Ash Wednesday, 2007
Here are a couple of pieces I did for Ash Wednesday:
First, a "children's message" (I'll try to post the picture here soon...)
Today is ASH WEDNESDAY – what does that mean?
Tonight those people who come back for our worship service will have a cross marked on their forehead with ashes and oil.
That’s weird.... But – you know Easter is coming, right? it’s a little more than six weeks away. Tonight we start a special time in the church called LENT. The idea of LENT is to really think about how we live – how we treat other people – how we treat the world around us – and how we treat God.
Has anybody in here done anything wrong in the past year? Boy, I have. You know, I don’t like to admit it, but I’ve done stuff that I shouldn’t have done TODAY. God says that’s sin, right?
If you wanted to make a picture of sin, what would it look like? Here’s mine. It’s black and yukky and I don’t like to look at it... I wish there was some way I could get rid of it...
And there is. I could burn this picture up, couldn’t I? Then I wouldn’t see it anymore and it would be nothing but ashes, right? That’s what it’s like when we tell God that we’re sorry for doing the things we shouldn’t do – for our sin. It’s like God takes the picture of our sin and burns it up and that leaves nothing but ashes.
How does God burn our sin away? Does he use a big fire? Hey, for some of us it would have to be a pretty big fire, wouldn’t it?
No – of course God came to us in Jesus. And we celebrated His birthday at Christmastime because we’re so happy that God came to be with us. And we celebrate at Easter that he died and that he didn’t stay dead, but that He was raised from the dead. But from now until Easter we have a different kind of celebration – we remember that Jesus died for us – for our sin – for the wrong things that we do to each other and to God – but that God took away those sins when Jesus died on the cross.And that’s why we make the mark of the cross on our foreheads tonight. We use ashes to remember that we have sinned – but that God destroyed those sins with the cross of Jesus. People have been doing this for way more than a thousand years as a way to remember how great God is – and how forgiving God is – and to remember how much we need God to forgive us.
Next - my sermon for the Ash Wednesday Service:
Ash Wednesday Service
February 21, 2007
Joel 2:12-17
“Return...With All Your Heart”
The other day, Elie was playing with a knickknack at the house and I asked her to put it up and come to me so that I could comb her hair. Elie hates to get her hair combed so she pretended like she didn’t hear me. Then I didn’t ASK, I TOLD her to put the knickknack up and come to me. She dropped it and ran under the dining room table... Then, I assured her that things would not turn out well if she continued to hide under the table and she crawled out and came over to me – not at all willingly but she sort of moped over to me and sat down on the floor in front of me – where she protested the whole time I combed her hair. Now, granted, I’m not very good at it, but you’d think from how she was responding that I pulled her hair out by the roots or something...
Half-hearted. Have you ever experienced that? A co-worker who’s just putting in the time but has no passion for the work... A child who thinks stuffing everything under the bed is “cleaning their room”... A parent who doesn’t even look up from the TV when they say “good night”... Have you ever had an apology that wasn’t? Do you know what I mean? Kids are really good at it. I’m SORRY... Have you ever had a “conversation” with someone where they were not listening to a word you said? I was at a meet & greet among pastors my first year in the ministry and I was trying to talk to a retired pastor who was far more interested in who else was in the room – you know, looking to see who else he should be talking to... I’ve actually inserted comments like “last week the mothership came for me” into conversations with people like that...and I only get caught about half the time...
We all know what half-hearted is...it’s incomplete, insincere, completely inappropriate when you’re on the receiving end. But I think we probably all know what it’s like to BE half-hearted sometimes, too. I admit that there have been times where I’m the one looking around the room for “someone better to talk to” or made the apology that clearly wasn’t. And it’s not just about good etiquette, being a good listener and all of that. It’s really a spiritual matter.
Joel starts off the reading for tonight with:
Yet, even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting , with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love...
Return with ALL your heart – with fasting and weeping and mourning. We’re beginning the season of Lent tonight. This is our season of examining our relationship with God. In the earliest church, converts were baptized on Easter Sunday so they would spend these six weeks really looking at their lives, their relationship with God, their ability (or inability) to reconcile with those who had sinned against them and their need to reconcile with God – to confess and repent of sin so that they could enter into this new life with a clean slate, if you will.
