Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-13 (NRSV)

Yet even now, says the Lord,
   return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 
   rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
   for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
   and relents from punishing. 


What does it mean that God wants us to rend our hearts?  It is easy to picture the rending of clothing - almost every film about Jesus has the image of Caiphas tearing or rending his garment as Jesus is brought before him.

But our hearts?  To rend is to split apart or in pieces by violence.  

To actively break our own hearts?

Our heart, God knows, is already divided and to return to God with a full and complete heart is going to mean a civil war within ourselves.  It means acknowledging the brokenness already there.  It acknowledges the shell around our hearts that needs to be broken open for God to use our flesh and blood. 

It perhaps is ironic that it is the times in my life that I've thought I was the most together that I was not: that it was a veneer covering the brokenness underneath.

Lent is upon us and we have a chance to return to the Lord our God.  To begin a slow turning back.  To be marked today or tonight with ashes, acknowledging God's claim on us and our need for forgiveness.

To begin to heal our hearts and lives.

Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.  We are broken and in need of your healing.  We humbly repent.  Pardon us and heal us through your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.


Lenten Ideas:

There are many ways to move through Lent in supplication and repentance and healing.  Fasting is the the tradition we are most familiar with.  Perhaps if you have never done this, this is something to try this year.  

Perhaps instead (or in addition!) you might want to add a spiritual practice: read through one or more of the books of the Bible: the Gospels perhaps, or Paul's letter.  Follow the Passion narratives of the Gospels.  Read through the Prophets in the Old Testament.

Find a another book of faith to read.  Richard Rohr, Anne Lamott, Kathleen Norris, Thomas Merton, or Henri Nouwen are authors who can guide your spiritual life.  Or read through The Cloud of Unknowing.

Add a Lenten devotional to your daily prayer life.

Take on a ministry at church you have been considering but haven't been sure enough to dive into year, perhaps a Bible Study or Lenten worship service (beginning tonight with the Ash Wednesday service).  Perhaps helping with your youth or social ministry programs.

Help out in your community - at a food bank or a school perhaps.

Add a new form of prayer into your life.  Contemplative prayer or Lectio Divina.  Spend more time in prayer and meditation.  Use silence to explore your brokenness and healing.

Take time to journal your thoughts and wishes to God.  One thing I'll be doing this year for Lent that I've found rewarding is a "gratitude list."  Each day writing something down - something different each day - that I am grateful for.  Journal this or perhaps hopes and dreams or fears or prayers.

Pray for those who are on your congregations prayer list.

Make more space in your daily life for sacred time with your family and friends.

Write poems.