e-vo for Ash Wednesday

Dearest e-votees-

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return:

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(see Genesis 3:19)

Peace,

Karl

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Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 16:1-6, 16-21, NRSV

Today is a day to be honest. Honest with ourselves. Honest with others. And most importantly: honest with our God.

Practicing our piety in order to be noticed by others is like proclaiming loudly our love for someone so that bystanders might be impressed. It is perhaps the right words or the right actions but with all the wrong intent. It is like giving to a charity so that our name will appear on the “Sustaining Member Gifts” plaque in perpetuity. It is perhaps the right gift but the motivation is all messed up. It is like speaking to someone but a little too loudly and a little too animatedly so others in the vicinity might hear us and notice as well. The words may be true enough but the hope to get noticed is a little too overpowering and a little too revealing.

The honest hard truth is that all of us have borne our broken human nature. We have fallen short of the mark. We have heard God’s good promises and turned another way. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not even done a very good job of loving ourselves. Our mortality and all its frailty are real and true and honest. Today is a day to linger in that place.

There is indeed good news for us and for all. It is most clearly recognized in the empty tomb and the appearances of the resurrected Jesus. In order to get there, however, we need to go through Holy Week and the agonies of the cross. In order to do that, we need to acknowledge our complicity in putting Jesus on the cross.

Please find a place today where you can gather with others and receive the mark of the cross. Together we enter into this most holy time called Lent. Feel the gritty cross as it is imposed. Hear the words spoken to you: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Embrace the honesty. Linger in that moment. And know the best is yet to come.


God, stir us to be so very focused on you that we don’t even notice who is or is not noticing our piety. Give us hearts and courage and opportunity to invite others into this holy time of Lent. Take our hearts and our minds and our treasures and our times and put them all where you would have them to be. Amen.