Ash Wednesday Service

Ash Wednesday - Matthew 6

Concerning Almsgiving
6‘Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Prayer
‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Fasting
‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I can still hear her voice ringing in my ears: “Who were you trying to impress?” This is a question my mother used to ask – usually after I had done something foolish in my younger years. In most cases, I had put the opinion of friends and their praise over my identity as a member of my family and what I knew was right. My mother always said the same thing to me and my brothers when we went out on a weekend night. “Remember you are a Burgess.” She was driving home the point that all my actions, both good and bad, reflected on our whole family.

In Jesus’ day, the question was not so much who you were trying to impress as much as it was who weren’t you trying to impress? The goal of any good work was to get noticed by your neighbors, get their approval and ultimately gain status points. The main reason for doing anything good in that culture was to be seen and collect another gold star of praise. It is not unlike the major corporation that gives a $100,000 check to help the cause de jour and then spends millions of dollars in advertising telling the world about it.

There was a time when a large percentage of people in our country flocked to the church. They came to hear the Word of God preached. They came to hear the choir sing. They came to Sunday school, Vacation Bible School and Church Picnics. Even the outside world left Sunday alone – it belonged to the church and the family.
The culture has changed. The stream of people who used to run outside our church at 6th and Pearl has long since diverted and now runs by the concerns of the suburbs, the kid’s soccer games and the sale at the mall. Sundays are marked more by the newspaper advertising circulars than they are by the church’s bells. We can no longer simply throw up a new church sign and hope to catch more fish to fill out our pews our net new members for our rolls.

Some mourn this cultural shift. Others are angry that things are not the exact same way they once were. Still others claim this is God’s punishment for not being religious enough.

I do not believe the problem lies in the lack personal piety among believers. The issue for many outside of the worshipping community is our perceived piousness is too often mixed with religious pretention. The world is watching and does not care for what it sees.

William Shakespeare writes these well known words in his play, “As You Like It”,
“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts” (Shakespeare 2.7).

The problem in Jesus’ day (and our own age) is that so many Christians wear one face in church and another one in the world. The Greek word “Hypokritēs” from which we get Hypocrite literally means actor. The religious types of that age were more concerned with playing the part than living out their faith. The word hypocrite appears 21 times in the Bible but comes up 13 times in Matthew’s gospel. The writer was driving the point home that we should never do good deeds merely for the sake of appearances. Of course, the problem of hypocrisy in our time is one of the major reasons people give for staying away from the church in droves.

So, what are we supposed to do? I believe we all want to deepen our spirituality and do good things but we also live very public lives. Jesus addresses this concern by telling his followers to pray in private. Many people in our age don’t want to pray out loud while others take the time of prayer to show off their deep theological vocabulary. My brother Scott tells a story of a trip he made to India with my missionary Aunt. They went from small village to small village offering medical care. Scott mentioned how impressed he was one of the missionaries who prayed a long prayer, filled with various Scripture passages and exhortations of God. Scott’s positive impression waned when he heard the same prayer in the second village and the third. He mentioned the prayer was primarily there to impress the crowds and ultimately had little to do with God. Jesus encourages us to find a place where God alone can hear us, lest we fall into the trap of thinking louder voices and longer words impresses God.

Prayer is not the only thing we should do in private. Jesus also instructs his followers to give in secret. Some people make their donations to charities with giant checks and great fanfare. We’re supposed to give freely and secretly – not letting the one hand know what the other one is doing.
Finally, we are instructed to live pious lives not with sackcloth and ashes, but with a smile and a joy filled life. Have you ever been around someone who loves to share how much they have given up to be a Christian? They wear their faith like they would wear a thorny crown. God is more interested in the generosity of your heart and less concerned with your religious presentation.

Many people wear political buttons around election time - some identify as Republican or Democrat, pro-life or pro-choice, in favor of this issue or against that one. The only one I normally wear simply says “I voted.” Do you remember when the Iraqis had their first election? Everyone who voted dipped their fingers in a purple die. It kept them from voting more than once, but more importantly, it let people around them know they had voted. They would not let the threat of terror keep them from exercising their citizenship in their country.

The mark you receive today is not for your finger – it is for your forehead. It is not a mark from a political election, but one that points to God’s election of humanity through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is an acknowledgement that you too belong to a kingdom. It is not a kingdom of the earth, run by men or women. We receive the ashes to acknowledge a citizenship in God’s empire. We are called to act as Kingdom People. We do not do this to gain the approval of our neighbors – we should behave in such a way that those around us do not know what we are up to. What we do in private echoes in the heavens. Others will be drawn to the church not because of our religion, but because of our love for God.

In the coming 40 days, God presents us with the opportunity to give more, pray more and go without some of the little luxuries we surround ourselves with. It is a gift that God calls us to do more when we are surrounded by less. Let this mark on your forehead also mark our hearts.