A Walk through Creation

Week One: ASHES

Ash Wednesday / Burlap and Ashes

Read                    Daniel 9: 3-5, 17-19 (NLT)

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Oh Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations.  Oh, our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary. Oh, my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord, forgive. Oh, Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, Oh, my God, for your people and your city bear your name.”

Think

It’s Ash Wednesday, and as I come to church, I’m taking the first steps of a journey. It’ll be forty days and seven Sundays until Easter morning.  It’s a long walk from today’s ashes to Resurrection’s dawn.  Sometimes I can’t see the light that’s coming; some days it’s all I can do to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Our world is a dark, broken place.  Everywhere I look I see people hurting each other, anger and hatred, despair and sorrow.  We all make choices—choices that seem like the right thing for us—but sometimes those choices hurt others.  Our choices hurt and separate and break us. 

So what to do? I want a clean slate, a fresh start.  I want to help heal the world around me. I want to change and move and think differently.  So what do I do?  I start with myself, my soul, my own heart.  I start by remembering where I’ve been and asking  for forgiveness.  I kneel before God trusting in God’s mercy, with nothing to offer but my broken heart. 

On Ash Wednesday, in a quiet, somber worship service in a church, I’m marked with the ashes. For me, it’s an outward sign of my inward sorrow and repentance.  My mourning at my sinfulness mirrors the mourning I feel at the death of Jesus.  He died for me; it’s my fault.  The symbolic act of accepting the ashes puts me in the right state of mind to recognize the consequences of my sin and the price Jesus paid for me.

So, in my (symbolic) burlap and ashes, I set out on the journey of Lent.  As I journey the way of repentance, I’ll try to remember what I started on this journey for: a personal change, a way of thinking and living differently, a way to change the world by changing myself.  I know I need to get my priorities straight.  I’m going to try and turn back to Jesus and center my life on Him. 

As I start this journey, I hope the dirty ashes on my forehead will be a reminder of what I’m trying to leave behind.  I hope they will help me to travel to the foot of the cross where in dying and being raised from the dead, Jesus will make me truly clean.

Pray

Amazing, all-powerful Creator God, I know you don’t hate anything you’ve made.  I know you forgive all who turn to you and ask for forgiveness.  Forgive me today as I begin this journey into the wilderness.  Help me see the darkness in myself and my world clearly, but not be overcome by it.  As I confront demons and evil and all the powers of the dark, defend me by your grace.  Clean me up, Lord.  Renew my heart, clean my heart, fill my heart with your love and peace.  Walk with me, today, tomorrow, and always.  Amen.

Do

Get a small notebook and pen to carry with you.  As you move through these days of Lent, take notes.  Don’t just use your phone’s notebook app—it’s important that you actually do this manually, actually take the pen in your hand and write the words.  Make a note every time you see or hear or feel a darkness in your life, but don’t take the darkness inside your soul.  Use the act of writing to put the darkness down; let your little notebook carry it for you for a while. Then spend a few minutes each day, praying against the darkness.  Call on the Lord to directly intervene, to help and guide, to help you shine God’s light into the dark spaces of your life and of the world.