WEBVTT 00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:04.209 You think that body of yours is immortal? Ha! 00:00:05.790 --> 00:00:09.949 The Bible says you come from the dust, and through 00:00:09.949 --> 00:00:21.890 the dust you will return. Dust. Some nights don't 00:00:21.890 --> 00:00:24.030 begin with a story, they begin with a silence. 00:00:25.010 --> 00:00:27.870 Tonight isn't a deep dive into a passage or a 00:00:27.870 --> 00:00:29.890 slow walk through a Bible study. Tonight feels 00:00:29.890 --> 00:00:33.780 different. There's a jar on a table. There's 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.200 a room that knows something honest is about to 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:38.799 be spoken. And there are words that don't argue. 00:00:39.079 --> 00:00:42.759 They just wait. If you're tuning in expecting 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:46.039 our usual midweek study, stay with me. This one 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:50.179 matters just as much, maybe more. Because tonight 00:00:50.179 --> 00:00:52.880 we didn't gather around a whiteboard or a worksheet. 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:56.939 We gathered around dust. And around a truth the 00:00:56.939 --> 00:00:59.140 body already knows, but the calendar keeps trying 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:03.100 to outrun. It's Ash Wednesday. Instead of Bible 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:05.480 study, what you're about to hear is the homily 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:07.780 from our sanctuary, the imposition of ashes, 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.900 the quiet moment where foreheads are marked and 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:14.920 mortality is named. So lean in, let it be what 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:23.019 it is, and I'll see you on the other side. Almighty 00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:25.400 and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.730 have made. and forgive the sins of all those 00:01:28.730 --> 00:01:32.989 who are penitent. Create and make in us new and 00:01:32.989 --> 00:01:36.629 contrite hearts, that, lamenting our sins and 00:01:36.629 --> 00:01:40.269 acknowledging our wretchedness, we may receive 00:01:40.269 --> 00:01:43.629 from you the God of all mercy, perfect forgiveness 00:01:43.629 --> 00:01:47.670 and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 00:01:49.049 --> 00:01:52.250 So, friends, we are here tonight for the imposition 00:01:52.250 --> 00:01:56.189 of ashes. But before we partake in that, let 00:01:56.189 --> 00:01:59.390 me offer just a few words to kind of set the 00:01:59.390 --> 00:02:02.730 scene for this ritual, this ancient practice 00:02:02.730 --> 00:02:07.629 that we are about to partake in. Now, I want 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:11.289 to start off by saying you guys have been paying 00:02:11.289 --> 00:02:14.610 attention. I know you have because I have watched. 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:17.949 I've seen some of you. These past few months, 00:02:17.949 --> 00:02:21.069 you've been learning to read the room. Not just 00:02:21.069 --> 00:02:24.069 like people and circumstances or environments, 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:29.210 but the room that the church lives in. You now 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:32.909 notice when the banners change. You ask about 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:37.050 the different stole. You leaned in when I explained 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:41.530 that the green season is a workshop. That God 00:02:41.530 --> 00:02:45.650 is doing something in that ordinary, unhurried 00:02:45.650 --> 00:02:50.460 time. The long green stretch. where nothing dramatic 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:55.520 happens, but everything slowly shifts. You've 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.680 been a good student, and tonight class takes 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:02.439 a different shape. Tonight the church doesn't 00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:09.340 explain, it acts. There's a ramekin of ash on 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:12.819 this table down here. In a little while, I'm 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:14.580 going to press some of it into your forehead 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:18.479 and say a handful of words. Remember that you 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:22.900 are dust. To dust you shall return. No footnote, 00:03:22.919 --> 00:03:26.240 no takeaway, no three -point application to a 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:30.379 sermon. Just ash, just forehead, just a handful 00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:35.599 of words that don't flinch. And like I just mentioned, 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:37.240 I want to spend just a few minutes before we 00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:39.939 get there, not to soften what's coming, but perhaps 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:42.800 to help you receive it. Because there is a difference 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.840 between a blow and the truth. And what the ashes 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:50.439 carry tonight is a truth, my friends, that you 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:54.400 will not be able to argue out of, but it is a 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:59.360 truth you can survive. There is a kind of silence 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:03.939 that argues with us. You walk into a hospital 00:04:03.939 --> 00:04:07.439 room. Suddenly, all of your plans for the leak 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:12.800 feel embarrassingly small. You stand at a graveside 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.819 in January and the cold isn't metaphorical anymore. 