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The psychoanalyst Carl Jung said that he had never encountered a person over 40 having emotional difficulties where it did not come back, in one way or another, to fear of death. 

Ash Wednesday,         February 6, 2008  -        Psalm 103:1-14;  I Corinthians 15:42-49     Everett J. Bassett

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            The psychoanalyst Carl Jung said that he had never encountered a person over 40 having emotional difficulties where it did not come back, in one way or another, to fear of death. Earlier in life, there may be a kind of fearlessness or denial about it. But at 40 and beyond becomes an inevitable part of our thinking - consciously or not.

We are dust in the wind. We can kick against that, and do everything possible to put it off - but nothing changes the fact that every earthly life has an earthly ending. The wisest people I have known are those who have used the reality of that to frame the way they live their lives. Rather than getting depressed or morbid, they have said, in effect, "My days here are numbered. Therefore, the moments of my life are precious. How I treat people is important. How I spend my time is important. The kindness I show, the love and laughter I share - these things mean something. So let me do it well. Let me not waste time on bitterness, or on regret, or in bad living, or out of touch with the spiritual part of me that has eternal value. Let me be a spiritual loving person whose limited days here on earth are given for what really matters in this life."

I don't know if such a person would ever say it this way, but he or she is an Ash Wednesday person. Ash Wednesday is the day we are given in the Christian year to most profoundly reflect on our mortality and what it means. For centuries upon centuries, at services like this, people have received the symbol of ashes with some variation of the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The paradox is that the reason we take this time to contemplate the finite nature of this physical life is not to be defeatist or gloomy - but rather to be fully alive to the blessings and graces of life. The current movie The Bucket List is but one of many stories about those who are suddenly awakened to their mortality, and find that now they can finally focus on the truly important things of life.

There is no doubt that faith is an essential part of that: we gather here tonight as children of dust; but we also gather in the presence of scriptural promises that that's not all that we are. Part of our Old Testament lesson for tonight says this: "As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust." Our mortality, our frailty as human beings, is one of the things God knows very well about us. And he looks upon us with the compassion of a loving parent to minister to our anxious hearts. That's the first thing that we need to hold close tonight: We are children of dust; but before that and after that we are children of God. And that lifts us to something beyond mere dirt on the Path.  That puts us in an eternal relationship.

It's when we read our New Testament lesson that this relationship takes beautiful shape. The apostle Paul talks about Adam and Jesus. Adam was the first human, the one who represents the beginnings of each of us. Jesus is the Second Adam, the firstborn of the new creation God is working on. So Paul writes things like this: "The first man, Adam, became a living being; (but) the last Adam, (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit...The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man (Jesus) is from heaven...Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven." Then Paul goes on to celebrate that through Jesus the Risen Savior of Easter, death has lost its victory; death has lost its sting.

Tonight we claim that promise from scripture. We acknowledge that we are children of dust - but we also celebrate that we are children of God. We have done this before ­we all know where the season of Lent ends - Jesus died on the cross, overcoming sin and evil. He rose from the dead, overcoming death, and throwing open the door of salvation. That is the blessed assurance of our faith. But in order to fully understand it, we need to journey with it for a while. We need to consider the alternative - what if Christ had not come, had not died, had not risen - and this life of dust was all there is? Thank God for the love of Jesus; thank God for the salvation of his passion and death.

These are the thoughts that lead us into the Lenten season - a time to prepare our hearts for the fullest appreciation possible of our mortal need for grace, and the God who is gracious beyond measure.

During this Lenten season, we invite each person here to consider what will bring your life closer to Christ. Some people have a tradition of giving up something for Lent. Sometimes that is not done without a lot of sincerity. I was reading about a pastor who told his congregation that at the beginning of Lent, he had taken his family television and tucked it away in the closet. And his wife whispered to her neighbor, "And believe me, it gets crowded in there." For some people, giving up something may be a part of the Lenten preparation - I would simply say that if you're going to do it, make it something significant. Don't give up broccoli - give up bickering. Don't give up chocolate cake-give up complaining. You see what I mean.

But instead of that, or in addition to it, we are going to invite you to plant seeds this Lenten season. This Sunday in church, we will pass out seed packets - they will include actual seeds that you can plant; but they will also include three symbolic seeds for your life, and for the world. First, a seed of faith - what can you do during this Lenten season to deepen your faith? Second, a seed of service - what can you do to step forward to serve somebody, to make a difference for God's love? And third - a seed of reconciliation - what can you do to mend a fence, or to advance the cause of peace in this world. You may want to pray tonight about how you will plant your seeds of faith, service, and reconciliation.

            Over a year ago, after a terrible attack in an Amish schoolhouse, the world was stunned by the simple, Christian grace extended and exemplified by the Amish community. When asked about it, one of the leaders responded, "We can deal with this because we are prepared for death at any time." I think that defines this night for us. We are here in full awareness that we are children of dust; but through Jesus the Second Adam, we bear the image of heaven. We are children of God. And if so, death has no victory over us. God is taking care of us. Let tonight be the new beginning of a journey of faith that convicts and shapes our lives by that wonderful truth.