Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent in the Christian calendar. Lent is a period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter Sunday in which people of faith are invited to seek forgiveness and repentance and to prepare themselves through various means (usually some sort of spritual discipline) to celebrate the Resurrection. For Lent 2010, I have decided to take on the discipline of spiritual blogging - whatever that means - in the hopes that I will grow in the love and knowledge of God and that I might share part of my journey with anyone who cares to read this blog.

We held our Ash Wednesday service this evening at Bethpage United Methodist Church. We have a regular Wednesday evening program (which is actually going on hiatus until after Easter and being revamped) that averages 30-40 per week. I was hopeful that we would have more than that in attendance this evening for a special service, but, although I didn't count, I'm pretty sure we actually had less. Then again, I probably shouldn't be surprised given the nature of the service. It is a pretty somber service in which we are reminded of our mortality and sinfulness - not the most fun of topics! Near the end of the service, we receive the sign of the cross on our forehead (or hand, if you so choose) in ashes.

I preached on a text from the Old Testament book of Job 42:1-6

Then Job answered the Lord: ²“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ³‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ ⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

After telling a really bad joke, I recounted the story of Job. The one that is familiar to most who have spent much time in the church - Job is a righteous and wealthy man whom God allows to endure terrible loss and suffering, only to be restored to his former glory in the end. What we often leave out in the story of Job is the struggle that he and his "friends" have in trying to understand why this suffering was happening. Job even goes so far as to challenge God, seeking to plead his case before God. God obliges by telling Job to "gird up your loins like a man" and proceeding to tell Job quite eloquently and even sarcastically that God created the universe and orders the world. Job, of course, when confronted with this reality must back down from his claims of superiority and righteousness and responds with the above passage.

Job must repent. So must we. And so must I.

I must repent. I must turn away from the things in life that draw me away from God. I must rethink who I am in relationship to who God is. I must be a different person. I don't know what that means for you, specifically. I'm not even sure what that means for me right now in particular. Perhaps that is part of the purpose of this season of Lent: to allow God to reveal to me how I need to change. I know that at least part of it for me is that I need to live a more disciplined life. So, I am starting a blog and making a commitment to post every day from now until Easter. May God do a good work in me - and in you - this Holy Lent.