March 1, 2006
(Ash Wednesday)

A Humble and Holy Lent

  by The Rev. Canon Linda Yeager, Canon Deacon

Joel 2:1-2,12-17  •  2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10  •  Matthew 6:1-6,16-21  •  Psalm 103 or 103:8-14
(From The Lectionary Page)

Ash Wednesday is a day that draws us to the church. Why do we come to the Cathedral on this dark day to receive the mark of ashes? Ash Wednesday is always in the middle of the week, so it will never be an easy or regular day for most of us to come to church. It is not even a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics, let alone Episcopalians, so we don’t come out of guilt. Why, then, are we here at 7 a.m. to have ashes put on our foreheads? Why do people flock to churches on this day in the middle of the week? Why do priests stand in Grand Central Station and administer ashes to hordes of appreciative commuters? What is it about this day that speaks to our hearts and minds? Why are you here?

As we kneel at this rail and have the sign of the cross traced on our foreheads with ashes, we may feel the importance of this day in several ways. First, it reminds us that we are, indeed, nothing but ashes, that when we die, our bodies will not last, will not endure. And, even more, we are united, one to the other, in that understanding. All of us are, indeed, nothing without God. It is only in our submission and acceptance of God’s grace that we find any meaning in this brief journey of life together. It is this vulnerability and this understanding that link us with one with another in Christ.

At baptism the priest uses consecrated oil and makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of the newly baptized and says, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” As we are sealed with ashes, we are reminded once again that we are Christ’s own forever. The sign of the cross is the sign of ownership, the mark of the one to whom we belong. We are the body of Christ, and the ashes seal us in this relationship.

Ash Wednesday signifies to us, also, a beginning — the beginning of our journey with Christ to his death and to his resurrection. We enter this voyage marked with ashes on the outside that signify what we are feeling on the inside. We are truly sorry for those things which we do that separate us from God and from one another. Knowing that we are united by Christ through his sacrifice, we offer our sins to God and promise anew that we will strive to live in response to this gift of incredible love. The ashes give us a physical sign of an inner resolve. We vow to turn from our sins and strive to live in reflection of God’s great love for us as signified by the sacrifice of God’s son and acknowledged by both the ashes and our resolve to repentance and renewal.

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus speaks of the three main disciplines of this season: almsgiving, praying and fasting. These are all spiritual activities which Jesus teaches us are to be done out of love and unselfishness and not for recognition or honor. We do not need to hide what we do, but to make sure our motives spring from love of God and one another. We are reminded to search our motives and purify them so that almsgiving and fasting and praying are offered to the one from who comes the meaning of existence.

So, why are we here this morning? Each of us has our own reasons. Perhaps we come here to remember that we are united, one to another, through God’s great love, or that we belong to Christ as we were sealed in our baptism and we need to be reminded of that, or that we are ready to set out to repent of our sins and renew our spiritual life with fresh resolve. Whatever our reasons, may this morning be the beginning of a humble and holy Lent. Amen.

All About Grace

by The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

Priests who have served in some of the largest parishes in New York City, tell of standing in their churches for hours every Ash Wednesday, imposing a cross of ash on thousands of people who may wait as long as half an hour in a line a block long. These parishes on 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue have some of the city’s wealthiest residents on their membership rolls and also provide programs serving some of the city’s poorest people. On Ash Wednesday, a person worth millions of dollars stands behind a person with one grocery bag of worldly goods, and both are reminded of the same truth: you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

In a country founded upon the self-evident truth that all men are created equal, Ash Wednesday should be one of our nation’s most popular occasions. This fast day proclaims the inescapable reality that our earthly life is finite. As Jesus says, we must not neglect that part of us which lives forever, and how sad it is if we are guilty of such neglect because we are too busy concentrating on things that will also turn to dust, the kind of dust that is not so divine.

To make the state of our soul a priority, we start at square one: remembering that we were created by God, and are totally dependent upon God’s grace for everlasting life.

Square two is this: as creatures, we sin.

Square three: when we sincerely confess our sins to God, every such sin is completely forgiven.

And the last square: when we embrace that forgiveness, we are freed to love and serve God more fully.

Ash Wednesday and the liturgy of this day can evoke for us reminders of the things that are important. But it is not an easy message to hear. We must be focused, we must make choices, and we really can't go through life on automatic pilot. (The Rev. Kathleen Wakefield)

"Penitence is the resurrection of character," writes Father Andrew. "If we are satisfied with our own condition, we shall certainly not try to rise to something higher."

My friends, we owe it to God, to our neighbors, to those in need, and to ourselves, to rise to things higher, and love more deeply, forgive more completely, and become more committed to living as a servant church. This all begins with sincere penitence and with an equally sincere understanding of God's grace.

I don’t need a cross of ash to remind me that I am getting a little closer to dust. A look in the mirror, a quick count of prescriptions for an assortment of conditions, and other such signs make it hard to deny my own mortality, though I try awfully hard.

But this cross of ash does more than remind me that my return to dust is inevitable. The ash reminds me that long after I have returned to dust, because of God’s amazing grace, and the sacrifice of his Son, I will be alive. That gift, that tremendous, precious gift of grace, is what I was created to contemplate and respond to. And once again, beginning today, I vow before God and you my sisters and brothers to make all aspects of my life square more completely with my faith and my heart.

Together, let us enter this sacred journey of Lent, so very thankful for even one more day to confess our need of God, so very thankful for one more day to taste and see how gracious our God is.