It’s Friday… and…
Lent is Looming…
I often wonder what people think about Lent. Dread? I hope not.
But I will get into that another time…
What about the day that starts it all: Ash Wednesday?
That is next week. Yes, I am jumping over Sunday today…
Well, because so many don’t know quite what to do with it.
They see people walking around with an ashen cross drawn on their foreheads and what?
Too Catholic…?
But do you not know that we are catholic? Lutherans are real catholics, carrying on the best of its traditions—what it was meant—what the church was meant to be about and about doing!
That too is for another discussion, but don’t be too quick to dismiss things with those words. We need to take back what is ours—what was and is still very good—was always good and salutary in the church of the west the pushed us out.
I mean… do we really rather be like the pop-evangelicals in their box churches and as deep as a mud puddle?
I will leave that too… again… for another time, but…
We should be asking why we don’t have the application of ashes on Ash Wednesday. I would like to do so, if you all have no… well… or any good reason not to.
No, it should not be forced upon people. And if no one really wants to, that is that.
But I remember having an issue with it—Ash Wednesday too. And this is after being a pastor for a little while.
Because of the text used for it:
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness[a] in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Right… I thought that it was what we were doing. That we were parading around showing everyone how much better we were than anyone else. That we were doing the very thing that Jesus says not to do!
But it isn’t.
It rather is about showing the opposite.
This is (having the ashen mark) both an act of humility—declaring that you are no better than anyone else—or worse…
That you CAN SEE that you are A GREAT SINNER… and need to sit in sackcloth and ashes…
That you should not even dare to raise you head… dare ask anything of God…
That is the first part… that is what LENT is all about. To see our great need for salvation and forgiveness.
As the famous text for Ash Wednesday reminds us: From dust you were taken, and to dust you shall return! [Genesis 3:19]. This is part of the curse that God rendered to the human race after Adam and Eve sinned… as they were being tossed out of the garden….
But the other part… of Ash Wednesday…
… is like when Operation Iraqi Freedom happened.
I was taking post-graduate courses at the Seminary in Ft. Wayne. Now they have a large screen TV in the student center (union?) and people go through it to other buildings. As I was going through, I noticed a lot of students gathered around watching. It was the news showing what was going on in Bagdad.
What caught my eye was the camera man caught a woman purposefully stepping into the camera angle and making the sign of the cross.
She was telling America and the world that she was a Christian. That was risky.
That is what the ashen mark on us on Ash Wednesday also is.
It is our declaration that we have been baptized into Christ. That the old ways—the world and the devil have been put to death! That this is a death mark… to that and him and all his stuff….
But the… it is a life mark too! We are also declared arisen in Christ. Romans 6 in living color!
So, we are proclaiming who we now belong to here! That we no longer belong to the world. And not to the devil. Not even to our families (well now we are even more connected, to say nothing about how we can now love them more deeply because of Jesus)—no, as we have a new family name. We all get new last names—Christian.
God the Father is now our Father. Jesus is our brother.
So, God in knowing how humans are (He made us after all) knows we like and need ritual with physical things where we can look to, touch and feel…
Why do you think the pagans made idols? And why God forbade it…?
He would provide those things. And He does. Water, Bread, Wine… Words… symbol of the Cross…
We don’t worship those THINGS, but Him who promised to be IN THEM when and where He says He will be—in the doing of them according to Scripture.
You may say, but Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible. You would be right, but there are things like it. And they are written as an example for us.
Again, we do not have to. It is not sin, to not have it. It is just a recognized event in the west—an easy way for us to declare our allegiance.
But what if people think you are Roman Catholic? They may ask… and so tell them no. Say you are a Confessional Lutheran. A what?
Yeah, that for another time too. The ELCA are not Confessional Lutherans. Enough said.
It is Friday, and Lent is almost here…
Thank God! Such a time that gives Easter so much MEANING—prepares us for it in a deeper way. Do so. Engage. Fast. Pray. Look. Be honest. Repent. Pray. Rejoice then on that Day when the Son rose to never set again!
This coming Sunday – Quinquagesima Sunday – February 15th – 2026
Old Testament – Isiah 35:3-7
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 18:1-13
Gospel – Luke 18:31-43
Psalm – 51
Sermon – REVEALED – Based on The Gospel Reading
Prayers: For a lasting peace in our world and in our cities—especially Minneapolis! That a lasting one would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the people of Russia and the Ukraine. That the people of Iran would be free from tyranny and that the evil there would be put down. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures. For those who are being persecuted and murdered because they call upon the name of Jesus—especially in Africa. For the end of violence in our cities and that our schools and congregations would be protected from those who wish them harm. For our families that parents would courageously discipline their children and raise them in the fear of the Lord, teaching them about salvation in Jesus alone.