Last night I was introducing the imposition of ashes for Ash Wednesday and God warmed my heart! As I was approaching the lectern at St. James UMC, the phrase “journey” came to my mind. In a split second I decided I would say to the sturdy gathering “We are calling you to a journey this Ash Wednesday.” Then, the Holy Spirit reminded me “God is calling us to a journey,” and that’s what I said: “God is calling us this day to journey with Him; to journey with Him toward the Cross.”
Whether this was a quick re-evaluation of right theology or a split-second word from God (I prefer the latter), the Spirit of God was present in the place. The imposition of ashes is a discipline that we as a Church do together but it’s God that is calling us to journey. God is calling us to repent and know the Gospel. God is calling us to be reminded of the painful reality that we are dying a physical death; God is calling us to die in an act of glorious tribute to our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer.
Our journey to the Cross this 2012 Lenten Season (perhaps the one journey with God that we love to avoid) is actually an inevitability for each of us. We shall all die. In Christ we shall die toward resurrection.
For 40 days (plus 6 Sundays), may we embrace our mortality, may we repent of our sinful ways (both individually and communally); and may we be enlightened to the Truth that the God of Creation is making all things new. He’s making us all new in Him! He is calling us to this journey!
In Christ alone.
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