The history of the Church is full of folks most would call "saints". The heavy-hitters of the faith whose lives loudly proclaim "this one has got it!" Sounds well and good, but with one problem. All of us who follow Jesus are saints. "But I don't have the time to live like that! I have a job, kids, a house, a car! Those guys lived in a cave and ate only twigs (not really, sort of)."
Yep, true, our lives are more complicated and full than some of theirs may have been, but the call to Holiness and discipleship are no less. We don't get off easy because we made our lives complicated.
So what about us? What can we do? Enter the blessing of Lent, a time where we are called into a state of self-denial and self-reflection and it all starts today, Ash Wednesday...garbage day, to be more exact.
That's what the ashes were (see Nehemiah 9:10). They weren't the nice clean ones we use. Nope, they didn't save their palms from the previous year (no Jesus yet) and burn them or buy a bag-o-ashes from a church supply store. Don't get me wrong, we do this and the intention behind this is good. Nope, the ashes they put on their heads came from burned garbage from the city dump. Stuff like the burnt offal from the sacrifices, the nasty profaned parts that God said could be near Him. Garbage Heads, one and all. Why? Because they were really sorry and would gladly wear their shame. If we could wear or sins on our heads, this is what it would look like.
Would you sit in garbage? Would you go to work with garbage on your head? Would you pull out rotting things from you barrel, done them and shop at Adams? Pop in to D&D? Why not? We would look like fools, yeah?
So who are we kidding? God sees what we are really wearing on our heads even if we want to see nice clean ashes.
So that's Ash Wednesday. If you really want to get right about it, think about what garbage you wear. Ask God to clean you up. He will.
b
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