The last time I led or participated in an Ash Wednesday service was 1999. Last night was the first time I have ever offered the homily as part of an Ash Wednesday service. I am serving as part-time interim minister at Broad Street Christian Church in Martinsville, VA. My service began two weeks before Christmas. It is an honor and pleasure to journey with them. Click here to download the bulletin from last night. Click here to download the homily.
From the Bulletin
This is the invitation to the Lenten journey. To: prepare, reconcile, repent, seek and gift mercy, mortality, know yourself, prayer, fasting, deny yourself, read scripture, listen, silence, dust, ashes, kneel . . . now. God’s vision for creation is revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus, whom we call Christ. During Lent ask yourself, “How well is that vision revealed in my life?”
From the Homily
I think the Lenten season is a reminder that a journey with Jesus meanders. We want the certainty of a straight and quick trip. But, I think that is not the way of lent. It is a map with partial trails marked, arrows, landmarks, and few written directions. Marked on the map are wells where strangers meet and draw water for one another, water front property can become teaching space, and dusty roads are places where Samaritans live the commandments.
As Lent begins I am listening to some of my favorite lyrics again. During lent I will post the lyrics to the song that I am listening too all week as part of my journey as a Disciple of Jesus.
“Still”
by Alanis Morissette
Dogma Soundtrack, 1999
I am the harm which you inflict
I am your brilliance and frustration
I’m the nuclear bombs if they’re to hit
I’m your immaturaty and your indignance
I am your misfits and your praised
I am your doubt and your conviction
I am your charity and your rape
I am your grasping and expectation
I see you averting your glances
I see you cheering on the war
I see you ignoring your children
And I love you still
And I love you still
I am your joy and your regret
I am your fury and your elation
I am your yearning and your sweat
I am your faithless and your religion
I see you altering history
I see you abusing the land
I see you and your selective amnesia
And I love you still
And I love you still
I am your tragedy and your fortune
I am your crisis and delight
I am your profits and your prophets
I am your art, I am your bytes
I am your death and your decisions
I am your passion and your plights
I am your sickness and convalescence
I am your weapons and your light
I see you holding your grudges
I see you gunning them down
I see you silencing your sisters
And I love you still
And I love you (still)
I see you lie to your country
I see you forcing them out
I see you blaming each other
And I love you still
I love you still