Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Now is the Time: An Invitation to a Holy Lent

Dear friends in Christ,

Every year, even Lent Madness pauses on this one day. On Ash Wednesday, we set aside our silliness as we are reminded of our mortality and our need of salvation. This year, more than ever, our world needs Lent and its invitation to return to Jesus Christ.

We live in a world that is gripped by fear and hatred. Too many of our national leaders seem intent on steering to the low road. Time seems to be in short supply as jobs, families, and various electronic gizmos compete for our attention. Now more than ever, we need Lent.

Lent is, above all else, an invitation to turn away from those things which keep us from following Jesus — and to turn toward those things which draw us closer to our Lord and savior. As St. Paul says, “Now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!”

Now is the time for us to renounce fear, to reject hatred, and to take the more difficult high road. Now is the time to make space in our lives for prayer, study, and worship. Now is the time to look carefully at our lives and to open up our hearts to change. Thanks be to God, the church has given us an entire season to do just these things.

On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of our mortality. It might seem gloomy, but in fact it is an invitation to savor this earthly life as a precious gift and to live it well. Jesus Christ wants us to have life and have it abundantly, and Ash Wednesday reminds us that we don’t really have that long to get to it. So let’s do that, shall we?

We hope Lent Madness will be helpful on your journey. Behind all the competition and humor, we see in the saints a group of women and men through whom Christ’s light burned brightly. They weren’t perfect, but they managed to open their hearts to change, to let God in. As you move through this year’s Saintly Smackdown, enjoy the community of fellow travelers who root for their saints as you root for yours. Learn what you can. Perhaps your prayer life will be enriched as you invite the saints in glory to pray with you.

Tomorrow, let the Madness begin. Today, get to church if you can. Hear the Gospel. Pray for God’s forgiveness. Receive the ashen cross on your forehead. And begin this season of repentance with an open heart.

We wish you every blessing of God’s gracious love this Lenten season.

Tim+      Scott+
The Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness

http://www.lentmadness.org/2016/02/now-is-the-time/

Ash Wednesday

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"

Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days (40 fasting days, if the 6 Sundays, which are not days of fast, are excluded) before Easter and can fall as early as 4 February or as late as 10 March. Ash Wednesday is observed by many Western Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics.

According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter. Every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christ's resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday (6 days) during 6 weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday (4 days) in the preceding week, thus making up the number of 40 days.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on the previous year's Palm Sunday, and placing them on the heads of participants to the accompaniment of the words "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return".


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday

Daily Readings for February 10, 2016 - Ash Wednesday

Isaiah 58:1-12
Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. "Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 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? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.


Psalm 103 Benedic, anima mea
1   Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2   Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
3   He forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities;
4   He redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5   He satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle's.
6   The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed.
7   He made his ways known to Moses and his works to the children of Israel.
8   The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.
9   He will not always accuse us, nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10   He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11   For as the heavens are high above the earth, so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
12   As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.
13   As a father cares for his children, so does the LORD care for those who fear him.
14   For he himself knows whereof we are made; he remembers that we are but dust.
15   Our days are like the grass; we flourish like a flower of the field;
16   When the wind goes over it, it is gone, and its place shall know it no more.
17   But the merciful goodness of the LORD endures for ever on those who fear him, and his righteousness on children's children;
18   On those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments and do them.
19   The LORD has set his throne in heaven, and his kingship has dominion over all.
20   Bless the LORD, you angels of his, you mighty ones who do his bidding, and hearken to the voice of his word.
21   Bless the LORD, all you his hosts, you ministers of his who do his will.
22   Bless the LORD, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul.


2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

 
Matthew 6:1-6, 6:16-21
"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Meditation for February 10, 2016 - Ash Wednesday

Psalm 103:14 For he himself whereof we are made; he remembers that we are but dust.

In countless prayer and meditation techniques, the sounds and images of waves help usher people into higher states of consciousness. I think waves fascinate people because they remind us that we are dust. We roll through time like sand, swept up in the endless rise and fall of the tide.

The idea that we are dust seems to be painfully humbling, but I don’t think we always experience it that way. Waves feel immense and eternal and help us understand on some fundamental level that we are part of a system deeper than we can comprehend. We fade away, and our bodies return to the earth, but the waves continue to break around us. Life on earth might come to an end, but through the crash of the waves, we glimpse the eternal and understand on some level beyond the intellect, our connection to it.