Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Reflection – Mark Lingle

“Remember,” echoes through the worship space and inside the recesses of your mind. This is not an exhortation to remember the milk or remember to pick up the kids or remember your mother’s birthday. No. This “remember” cuts to the very heart of it all: your mortality.

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” rings in your ears as ash crumbles with the force of thumb on forehead, cascading down upon your nose, or cheek, or sweater. Damn, the sweater. It’s all dirty. Call the dry cleaner. And we’re once again confronted with the inconvenience of remembering. Our mortality gets in the way.

Mortality: that which we prefer not to reflect upon too often lest we hasten its coming. Mortality: that which we spend billions of dollars to keep at bay. Mortality: that which prevents us, at times, from fully living, fixated as we are upon fending off the inevitable.

And so this remembering is one of those great counter-cultural acts; in remembering, we actually begin to break down the fear or uncertainty surrounding our end like ash crumbling down our forehead. Remembering need not be macabre or morbid. Rather, it re-members us, forms us again, roots us in the knowledge of the gift of this moment, this life.

Ultimately, remembering is not a solitary act. Rather, as ash falls softly upon us, the sign etched upon our forehead reminds us of the one who has journeyed even to this place—mortality—and thus we remember that we are never alone.

Scripture for the Day:

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for one to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. – Isaiah 58:5-8