Sermon: Ash Wednesday 2010: Snow and Ashes

“We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!”


There is urgency in Paul’s letter to Church in Corinth. Now, not later, is time to be reconciled to one another and to God. The day of our salvation is now, not some time far off that we need not worry about today. Now, this Ash Wednesday in the year of our Lord 2010, is the acceptable time.

Last night we burned the palms from last year’s Passion Sunday liturgy. They announced Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It was an entrance that was to be shortly followed by the horror of death on Golgotha. Today they announce our own mortality. This is the arc of the Lenten journey. See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!”

This year, the ash of those burning palms was in high contrast against the snow. I have been reflecting on this snow a lot as Lent has been approaching. Last week before this new installment of snow, my oldest daughter, Hannah, and I were walking our dog in our neighborhood.

After a few minutes of walking, Hannah observed the pure, untracked snow of some of our other neighbor’s yards. These were in contrast to our own yard and the yard’s of neighbors with children and dogs. There were children’s footsteps and dog chasing tracks going in all directions. Sled tracks marred all of the hills. There was, of course, plenty of yellow snow. The roads in the neighborhood were all gritted with salt and had become slushy and muddy from much scrapping. It reminded me of the three years we lived in Chicago and how tired we would get at the mounds piled up exhaust snow that would last for months. We always welcomed the fresh new snowfall that would cover it all up.

Then Monday morning we all awoke to a new snow that had covered everything making all look fresh and clean again. Every yard, every street had a fresh immaculate start. Pure, undriven, virgin snow. By noon it was on its way back to being muddled.

Our lives get like this. The fields of our best intentions soon get all tracked up with pathways heading off in all directions. Before long it gets difficult to know which pathways were fruitful ones and which ones were misguided. We slush up and muddy the roads. We get tempted. We trespass against other people and others trespass against us.

The untrammeled garden gets messy again. Where and when did we leave the straight and narrow way? It was too long ago. We can not remember, but we need to remember. We need a new white blanket of forgiving snow. We need to be reconciled with each other and to God. This is what today is about. This is what the holy season of Lent is about. A cross of ash etched upon our forehead is to remind us that now is the time to take stock of everything. Gracious God forgive us our trespasses as much as we forgive those who trespass against us. Each of us stands on the edge of the day of our salvation. Right now.

We need to stand close to the window and look out into the front yards of our lives. What hard hearted iciness needs salting? What pathways to peace and forgiveness do we need to shovel? Where do we need to catch up to another person in need and help them through the slush so that they do not falter and fall? And where do we sorely need to pray for the blanketing grace of God’s pure flaky snow to cover up what we can not cover ourselves?

In some of our relationships with others a few inches of grace filled snow will do the trick. In the unnecessary wars of the middle East, in desperation of much of Africa and Latin America, and in poverty caused disaster in Haiti, we need to pray for a blizzard of the Holy Spirit’s mercy.