Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent for many in the Christian Church.  The 40 days (not counting Sundays) may begin with the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful.  The imposition of ashes is not widely used in the United Church of Christ, but it is becoming a more common practice.   

Ashes are placed on the forehead of each worshipper as part of the act of confession and as a sign of mortality and penitence.  By our receiving of ashes, we openly admit that we are sinners, and that we have fallen short of the glory of God.  We acknowledge our own mortality and come before God at this place to ask God for forgiveness and ask that we might be shown His grace.

We begin our season of Lent the most important season of the Christian year on Ash Wednesday. It is the time that we are beginning our journey—our journey to the cross and beyond. 

This year during Lent, we are going on a pilgrimage together.  We will take on a spiritual discipline, and we will open the gates of dialogue.  There are not two paths on this journey—there is one—and we will walk it together.  We are pilgrims. 

There are 4 stages to the Pilgrimage:  Preparation, Anticipation, Participation and Reflection.  Each worship service during Lent will involve all four stages, and tonight is no different…

Before we go on a journey what do we do?  We think about the trip ahead, we plan, we pack, then we load up on provisions, gas the car up, and begin the journey. 

That is where we are tonight.  It is time for us to gas up.  It is time for us to buckle up, and prepare for the drive to the cross.  But our journey doesn’t end at the cross, if it did the whole Christian faith would be denied the resurrection—the Easter experience. 

In the days ahead, think about your drive, your pilgrimage through Lent. 

We need to ask God to take that journey with us.  We are driving, and God is like a driving instructor.  What does a driving instructor do? They are always the one giving directions, telling you the light was red when you went through it.  They are trying to help us to drive.  Sometimes we listen.  Often we don’t.  God is there in that passenger seat, but we are driving the car.  God has one of those brakes, so God can stop the vehicle at any time.  But again, we are responsible for our driving.

In these days ahead, ask your driving instructor for help.  Listen to God, God knows what God is doing.  God has been in the God business for a very long time.  As you drive through Lent, try to look at your life, find the places with honesty, that need fixing.  Fix them.  When we arrive on the other side of the cross—let us be changed people.  Listen, Look, and ask for God’s help. 

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 is a paradox.  It strikes me as odd that this passage is an Ash Wednesday reading.  Here we are about to mark ourselves with black ash.  Many will go to the church in the morning and walk around all day with the mark of the cross on their forehead.  It is hardly keeping our penitent spirit humble.  We put it right out there.  We may forget its there as we go about day—but everyone can see it front and center.  It’s not even like you can cover it with a mask. 

Most of us will go home from here, and wash our face, or hand.  But the mark is there.  The mark will remain there throughout Lent as a reminder of our faith. 

The mark will be there, as a reminder of our pilgrimage—our Lenten journey.  Finally, the mark is for you.  It is not for others to see, or judge, or exalt.  It is a reminder that from dust we came, and to dust we shall return.

Our pilgrimage is our journey from ashes to ashes and dust to dust.