Ash Wednesday

March 9, 2011


When I was a little girl, living in a small town, my mother used to tell me that she did not care what I did in the neighborhood, because there was no where in town that I could go, that someone would not see me and call her if I got out of line.

Where there was a little village just like that in Europe. Everyone knew everyone else, and everyone knew what the children were two doing. There were two young teenage boys who liked to steal the neighbors sheep. And the neighborhood could not figure out what to do with these two to help them to stop. They were young, but old enough to know right from wrong.

The townspeople decided that they would put the letters ST on the boys forehead to stand for sheep thief.

One of the brothers never changed, he seemed to stay the same. He ended a life of crime in jail. The other brother felt sorry for what he did and changed his ways. He became a very helpful person, someone whom you could always depend on. He was a very nice person, and did whatever he could. But the letters St was still in his forehead. One day the younger people in the neighborhood, who knew nothing of his past, asked what the St stood for. One person said, I am not sure, but he is such a special person, I think it means saint.

We are here today, because there are some saints here, who have become sheep thieves.

We are all sinners, we all mess up sometimes. But it is time for a change.

Change is a part of who we are as faithful people. Change is the heart of the gospel – jesus came into the world to tell us that it is time for a change. The mission statement of the United Methodist church is making disciples for the transformation of the world. We need to change our definitions and conditions that lead us to sin.

Becoming aware of our sinfulness is the major task of lent.

Lent is a german word for long. The days are longer. Life is getting better.

Easter is as late as it can ever be in the year. There is a formula for determining Easter. I think that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after Passover.

Lent is determined by a formula. It is forty days between ash Wednesday and holy Saturday. But the good news is that the Sundays are not included in the count. So whatever you give up for lent, you can do on Sundays.

Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, time spent for an important duty.

There are three things associated with lent: fasting, abstinence and almsgiving.

We tend to associate lent with the catholic tradition, but lent is for all of us. This is our change to get real with ourselves and with God. God is a God of abundance, not sacrifice. We don’t have to give up, we can add something to our life.

We also need to confess that we are sinful.

Here is another story….

A couple got married, right before the husband had to go into the army. He was excited when he got out, and his wife got pregnant soon after that. They did not have a lot of money, so they needed to move back into their old neighborhood in Chicago. They did not have to move in with his mom, they could afford their own apartment near her. They were excited that they would be able to raise their child in the same neighborhood, that they would be able to give their child the same values that they had. Just one thing, they noticed that the neighborhood had changed. It was not as nice, people did not take care of it. Their was trash and abandoned cars everywhere. They prayed about what to do to clean up their neighborhood. They decided that they would have a back yard party. Mom would cook food from Puerto Rico and everyone would come.

The party came, they wanted to convince people to clean up. But it seems that everyone wanted to talk about how bad the landlord was. The landlord did not do this, the landlord did not do this. What were they going to do. The building inspector was coming to shut down the building. The couple was really disappointed, that was not the point of this conversation.

The landlord is God, and the building inspector is the devil. They told people that this conversation was not about the landlord, they could invite the landlord at another time. This conversation was about people learning to clean up their own mess.

That is what lent is all about – cleaning up our own mess before god comes. God is coming in a mighty way – are you prepared for the meeting? Be the change you are asking for in others. Work with God as a cocreater. Change your living habits, do our part, remember God this lent…. Let us pray…..