings from Isaiah and Matthew. And I want to share a little bit with you from those texts. In Isaiah, we hear about the warnings of practicing our piety in public. It says Isaiah 58 beginning the third verse:

Isaiah 58:3-5

³ “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
    and oppress all your workers.
⁴ You fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
    will not make your voice heard on high.
⁵ Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

Jesus echoes that in the sermon on the mount in the sixth chapter. He says:

Matthew 6:1-6

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

What I find interesting is Jesus’ concern for hypocrisy, and we too should be concerned about it. We know that so many young people quit church because of what they say they see as hypocrisy among church members. Church members get involved with issues, practices, and politics that injure the poor and the powerless in our society and they know that contradicts the clear teachings of Jesus. Too many people have been burned by the church and they will respond by saying, “I love Christ. It’s the Christians I don’t care too much about.”

Now, God addresses this. Let’s go back to Isaiah, picking up with the sixth verse.

Isaiah 58:6-8

⁶ Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷ 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?
⁸ 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.

You see, the real danger is when people make a show of praising God, and then they hurt people.

And that’s why I warn people about decorating their cars with bumper stickers or window stickers or crosses that dangle down from mirrors that say that I’m a Christian. Because inevitably you’re going to cut somebody off in traffic, or you’re going to shake your fist at somebody and that won’t be a very good witness, will it?

With every infraction of traffic law and bad behavior, we reflect poorly on the one that we call our God and Savior. And that’s why our treatment of others in public is to be preferred to any expression of piety in public. Continuing what Jesus is saying, he says:

Matthew 5:14-16

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Now, we often associate Lent with giving something up. This year consider giving up selfish or self-centered behavior. Give up disparaging people who depend on help for food or shelter. Give up taking part in reviling refugees and others who struggle to find a way to make a new life for themselves and their families.

But this Lent let us also choose to do something. Let’s hear the word of Jesus who says “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

So let me leave you with this question. When you die and the tombstone is placed at the head of your grave, what will that dash say about you?

+ In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray…

Merciful God, as we enter this Lenten season, turn our hearts toward repentance, renewal, and the way of Christ. Teach us to walk with honesty, to fast from all that harms, and to feast on your grace. Bless this food before us and those who prepared it. May it strengthen our bodies as your Spirit strengthens our souls. Make these tables a place of gratitude and quiet transformation that we may serve you with joy in the days ahead. Amen.

Scripture quotations come from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.