Ash Wednesday

Joel 2.1-2, 12-17; 2 Corinthians 5.20b-6.10; Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21

Today we begin the Lenten fast; we begin a time of reflection and study as we prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But why; why do we need this time, this forty days, and how best can we use it?

I've always believed that at the heart of the life of any Christian is our own personal relationship with God, our own response to the Holy Spirit working in us, just how far we are disposed to letting God's Spirit work within us. You see, at our baptism, we were given the grace of the Holy Spirit. God himself, in His Spirit, lodged and working within us. And from that time onwards, all our life as Christians is meant to be directed towards the Holy Spirit working in us and through us, so that we become Christ-like; so that the fruits of the Holy Spirit can be grown in us - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness etc. and that all our individual dealings with others and the world will be as if Jesus Christ himself were in our shoes and our clothes and our bodies, because it is His Spirit that inhabits us. In reality, from the moment of our baptism, the work of the Holy Spirit is thwarted by our sinful nature and there is a very real spiritual battle for our soul. The image of God in us is obscured by sin and the Holy Spirit's presence and work hampered and undone by sin.

Now we need to understand what we mean by sin. I don't mean just those obvious moral lapses and deviations that we all understand as sin, the ones that the 10 commandments make so plain. The word sin comes from a Greek word that literally means 'missing the mark'. So sin is everything that is contrary to the will of God for us, that misses the mark that is God's Spirit within us. So, our anger, our petty judgementalism, our pride and vanity, our sloth and indolence, all these things are included too. In fact just about anything that damages our own heart, mind, body and soul and that of others too is sin or sinful. We are made in the image and likeness of God, according to scripture and anything that spoils that image or inhibits the likeness of God developing in us is sin. Prior to the fall of Adam and Eve, God's relationship with them was one of perfection and that's what God wants for us now. The death of Jesus makes that possible and more of that at the end of this Lenten season. But we are just at the start of the season and we are asking ourselves what can we do now to help that relationship to be made manifest in us? What can we do to assist the Spirit of God working in us so that being made in the image of God we can grow into His likeness?

Well the answer to that is repentance. It's to get to know and understand our sin, to know the depth of sin in us and the ways in which it has ravaged us; and with repentance, with sorrow for that sin, to turn again to God, who knowing the depth of our sorrow for sin, forgives us. Jesus's first words, according to St. Mark, when he came out of the wilderness were 'The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel'. And the gospel is forgiveness of sins through the death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. The Kingdom of God is within us says Jesus in St. Matthew and those who take it take it by force, he says. And what that means is that if the Kingdom of God is here, at hand within us, it's ours for the taking but there's something we have to do; there's work to be done and that work is the work of repentance and repentance means beating down sin within us and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us as God intends. And that is hard work.

We can get the impression that once we call ourselves Christian and know God's forgiveness there's nothing more to do; that it doesn't really matter if we sin because God will forgive us. And anyway, it's human nature to sin so there is a sense in which it can be expected. Indeed St. Paul asks, should we sin all the more so that God's glory in forgiveness will be seen all the more? And of course the answer is, no way. That's not how it works. We are intended not to sin in the first place. Sin is not human nature, we weren't made to sin, we were made to be perfect, that's why Jesus could say 'be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect'. We are made in the image and likeness of God and there is no place for sin in God, so no natural place for sin in us.

So what's to be done? God gives us this season of Lent to look at our self; to look first of all at our sin, which can be put under eight headings, the eight vices that St. John Cassian of the 4th century described and which the Church in the West later formed into the seven mortal sins: gluttony; unchastity; avarice; anger; dejection; listlessness; self-esteem and pride. There may be one or two there that are surprising and I'm thinking particularly of dejection and listlessness. Yes, even being weary of life and our situation can be sinful. So we look at these things and ask ourselves how much they do stand in the way of God's Spirit working in us. And then we try to take steps in our life to remove them. And it isn't easy. St. John Cassian's writings became the foundation for the Rule of St. Benedict which right to today is the foundation for the life of many monks and nuns, those who live what is called the 'religious life', who give themselves entirely to living the Spirit filled life. And you might say, yes, but we aren't monks and nuns, so how and why should we be expected to follow the same sorts of disciplines. Well, our family, our relationships, our work; our life as members of St. Andrew's, all these our our monastery or convent. And we, no less than monks and nuns are called by Christ to dedicate ourselves to Him and His way. And it's a way of repentance.

Repentance isn't a one off act, it's a life long enterprise that we come to anew each day, as each day we dedicate ourselves anew to Christ, beat down sin and let the Holy Spirit work in us. So the call to us today, this Ash Wednesday is to enter into the discipline of Lent, through the traditional means of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, through study and the reading of the Bible to enter into the spirit of the season fully and dedicate ourselves anew to Christ and His way as we hear Jesus say to us 'The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel'.