Last year, there was a meme which circulated among those of us who were struggling to navigate our Lenten journey while a pandemic was descending upon us. That Earth-changing Lent was described as the “Lentiest Lent we had ever Lented” and now, almost a year later, I am called to invite you on a Lenten journey which promises to be even more Lentier than the Lentiest Lent we ever Lented. Somehow, the reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return has a more immediate ring to it.
Living here in Canada in the lap of middle-class privilege, there may be relative safety from the ravages which COVID has wrought upon so many people around the world. Locked down in the safety of my home, I am ever so grateful for the many blessings which insolate me from the suffering which continues to be beamed into me via various news screens. Chances are, that if you are wealthy enough to tune into this worship service, you are also wealthy enough to insulate yourself from the suffering which is going on in the world. And still, here we are, together, mediated over technology in order to begin our Lenten journey during what promises to be an even Lentier Lent than the Lentiest Lent ever Lented.
It seems to me that as we embark on our Lenten journey, we would do well to begin by counting our many blessings, not the least of which is the luxury of taking the time to discover what is being revealed to us during these challenging times. Over and over again, during the past year, I have heard or read comments, stories, or sermons, which proclaim that we are living in a Thin Place, a liminal space, where the line between the everyday and the sacred disappears, where much is being revealed about the nature of reality. Locked down, physically isolating, and missing out on many of the events with which we distracted ourselves in the before COVID days, we now have the luxury of time and isolation to explore life in ways we never dreamed of doing BC – before COVID.
With these opportunities in mind, the knowledge that we are dust and to dust we shall return, brings with it a kind of urgent encouragement to journey more deeply into who and what we Earth Creatures born of stardust actually are. There are wonderous miracles being revealed to us in the liminal space of these challenging days. One of the revelations which I keep returning to came to me from the work of theologian Ryan Meeks, who insists that “Life is a gift and LOVE is the point!” When I echo Meeks’ conviction that, “Life is a gift and LOVE is the point!” I do so with an emphasis on what I have learned from the life of Jesus of Nazareth. For if I have learned anything from the life which Jesus lived, it is that the MYSTERY which we call, “God” is LOVE.
As I begin my own Lenten journey, I do so grateful for this moment in time in which we are uniquely placed to explore what is being revealed to us about life. My hope is that this on this particular Lenten journey, we might find the courage to delve more deeply into our very selves to discover ways in which we might respond to the reality that we are dust and to dust we shall return; ways which empower us to celebrate, challenge, and embody the revelation that Life is a gift and LOVE is the point! Stripped of our usual distractions, can we open ourselves to rejoicing in the giftedness of this one marvelous life with which we are blessed, even as we journey toward the kind of resurrection which sees us rising to the challenges of being LOVE in the world? Dust to Dust. Earth to Earth. Ashes to Ashes. Stardust to Stardust.
Life is a gift! And LOVE is the point! May we all find the courage to journey more deeply into all that is being revealed to us here and now in these days. May we all rejoice in the miracles of this one beautiful life with which we are blessed. May we encounter revelations in this Thin Place of isolation and revelation. May we discover more and more ways of embodying LOVE in the world. May we explore, the joys, revelations, sadness, wonders, griefs, and blessings of this Lentier Lent than has ever been Lented so that together we might rise again to be LOVE in the world. Let it be so dear ones. Let it be so.
VIEW the full Ash Wednesday video below
CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD the Order of Service