Create In Me a Clean Heart

We are here today at the beginning of a journey. You could say that we are beginning a journey within a journey. Those of usthat are followers of God through Jesus should desire to be on a journey with God each and every day.

Today we are beginning the church season of Lent. We are focusing on a God of mercy, a God of love, a God of restoration. This is the same journey as the Psalmist. We can sense that he is feeling lost. He is attempting to figure out what he is missing in his life. He is crying out to his God. He is asking for help.

The church season of Lent in many ways can become a reset for each one of us. It can become a time in which we through spending time with God can discover ways in which we may have gone off the path. The 40-day journey of Lent can help us evaluate and if needed reinvigorate our relationship with God.

The Ash Wednesday service helps us to begin this journey within a journey by reminding us of who we are. We are beings created by God from the dust that will return to the dust. Meaning, we are not God. We have chosen to follow God.

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Our scripture is attributed to King David and occurs after he has committed a number of sins against God. He has committed adultery. He has killed the husband of the woman he was with. And this doesn’t include the fact that since he was the king, the woman would have had no choice but to be with him.

He is able to recognize the error of his ways due to a conversation that he has with his friend Nathan who lays out for him a scenario in which David responds by saying “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!”

It is at this point that Nathan emphatically points to David and says, “You are the man.” David responds by admitting “I have sinned against the Lord.” I would guess that at some point all of us have been called out for some sin we have committed.

I hope it didn’t include adultery or murder but someone either a parent, friend, or partner has most likely pointed out something that we know we did against someone else and therefore against God.

It is how we respond that often makes the difference in that relationship and if we respond correctly can begin a return to an even stronger relationship with God. Our Psalm for tonight is David’s way of asking God for forgiveness. His way of asking for a God of mercy.

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We follow a God of mercy. The Psalmist begins the same way as each one of us began our journey with Jesus by acknowledging the need for mercy. We are not able to forgive our own sins. We are not able to take away the power of sin from our lives. We need a God of mercy.

The Psalmist asks God to cleanse him from his sins and also to deliver him from the guilt. He is asking God to forgive and forget what he has done. Our God of mercy doesn’t just forgive our sins, but he also forgets. We are the ones that sometimes continue to live with the sin that God has removed and forgotten.

We can allow guilt and shame to enter into our lives and to fester within us hurting our health and possibly our relationship with others and with God. Lent can become a time for us to let go of any guilt and shame that we may have built up within us.

God has already forgotten. Let us be willing to take the journey towards removing our own inner turmoil. Let us decide to remove from our thoughts the power that our sin may be having over us. A sin again that God has already removed. He is willing to remove and forget our sin because He is a God of love.

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We follow a God of love. We can find numerous times within scripture where love is shown by God. The Psalmist sees God as a God of “unfailing love” and compassion. David is looking at the past and sees all the times God was there for the Jewish people.

He is asking for the same love and compassion that God gave those that came before him. We have available to us that same love and compassion that God gave to those within scripture. We will often call it the everlasting love of God.

We have a God that loves us and never leaves us. A God that saves us and redeems us. A God that desires to walk with us and guide us through the good and bad of life. God will never leave you or forget about you.

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What David is really asking for is what we find in what is the focus of our scripture from 2 Corinthians, he is asking to be reconciled to God. He is desiring for his relationship with God to return back to where it had been before he went down the path that he chose.

It is because we have a God of mercy and love that David believes that he can be reconciled with God. He has seen the way that God in the past through events such as the exodus has allowed the Jewish people to return back to him.

Those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior should know that we have been reconciled. The power of sin has been removed. We should have no fear of retribution. We should today and every day thank God for being a God of mercy and love.

This does not mean that we shouldn’t be on a journey with Jesus. We should desire to become closer to God each and every day. David wanted the same. He wanted God to create in him a clean heart.

Let’s quickly look at what that means. David uses words such as renew us, restore us, deliver us. He is saying to God help me in all aspects of my life. Be beside me, walk with me, help me while I journey through life.

Be with me in the ups and downs, the good and bad. Promise that you will never leave me. Stay by my side and help me. We should be asking the same things today and every day. We have 40 days to be more connected or to reconnect with God. A time frame where we can have God help us evaluate and examine the ways that we can become closer to Him.

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Part of the Ash Wednesday service includes a reminder of ways in which we can connect with God not only during this season but throughout the year.

We are reminded that the early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the universal Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word in order to connect with God and become closer to God.

We begin this process through the imposition of Ashes. A reminder that we have a God and that we are not God. (Pick up the ashes)

Let us pray…

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Please come forward as you are willing and able. If you are not able I would be happy to meet you at your seat. There will also be available the Reverend Dale and Kay Hatch if you are in need of prayer after receiving the ashes.