00:04:16.939 --> 00:04:22.819 It just is. Just standing in it. And all the 00:04:22.819 --> 00:04:26.040 words you thought you had have dissolved somewhere 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:30.899 between your chest and your throat. Silence doesn't 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:33.939 need your interpretation. It already says what 00:04:33.939 --> 00:04:38.939 it has come to say. Ash Wednesday is that silence. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.279 It walks in, it sits down its jar, and it waits. 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:48.019 Friends, tune your ears to the reading of Holy 00:04:48.019 --> 00:04:50.220 Scripture. Tonight's reading comes to us from 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:53.040 the very first book of the Bible in Hebrew, known 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:58.519 as Bereshit, Genesis 2 -3, beginning with verse 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:03.939 17. Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil 00:05:03.939 --> 00:05:06.439 you will eat of it all the days of your life. 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:10.639 We yield thorns and thistles to you. You will 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:13.819 eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:18.600 face will you eat bread until you return to the 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:23.720 ground. For out of it you were taken. For you 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:29.259 are dust. To dust you shall return. Sends the 00:05:29.259 --> 00:05:33.040 reading of the scripture this evening. For out 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:37.759 of it you were taken. Punishment added to the 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:41.800 sentence of life. A reminder folded in a verdict. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.360 You came from somewhere before you arrived here. 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:50.839 And that same somewhere, friend, you're headed 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:55.180 back to. The ground is not your enemy. It is 00:05:55.180 --> 00:06:03.120 your origin. And it is your destination. And 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.839 the ash on your forehead tonight is not a threat. 00:06:07.819 --> 00:06:11.300 It's a homecoming address written in advance. 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:16.339 And God doesn't say because you're dust, you're 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:21.600 worthless. God says you will return. And there's 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.040 a difference there. And I want us to hold that 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:26.589 difference for just a moment. But first, let 00:06:26.589 --> 00:06:29.110 me ask you something. I want you to sit with 00:06:29.110 --> 00:06:31.870 it honestly and don't answer to yourself too 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:34.990 quickly. When was the last time something stopped 00:06:34.990 --> 00:06:41.810 you, genuinely stopped you, and you couldn't 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:45.709 talk your way past it? Not a problem that you 00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:48.550 needed to solve, not a decision requiring analysis, 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:52.029 just a moment that looked you in the eyes and 00:06:52.029 --> 00:06:57.639 said, this is real. And you? are mortal. And 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:00.879 no amount of productivity is going to change 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:05.860 any of that. Because we are very good at moving. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:10.899 We're very practiced at filling our time, the 00:07:10.899 --> 00:07:15.180 calendar, the noise, the next thing. We have 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:20.519 developed sophisticated systems for never quite 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:24.470 arriving at the stillness. where the question 00:07:24.470 --> 00:07:29.930 actually lives. And Ash Wednesday is the one 00:07:29.930 --> 00:07:34.389 night in the Christian year when the church refuses 00:07:34.389 --> 00:07:40.110 to let you skip past it. The green season prepared 00:07:40.110 --> 00:07:45.170 you. The workshop shaped you. And this, this 00:07:45.170 --> 00:07:47.470 is the moment the workshop has been building 00:07:47.470 --> 00:07:51.850 towards, not as a graduation, not as an achievement, 00:07:51.990 --> 00:07:59.459 but as... But can you receive something that 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:05.699 you can't manage? Because here's what I've noticed 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:09.220 about the way we talk about death in the church. 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:13.079 We are very comfortable with death as theological 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:20.639 concept. We might preach resurrection 40 days 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:25.199 straight. Sing about crossing the Jordan River 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:29.620 and going home to glory. We all nod along when 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:35.960 someone says eternal life is real. We're less 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:39.279 comfortable about our own body's honesty, though. 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:43.840 And the ashes here tonight, friends, they're 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:47.029 not symbolic the way a candle is symbolic. They're 00:08:47.029 --> 00:08:49.529 not a gesture towards something abstract. They 00:08:49.529 --> 00:08:53.669 are actual burned material pressed into actual 00:08:53.669 --> 00:08:58.830 mortal skin. They will smudge by the time you 00:08:58.830 --> 00:09:02.129 get home. They'll get on your pillowcase if you 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:05.830 forget to wash your face. They are, by design, 00:09:05.990 --> 00:09:11.789 a little undignified. And that indignity is the 00:09:11.789 --> 00:09:16.230 point. The Christian tradition puts ash on skin 00:09:16.230 --> 00:09:20.889 because ideas about morality, about the reality 00:09:20.889 --> 00:09:25.350 of our death, it's too easy just to set back 00:09:25.350 --> 00:09:30.330 down. You can hear a sermon about death and drive 00:09:30.330 --> 00:09:32.450 home thinking about what you want for dinner. 