Ash Wednesday --- 26 February 2020

(This sermon was preached during the Ash Wednesday liturgy at Trinity Anglican Church, Aylmer, ON.) 

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

1 "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them

·         Over the years, I’ve been asked why we do this Ash Wednesday thing and even what this Lent thing is all about. The best thing I can say is that it is a day and a season of reminders.

§  We can face the facts. Lent is not a season of the church year that we like. It usually takes place in the darkest and bleakest time of the year. It’s cold, dark, and lit up only by a very, very few holidays at this time of year.

§  Besides the timing of it. Lent puts some emphasis on our own faults and failings. We all have faults, many of which cannot be helped. We also have failings and again many of those can only be seen in comparison to other people, which is not often a good measure. In any event, we don’t like to have our faults pointed out. Well, I don’t anyway.

§  The real emphasis of this day is on our personal sinfulness and need for repentance, and I know of very few people who want to be reminded of this, even though most everyone needs to be reminded.

§  Want and need. There is the crux of the matter. We may want things in our lives and do we really need them? There’s the real question.

§  Look at the Lenten actions: alms giving… prayer… fasting… The traditional penitential behaviors of Christians in Lent and the acts Jesus speaks of in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew. It appears that Jesus expected that those things would be done and are already being done. For us, these are things we do rather than things that God requires of us. They are active reminders of who we are, what we need, and who we are connected to.  As to what God requires, the prophet Micah says --                                                                     He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

§  Fasting reminds us that we have a need for nourishment that can be fulfilled in simple ways. Hunger can remind us that all things are a gift from God and that this gift, seen in the wrong way, can be taken for granted.

§  Prayer tells us that we cannot stand alone without the support of God and the support of our sisters and brothers in the faith. Prayer is not for show, but it is how we remain in contact with both God and with our innermost self… because that is where our most honest prayers come from. Years ago, I asked a mentor of mine the question “How do we pray?” He responded simply “Want to.”

§  The giving of alms or – better – the sharing of our worldly goods keeps us connected with others, either by sharing what we have directly or through some third party. What we have as “ours” remains a gift to us and to horde it without sharing puts us in the place of God, as if we could say that we created what we have.

§  If anything, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent are reminders… reminders of things we often forget. Like… we are not gods… we are mortal… we fail and we flail around at times… we need to mean what we say.

§  Mostly they are reminders of the one thing that we very often forget and that is a saving and wonderful mystery…

§  God loves us and wants us to return to him. God loves us and shows that in forgiveness. God’s love is grace – undeserved, unmerited, unearned, beyond our understanding, and more real than anything else.

§  Do we need a reason to repent? There is no better reason than this: God loves us and wants us with him.

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, and relents from punishing.