What has it become to us? For some, it’s the weeks with the extra service on Thursday... For some it’s six weeks of no chocolate...or TV...or meat...or...well, put in your own “or”... For some it’s just the six weeks before Easter... and for many they are just 40 more days...
How are the next six weeks set apart for you? Is there some way in which, over the next weeks until Easter that you are intentionally going to pay attention your relationship with God – and with other people. Remember that Jesus said the greatest commandments are Love God with all you are and love your neighbor as yourself... That’s not just Old Testament stuff. That’s not just bumper sticker theology. That’s the Kingdom of God lived out in the reality of our lives. How are we doing that? Whole heartedly?
Eugene Peterson translates the beginning of the Joel passage like this:
But there’s also this, it’s not too late—
God’s personal Message!—
“Come back to me and really mean it!
Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!”
Change your life, not just your clothes.
Come back to God, your God.
And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!
I was thinking the other day: “When was the last time I wept over my sin?” I can’t tell you. Oh – I repent, don’t get me wrong – and I’m not saying that I don’t sin anymore...heh...ask my family...or, um, don’t... But, I can’t tell you the last time that I came to God with much more than a half-hearted “I’m sorry...” Until I typed this message for tonight, that is. And, while I didn’t weep over my sin, I came to God with my whole heart this time...and it was more than just I’m sorry.
Two Sundays ago I was touring the Sunday school classes to say good-morning and, you know, check in to see what they’re learning, how things are going, and so on. I got down to the preschool room and they had just finished up their singing time to the preschool and Kindergarten were together – Elie and Rachel and their classes. When I walked in, Elie didn’t see me. She ran across the room, turned around and then charged toward her sister who was standing in line with the other kindergarteners. I said, “Elie, stop that!” Or something like that. I surprised her and scared her and she went flying to Patty California, buried her head in Patty’s arms and started to cry. When I walked over to her, though, she flung herself into my arms and buried her head into my shoulder – and, well, she returned to me with her whole heart. It was a moment of repentance and an image for me of what Lent ought to be. Nothing half-hearted about it – return to God with all your heart...
First, a "children's message" (I'll try to post the picture here soon...)
Today is ASH WEDNESDAY – what does that mean?
Tonight those people who come back for our worship service will have a cross marked on their forehead with ashes and oil.
That’s weird.... But – you know Easter is coming, right? it’s a little more than six weeks away. Tonight we start a special time in the church called LENT. The idea of LENT is to really think about how we live – how we treat other people – how we treat the world around us – and how we treat God.
Has anybody in here done anything wrong in the past year? Boy, I have. You know, I don’t like to admit it, but I’ve done stuff that I shouldn’t have done TODAY. God says that’s sin, right?
If you wanted to make a picture of sin, what would it look like? Here’s mine. It’s black and yukky and I don’t like to look at it... I wish there was some way I could get rid of it...
And there is. I could burn this picture up, couldn’t I? Then I wouldn’t see it anymore and it would be nothing but ashes, right? That’s what it’s like when we tell God that we’re sorry for doing the things we shouldn’t do – for our sin. It’s like God takes the picture of our sin and burns it up and that leaves nothing but ashes.
How does God burn our sin away? Does he use a big fire? Hey, for some of us it would have to be a pretty big fire, wouldn’t it?
No – of course God came to us in Jesus. And we celebrated His birthday at Christmastime because we’re so happy that God came to be with us. And we celebrate at Easter that he died and that he didn’t stay dead, but that He was raised from the dead. But from now until Easter we have a different kind of celebration – we remember that Jesus died for us – for our sin – for the wrong things that we do to each other and to God – but that God took away those sins when Jesus died on the cross.And that’s why we make the mark of the cross on our foreheads tonight. We use ashes to remember that we have sinned – but that God destroyed those sins with the cross of Jesus. People have been doing this for way more than a thousand years as a way to remember how great God is – and how forgiving God is – and to remember how much we need God to forgive us.
