Ash Wednesday 2019

New Living Translation Chapter 58

1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.

Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.

Tell my people Israel of their sins!

2 Yet they act so pious!

They come to the Temple every day

and seem delighted to learn all about me.

They act like a righteous nation

that would never abandon the laws of its God.

They ask me to take action on their behalf,

pretending they want to be near me.

3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.

‘Why aren’t you impressed?

We have been very hard on ourselves,

and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.

“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.

Even while you fast,

you keep oppressing your workers.

4 What good is fasting

when you keep on fighting and quarreling?

This kind of fasting

will never get you anywhere with me.

5 You humble yourselves

by going through the motions of penance,

bowing your heads

like reeds bending in the wind.

You dress in burlap

and cover yourselves with ashes.

Is this what you call fasting?

Do you really think this will please the LORD?

6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;

lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free,

and remove the chains that bind people.

7 Share your food with the hungry,

and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them,

and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,

and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your godliness will lead you forward,

and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.

9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer.

‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

10 Feed the hungry,

and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

11 The LORD will guide you continually,

giving you water when you are dry

and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like an ever-flowing spring.

12 Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

New Living Translation Chapter 58

1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.

Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.

Tell my people Israel of their sins!

2 Yet they act so pious!

They come to the Temple every day

and seem delighted to learn all about me.

They act like a righteous nation

that would never abandon the laws of its God.

They ask me to take action on their behalf,

pretending they want to be near me.

3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.

‘Why aren’t you impressed?

We have been very hard on ourselves,

and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.

“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.

Even while you fast,

you keep oppressing your workers.

4 What good is fasting

when you keep on fighting and quarreling?

This kind of fasting

will never get you anywhere with me.

5 You humble yourselves

by going through the motions of penance,

bowing your heads

like reeds bending in the wind.

You dress in burlap

and cover yourselves with ashes.

Is this what you call fasting?

Do you really think this will please the LORD?

6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;

lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free,

and remove the chains that bind people.

7 Share your food with the hungry,

and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them,

and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,

and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your godliness will lead you forward,

and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.

9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer.

‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

10 Feed the hungry,

and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

11 The LORD will guide you continually,

giving you water when you are dry

and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like an ever-flowing spring.

12 Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

Ash Wednesday was not really a thing for me growing up. Not only did I not participate in it I did not even realized it was a thing. In fact it was not until maybe a few years ago that I noticed some of my Catholic brothers and sisters having ash on the their own forehead.

Ash Wednesday is one of those times that for the rest of the world may seem like an odd beginning of an intense season of drawing Closer to God.

I am sure that it was happening but I was pretty oblivious to it. I was so oblivious to the idea of Lent that I never thought about it’s meaning or importance in the life of a believer.

I would also say that for most of the Christian world they too do not understand why we should begin journey to the Resurrection in this way.

I

On the other hand Easter was always important. It was a time that we shopped for new clothes, bought egg coloring, watched Peter Cotton Tale and of course Charleston Heston in the Ten Commandments (Even thought I had no idea what that had to do with Easter at the time.)

It was all about the benefits and nothing about the cost. The preparation for Easter was all surface level stuff centered around going to Church and being with family.

Nothing wrong with either of these things…Celebrating Easter with Family should happen…and yes…we should do it together as a Church.

The idea of sacrifice during this time was not even an after thought. Yes…I was moved by passions plays and the passion of the Christ but as for using this season as a way to draw closer to God it was just not a priority.

It was not until a friend of mine another Nazarene Pastor invited me to an ash Wednesday service that I understood why Ash Wednesday and the season of lent was so important.

I remember walking away from this service both moved and ashamed that I had not in all my years of ministry thought about the importance of Ash Wednesday and Lent.

However my fear of other people thinking we would become too Catholic kept me from really jumping in to thi

This has been a practice here since before I was Pastor here and many of us here have been practicing this for a long time…but the question in your mind may be why?

Why is sacrifice, fasting, repentance and intercession so important during this season?

Or maybe you like me have wondered how does this help me to get closer to God?

Is it even Biblical because lets face it…putting a cross on my forehead to walk around is a little weird.

