Sermon 06 February 2008 by Dr. Greg Jones

Sermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on 1 Corinthians 15:42-49
given February 6, 2008 (Ash Wednesday)

This year’s calendar created a coincidence that may be a first. On Sunday, we had the Super Bowl, then two days later we had Super Tuesday, which fell on the same day as Fat Tuesday. If your team won the Super Bowl, and your candidate won plenty of delegates yesterday and you celebrated Mardi Gras last night, it has been time to party, party, party!

But now it is Ash Wednesday, and that brings all the celebrating to an immediate halt. This initial day of Lent does not denounce partying and usher in a time of solemnity and gloom. Neither is Ash Wednesday intended to drain the joy out of our lives; to shake the credit card receipts in our faces and say: “Now you must pay for all this merrymaking!”

However, the beginning of Lent does declare that there is a time for every matter under heaven, and now we are entering a time of reflection. As the New England Patriots are now reflecting on what went wrong to derail their near-perfect season and the presidential nominees who did not garner the desired number of delegates are reflecting on why they fell short, the church urges us to reflect on the ways we have failed and to ponder what is needed to turn things around.

Historically, Lent has been a season of preparation. In centuries past, people who sought to become members of the Church, participated in a period of preparation so that they could be baptized on Easter. They studied the Apostles’ Creed to help them understand some of the doctrines of the church, and they learned some of the teachings of Jesus. They might have been encouraged to memorize the Beatitudes or become acquainted with some of his parables.

In addition to this focus on their minds, there was also a focus on their hearts. Not only did the new converts need to understand the Christian faith, they also needed to experience it. And, so time was devoted to prayer and fasting and meditating on the Scriptures.

However, concentrating on their minds and hearts was still not enough, so there was also a focus on their hands and feet. They not only needed to know the faith in their heads and feel the faith in their hearts, they also needed to live the faith in their lives. So they would be given opportunities to share God’s love with those in need. They might feed the hungry, care for someone who was ill or visit the lonely.

Lent was not only a time of preparation for the new converts who were seeking to join the church. It was also a special time for those who were already members. They too, would pray and study the Scriptures with the hope of elevating their spiritual lives to another level. Even into our day, this continues to be the reason for Lent. We are called to study the Scriptures, to spend special time in prayer and to interrupt our normal routines long enough to question the course of our lives.

And Lent provides us with a stunning method for examining ourselves – death. Lent is a time to die. We are to die to our old selves so that we can be raised to a new life; a life more in harmony with God because it is infused with the Spirit of Christ. But what in our lives needs to die?

For some of us, it’s our tendency to get too wrapped up in ourselves. We expect the whole world to revolve around us, and we feel victimized when it does not. Or we focus so much attention on our own problems that we become blind to the hurts and pains of others. Once we are able to honestly address our narcissism, we can loosen its grip on our lives and give it a proper burial.

What else in our lives needs to die? Feelings of envy toward those who have more? Indifference toward those who are poor? Stubbornness to forgive? Lack of respect for people who are different? Failure to admit mistakes? Apathy toward God’s creation?

I suspect that there are several things in our lives that need to die, but I wonder if we will truly take action, unless we face the fact that WE are going to die. As long as we ignore the fact that life does not go on forever, we will continue to put off making changes until tomorrow. Facing death is not easy when you live in a youth-obsessed and death-denying culture, but the season of Lent gives us this gem of wisdom: You cannot truly live, until you know you’re going to die.

A woman described how an ordinary incident became a powerful motivation for her. Her husband had just headed off to work, and all the children had caught the bus for school. She was alone in the house facing a sink full of dishes, a laundry basket full of dirty clothes, floors that needed vacuuming, furniture that needed dusting, and a list of errands that ran onto a second page.
She collapsed on the sofa to indulge in a pity-party, but as she did, she noticed that one of her children had left a textbook on the floor. She picked it up and her eyes fell on the words that had been stamped on the first page. “This book is loaned to you by the state of Florida. Use it diligently and protect it. It is placed at your service and in your care.” And as she stared at the words, she imagined them saying: “This life is loaned to you by God. Use it diligently and protect it. It is placed at your service and in your care.”1

In a few minutes, when we have the imposition of ashes, I hope you will come forward, because it provides a vivid reminder of our limited time on earth and our dependence on God. The ashes that are placed on our foreheads are a sign of our mortality. As it says in the creation story in Genesis, human beings are formed from the dust, and in the end, we return to dust. The Christian faith speaks bluntly about these facts, not to depress us, but so that we can focus on how we spend the time we have been given.

And of course, the Christian faith declares that this life is not all there is. After our physical, earthly existence comes to an end, we will be transformed into spiritual beings and live eternally with God.

In our reading from 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.” And he goes on to say, “The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam [that is, Christ] became a life-giving spirit...The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.” And then Paul concludes, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

The Christian faith inspires hope for life beyond the grave, but it is not a faith focused solely on the afterlife. The Christian faith urges us to live a rich, Christ-inspired existence today, because none of us know how many days we have remaining.

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“A Time to Die”