"I can't believe that we would lie in our graves..."

This is the sermon manuscript from Ash Wednesday. The primary scripture for this sermon is Isaiah 58:1-12.

I have in my hand a jar of dirt. This is no ordinary dirt, it does not come from just anywhere. This dirt comes from my family’s homestead back in Texas. Since the 1870s my family has been working this dirt. This dirt has been ground into hundreds of pairs of blue jeans, stuck under countless fingers nails, plowed up, cussed at, and given thanks for, all in the act of planting crops in order to take in a harvest and feed a family. This jar of dirt reminds me of where I have come from, my roots that are buried deep in the rich earth of Texas. This jar of dirt reminds of the home for which I long to return. This jar of dirt reminds me boldly of one of the clearest facts about life. One day, this is what I will be. Dirt.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With these words spoken we are drawn into the season of Lent, the forty day journey to the cross of Good Friday and the empty tomb of Easter morning. Lent always starts with this talk of dust and death. Every year we trudge up to the altar, eyes on our shoes, and receive a little ashen reminder of this truth. The ashen crosses on our foreheads remind us that we are dust, we are bound to return to this dust and there’s nothing we can do about this fact.

This phrase, “Remember that you are dust,” is found all the way back in Genesis chapter three where God is dealing out punishment for the taking of the fruit of the tree that was forbidden. The word used by the author is the Hebrew word “ophr” which literally means soil or dirt. I think that this has been lost over the years. What God tells Adam is a reminder that he is dirt; he was taken from the dirt at creation, and dirt is that to which he will return after death.

This same Hebrew word “ophr” is used in Genesis 2:7 to describe the building blocks of all us humans; dirt. God uses the dirt from the ground to create the first humans, the adam, the creatures of the earth. God breathed the breath of life into the human shaped piece soil and gave us life. The heart of our Lenten reminder, “remember that you are dust,” is to remind us of where we have come from and where we are going. We could just as well have said, “Remember that you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.” And I think that this makes more sense. We are creatures of the earth. We are dirt dear people. And to dirt we shall return.

But this claim is not to be taken lightly; quite the opposite actually. This claim about dirt is to remind us that we are indeed creatures with numbered days. Today is the day when we are confronted with the truth that we are not long for this world. We are human. We are mortal. We will one day die. And on top of all that, we are sinners. Ash Wednesday is the day when we are truly honest about who we are as humans. We are confronted by our mortality and our sin. And because of this we embark on the journey of Lent where we turn from our sinful ways and return to God through fasting and prayer.

The Israelites in today’s scripture must have been going through an Ash Wednesday moment. The people of Israel had just returned from exile in Babylon and were trying to get back on their feet. Those who returned to Israel after the exile faced many challenges in continuing their lives and returning to their roots as the people of God. One of the challenges was getting back to the basics of following the Torah and recommitting themselves to the covenant that had been established by God. They had been vividly reminded that they were human by their time in Babylon and the harsh treatment they had received from their captors. They knew they had broken the covenant and stopped following the Law. They knew they had sinned and done wrong in the eyes of God. It was an Ash Wednesday moment. They were making every effort to return to God. But it wasn’t quite working out as they had planned.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” The people cry out. They are making an effort to turn things around, they are taking time for God, fasting and living in a humble manner in an effort to please God. But these efforts are misguided. The prophet, who speaks on behalf of God, tells the people, “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and you oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight.” The fast that the people have taken on is not what God had in mind because it is selfish in nature. God does not want to be flattered by our acts of piety and worship. God does not want to see selfish acts of humility. These acts miss the point of the original covenant completely. God is not condemning the act of fasting, God is condemning the motives behind the fasting. When we are guided by selfish motives, when we act only out of our pride, as if to say, “God, look at how good I am, look what I have done for you,” we have missed the point completely. This is not a return to God.

Instead, God asks through the prophet, “Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?!” God points to a fast that reorients the people to life in relationship with one another; bread for the hungry, a home for the homeless, cloths for the naked, not hiding from the people in our midst, family, neighbors, and strangers alike. When we turn from ourselves and live for one another, when we see the world the way God sees the world, then the light of God breaks through into our lives. The fast God calls us to is one of a life changing love that leans into the lives of others. God is at work among the people and wants us to do the same.

This is what we are called to during the season of Lent. To return to God whole loves the whole world by living our lives for others. This is the fast we are called to. Today we are having our Ash Wednesday moment. We are faced rather bluntly by our own mortality and our own sinfulness. We cannot escape this fate no more that we can stop the sun from rising tomorrow. But this is not a call to turn inward and run away from the world. Selfish fasting will not get us far into the Lenten journey before leaving us empty and wanting more. Instead God calls us to live our lives poured out for others. The fast we are called to in Lent is one that reorients our lives to the world.

For the next 40 days we will be walking the long road to the cross and empty tomb. This year for Lent I invite you to come along with me and we will explore together what it means to take on the fast of God. This is what is known as the “way of Jesus.” To live the life of a disciple is to be along the way with Jesus Christ as we walk through this world. It is Jesus Christ who shows us what it truly means to take on the fast that God chooses.

And this brings us to Lent. We have all walked different roads to get to this moment. And yes dear friends, we know where we are going. “Remember that you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.” But we are not there yet, we are still along the way. And until we get there, we have the opportunity to live differently. My favorite musician Dave Matthews penned these words, “I can’t believe that we would lie in our graves wondering if we had spent our living days well. I can’t believe that we would lie in our graves dreaming of things that we might have been.” Today dear friends we leave behind what we might have been. During Lent 2012 we are going to find out who God has set us free to be.