Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Ash Wednesday
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Even now … as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart.
Not that God doesn’t say that to me, to each of us, every hour and every day. Minute by minute, I listen and then forget, listen and then forget. Even now, says the Lord.
Rend your hearts, not your garments and return to the Lord, your God.
Parents and Pharisees rend their garments in judgment, when they are offended beyond words. Rip and tear, and turn away. Leave that other human, the offending one, in their sin. Only God can forgive sin, so I have no responsibility to him. Or her. Am I my sister’s keeper?
In his bible book, the prophet Joel speaks warmly of God’s faithfulness.
For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, relenting in punishment. Perhaps he will again relent. Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion … sound the alarm in my holy mountain. Great is the army which carries out his word. Proclaim a fast.
Our friends George and Anne are fasting until Ash Wednesday. Right through the parties of Mardi Gras, all the way into and past Fat Tuesday, they fast. Joel may have been writing of a particularly destructive invasion of locusts, around 850 BC, but he was also warning his people of what would surely come.
Trusting God seems easier when I’m well fed and the sun is shining. Joel wants me to remember the bad times, and know they will come again, but God’s protection and mercy always will surround me. In life, and in death, God’s country is open and peaceful, and we are invited to come in.
Gather the people, assemble the elders, gather the children. Let the bridegroom and bride quit their chamber. Let the priests weep. “Spare your people, Lord!” Then the Lord is stirred to concern for his land and takes pity on his people.
This year Ash Wednesday falls two days before February 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Many of us weep with the people in both the armies and the cities, as their lives are tossed about like dry leaves in autumn. Two days before Ash Wednesday, a second devastating earthquake struck the same area of Turkey that was hit two weeks ago, when 41,000 people died. In Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and Afghanistan 750,000 people are facing famine. Big numbers, and each person in that crowd has a face, with eyes and nose and mouth. So many children, whose eyes are large and looking straight into mine.
Here’s looking at you, kid. Bogart sits with Bergman as they remember their love affair in Paris. In December 1941 darkness has fallen in Casablanca, and everyone suspects everyone else. Betrayal and death are fought with free flowing cognac and champagne. Hope springs up and is dashed away, then springs up again. Ashes ashes, all fall down. Play it again, Sam.
Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation!
Casablanca greeted the New Year. And then on February 18, 1942, Ash Wednesday celebrated as always, came and went. British and American armies fought Germans and Italians in North Africa. In USA the draft age was lowered to 18. Japan advanced and captured control in Guam, Hong Kong, Wake, Singapore and the Philippines.
By August the Manhattan Project had begun in earnest. The US needed to be first to develop, test, and use the atomic bomb.
Jesus tells us how to fast.
When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. No, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.
(Joel 2, Psalm 51, 2 Corinthians 5, Psalm 95, Matthew 6)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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