Sermon preached by the Rec. Paula Jefferson
Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Pruning.
In my hometown, a few doors up the street, Mrs. Beard’s house sat vacant for several years. One spring, her grandson and his wife moved into the house. Rick decided that he was going to prune the shrubs in front of the house…they had overgrown the front porch and were out of control. Cindy, his wife, and I were inside giving the house a thorough cleaning.
After a couple hours, Rick invited us to come see his progress. He had trimmed all the bushes. But they were sloped from one side to the other, like a ski slope. The girls had a good chuckle and he had a good grumble. We back inside, and he went back up the ladder. We didn’t hear from Rick for a long time….so we went outside to look.
The bushes were gone. He had gotten so frustrated trying to level the bushes, that he cut them down … almost to the ground.
Ash Wednesday is the portal to Lent—a sort of opening to this season of becoming. Lent would be complete without the dramatic imposition of ashes. Yet, there is something quite sobering in the use of ashes and the words, “Remember that you are dust; and to dust you shall return.”
The ashen cross on each of our faces is a Sign to the world:
A Sign that we remember the triumphant shouts of “Hosanna” as Jesus began his Passion.
A Sign that we remember the pain and suffering in our world.
A Sign that we strive for justice and dignity for all humans.
A Sign that we acknowledge the passing away of this world, and the coming of God’s Kingdom.
Lent is associated with penitence…a time when we repent of those things we ought not to have done and those things we have left undone. And, it is also a time of pruning in our lives….to intentionally live more simply, to take on a Lenten discipline…some learning or doing that draws us more fully into the life of Christ.
The bushes at Mrs. Beard’s house were pretty thin during the first year after Rick cut them back so drastically. But the roots of those bushes reached far beneath the soil…they were safe from his hedge trimmers. And, the following Spring, they began to grow again. Within a couple of years, the bushes were stronger and fuller than they had ever been.
So it is with our spiritual life. Lent is a time for intentional pruning…for opening ourselves to new growth, new callings, deeper faith.
These ashes are the cremains of Palms. They take on new life when they are imposed on us. We carry them into the world through our lives; Signs to the world that we will follow Christ…to the cross…to the empty tomb… to our own Risen life.
Amen.