00:09:33.970 --> 00:09:37.190 Cannot put ash on your forehead and entirely 00:09:37.190 --> 00:09:43.759 forget it. And your body knows. Your body has 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:47.139 always known what your calendar tries to argue 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:55.960 around. You are dust. You will die. Not metaphorically. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.360 Not as a theological concept to be explored during 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:06.279 the Lenten season. This body, the one you dressed 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.210 this morning, the one that drove here, here, 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:12.870 the one sitting in the pew right now, this body 00:10:12.870 --> 00:10:19.389 will fail. And you cannot outwork this. You cannot 00:10:19.389 --> 00:10:23.610 outfaith this. You cannot schedule around it. 00:10:23.769 --> 00:10:30.750 And I'm not saying this to shock you. I'm saying 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:38.320 this because for one honest moment, maybe, You 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:43.600 and your body might be on the same page. And 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:49.279 the ashes don't need you to agree. They're not 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:53.279 requesting your theological endorsement. They 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:57.220 already know what they are. The question is whether 00:10:57.220 --> 00:11:02.820 tonight you're willing to know too. And there's 00:11:02.820 --> 00:11:06.200 a reason why this comes before Lent and not after. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:09.720 Lent is 40 days of intentional sustained return, 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:13.779 the slow walk back towards the center, the practiced 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:18.399 disciplines, the journey towards Holy Week. But 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.279 you cannot begin a return until you know where 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:29.000 you are right now and where we are, many of us. 00:11:30.029 --> 00:11:35.210 Somewhere between denial and distraction. And 00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:38.629 not because we're faithless. Because we're human. 00:11:39.909 --> 00:11:43.830 Humans are very good at building lives that feel 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:47.789 permanent. The ashes interrupt that feeling. 00:11:48.370 --> 00:11:51.450 They don't destroy it. You'll feel that way again 00:11:51.450 --> 00:11:56.929 by Thursday. But for one evening, the interruption 00:11:56.929 --> 00:12:02.649 is available to you. This is what the ashes already 00:12:02.649 --> 00:12:05.909 know. That you are made of something ancient 00:12:05.909 --> 00:12:10.850 and humble. The same God who breathed life into 00:12:10.850 --> 00:12:13.950 the dust of the ground breathed life into you 00:12:13.950 --> 00:12:18.909 too. And that this body that you have been carrying 00:12:18.909 --> 00:12:21.789 through your days is not an inconvenience to 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:26.029 your spiritual life. It is your spiritual life 00:12:26.029 --> 00:12:29.009 right up until the moment that it's finished. 00:12:30.059 --> 00:12:35.480 And it will be. The church has put ash on skin 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:38.720 for over a thousand years, not to frighten people, 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:44.519 but to orient them. To say, you are here. This 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:51.960 is real. This time, you have actual time. Live 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:57.870 it accordingly. And underneath that, underneath 00:12:57.870 --> 00:13:02.049 the weight of those handful of words is the oldest 00:13:02.049 --> 00:13:04.929 theological claim the church knows how to make. 00:13:06.830 --> 00:13:09.490 Despite all the doom and gloom that I am presenting 00:13:09.490 --> 00:13:15.909 to you tonight, you're not alone in this. The 00:13:15.909 --> 00:13:20.769 one who said, to dust you shall return, also 00:13:20.769 --> 00:13:25.419 is the one who said, I will be with you. The 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:28.460 one who knelt in the garden sweating blood also 00:13:28.460 --> 00:13:33.100 said, I go to prepare a place. Same hands that 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:36.559 press ash into your forehead on Tuesday will 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:39.700 break bread and hand it to you on a coming Thursday. 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:45.620 We don't mark mortality to leave you there. We 00:13:45.620 --> 00:13:48.580 mark it to make sure you don't accidentally live 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:52.179 your entire life without ever actually standing 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:57.809 inside of it. So, come. Not because you're ready. 00:13:58.049 --> 00:14:01.870 Not because you've bribed the right feeling about 00:14:01.870 --> 00:14:06.350 it. Just come. Let seven, eight, nine words be 00:14:06.350 --> 00:14:10.049 those words. Let ash be ash. Let your body know 00:14:10.049 --> 00:14:14.450 what it already knows. Come to receive it. You're 00:14:14.450 --> 00:14:17.230 dust. You are beloved. Both of those are true. 00:14:17.429 --> 00:14:19.990 And you know what? Neither cancels the other 00:14:19.990 --> 00:14:24.379 out. Go into the night wearing what you received. 