Sermon for Ash Wednesday 2013: "Fasting Together"

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Psalm 103:8-14
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

All quotations from scripture come from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, with the exception of the Psalms, which come from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979. Not all scripture passages from the lectionary may be quoted or referenced in a given Sunday's sermon. For more information on the lectionary used in The Episcopal Church, please visit http://www.lectionarypage.net/.

“Fasting Together”

The Rev. Nicholas S. Szobota

February 13, 2013
Christ Church, West River, Maryland

Ash Wednesday

A few days ago, someone commented to me that popular culture understands Ash Wednesday as a religious observance differently from the common understanding of other Christian holidays. One could celebrate secular forms of Christmas and Easter without acknowledging their religious significance. Some households without religious affiliation still put up Christmas trees, for instance, or have candies and the Easter Bunny at Easter.

At the start of Lent, though, many know to ask their Christian neighbors, “What are you giving up for Lent?” There is some common understanding that on this day, the day we smear our foreheads with ash, Christians begin a period of fasting from something for religious purposes. Perhaps more savvy friends might know that some Christians choose to take on something during Lent instead of a giving up: spiritual reading, Bible, or works of service to others.

This understanding, within the Church and outside of it, usually views one’s Lenten practice as and individual choice. This time of the church year calls each of us to look at our relationship with God. Each of us might then choose to go without something that usually obstructs a better relationship with God or take on some activity that helps us deepen our relationship with God. Today’s reading from Matthew reinforces this idea, for Jesus calls his hearers to perform their religious activities in secret. He wants them to pray, give, serve, and fast for the sake of their relationship with God and not for human approval.

Of course, Jesus’ message would seem to prohibit what we’re about to do: placing ashes on our forehead as a sign of the beginning of Lent. This public and obvious alteration of our faces seems to blatantly reject Jesus’ teaching, unless this act really does call us to a deeper relationship with God. For one person to wear ash on his or her forehead would represent a cry for attention. Yet, a community of people wearing ash offers a different sort of message. When we look at each other with these ashes on our foreheads, we remind one another of our need for fasting, for repentance of our sins, for forgiveness, and for continually working on our relationships with God and one another. These ashes do not represent some attempt to show the world our piety, but rather to show one another our spiritual deficiencies and to remind one another that we need God in our lives.

After leaving church today, one may decide to get rid of the ash as soon as possible or to wear the mark for the rest of the day. Whatever one decides, only one thing matters: our relationship with God. May that be our focus this Lent, and always. Amen.