Out of the Ashes (Ash Wednesday February 17th)
Psalm 51:1 – 17
1.) Ash Wednesday is the traditional beginning of Lent. The ashes remind us that something has been lost. Ashes are the result after a fire has burned something. Ashes are a symbol of loss, of mourning; they remind us of grief and of change.
As we think about ashes today we come to a sober realization that we are all going to die. A phrase that is used in funerals is the phrase ashes, to ashes, dust to dust, earth to earth. So, we are faced with the truth that we are all physically limited in this life. We are mortals, with a beginning and an end.
We all have experienced the loss of life in some measure in our lives. If the loss was very close we experienced deep grief, and perhaps are even experiencing that now.
So, we come to this moment aware of loss and grief.
2.) But as we come to Ash Wednesday thinking about death and loss, we come to focus on our soul, our spiritual lives.
I remind us that we will die if we seek to rely on our own selves. Our souls need something other than self.
On Ash Wednesday we look at the life of Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross. The period of Lent is a time to focus each day on the ashes and what can come out of the ashes, if anything. Perhaps all we have in life is ashes?
But I propose that we are a people who live the Gospel, the good news, and so we live each day of Lent with hope and the promise of new life. Even as we put the sign of mortality on our heads we know that in our heart we are given eternal life.
3.) David was aware of his spiritual condition, the spiritual death that he was headed towards, when we read the preface to the words that were written in Psalm 51. (These are from the Ryrie Study Bible, NIV) “For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.”
David had been caught in his sin with Bathsheba. He had a sexual relationship with Bathsheba, who was married. David try to cover things up but his problems only multiply. You can read more about this in 2 Samuel 11. David messes up big time. He realizes that he has moved far from God, from others and his true self. He is aware of his spiritual condition.
His life in this moment reminds me of a tractor pull. The further you get from the starting place the more effort you have to expand as the weight of the tractor shifts to make more of a burden. At the end of the pull you are expending a lot of energy but moving very little because of the weight.
4.) What does a person think, feel, and experience when they go through spiritual death? Psalm 51 reveal David’s words and these give us insights to what a person experiences. Listen to these words. (Read Psalm 51:1 – 9)
Yet, we see Good News in David’s words that can bring hope and joy and strength in our journey. (Read Psalm 51:10 – 15)
We hold on to the truth that God does have mercy, God’s unfailing love is real, God does forgive, God does wash away our sins. We focus on the Good News that God will create a pure and steadfast spirit in us and God will restore joy to us.
Wow, that seems impossible. We are a people who can rise out of the ashes, we can have new life from death.
5) Do you know the story of the Jack Pine Tree? This tree is a symbol of new life that can come out of the ashes. This tree was designed to live again after the ashes of a fire.
The cones of the Jack Pine Tree have a resin that is released only when high temperatures are achieved. I looked at some information on the internet about the tree. I found out that there have been studies made of the various temperatures when the resin is softened and the seeds are released. The temperature has to be really hot. It is not after a hot August day when it reaches 105 degrees. No, the temperature has to reach hundreds of degrees. You learn that with that temperature that hot the tree is burned up. In fact they did studies that determined even in a very hot fire that would consume the entire tree the seed would survive.
So, when a fire burns the jack pine tree the cones release their seeds, because the resin softens, and the seeds are not affected by the high temperature. After a fire all that is left on the floor of the forest are the ashes of the burnt trees. Guess what these seeds like to grow in? They thrive in the ashes and are able to root and begin to grow.
The Jack Pine Tree is unique tree, that out of its ashes and fire, its loss, new life comes. It is the design of the tree. It appears that its essence, its substance is sacrificed and destroyed when a fire comes. But new life comes from the ashes.
6.) We are designed to experience life, abundant life, through the one whose life was given on the tree. Allow your life to be marked by the ashes tonight knowing that out of the ashes comes new life. Let us hear the words that will be spoken to us as we receive the sign of the ashes. “Repent and Believe the Gospel.
