Ash Wednesday – 2016 – Peace – 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
Probably we
are all familiar with this child’s playground rhyme:
Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.
Probably many of us have not only
heard this before but maybe even some of us can remember chanting it on the
playground when we were children. What we may not realize though is that that
children’s rhyme is all about death and suffering. Like many fairy tales which tend sometimes to
be rather dark, having come out of dark times and experiences, this particular
rhyme has been traced by some scholars back to the time of the Black Death –
the Bubonic Plague outbreak in London in the early 17th
century. The rhyme touches on a common
symptom of the disease – the rosie ring - an unfortunately completely
ineffective prevention strategy – the pocket full of posies - but ends with
death – “ashes, ashes, we all fall down.”
And it is true, we do all fall
down, eventually. Death is a part of
life. Death will come to us all at some
time. And the ashes in the rhyme and the
ashes on our foreheads remind us of this fact: that we are mortal and that our
lives will run their course and sooner or later we will complete our lives join
those who came before us in death. The
mortality represented by these ashes also reminds us in life our mortality also
brings with it many struggles – illness, loss, suffering at times,
conflict. All of these are also a part
of life. The ashes on our foreheads
reminds both us and those around us that we acknowledge our mortality and
humanity and all that comes with it.
Certainly St. Paul is wearing his
ashes in our Epistle text for today. It is clear that Paul’s life of service to
Christ was not an easy experience for him.
Even as he struggled to live faithfully he also at the same time
acknowledges his own mortality and humanity in this passage. Life as an Apostle for him brought with it
beatings, imprisonments, sleepless nights, hunger and other hardships,
including a chronic physical ailment that he refers to in other places as his
“thorn in the flesh” which debilitated him at times. And yet he persevered; he continued in his
work as best he could. In this passage he wants to encourage the young
Christian community in Corinth to continue to be faithful and to continue to do
the work to which they have been called and to continue to live their lives faithfully
in their communities. And he does this
by lifting up his own example, which I think he does not so much to lord it
over them in a “well folks as bad as you have it, it isn’t as bad as me” kind
of a way – but rather I think to try to help them to simply accept their shared
humanity and mortality. Some of them
perhaps became Christians believing that they would not have to experience
hardships like this anymore. This is not
true, says, Paul – we are and remain human and our mortality is something we
hold in common.
Perhaps some of us from time to
time feel like some of these Corinthians.
In fact, I have heard Christians and Christian preachers sometimes
suggest that “if you are just a good enough Christian” God will fish you out of
your humanity and keep you apart from the hardships of life. But this is simply not true – and it is a
very destructive thing to suggest. And
not only that, but it is also an attitude that Paul rejects out of hand. We all share in a communion humanity and like
Paul, we struggle with issues of weakness, health, loss and grief – we have
problems with relationships – we are tempted and struggle with addictions – we
sometimes allow our anger to boil over into violence – we sometimes allow our
uncertainty and fear to affect our way of living and relating – and I could go
on, and on, and on. You can add to this
list your own unique experiences of being human I am sure. But this experience, no matter how hard or
difficult it may have been does not in any way suggest that there is something
wrong with you, or your faith or your relationship with God.
You see, these ashes may represent
our shared humanity and mortality, but they are also not the end of the
story. Just a few verses earlier before
the beginning of this particular passage Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth
that “in Christ they are a new creation!”
And so how can it be that this new creation is now smeared with ashes? This is one of the paradoxes at the center of
our faith – we are at the same time both saint and sinner; we are poor but at
the same time lavishly rich; we struggle and yet we rejoice; we wear our
mortality on our foreheads but yet trust in the promise of eternal life in
Christ.
And Paul has something to say about
that too – “Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.” It is not off in the future or sometime in
the distance – it is NOW. God through
Christ is here with us – NOW; present with us in the midst of our humanity and
our mortality – present with us as we struggle with what life sends our way -
and present with us as we move towards our own deaths. That smear of ashes is not a random smear but
it is in the shape of the cross and so these ashes not only remind us of our shared
humanity and our mortality, but at the same time they remind us that the
crucified Christ stands with us in the midst of our humanity and our mortality;
and that God has entered into our world through Jesus and stands with us, loves
us and is present with us now and always.
How then shall we live? What do these
ashes mean for our daily lives? Well, Paul
has an answer for that too: “Be reconciled to Christ” he tells us. In other words, Paul invites us
to fully accept our humanity and mortality and at the same time to accept God’s
gifts of presence and grace and forgiveness. Paul also suggests tools for our
use on this journey of life and these are: purity, knowledge, patience,
kindness, holiness, love, truthful speech, and compassion – these are the tools
of the journey that will help us throughout our life’s journeys - the peaks and
valleys, the joys and sorrows, the easy times and times of struggle and
suffering. And throughout it all, no
matter what, we can affirm that Christ is with us every step of the way.
Ashes,
ashes, we all fall down – but through Christ, we are raised us up through
the abundant Grace of God.
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