This is the manuscript from the sermon preached on Ash Wednesday 2014. The sermon is based on Isaiah 58:1-12.
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is. 58:6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
On Being God's Dirt and a Watered Garden
I have in my hand a jar of dirt. As dirt goes it is ordinary dirt. But it does not come from just anywhere. This dirt comes from my family’s homestead in Fayette County. Since the late 1800s my family has been working this dirt. This dirt has been ground into hundreds of pairs of blue jeans, stuck under countless fingers nails, plowed up, cussed at, and given thanks for, all in the act of planting crops in order to take in a harvest and feed a family. This jar of dirt reminds me of where I have come from, my roots that are buried deep in the rich earth of Texas - and that I am thankful to be back here in Texas after a few years away. This jar of dirt reminds me boldly of one of the clearest facts about life. One day, this is what I will be - Dirt.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” With these words spoken we are drawn into the season of Lent, the forty day march to the cross of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter morning. Lent always starts with this talk of dust and death. Every year we trudge up to the altar, eyes on our shoes, and receive a little ashen reminder of the truth that our days are numbered. The ashen crosses on our foreheads remind us that we are dust, we are bound to return to this dust and there’s nothing we can do about it.
“Remember that you are dust.” This phrase is found all the way back in Genesis chapter three where God is dealing out punishment for the taking of the fruit of the tree that was forbidden. The word used by the author is the Hebrew word “ophr” which literally means soil or dirt. What God tells Adam is a reminder that he is dirt; he was taken from the dirt at creation, and dirt is that to which he will return after death.
This same Hebrew word “ophr” is used in Genesis 2:7 to describe the building blocks of all us humans; dirt. God uses the dirt from the ground to create the first humans, the adam, the creatures of the earth. God breathed the breath of life into the dirt figure and gave us life. The heart of our Lenten reminder, “remember that you are dust,” is to remind us of where we have come from and where we are going. We could just as well have said, “Remember that you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.” We are creatures of the earth. We are dirt. And to dirt we shall return.
But this claim is not to be taken lightly; quite the opposite actually. This claim about dirt is to remind us that we are indeed creatures with numbered days. Today is the day when we are confronted with the truth that we are not long for this world. We are human. We are mortal. We will one day die. And while we journey through the world of the living, we are sinners. Ash Wednesday is the day when we are truly honest about who we are as humans. We are confronted by our mortality and our sin. And because of this we embark on the journey of Lent where we turn from our sinful ways and return to God through fasting and prayer.
The Israelites in today’s story from Isaiah must have been going through an Ash Wednesday moment. Having returned from exile in Babylon, the people are trying to put the community back together again. They were making an attempt to return to the rhythm of the law, reaching out to God through fasting.
But community is a muscle that must be exercised. Their time in Babylon had left the people scarred. Reminded vividly of their own mortality, having their own “dirt to dirt” moment in exile, the people’s attempt to restart the heart of their lives grounded in God was not going well. They cried out to God wondering why their fast had not been noticed from on high. God answers. And God does not mince words.
Their fasting was self centered. Listen to the critiques from God through the prophet - “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and you oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” The critique from God is that the people’s fasting is self-centered. It does not acknowledge or live into the community God established through the covenant with Abraham. It does not live out the law given to Moses. The law that establishes how the people are to live as Gods holy ones, examples to the world of God’s hospitality and mercy. God does not want to see selfish acts of humility - a fast turned inward, ignoring the needs around them. God is not condemning the act of fasting, God is condemning the motives behind the fasting. When we are guided by selfish motives, when we act only out of our pride, as if to say, “God, look at how good I am, look what I have done for you.” But we have missed the point. This is not a return to God.
Instead, God declares through the prophet, “Is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?!” God points to a fast that reorients the people, that reorients us, to life in relationship with one another; bread for the hungry, a home for the homeless, cloths for the naked, not hiding from the people in our midst - family, neighbors, and strangers alike. Life in God’s community is the sharing of resources so that all have enough. It is making sure that all people’s needs are met. It’s working through the tense moments between family or friends with love and care. This type of fasting builds community and demonstrates the very heart of God. And when this type of fasting is done God’s power moves through the community in amazing ways. Listen to what the prophet says…
“The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; as you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”
This is the essence of Lent, that we are reminded of who we are. We are dirt. We are held captive by sin and cannot save ourselves. We are mortal. We will die. We are parched and imperfect and in need of living waters. But we are not along. We are God’s dirt. And through the power and love of God, we are brought to new life and we become like a watered garden. God meets us in the parched places of our journey, where we may very well feel like dirt, and does not abandon us, but waters us back to life.
The words from Isaiah today help us to remember that the parched dirt of our being is transformed into a “watered garden” through the power of God. We are earth creatures, dirt of God’s own making, turned into watered gardens, cast into vessels that are empowered to give life to the world. Through Christ we have become a community that can nourish and help others to grow. Through baptismal waters, God’s living, moving waters, we have been brought to new life. The days of Lent, the movement towards the cross, are saturated with the powerful waters of God as we are drawn into these baptismal waters of Easter.
This year during the days of Lent we will explore the ways that God works through ordinary water to bring life to the world. We we move through water stories in the Old Testament, reminding ourselves of where we have come from. Of where God has already been at work in our world on our behalf. We will explore the creation waters in Genesis chapter one. The saving waters of the flood. The redeeming waters of the Exodus. The still waters of the 23rd Psalm. The living waters of God’s promised future in Isaiah. Joins us as we explore where God’s promise meets us in the waters of our story.
“Remember that you are dust. And to dust you shall return.” With these words we are drawn into Lent. We are reminded of who we are and where we are going. But we are not alone. We are God’s dirt, created and nurtured and transformed into watered gardens. So come to the waters. God is waiting.
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