Eternal God, grant this dear reader strength for the journey that starts today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today, Ash Wednesday, comes from Matthew 6:1 "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. 2 "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure - 'playactors' I call them - treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. 3 When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. 4 Just do it - quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. 5 "And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? 6 "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 16 "When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. 17 If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. 18 God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well. A Life of God-Worship 19 "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - worse! - stolen by burglars. 20 Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. 21 It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. (The Message)
"Hey, you've got mud on your forehead! Did you know that?" Such was the annual taunt on the schoolground between myself, a Protestant and my friends who were Catholic. I belonged to a church that in those days did not observe Ash Wednesday nor talked about Lent. I did not know that my Catholic friends would get up early and attend mass where their priest had placed ashes on their forehead as a symbol of this day. Being of elementary school age my friends did not have the deeper meaning of what this time of spiritual journeying with God and fasting were all about. "It ain't mud, it just means I can't have candy for the next forty days." What, what? I remember asking and thinking, my gosh, what sort of punishment is that? That same day I found out another friend had given up Cokes, another meat of any kind, one had given up television. I could not grasp why.
Fasting can take place in many ways, and as was mentioned yesterday, it is a way to turn our attention towards the spiritual to grow closer to God and to better understand that which Jesus went through to die for our sins and to be resurrected on Easter Sunday. It would be years later when I was already in ministry that I attended a worship service where the pastor said we would ahve an Ash Wednesday service and instead of ashes, he used oil to anoint our heads in keeping with the above verse (See another version like Revised Standard or New Revised Standard for that interpretation). He did a great job of explaining this journey of forty days of Lent. (Lent, by the way, was the Teutonic word for "spring." In Spanish it is cuaresma from the Latin quadresima, meaning forty or the fortieth day). Many give up something to symbolize their understanding of sacrifice, but as I shared yesterday, if we do not take up something spiritual in its place, we may miss the whole point of this time. By the way the Sundays during this time of Lent do not count as part of the forty days, but as days of normality, some call them "mothering Sundays." This time is a time for deeper and more regular prayer, Bible reading and study, worship participation and the like. May each day serve as a day in which we truly reflect that where God wants and needs us to be sometimes is at least forty days distance from where we find ourselves now.
PRAYER: Blessed God, thank You for this day. As I start this journey of a deeper and closer walk with Thee, may I learn more about Your love and grace. Keep me mindful of that which Your Son, Jesus suffered and did for my sake. May each day of this journey draw me to a better understanding and celebration of Resurrection. I pray this in Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
