CELC Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday – February 9, 2005

Psalm 51:1-18

There seems to be a fundamental relationship that needs to be clarified. The question is, “Who is the creature and who is the creator?” Or you might ask, “Who does the saving?”

You may reply to me, “That’s nothing but churchy words.” Well, you would be right to say that. These are churchy words. And they need to be used.

After all, the Psalmist uses churchy words: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to you abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”

Note how the Psalmist begins: they know who is who in the relationship. “Have mercy on me, O God.” It is clear that the creature is the Psalmist and the creator is God. The creature needs the mercy of the creator.

The truth the Psalmist believes is that the creator God is a God of mercy. This is not a god of good luck or good fortune. This is not a god of niceness and sweetness. This is the God of mercy, a loving God who wants to forgive you.

To be forgiven, though, means you are transgressors. This is the part we don’t like to hear. We don’t like to hear that we creatures are transgressors.

But, we are.

We are transgressors when we want success to be our god. We want success at work, at home, at church, at the club, at the party, at the golf course, at the hospital and wherever we find ourselves. Soon we are less concerned about being faithful to the creator God and more concerned about success in some form. We count the numbers and worry. We would be better to count the many times the love of God appears in our life each day.

We are transgressors, though, and we easily put our petty desires ahead of obedience to the creator God.

We are transgressors and if success is not our false god, then perhaps control is. We begin to worship at the altar of the false god control, thinking we can control our wife or husband, our parent or sibling, our children, our teacher, our pastor, our doctor, our friend and more. We know better than the rest. We are in charge. They should be doing what we tell them. We would be better to receive the gift of each day and respond to our loving God with listening and obedience, knowing who is ultimately in control is God.

We are transgressors, though, and we easily put our petty desires ahead of obedience to the creator God.

We are transgressors and if success or control is not our false god, then whim and whimsy becomes our false god. We worship at that false altar of impulse and feeling, acting as though we have no relationship to the creator God, only the need to fulfill our latest desire.

So we indulge ourselves until they begin to call the latest disease “metabolic syndrome.” If your doctor tells you that you have “metabolic syndrome” they are telling you that you are overweight. The wording is slick. We like to hide reality behind slick words. Perhaps the call of Lent to fasting is not something we should look past. It may save us from hearing from our physician that we have “metabolic syndrome.” We would be better to share more liberally our abundance and deny ourselves a little so that those who hunger daily can know a decent diet. Jesus himself modeled this as he fed the multitudes.

We are transgressors, though, and we easily put our petty desires ahead of obedience to the creator God.

What are we to do? How do we save ourselves from such pettiness and such transgressions?

The Psalmist suggests that we don’t. The Psalmist says that God does the saving. The God of mercy does the saving. In fact it is the God of abundant mercy that saves us. So the Psalmist says what we can say: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” It is an acknowledgement of who we are: sinners. It is an acknowledgement of who God is: the One who acts with grace and abundant mercy to forgive us.

So, on this Ash Wednesday we need to worry less about success, control and fulfilling our desires as much as we need to trust the ancient words of the Psalmist and place ourselves in the presence of God pleading for mercy and forgiveness.

Lent is the forty day great confession that we are not successful, not in control, and not obedient. Here is the time to remember who we are: creatures in need of the God of love. Here is the time to plead our case before God.

How does the Psalmist put it? “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Let these words be our plea.

The good news is that God has heard your plea. In the cross of Jesus Christ God has purged us, washed us, and made us clean, even before we ask. Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley