Ash Wednesday: February 25, 2009

Today is Ash Wednesday. This is the first day of the season of Lent. Throughout this season, and particularly today, we stop.

And remember. Remember our need. Remember our sin. Remember that we are fallen, that we are bent. That we crooked. Remember that we are not we were created to be.

Something happened. The fall. We were created, and God said it was good. But then temptation entered. Temptation gave way to sin. Sin gave way to death. And the human race was left with a giant hole in our heart.

We try to fill it with success. Power. Money. Sex. All the trappings of this world. But, yet, we remain empty.

Because,while we are all bent, we are each all created with that need deep within us for relationship. With God, and with others.

Even when we are at our best, there is a part of us that knows we are not what we ought to be. There is a part that knows that we are needful and that we need God.

Even our worst, we know that the hole in our hearts desperately needs God's grace.

Today, we stop. We pause. We remember our great need. We are sinful. We are broken. We are like sheep without a shepherd.

And, we also remember that it not just me that is that way, or you, but each of us. It's not that I am sinful, of you are sinful, but we are each sinful. It's not that we are better than or worse than anyone. We are all equal.

We remember that we each need God. Today.

And we remember that each day, God turns His ear to our cry. And He hears.

Today, this Ash Wednesday, and all through Lent. Stop. Turn to God. And He will hear. And He will come.

Stop. Remember. Repent. Turn. And God will be there.