Wretched

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

March 6, 2019

Ash Wednesday

          My least favorite prayer in the entire prayer book is the prayer we prayed at the beginning of this service.  The opening collect includes the words “Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness.”  A new and contrite heart is a good thing, and the prayer acknowledges that we cannot make that happen ourselves.  So far, so good.  Lamenting our sins and all the times we fall short of being the people God created us to be is a healthy exercise in honesty, also a good thing.  But take issue with acknowledging our wretchedness. 

          At the 5 o’clock children’s Ash Wednesday service, we talk about our identity as children of God and the meaning of being made in the image of God.  We talk about the way Jesus claimed us as God’s own and how we are marked on the forehead with a cross this day as we were marked with a cross at our baptism.  We talk about that cross being like putting our name on our lunchboxes or backpacks.  That cross is like God’s name being put on us and means that we belong to God.  I want the children to know that they are beloved children of God, made in the image of God.  We do not always do good things or make good decisions, but at our core we are made in the image of God and redeemed by Jesus, which makes us inherently good.

          So, when we lament our wretchedness on Ash Wednesday, what do we mean?

          In the gospel reading, which we hear every year on Ash Wednesday, Jesus gives us some instructions for how we are to practice our faith.  On the surface, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting seem pretty straightforward.  In Lent, many of us increase our charitable giving, perhaps by being more intentional about what we give to the food pantry or using our time to serve others.  We may add a time of prayer to our daily lives or attend a mid-week service.  And we may give up or fast from chocolate or alcohol or diet coke.  We sustain those practices for the 40 days of Lent and look forward to the release that comes with Easter.

          But I believe Jesus has a little more in mind this morning/evening.  When we give, whether money, time, or material goods, to those in need, we recognize our fundamental connection with the whole human family.   When we pray, we deepen our relationship with the God who created us and calls us into being.  Prayer connects us with both God and all of creation.  And when we fast, we recognize our very real dependence on God and how we tend to fill our hunger for God with other things.  The practices of Lent, the practices Jesus calls out for us, are all about deepening our connection with God and each other and recognizing that none of us is an island until ourselves. 

          The wretchedness we lament this day is not an intrinsic truth about our very being that no amount of good works will change.  The wretchedness we lament is our failure to live as the extraordinary human beings God created us to be and to treat every single person we meet as the extraordinary person God created them to be.  At every baptism, we promise to seek and serve Christ in all people, recognizing that Christ is in all people and that we are called to serve Christ there.  On Ash Wednesday, we devote ourselves to a season of practices that help us better see and serve Christ in everyone.

The prophet Isaiah makes clear the fast God desires from us with these words: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

          The fast God desires from us, and the prayer and the almsgiving, is that which deepens our connections with God and the whole human family, helping us to recognize Christ in each person.  Our prayers this day are prayers that recognize the ways we fail in that connection.  In what seems like a paraphrase of our passage from Isaiah, Pope Francis offers these words to frame the practice of Lent: “Fast from hurting words ...and say kind words….Fast from anger ...and be filled with patience. Fast from pessimism ...and be filled with hope. Fast from worries ...and have trust in God. Fast from complaints ...and contemplate simplicity. Fast from pressures ...and be prayerful. Fast from bitterness ...and fill your hearts with joy. Fast from selfishness ...and be compassionate to others. Fast from grudges ...and be reconciled. Fast from words ...and be silent so you can listen.”  In other words, fast from those things that separate us from God and each other and practice those things that connect us.  Whatever our fast, or our almsgiving, or our prayer this Lent, may our practices draw us deeper into relationship with God, the human family, and all of creation, so that rather than lamenting our wretchedness, we can greet the risen Christ with a deeper understanding of who we truly are as beloved children of God.

                                                                                      Amen.