From tonight's worship service at First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Vernon, IL...
On Ash Wednesday we take upon us a mark of ashes. Ashes have been used for thousands of years as a sign of repenting, of turning from death to the eternal life of the Lord. Throughout time and as witnessed by the Bible, individuals have taken ashes as outward signs of their desire to enter into a deeper relationship with God.
This is a time of newness and yet this is a time honored by the traditions of thousands of years of our faith history. During this time of Lent, I take upon myself the clergy cassock robe, a sign of tradition to remind myself and this flock that we are in a different time, a different season of our faith journeys. We are in Lent.
During Lent, we repent and we enter into a season of devotion, a season of prayer, a season of study. This is also a time of temptation and trial. But we do not walk down this darkened path without our Good Shepherd. For Christ has walked this path before us. Our Savior was driven by an act of the Spirit down this path long ago. Hear these words of scripture….
Mark 1:9-15
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved;1 with you I am well pleased." 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news1 of God,2 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;1 repent, and believe in the good news."
On this day we enter our own wilderness to be with wild beasts and waited on by angels.
On this day we begin a journey where we ask to be formed through prayer and study.
On this day we ask to be marked with the sign of our Lord’s death, the sign of a criminal’s death transformed into a sign of hope, our light, our life.
