Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Proclaimed on February 9, 2005

Two friends were having a friendly conversation about their respective faiths. One was a Jew; the other was a Christian. Said the Jew to the Christian, “Most of the good things that you people have, you’ve taken from us. For instance, the Ten Commandments.” The Christian responded, “I’ll admit we took the Ten Commandments from you, but you’ve got to admit that we haven’t kept them!”

Despite the irony in this story, it serves as a good introduction to our Gospel reading. In a sense, it too is about the Ten Commandments. It accomplishes this through Jesus’ focus on prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. Prayer, by its very nature, attends to our relationship with God. Almsgiving places special emphasis on our relationship with others. Fasting allows us to focus on ourselves. In essence, in these references Jesus is once again offering us a summary of the Law, that we love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves. However, as the Christian so aptly stated it to his Jewish friend, “I’ll admit we took the Ten Commandments from you, but you’ve got to admit that we haven’t kept them!” We have failed and our failure to keep the Commandments brings us death. Like it or not, we are doomed to die.

It is this inevitable death that becomes the focus of our service tonight. For instance, normally after the sermon we all recite together the Nicene Creed. Ideally, this Creed should be led from the baptismal font for it reflects the belief into which we have been baptized. Indeed, it is a celebration of our baptisms. Furthermore, baptism is a symbol of death, as well as a cleansing of life received in the resurrection.

Tonight, however, in place of water, we will focus on ashes. On the surface this may not make much sense. However, as we look into the symbolism more deeply another connection becomes more apparent. Our bodies are made up of water. Indeed, our bodies are more than 80% water. Take away the water and what is left? Ashes! Ashes are what are left when the water is removed. In the ancient world ashes also shared a common symbolism with water. Often they were used as soap for cleansing when water was rare. They also took on the meaning of death and repentance. In essence, water and ashes, while communicating similar symbolic values, did so from a different perspective. Water is global and reflects all those aspects of life that ties us together, including the sin in which we daily drown. Ashes, on the other hand, strictly reflect our alienation from God, others, and ourselves.

Therefore, because we will be using ashes today, instead of water, the primary focus for today’s service is being placed on our utter alienation from that which gives us life. In so doing, we are acknowledging those things that kill us. Like the story of the Jewish and Christian friends, we are also candidly expressing that we choose these things naturally.

However, in this service we are also purposely taking time to reconsider these drastic choices. This can be summed up in a little story that took place on a tennis court near a High School in Iowa. Next to it was a parish rectory with a beautifully manicured yard. Its many flower gardens scattered throughout were the pride of the priest who lived there. Occasionally an inadvertent tennis ball would find its way into the Rector’s yard. This apparently struck a nerve for one day a student chasing after a tennis ball came upon a sign which read: “NO TRESPASSING.” Another sign by way of the students, however, soon replaced this sign: “FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES.” As the second sign reminded the priest of who he was to be, so ashes should remind us of whom we are, as well as our helplessness.

Today’s service, however, does not end with ashes. It goes on into the Holy Eucharist. Here we encounter another symbol—the symbol of Christ dying on our behalf. Through his death for us we are empowered to live a new life—a life that allows us to love God, to love others, and to love ourselves.