Pastoral Message
We have just entered the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday on February 18th. Ash Wednesday was officially adopted as the beginning of Lent in the 11th century. As its name implies, ashes are a part of this service.
In many cultures ashes are a sign of mourning and repentance. We all experience the decay of life around us. In time living organisms that have died return to a dusty powder. This mark of death speaks to our mortality; the limited time we have life.
In scripture the curse of God to Adam and Eve as they are cast out of the Garden form the declaration made when ashes are placed on our foreheads at the Ash Wednesday service: Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. How can a curse also be a blessing?
The declaration of our mortality opens the door for us to understand our need of God. Life comes from God; life returns to God. That was the basis for animal sacrifice in the Old Testament. The life of the animal was returned to God for the sin of the person. It was a life for a life. God alone can break the cycle of life and death.
To know our need of God also means that we know God. The prophet Joel says that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of his judgements against us. God repents when he is true to himself. Unlike us, God does not have baser motives. God is love, mercy, and grace.
As God alone searches the heart, God sees our repentance. The marks of ashes on our foreheads does not move God to pity; it is our heartfelt turning to him as we understand our need of him. Scripture says that there is greater rejoicing in heaven over the repentance of a sinner, than the righteous. Indeed, we all stand before God in and through his grace.
These 40 days of Lent give us an opportunity to search our own souls, our own understanding of our relationship with God. Too often, we do not think about it at all. It just is. It is there when we need it. Yet, such a faith relationship with God can be fragile. Like a muscle our faith needs to be exercised. Lent provides us with this opportunity as we take on the tasks of study, prayer and works of charity.
May this be a blessed time for us all as we intentionally re-connect with the Lord, our God.
In Christ,
Pastor Combs
Luther Memorial Lutheran Church 