Joel 2:1-2,12-17 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 103:8-14

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent – this designated season of penitence, is the day set aside to cover ourselves in sackcloth and ashes, as did the king of Nineveh so many centuries ago.  The king was responding to Jonah’s dire prophecy.  Jonah, fresh from the belly of the whale, warned of destruction that was to come to Nineveh unless the people repented and returned to faithfulness and trust in God, their creator.  And so, we come to kneel in penitence and be marked with the dust of our mortality.

Today is set aside as the day we begin our intentional journey of repentance.  “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble”, says the prophet Joel, “for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near–.”  Our journey of penitence is a journey into humility.

We humble ourselves before our creator.  Our opening collect is addressed to the “Almighty and everlasting God” our creator, to whom we say “you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent.”  In humility, we bask, not in fear or shame, but in the unconditional love of the almighty and everlasting God – our creator, our parent who made us and loves us with a perfect love, and is most eager to forgive our human frailties.

We humble ourselves within this vast universe where we are a tiny pinprick in the night sky; we humble ourselves before the creator of that vast universe – our creator who knew each us even before we were formed in our mother’s womb, the creator who knows the very number of the hairs on our head, the creator who knows our needs even before we are able to articulate those needs in prayer.  We humble ourselves before our creator upon whom we are dependent for the breath we breathe and the peace, beyond our understanding, yet so desired.

We humble ourselves, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our human wretchedness; we humble ourselves before this God of all mercy – the God of perfect remission and forgiveness.   Remission is defined as a cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.  We humble ourselves in awe of our God who, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has paid in fullness and perfection the debt of our human evil and death, rewarding us with everlasting life.  He asks only that we lay down our baggage and walk away from our clutter that obstructs our path toward forgiving ourselves and accepting his mercy.

We humble ourselves in trust in God.  God’s people of Israel stood on the precipice of the Promised Land, east of the Jordan, after 40 years in the Wilderness.  Here, Moses exhorted them to trust in God as they went forward into the uncertainty that lay beyond the Jordan.  Trust is hard; relinquishing “control” of our lives is hard.  On this day, we commit intentionally to trust God, storing our treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes, treasure that cannot be stolen unless we throw it away.

We humble ourselves, none worthy, yet worthily, as we come to celebrate our oneness in the Body of Christ – the gift of the grace of salvation.  In Communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we receive his Body and Blood, assuring us that we are living members of the Body of Christ and heirs of his eternal kingdom.

We humble ourselves, remembering that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.