00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:28.299 Don't rush to wash it off. Let it stay a little 00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:32.860 bit longer than feels comfortable. And when you 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:36.379 do finally wash it off, when that water runs 00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:39.320 gray down the drain and your skin is clean again, 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:43.899 remember that the truth it carried doesn't have 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:47.340 to wash off with it. You're made of something 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:51.870 ancient and holy. You will return to the ground 00:14:51.870 --> 00:14:55.169 from which you came. And between here and there, 00:14:55.409 --> 00:15:01.289 you're not alone. So depart from here in peace, 00:15:01.490 --> 00:15:05.529 and remember the darkness is not empty. Amen? 00:15:06.370 --> 00:15:10.490 Amen. So, as we conclude, let me say, invite 00:15:10.490 --> 00:15:12.889 us to communion and the imposition of ashes. 00:15:13.090 --> 00:15:18.370 Let me also say that Neither of these things 00:15:18.370 --> 00:15:21.590 are required of you tonight. But the invitation 00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:25.750 for both. To experience the Lord's table and 00:15:25.750 --> 00:15:29.610 his elements. And to experience the reality of 00:15:29.610 --> 00:15:32.490 your own mortality. The choice is yours that 00:15:32.490 --> 00:15:36.330 I invite you. Because you've come here tonight 00:15:36.330 --> 00:15:40.370 knowing something was required of you. You may 00:15:40.370 --> 00:15:45.769 not have known it exactly. The ash already knew. 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:49.299 In a moment, you'll come forward and you'll hear 00:15:49.299 --> 00:15:51.779 that handful of words, friend, that does not 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:55.720 flinch. Remember that you are dust. To dust you 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:58.940 shall return. You do not need to feel ready. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:02.120 You do not need to feel solemn. You do not need 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.580 to understand it all fully. Just come. Let ash 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:09.179 be ash. Let your body hear what it already knows. 00:16:09.659 --> 00:16:13.139 Then, having stood inside that truth, come to 00:16:13.139 --> 00:16:16.799 the table. For this is the table where the one 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.480 who knelt in the garden and sweated blood said, 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:23.879 Take, eat, this is my body. And take, drink, 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:27.600 this is my blood poured out for you. He said 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.620 it knowing what was coming. He said it from dust 00:16:31.620 --> 00:16:35.019 to dust. So come to this table not because you've 00:16:35.019 --> 00:16:37.899 mastered mortality, but because you've admitted 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:41.360 it. Come because you're hungry. Come because 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:43.879 you're mortal. Come because the table was set 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:48.159 for exactly the person you actually are. Receive 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.919 the ash. Receive the bread. Receive the cup. 00:16:51.620 --> 00:16:57.419 And then go, marked, fed, and not alone. This 00:16:57.419 --> 00:17:00.480 is the Lord's Table, friends. All are welcome. 00:17:00.860 --> 00:17:08.279 All will be fed. Ash Wednesday doesn't shout. 00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:12.079 It settles. And if something in tonight's homily 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:15.160 stayed with you, not loudly, but steadily, that's 00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:18.940 not by accident. That is the Spirit doing what 00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:22.220 she does best, whispering truth into places we 00:17:22.220 --> 00:17:25.799 usually keep busy. You heard words about dust, 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:28.599 about mortality, about hunger, and maybe just 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:31.759 maybe. You felt that quiet alignment between 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.859 your body and your soul. Hey friend, that's holy 00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:38.900 ground. Don't rush past it. Let it work on you. 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:44.839 Let it interrupt you a little bit. Let it slow 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.880 you down enough to remember your days are not 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:52.859 disposable. They're given. And if something you 00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:54.740 heard tonight met you in a way you didn't expect, 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:58.460 if a phrase lodged itself in your chest and shifted 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:00.559 the way you've always thought about this night, 00:18:00.740 --> 00:18:04.640 would you let us know? Throw a little like in 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.900 the offering plate. Drop a comment. Send a note. 00:18:06.980 --> 00:18:10.759 Just say I was here and it mattered. And if you 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.160 want to keep walking with us through Lent, step 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:16.140 by step towards Jerusalem, on towards Resurrection 00:18:16.140 --> 00:18:19.559 Sunday, make sure you tithe your subscribe. That 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:22.000 way, you'll know when we start moving again. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.380 And until then, as always, be blessed.