Isaiah 58:1-12 

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.  v.6 

     Ash Wednesday begins our days of preparation for the events of Holy Week and Easter.  We begin the season by marking our foreheads with ashes as a reminder of our mortality:  from dust we came, and to dust we shall return.  We lay bare our human imperfections, especially the human desire to play God in our world.  We come to acknowledge the temporary character of our earthly life. 

    But this is also a time for us to acknowledge that God gives us a mission for the days that lie between the two dates on our tombstone.  We do have purpose for our living.  God is at work in the world that God loves so dearly, and God delightfully invites all of us to join God’s work of creating, preserving, protecting, providing and redeeming this world God declares as “good.”   

    The disciplines of Lent invite us into that work through prayer, fasting, and acts of charity.  Prayer and fasting help us remember that this is God’s work and not our own.  As we communicate with God and give up something in our lives, we become more mindful of God’s purposes for us.  Acts of charity, working to enhance the lives of other people, puts us in touch with our own mortality.  Someone has said that funeral coaches don’t have trailer hitches.  We “can’t take it with us.”  We can, however, have the joy of sharing in this life.  We find when we do, that we receive much in return:  satisfaction, joy, connection with others, and become part of a loving community.  Today is the day to offer our imperfect, sometimes immoral and always mortal lives to the moral and immortal purposes of God.  May these days of Lent be days of blessing and commitment to the disciplines of Lent and the “least of these” whom God loves so dearly. 

PRAY: Lord of life, as we enter into the shadow of the cross, we praise you for your ongoing and unending love. We thank you for reconciling us to you through that cross.
We ask you to send your Spirit so that as we number our days and walk with Jesus in Lent that you would daily work in us the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and acting toward those who are ‘the least of these.” Constantly surprise us as you show up in them. Amen.

FAST: From those things which keep us from remembering we are mortal.

ACT: Engage in the disciplines of Lent, namely, prayer, fasting and acts of love..