Next - my sermon for the Ash Wednesday Service:
Ash Wednesday Service
February 21, 2007
Joel 2:12-17
“Return...With All Your Heart”
The other day, Elie was playing with a knickknack at the house and I asked her to put it up and come to me so that I could comb her hair. Elie hates to get her hair combed so she pretended like she didn’t hear me. Then I didn’t ASK, I TOLD her to put the knickknack up and come to me. She dropped it and ran under the dining room table... Then, I assured her that things would not turn out well if she continued to hide under the table and she crawled out and came over to me – not at all willingly but she sort of moped over to me and sat down on the floor in front of me – where she protested the whole time I combed her hair. Now, granted, I’m not very good at it, but you’d think from how she was responding that I pulled her hair out by the roots or something...
Half-hearted. Have you ever experienced that? A co-worker who’s just putting in the time but has no passion for the work... A child who thinks stuffing everything under the bed is “cleaning their room”... A parent who doesn’t even look up from the TV when they say “good night”... Have you ever had an apology that wasn’t? Do you know what I mean? Kids are really good at it. I’m SORRY... Have you ever had a “conversation” with someone where they were not listening to a word you said? I was at a meet & greet among pastors my first year in the ministry and I was trying to talk to a retired pastor who was far more interested in who else was in the room – you know, looking to see who else he should be talking to... I’ve actually inserted comments like “last week the mothership came for me” into conversations with people like that...and I only get caught about half the time...
We all know what half-hearted is...it’s incomplete, insincere, completely inappropriate when you’re on the receiving end. But I think we probably all know what it’s like to BE half-hearted sometimes, too. I admit that there have been times where I’m the one looking around the room for “someone better to talk to” or made the apology that clearly wasn’t. And it’s not just about good etiquette, being a good listener and all of that. It’s really a spiritual matter.
Joel starts off the reading for tonight with:
Yet, even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting , with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love...
Return with ALL your heart – with fasting and weeping and mourning. We’re beginning the season of Lent tonight. This is our season of examining our relationship with God. In the earliest church, converts were baptized on Easter Sunday so they would spend these six weeks really looking at their lives, their relationship with God, their ability (or inability) to reconcile with those who had sinned against them and their need to reconcile with God – to confess and repent of sin so that they could enter into this new life with a clean slate, if you will.
What has it become to us? For some, it’s the weeks with the extra service on Thursday... For some it’s six weeks of no chocolate...or TV...or meat...or...well, put in your own “or”... For some it’s just the six weeks before Easter... and for many they are just 40 more days...
How are the next six weeks set apart for you? Is there some way in which, over the next weeks until Easter that you are intentionally going to pay attention your relationship with God – and with other people. Remember that Jesus said the greatest commandments are Love God with all you are and love your neighbor as yourself... That’s not just Old Testament stuff. That’s not just bumper sticker theology. That’s the Kingdom of God lived out in the reality of our lives. How are we doing that? Whole heartedly?
Eugene Peterson translates the beginning of the Joel passage like this:
But there’s also this, it’s not too late—
God’s personal Message!—
“Come back to me and really mean it!
Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!”
Change your life, not just your clothes.
Come back to God, your God.
And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!
I was thinking the other day: “When was the last time I wept over my sin?” I can’t tell you. Oh – I repent, don’t get me wrong – and I’m not saying that I don’t sin anymore...heh...ask my family...or, um, don’t... But, I can’t tell you the last time that I came to God with much more than a half-hearted “I’m sorry...” Until I typed this message for tonight, that is. And, while I didn’t weep over my sin, I came to God with my whole heart this time...and it was more than just I’m sorry.
Two Sundays ago I was touring the Sunday school classes to say good-morning and, you know, check in to see what they’re learning, how things are going, and so on. I got down to the preschool room and they had just finished up their singing time to the preschool and Kindergarten were together – Elie and Rachel and their classes. When I walked in, Elie didn’t see me. She ran across the room, turned around and then charged toward her sister who was standing in line with the other kindergarteners. I said, “Elie, stop that!” Or something like that. I surprised her and scared her and she went flying to Patty California, buried her head in Patty’s arms and started to cry. When I walked over to her, though, she flung herself into my arms and buried her head into my shoulder – and, well, she returned to me with her whole heart. It was a moment of repentance and an image for me of what Lent ought to be. Nothing half-hearted about it – return to God with all your heart...
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