March 2, 2022 Ash Wednesday at Myers Park UMC

so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so uh [Music] days [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] our is [Music] sisters and brothers would you join me in our opening prayer which you will find printed in your bulletin have mercy on me o god according to your unfailing love according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin surely you desire truth in the inner parts you teach me wisdom in the inmost place create in me a pure heart o god and renew a steadfast spirit within me do not cast me from your presence or take your holy spirit from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me amen would you please stand for our opening hymn number 269 and then remain standing for our gospel reading [Music] so [Music] so [Music] the gospel reading this evening is from matthew beginning in the sixth verse sixth chapter with the first verse beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them for then you have no reward from your father in heaven so whenever you give alms do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be praised by others truly i tell you they have received their reward but when you give alms do not let your left hand know what your right is doing so that your alms may be done in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and whenever you pray do not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others truly i tell you they have received their reward but whenever you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and whenever you fast do not look dismal like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting truly i tell you they have received their reward but when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face so that fasting may be seen not by others but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also this is the word of god for the people of god jesus warns us about fasting when you fast do not look dismal like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces so that their fast can be seen by others i don't know about you i don't fast very often the last time i did a full on fast was literally about a four weeks four years ago this week it was during the time when i was discerning whether i should come to myers park united methodist church to be your associate pastor i for the life of me i could not decide i was lost and i even had a particular deadline for my discernment i called dr how to ask for an extension he gave me an extension about four days over the weekend so i took that time to do a full on fast nothing but water the third day my wife and i had some sort of a fundraising public event to go to so we got ready for that and keep in mind i heeded the advice of jesus i didn't make a big deal of it i didn't tell anybody i just told my wife about the fasting i took good care of myself i was well groomed those days so here we are at the parking lot we're about to enter the building for this public event and i caught my wife looking at me and i thought well maybe i look radiant i am in full pursuit of holiness here and and she looked at me and said uyan you look awful i'm really worried about you so here we are ash wednesday this is the first day of our lenten journey lent is actually 46 days because we don't count the six sundays that's within lent sundays are viewed as easter's many easters every sunday so there's 46 days but 40 days of lent it harkens back to the 40 days of wordiness where jesus was tempted by the devil the whole lent of practice started sometime in the mid second century we're not exactly sure where but the early ancient christians discerned that this journey as we journey toward easter would enable us to prepare ourselves for the fullness of the resurrection i was reminded recently by a clergy friend of mine you know today in a few minutes you'll come forward we'll mark you with our thumbs with the ashes that we have but in the early church on ash wednesday there would be buckets of ashes where lay leaders and clergies would scoop and douse you from head to toe or even use the bucket itself to douse you with ashes there will be no mistake of your mortality and your sins when you leave the church we will not be doing that today but that's the thing isn't it i think most of us all of us know that we will not live forever all of us will one day perish but perhaps the problem is that we live our lives as to assume that we will live forever the way we the way we eat the way we drink the way we talk the way we hoard and fight it seems to suggest that end is never near and we just may live forever but we all know most of us should know that life hangs on by a thread and if we pay attention death is indeed all around us it surrounds us a war erases any doubt death is real and fair there's many of those for whom death is tragically so near but the recognition of our mortality should not paralyze us with fear on this ash wednesday we come to remember our share mortality and our sinfulness in such a way that we are also reminded of our need to reconcile with god to be reminded that we are dust and to dust we shall return but this truth need not paralyze us but instead this truth can set us free to go to a place where the deepest yearning of our hearts will be healed and satisfied and in this place we can say amen to all that is the world and say amen to all that is our lives trusting that despite famine war and divisions the very love depicts the deepest stream of reality in our lives and in that moment in that place we get to witness the glimpse of eternity henry henry noun writes these words that ministering to one another does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness it keeps reminding others that they are mortal and broken but also that with the recognition of this condition liberation starts precisely because ash wednesday is not simply a time for us to be reminded of our sins and our eventual death but ash wednesday is also an invitation for the possibility of us receiving new life in jesus our scripture reading from matthew jesus further warns beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen jesus calls us to examine our motives while warning us of the dangers of inauthentic piety i love this it's so interesting close to 2000 years ago jesus looks upon his disciples in the crowd and jesus questions our propensity toward fakeness and calls us toward the journey of integrity surely jesus must have known that in the 21st century how much this wisdom would be required of all of us surely jesus must have known that we are living in a context where so often perception is reality and presentation so often matters more than substance where our public reputation matters more than our quiet walk in obedience so as we come to receive the ashes may we repent oh god we repent for instead of fearing you we've come to fear one another oh god we repent for instead of growing in love with you we become we've come to love ourselves only oh god we repent for instead of hungering for your righteousness we've grown to hunger for self-righteousness as we come to receive the ashes may we be convicted now more than ever that we as followers of jesus do not have the luxury to hate but instead we are called to journey toward love love not of the world but of god love that is not feckless but love that calls us to carry the cross and follow jesus as we come to receive the ashes may we be reminded that god created me to need more than what i can provide for myself that god created you to desire more than what the world wants from you and what the world wants for you 72 years ago this day a place far away thomas merton spoke about the joy of ash wednesday which is really interesting because this is a time of solemn reflection to be sure merton talked about the relief of anxiety from acknowledging that we are indeed dust he said the source of all sorrow is the illusion that of ourselves we are anything but dust god is all our joy and in him our dust can become splendor in him our dust can become splendor you are of dust and to dust you shall return repent and believe in the gospel and your dust will become splendor thanks be to god amen in due time you will come as the ushers will direct you you will get in line like so many of the things that we do in the church regardless of who we are where we're from all of us when we practice the discipline of imposition of ashes communion we get in line with one another with people beside us behind us in front of us just as you are come dear brothers and sisters in christ the early christians observe with great devotion the day of our lord's passion and resurrection and it became the custom of the church that before the easter celebration there should be a 40-day season of spiritual preparation during the season converse to the faith to prepare 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 so i invite you therefore in the name of the 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 to make a right beginning of repentance and as a mark of our mortal nature let us now bow before our creator and redeemer 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 [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] three [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] mm-hmm so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] sisters and brothers would you stand for our closing hymn which is printed on the back of your bulletin and then remain standing to receive the benediction [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] lent begins i'm so grateful that we can journey together lent's not supposed to be easy it's supposed to be difficult it's supposed to be trying it is a season where we're reminded that god calls us we are to give our lives and in return we receive the only true life thanks be to god for that we are reminded today that we are mortals we are from dust and to dust we shall return but in god our dust can become splendor may the love of god the grace of our lord and savior jesus christ and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us now and forevermore amen so oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Myers Park United Methodist Church

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Length: 54min 52sec (3292 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 03 2022