“Jesus Gets Us” was the campaign slogan for Jesus promulgated prior to and during the Super Bowl. I loved watching the game, but I did not love that ad.
Jesus does get us; the problem is we don’t get Jesus. Not by a long shot. Jesus tells us that we find life by giving, not by getting, but it seems humankind is in the getting business. Ash Wednesday and Lent are opportunities to rethink ourselves and our behaviors.
“Remember, Oh Man, Oh Woman, that thou are but dust, and to dust thou shall return.” Every church worth its salt will have a service this Ash Wednesday, reminding us with these words, and a smudge of dust, that life is a gift, given by a mysterious creator beyond our imagination. In human terms that Creator is quite probably cosmically annoyed, if not downright angry, about the mess we have made of our planet, our politics and the billions of dollars we spend on ever more efficient ways of killing each other.
Epiphany, about which I wrote last, is a moment of great awakening, an “a-ha” moment when we see things as they really are. Jesus said those to have ears to hear, let them hear, eyes to see, let them see. What do you see as your read the papers, compare the news channels, listen to talk radio?
As both the Old and New Testament warn us, we are a stiff-necked people. Too often in pursuit of private wealth and happiness we destroy the very foundations of life we have been given. The gift of communication and language, versus the cancer of lies that undermine our trust in one another. The gifts of the air that we breath, water that we drink, food we eat, all gone up in smoke like the train wreck poisoning our neighbors in Ohio. The ground is the earth’s body, water is its lifeblood, the atmosphere is its lungs. Our planet is sick, sick unto death.
Let us bow our heads in reflection as we are marked with the dust of the earth. In the 40 days of Lent that follow, let us change our ways. Let up protect the earth. Let us protect one another. Let us put away the guns and machines of war. Let us use the gift of language to tell the truth and solve our problems.
In a contemporary version of the Bible, called The Message, Jesus lays it on the line in Matthew 12:34: “You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning.”
The words spoken in countless fossil fuel board rooms and the words and monies exchanged in halls of Congress have brought a day of reckoning upon us.
Get ashes this Wednesday. Show the world your concern. Use the days of Lent to examine your own heart, mark your words. Determine act with courage to make this planet earth, our fragile island home, safe and habitable for everyone.
Father Jack Fles is pastor at All Saints Episcopal Church Skowhegan.
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