On this Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten Season, I pray this day is meaningful to you, and I offer you some of my thoughts and reflections on what it means for me.
Mortality: Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, reveal our own humanness and physical mortality. A magnificent image of God, the Divine Creator, forming humans from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2) and breathing life into us reveals the source of our life. It also means we will all die and return to the earth. This day is a stark reminder that I will face a physical death. How do I feel about dying? Do I view it with fear or the next great adventure?
Sacrifice: Jesus is walking to the cross, embracing his full identity. He is the Son of God, and he is fully human. Today, is also called Be Humble Day. Jesus defined humility by his life. The word and virtue of humility did not exist before Jesus. His compassion for the broken, the least, the lost, and the last of his day reveal love marked by sacrifice. In our team meeting yesterday, we unpacked “compassion,” which means to “suffer with” when broken into its Latin root parts. Jesus journeyed to the cross and modeled how we engage and love others. He would use the cross to pay tribute, serve as a ransom, and a final human sacrifice in order to fully connect you, me, and all of humanity to our Father and Creator God. Jesus models humility and radical sacrifice through his life and the cross.
Finish line: It is easy to get to the Easter celebration too quickly and miss the richness of the journey. Therefore, the next 40 days plus Sundays are much like a magnifying glass that reveals how we should live all our waking life. Knowing the rest of the story now, Christ will die on the cross, lie in a tomb, and then rise to new life on his own. He will conquer physical death. His promise to all who trust and believe in him is that although we too will die a physical death, we also will rise to a new life in the Spirit. Jesus will come again. And thus, my waking days are spent in sacrificial service. Each day, is using the talents and spiritual gifts he gave so that I extend compassionate love to the broken, least, lost, and last until I die a physical death or He returns to claim us, whichever comes first.
That is what Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Season mean to me. I pray these next several days, you set yourself apart to focus on your mortality; and how you are using each day of your life. Consider what sacrificial love and humility look like to Jesus and others. I would love to hear your story!
Grace and peace-Lisa
PS- Would you consider praying a daily prayer for ARM for the next 40 days? We will provide some prayer prompts through our Social Media feeds, and you can use the icons below to follow. Prayer certainly changes everything!
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