 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
|
March 1, 2006 Ash Wednesday Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is a statement of truth that we in the church hear every Ash Wednesday. It’s not good news, and its not bad news. It is simply true. We are essentially dust; physically/biologically we live our share of time and then we grow old (hopefully we can grow old), and then…we die. This is the truth… It’s a reality that most people would rather not mention or think about. Death is an unmentionable, inevitability…truth. But, for those who follow Jesus Christ, we need not fear death or any other truth—for we know that truth belongs to God—and with God we can face any truth dead on. In a way, this day, Ash Wednesday is the prime example of how Christians have been given power to face difficult truths (the most difficult truth being death). But there is a problem (which Jesus’ warning in our Gospel about practicing our piety in public—only hints at). There is another human inevitability that is revealed in the Bible and throughout history—and that is that people (Christians included) have a knack for hiding from truth and even replacing the God of truth. We have a gracious and wonderful God who should be the primary focus of our lives—the enduring relationship of our lives—someone with whom we can love deeply and relate to constantly through prayer and through simply living in the world that he creates. Yet, we inevitably and sadly replace the creator with other things. The thing is that as humans we can not help but orient our lives around someone or something (We either serve God or make gods to serve: whether they be our piety, our country, or what people think about us, or our money, or our looks, or our selves, and so on.). So, the question for the day, asked with humility and a hope for reconciliation with God is this: who is the God of our life right now? Ash Wednesday and all of the 40 days of lent building up to Easter are about opportunity—we are entering a penitential time to rethink the directions we are heading in…asking God to save us from distraction, we need to and ask ourselves, “Who is my God?” Do I focus the core of my life on something that will only die…or do I give glory to someone who lives within and beyond this creation (namely, God)—someone who can give life beyond these boundaries—someone with the power of the resurrection— This is the difference between life that ends in death…and a life that ends in eternity with the eternal God, which is salvation. Lent is about moving/journeying from death into life. So to start you on this spiritual pilgrimage, reflect upon how Paul describes our Christian life in the world: We are treated as imposters (in the world), and yet are true (in Christ), we are treated as unknown (by the world), and yet are well known (by God); we are treated only as though we are dying (in the flesh), but see we are alive (in a deeper sense)…; as having nothing (for we will surely die), and yet possessing everything (as children of God—inheritors of God’s kingdom).
Brothers and
sisters, focusing upon the frailty of your own life today, may you
be freed to place God in Christ at the center of you life, that you
might be reconciled in your faith to God and brought to a truer hope
of a life in him. Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
|
||||
