Why Ashes?

Christmas has been hijacked by Walmart and the Easter Bunny has hijacked the resurrection but no one seems too eager to hijack Ash Wednesday. There is something about being reminded that you are going to die. It is hard to market that one (but at the off chance that Walmart starts selling coffins remember you heard it here first!) but at its core Ash Wednesday is a reminder that we will at some point die.

For most of us this is not a fact that we celebrate but instead we run from, ignore and do everything we can to avoid death. This is why we need Ash Wednesday. The first thing that Ash Wednesday does is it connects us to the life of Jesus. Ash Wednesday begins the church season of Lent and during this season of Lent we journey with Jesus to the cross. It is not a pleasant journey and it is not supposed to be. The challenge here is if we do not understand what Jesus went through to get to Easter morning can we fully appreciate his sacrifice? Can we fully appreciate the gift of the resurrection? So we sing some songs that aren't as upbeat, we go to church a little more frequently (or at least a hand full of you do) and we either deprive ourselves of something we like or add something that we should be doing to help us understand the significance of this season. The more we understand the struggle the more we understand the victory.

Ash Wednesday also reminds us that there is something more. It is oh too easy for us to become connected to this world and we have every right to be. We have made life pretty good for ourselves down here. We can get pretty much anything we want whenever we want it and when we become too comfortable, we forget that there is something more waiting for us when we do die. As great as this world is it is not even a fraction of what Heaven is, but we have allowed ourselves to become distracted. Ash Wednesday reminds us that one day we will die but instead of hearing this as condemnation we should welcome this fact, because our death here leads to life eternal. A life greater than anything we could ever imagine, a life with God forever.

So why ashes? Because we need them. We need to be reminded of the difficult things that Jesus did for us even if they are a little bloody and messy. We need ashes because we need to be reminded that there is something more, there is something better and one day we will find it.

See you in church,

Chris

Walking the Talk

I recently heard from a former college classmate of mine, who works at a church in the Indianapolis area, that the Westoboro Baptist Church (WBC) has decided to protest their congregation this (Sunday) morning. Apparently WBC is in the area to protest the Super Bowl and they decided to use the free time, on Sunday morning, to rail against this particular congregation because they preach that "God loves everyone." Now this is where it gets weird, what my friend is asking for more than anything else are prayers. Obviously prayers for the congregation but also prayers for the protestors! Now I am not going to use the "H" word (that rhymes with eight) but I REALLY don't like these guys. If you are not familiar with WBC these are the individuals who protest military funerals because they believe the death of the soldier is God's punishment on this country due to our tolerance of homosexuality. Regardless of your stance on this controversial issue, to protest someone's funeral, especially the funeral of someone who lost their life serving in the military, who died far too young, is simply unacceptable. I REALLY don't like these guys. But here is my friend, face to face with their hate, and he is asking us to pray for those who hate.

Being a follower of Jesus was never meant to be easy. Jesus said a lot of challenging things and too often we soften those commands. We choose to focus on the side of Jesus that best fits the comfortable spot that we are in, instead of wrestling with the challenges that Jesus laid before us. Jesus told us to "love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us." How many times have we heard this? How many times have we not lived up to it? Conceptually we get it. We can put this verse back into the context of the "Sermon on the Mount" but when the rubber hits the road and we have been wronged and we are face to face with our enemies and those who hate us, is praying for them the first thing that comes to mind or is it something else? Are we walking the talk? Martin Luther King Jr once said that only love can drive out hate. What is our response to hate? Is it more evil or is it love? Being a follower of Jesus was never meant to be easy, it is a challenge, but it is also how we know we should live. I will leave you with the last line from what my friend wrote as he and his congregation prepared to pray for those who hate:

"We've been working hard for the past two weeks since we learned of the protest to craft our responses to the matter in such a way that God's love would shine in everything we say and do."

Who are you praying for?

See you in church.

Chris