The Bible does talk a lot about sackcloth and ashes. People throughout the Old Testament did this when they really wanted to get God’s attention—or when they had something so huge to mourn that it only seemed appropriate to destroy their garments and cover themselves in dirt. Have you ever stopped to think about how strange that must have looked to a surrounding culture? When some nutcase began to tear his or her garments and smear ashes on his or her face?

So maybe making a tiny cross isn’t so strange after all …

You see when I went to the Ash Wednesday Service in Girard KS, I was intrigued with an idea that a service like this would be a great way to help our Church grow. I never thought I would be drawn into the importance of understanding the significance of the ash.

It is important to note that Ash was applied to the body in the OT and the NT as a way to express utter dependence on God. By expressing that we know that we are temporary and will return from the dust we come we are admitting our complete dependence on God.

I did not think of Ash Wednesday Service would draw me into a deeper relationship with Jesus…I was focused on the surface level things but found a deeper faith by understanding that without Jesus I was dust and would return to dust thus making life a meaningless existence.

You see what makes Ash Wednesday and Lent powerful is not what it does for us but what it awakens in us if we will maintain focus on our utter dependence on God and on our responsibility to the the World because of the gift of Jesus suffering and ressurection.

True worship of God is not about focusing on our blessing it is focused on God’s Mission to the World. Lent is a time to bring this truth into focus by honoring God through sacrifice.

Isaiah is

The People of Israel believed that if they went through the motions God would bless them but Isaiah is challenging this idea in this passage.

New Living Translation Chapter 58

1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.

Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.

Tell my people Israel of their sins!

2 Yet they act so pious!

They come to the Temple every day

and seem delighted to learn all about me.

They act like a righteous nation

that would never abandon the laws of its God.

They ask me to take action on their behalf,

pretending they want to be near me.

3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.

‘Why aren’t you impressed?

We have been very hard on ourselves,

and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.

“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.

Even while you fast,

you keep oppressing your workers.

4 What good is fasting

when you keep on fighting and quarreling?

This kind of fasting

will never get you anywhere with me.

5 You humble yourselves

by going through the motions of penance,

bowing your heads

like reeds bending in the wind.

You dress in burlap

and cover yourselves with ashes.

Is this what you call fasting?

Do you really think this will please the LORD?

6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;

lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free,

and remove the chains that bind people.

7 Share your food with the hungry,

and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them,

and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,

and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your godliness will lead you forward,

and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.

9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer.

‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

10 Feed the hungry,

and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

11 The LORD will guide you continually,

giving you water when you are dry

and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like an ever-flowing spring.

12 Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

As we look at the passage it is important that we take this time of Lent to chase a deep life not a blessed life.

When we Fast or Suffer we must fast for the good of others not to ourselves. In other words our motives must be for the salvation of the world not our own salvation.

Ecuador Sacrificed there own food for us…this motivated me to do all I could for them.

I will never forget the feeling I had when I realized that these people were willing to sacrifce a meal or two to honor us. Even as I talk about it today I find myself in awe of a people that were willing to give more than they could afford to total strangers that had more than enough.

When we take time to understand the Sacrifice of Jesus for us we are compelled to give all we have for God and the rest of the world without a desire to receive Credit, or return on the investment.

This only happens when we come face to face with the fact that we are

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The Holy Spirit is not meant to serve us we are created to serve others in the Power of Spirit.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The Holy Spirit is not meant to serve us we are created to serve others in the Power of Spirit.

To Give

We are subject to the Spirit of God not the other way around. Coming to this realization is not a depressing oppressive requirement of God it is a freeing truth.

This is what will free you to think of others as greater than self. This is where freedom comes from.

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

So let yourself be reminded of your sin and brokenness. It’s not pleasant and it might involve some suffering, but instead of pushing away the thoughts of things you’ve done (or left undone) against God and others, accept them, and repent. Then receive the forgiveness of God.

Those helping with imposition please come and take your places.

Loving God, you create us from the dust of the earth; may these ashes be for us a sign of our repentance and our mortality, and a reminder that only by the cross do we receive eternal life in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Come a receive the symbol of Mortality, Sacrifice, and Repentance.

This means that our life must move in an outward direction. The results of giving ourselves away with the right attitude will in fact fill us with joy.

This means that our life must move in an outward direction. The results of giving ourselves away with the right attitude will in fact fill us with joy.