Ash Wednesday

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust feels very poignant to many of us right now. We are burying friends and loved ones. The reality of our frailty isn’t hypothetical.


To live into this reality during Lent is to let go of the World’s call  - and turn to God’s call "whose power in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”


The call to repentance - to turn to God is our daily practice, but as you know, Lent offers us a period of time set aside in our calendar to reflect on our life in God.


We aren’t doing this to self-flagellate.
We are doing this to self-regulate.




While we know Lent as a time of penitence, it is also a time for bringing ourselves into balance: Self-regulating.


(Just to use a silly example: Lent should not be about giving up chocolate for a month. If it really is your issue, then Lent should be about changing your relationship with chocolate.)


Sacrifice is not about giving something up momentarily. Sacrifice leads us somewhere. It is about change.


Jesus’ sacrifice changes us by showing a way into forgiveness and love, union with one another; an understanding of ourselves as the Beloved.


Walking these 40 days in the desert with Jesus is about coming to terms with how we are are challenged by the World, tempted to fall into those behaviors which are self-seeking, controlling, manipulative… because ultimately these behaviors are what makes us feel “wretched” as the Collect says.
But sacrifice as a way of re-balancing ourselves is a very useful practice.


Athletes practice to change and better themselves. I was quite taken recently when I realized that athletes who function at a high level share some of the language that we use in the Spiritual life. My friend who is a masters swim coach and a marathon runner used some of that recently in a conversation.


When there is a balance between tension and letting go it’s as if there is another body living within me. It requires the right attention and being grounded. Then there is a contact with a life force; a wellspring from which this force flows and returns. (1)


This is the flow that athletes describe! This is also a description of meditation. And the flow that comes from consistency in prayer life.
In Lent we are practicing letting go with a higher purpose. It can be a type of practice that we take on - or a type of practice in self-imposed sacrifice.


When we practice either approach, we come to understand ourselves and our inner workings. We also become a little more awake - a higher flow of energy arrives.


It is a way to “Know thy self.”


Participating in the 40 days of intentional prayer, reflection, or a type of fasting attunes us with the journey Jesus was pursuing. Jesus was fasting and praying to attune himself with God.


Know thy self.
What balance do I want in my life, not just for forty days, but something I can practice with God now - that will continue to enhance my life into the future?


Engaging the Spiritual Life is about movement. It is leading us to “know thyself" in the context of a higher flow - a life in God.


For all of our frailty and our weakness, we do have access to this wellspring of life in the Spirit -


- finding this flow with God allows us to bear all things, endure all things, and do “infinitely more than we could ever ask or imagine.”