Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them.
I am dust and ashes. [Job 42:6]

All [humans] are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. [Ecclesiastes 3:20]

Tomorrow, all around the globe, many of the Christian faithful will attend a service of ashes. It will be rather solemn. They will repent of their sins, they may sing hymns in the minor key, and they will have ashes applied to their forehead.

Biblically, ashes are a sign of mourning, of death. Repentance is a mourning for our sins, which sent Jesus to his death. (Often a cross-shaped ash is drawn on the believer’s forehead accompanied by the words, “Remember, mortal, that from the dust you were made, and to the dust you shall return”).

Mortal… Dust… Ashes… Return to dust. Tough words. Reminders of our mortality. Without Christ and his promise of resurrection, these are very sober words indeed. But for the one in Christ, they remind us that, though our bodies will one day die and decompose, we have the hope of eternal life and bodily resurrection.

And still with ashes we repent and mourn, not only because of our own waywardness but because of Jesus’ coming death (Good Friday) which paid the wages of our sin and reconciled us to our holy and loving God.

Are you watching?
What is it about the Olympics that glues us all to our television sets? Even in our overly saturated, media-driven sports world, we still watch and talk about the Olympics.

As of this writing, the US team has won 17 medals: 5 gold for alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, figure skating, and speed skating; 8 silver for alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, and curling; and 4 bronze for alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, and luge.

Is there something wrong with the Italian ice on the skating rink? Why is everybody falling? I felt bad for Ilia Malinin, the 21-year-old American phenom who crashed (literally) and burned in what was to be his gold medal performance.

I must say, curling makes me smile. I’m sure I am wrong, but unlike most of the other athletes, these guys seem like regular Joes you’d see at the mall. And watching the sport, you think, I could do that! I do think they should make bocce an Olympic sport 😊.

Reflections on Lent
The forty-day journey of Lent is about to commence: a time of reflection and a time of preparation. With praying and various forms of fasting and generous giving, Lent can be a time of deliberate spiritual discipline, like training for the finish line or the gold medal. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are the high Christian holidays that give ultimate meaning to our faith. The disciplines and reflections of Lent prepare us to experience the death and resurrection of our Savior with the utmost meaning.

Lent offers us a season for not only repentance and prayer, but also for self-evaluation:

Jesus asks his followers to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him. Have I?

The Scriptures call me to be still and know that He is God. Am I?

God regularly asks us to take care of the widows and the orphans and the marginalized. Do I?

When Good Friday arrives, the disciplines of Lent will have prepared me to be beholden to my alienation from God. It was for this that Jesus was forsaken by his Father. It is for my sins that Jesus was crucified. And the limitations of my mortality of which I have become so aware are vanquished by the resurrection on Sunday!

But first, the Lenten journey takes us into the dark recesses of our souls and minds that we may know and even boldly sing:

“Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

“Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

“Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

“But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.”

So, today must be…Fat Tuesday!
Yes, Mardi Gras is today, the day before Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras is a cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. It is also known as Carnival or Carnivale. The word “carne” means “meat” (think chili con carne). Symbolically, it’s the last chance to eat meat one last time before Lent.

Mardi Gras is celebrated big-time in places with significant Roman Catholic roots. Venice, Brazil, and of course New Orleans host some of the most famous Mardi Gras parties as thousands of tourists and partyers attend. The celebrations feature parades, masked balls, and decadent foods (often weeks long, culminating on Fat Tuesday). Here is a thorough history of Mardi Gras.

One more thought about Lent
But why do I have to fast or “do” anything? Isn’t the Gospel all about grace and “no works”? It is. You can never earn your way to God. But Christ-followers have always been called to act accordingly. Think of it this way: Christmas and Easter call us to “come and see” (the baby in the manger, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the empty tomb). Lent beckons us to respond and believe. Lent is about actions. We are to pray and fast and repent and give. We can only act rightly from the inside out. We reflect, we fast, and we repent that our faith-filled actions may come from a broken and (by God’s grace) clean heart.

Pics from Milan Olympics (every picture tells a story)

Words for the Lenten journey
“Stay with Him in your closet, for you shall not find so great peace anywhere else.” [Thomas à Kempis]

“Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honesty, not because God is mean or fault- finding or finger-pointing but because he wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things he now has in store.” [N.T. Wright]

“True fasting lies in rejecting evil, holding one’s tongue, suppressing one’s hatred and banishing one’s lust, evil words, lying and betrayal of words.” [Basil of Caesarea, fourth century (clearly, run-on sentences were his besetting sin 😊)]

“Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life.” [Henri Nouwen]

Isn’t this the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?
[The Lord God, through the Prophet Isaiah]

Our Tuesday Afternoon prayer
“Dear God,
Here we are: your children.
We love you with all of our imperfect being.
Be near us, we pray.
Amen.”