Choosing
Between Life and Death
In
a few minutes, we are going to engage in a rather old and somewhat
odd custom of imposing ashes on your heads while saying the words
“remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This
action and those words seem to ask us to take heed of this ominous
warning and get to work on reforming whatever part or parts of our
lives we need to reform. It seems to want to warn us that death is
near and that we better listen up and pay lots of attention.
And
so given that, I have been wondering about preaching to you a group
of mostly young adults who, God willing, are many, many decades away
from death and what would it mean to you to hear such a warning. And
as I have thought about all of that, it has made me realize that I
needed to re-think Ash Wednesday and Lent in general to come to a
deeper understanding of what this great liturgical tradition is
offering us.
Yes,
Lent begins today with a reminder of death. Each one of us will die
and that is a fact that cannot be disputed. It is something that is,
occasionally, worth thinking about whatever your age is. But this
reminder of death is just that, a reminder. It is not a warning or
some downer just looking to ruin your day. It is a reminder that
death happens.
But
it is also a reminder that what follows death is life. Because, you
see, Lent ends with a celebration of life. That is the counter
intuitive part of Lent. First comes death, then comes life. It goes
against everything we are taught about from the time we are young,
and yet, there it is. First thing, remember your death. Next thing,
now choose to live. Learn what it means to be truly alive in your
faith. To live in joy, live in peace, live in faith. Let all those
who do not want joy and peace and faith choose death. But we
Christians...we choose life. As an aside here, as I use that phrase
“choose life” please do not confuse it with the debate around
abortion. This sermon has nothing to do with abortion one way or the
other.
But
that phrase is important. Choose life. It is important because that
is what the God who created us, and who conquered death for us, calls
us to. No matter our age, no matter our health status, no matter our
relationship status, no matter how many papers you have due, God
calls us to choose life today, here, in this place, at this time.
Yes, it is good to remember that you don't have an eternity here on
this earth. And it is good for one reason...to help you to hear the
call of life.
And
how do we choose life this Lent? This is where today's Scripture
readings come in handy. The first reading we heard from the Prophet
Joel warns of imminent grave danger coming – a day of clouds and
thick darkness, a day when a great and powerful army comes to
conquer. But the prophet tells his listeners that it is not to late,
that “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your
heart.”
In
other words, it is never to late. Do not worry yourself with rending
your garments (an ancient version of giving up sweets). No, rend your
hearts. That is quite a graphic image. Rending garments had to do
with tearing them and creating big holes in those garments to
indicate repentance. But God calls us to much more, God wants us to
rend our hearts. To tear open our hearts to become totally available
to God.
That,
my sisters and brothers, is choosing life. Making ourselves totally
available to God to allow God to turn us upside down and inside out.
Two weeks ago, yesterday, a very close friend of mine died. Catherine
was only 57 years old, a single mother of a 16 year old, an extremely
talented psycho-therapist, and a budding spiritual director who was
pursuing her Masters of Divinity at Yale. I loved her dearly and
really miss her. She died a long, agonizing death from cancer but I
know that she is with me here as I preach this sermon to you.
I
know she is here because she is the most recent example in my life –
and a particularly powerful one at that – of a Christian who knew
how to choose life, even under the most dire of circumstances. She
had been in the hospital for months and as it became clear that she
was not going to be leaving the hospital she continued to say that
she was not dying, but rather living, today. Catherine was not in
denial. She knew well the various doctor's prognoses. I sat there
with her as they told her “just a few more weeks.” She fully
understood and said, after the doctors left the room, “then I have
weeks to live life the fullest I can.”
And
for her that meant spending as much time loving her son Will, talking
to me about our friendship and how much that had meant to the both of
us, reconciling with her estranged brother, showing great kindness
and compassion to nurses, doctors, orderlies and other hospital
types, and praying to God in new ways – because the old ways no
longer worked, but the new ways did.
So
remember that when you receive your ashes. You live not until the day
you die. You live until the moment you die. Or at least, you are
given that choice. Catherine could have wallowed in her suffering.
And it's not that she didn't have her bad days. But she always chose
life over death. Love over despair. Service to others over self
indulgence.
You
see, one the the most grievous theological mistakes that is often
made by Christians is that somehow we must earn eternal life. That
gift was already given by God, and what God gives, God does not take
away. The question then, for us, is whether or not we accept that
gift. And, if accepted, what we do with it. Life, for us, is a gift
that is given every day, on Ash Wednesday, on Good Friday, on Easter
Sunday, and on every other day of the year as well. To choose life is
to embrace all that life has to offer and to give back to God, to
your community, to the stranger, a heart so perfectly rent that it is
open to love in a way that you could not possibly imagine. A heart
that is exploding with life. That is what I think it means to
remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
So,
my sisters and brothers, as we enter into Lent I want to call each of
you, and this community as a whole, to consider what it means to
choose life. I would encourage you to not spend much – or any –
time on giving up sweets or drinking less beer. These might be great
things to do for your health and, if so, do them for that reason. But
focusing on those type of Lenten practices is often the modern
equivalent of the hypocrisy that Jesus was talking about in the
Gospel passage from Matthew.
Instead,
what if you were to focus on choosing life this Lent? What would that
look like in terms of giving to charity? In terms your prayer life?
In terms of fasting? What would it look like for this community to
focus on choosing life this Lent? How might that affect your life
together as a community? What would it be like to use the example of
my friend Catherine for your Lenten practice. That is, not to deny
that death will happen one day, one moment – but that every minute
God has given you on this earth as beings created in God's image and
likeness should be used to embrace life, share love, welcome
strangers, care for the poor, and become more fully alive with each
and every moment.
Think
of what a gift to give back to God that would be this Lent. Remember
what the liturgy teaches you: that you are dust, and unto dust you
shall return. But remember too, what I am teaching you: you are each
beautiful children of God. Choose to live and love each and every day
as if you truly believed that. Live to love and love to live. What a
beautifully rent heart that would be to offer God this Lent. AMEN.
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