Ash Wednesday 2023

 Lectionary: 219

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he....

As our study group here at Mount Saint Francis has discussed the Book of Deuteronomy we have gleaned a better understanding of the doctrine of sin. It came together for me around two scripture passages: 

For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation, but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. Deuteronomy 5:9-10

and 

This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him

we shall also live with him; if we persevere

we shall also reign with him.

But if we deny him he will deny us.

If we are unfaithful he remains faithful,

for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13

The Love of God, like life itself, is persistent and severe. Thoughtful kindness blesses many generations but thoughtless sins persist through several. I have known more than a few families plagued by one alcoholic parent who became the grandparent and great-grandparent of afflicted generations. Some of the children, choosing to follow the unfortunate traditions of their ancestors, became alcoholic and passed the along to their heirs. Others shun drinking altogether but are nonetheless distressed with severe, implacable anxiety. 

The more fortunate turn to persistent prayer and deep counseling and find an uneasy relief in this world. They urge their children to understand and forgive their forebears and reenter the stream of a thousand blessed generations. 

American philosophers of individualism, espousing Invictus, cannot believe in a God whose love is  passionate, tender, and implacably jealous. They ignore the Lord who has given his life for them, preferring to believe their lives are justified and redeemed by a romantic, arrogant isolation. If they have friends or family, it's strictly on their own terms. Ready to consume the gifts of a benevolent Providence, they refuse to recognize the God who provides so abundantly. 

Ash Wednesday and Lent calls us to our senses. Like the Prodigal Son up to his hips in pig slop, we remember the abundant generosity of our Father's house. We hear again God's promise of grace upon grace even as we admit we have ignored his warnings. 

The penitential season insists it's not too late, even yet, even now. Scientists have been sounding the alarm for a half century about global warming. Pope Francis has pointed to the ever-increasing migrations and war as symptoms of the same wasting exploitation. Climate change will not go away if we ignore it.  

Lent also sounds the alarm. The most embittered relations in families, between races, and among nations can be healed by returning to the Lord:

Come now, let us set things right,
says the LORD:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be red like crimson,
they may become white as wool.
If you are willing, and obey,
you shall eat the good things of the land;
But if you refuse and resist,
you shall be eaten by the sword:
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!  (Isaiah 1:18-20)

Every blessing in the Bible comes with a threat, and Mary's Son would not change a single letter, or even part of a letter, of that book.