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| Rising from the Ashes |
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March 2009 As the people who gathered in the sanctuary on the evening of Ash Wednesday came forward to have a cross traced on their foreheads with gritty ashes, we were singing a song that I think captures not only the solemnity of Lent, but also its possibility: We rise again from ashes, from the good we've failed to do. We rise again from ashes, to create ourselves anew, If all our world is ashes, then must our lives be true An offering of ashes, an offering to you. “If all our world is ashes.” Those words have particular resonance as we begin this Lenten season. We can see the swirling of ashes in so many places – the literal ashes after a bombing in Iraq, around what used to be a house in Gaza, outside a torched village in Darfur. There are the metaphorical ashes of an economic system that has melted down, the swirl of ashes as families struggle with illness, stress, joblessness, worry, grief. “Then must our lives be true.” That’s one of the ways to think about Lent. It’s a time to reorient our lives to what is most true for us. It’s not a time to dwell on what’s gone wrong, although that may be a starting point. We look at the ashes that we have around us and try to figure out how they got there. We know we may have had a part in getting to where we are, but we also know that we are not alone in this fix. “We rise again from ashes, to create ourselves anew.” The goal is not to wallow in the ashes, but simply to recognize that they exist. The goal is to rise out of the ashes, to create ourselves anew. The circumstances we find ourselves in as we enter March of 2009 may be very different than they were a year ago. Lent offers us an opportunity to look for the ways inside ourselves that will enable us to begin anew. “An offering of ashes, an offering to you.” We often think of an offering around here as giving money – something the folks of this congregation do with a great spirit of generosity. But the song also invites us to be aware of this: the parts of our lives that seem to have turned to ashes are also something we can offer to our God – and to each other. As hard as it is to let someone else know about the ashes in our lives, when we offer that part of ourselves, people here have an amazing capacity to help with rising out of the ashes and creating ourselves anew. As we walk together through this journey of Lent, we are likely to see ashes along the road. Our footprints may well be visible on the road (they certainly will be visible in our sanctuary as you see symbolic footprints making the journey through hard times towards hope). With each step along the way, take time to look for that truth within you, for the presence of God around you and for the companions along side you. |