When you remember that you are mortal, that you will die one day, it frees you up to live as Christ in every moment, every day that you are given.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Ash Wednesday
Texts: 2 Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10; Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
You are going to die. We all are. But that’s OK.
You came here today to remember this. To receive a cross of ashes on your forehead, and hear, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Today you will see black crosses on every forehead, from the foreheads of 90 year olds to the foreheads of small children. We’re all going to die. And that’s OK.
See, the Triune God has death taken care of. God’s love at the cross proves what was always true: death cannot stop the love and life of the God who made all things. When I die, when you die, there is new life waiting. Death is never to be feared, it’s only a door.
But you need to remember you are mortal so you can truly live in this life. That’s why you’re here today.
Repentance and confession are part of our worship today, and that’s good.
The prophet Joel calls you to turn around, to return to God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. And today you and I take extra time to name our sinfulness, seek God’s forgiveness, hear God’s promised love and grace.
But every time you come to worship here you embody repentance. You turn from your daily life and come toward God. To hear God’s voice guide you, challenge you, comfort you. To receive God’s forgiveness and love in Word and in Meal. To be blessed and restored for your journey in God’s way. You don’t need one day a year to remember to repent: your whole life of worship is that repentance. You don’t need one day a year to confess and be forgiven: every day that is your grace to cherish.
And “remember that you are dust” isn’t a threat to push us to reconcile with God, either.
Ash Wednesday has often been used that way. “You’re going to die, so get your act together.”
It just doesn’t make sense. Paul’s call today to be reconciled to God starts with Paul’s conviction that God’s already done all the reconciling needed. Here are the verses immediately before our reading today:
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us through Christ to God and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to God’s very self, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Reconciliation with God is already a reality. It’s what enables Paul to live as he describes in these words to the Corinthians today, through whatever it is that comes, hardship or not, because he’s grounded in the reconcling love of God. You and I and the whole creation are already reconciled in God’s love because of Christ. You’re already a new creation, Paul says: now live as that new creation.
But to live that way, we say “Remember that you are dust.”
Something we easily deny, or forget, or ignore. How much energy and time and money do we spend on trying to avoid aging, trying to deny we are getting older? And why are people surprised when they get a terminal illness? Did they think they were going to be the only one to escape dying? Obviously the timing of death can be a surprise and a grief. But death itself seems to be a surprise to nearly everyone. Most live as if they’ve got all the time in the world.
But when you remember that you are mortal, that you don’t get out of here alive, your life becomes gift. You’re not afraid of the outcome, of death itself – God’s already got that in hand. But if you also simply said every day, “I am going to die, so today I’m going to live fully and wholly,” your life would be demonstrably better.
Some of the most beautiful people of faith I’ve been privileged to serve as pastor have taught me this, again and again. When you accept that you will die one day, that’s when you truly start to live.
There is joy and freedom and life in “remember that you are dust.”
We start Lent, our yearly reflection on our baptismal identity, remembering that we are going to die because we need to remember we don’t have indefinite time to live. If you’re going to live as God’s baptized child, the time is now.
I know I am going to die. I don’t know the timing, obviously. But knowing the truth means I’m not afraid of dying. I just know at some point I won’t be able to love, to live, to help people, to be kind. I won’t be able to say the things to my loved ones I want to say, or make a difference in the world in God’s love.
And that’s deeply freeing. And a cause of joy. Because I can greet each new day with thanks that I have it, with no promises of tomorrow. If I live long enough for parts of my body to wear out, hurt, need repairing, I’m not surprised – I know this body can’t last forever. If it turns out death will come much earlier to me than I hoped, I can handle that because I’ve known all along that it was coming.
My life definitely has an endpoint. So now, now is the time for me to live as Christ.
Remember that you are going to die. So you can really live.
That’s the joy of the Christian life. When the outcome of death is no longer to be feared, because you will live after you die in Christ, and you find the acceptance that you will not live here forever, you are free to be Christ, to live as Christ, in ways you’ve never dreamed.
Beloved child of God, you’ve got today to be Christ, you know that much. Start there, and live.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
