When making a report, we often report the gFive Wfs,h what, where, when, why, and who. On previous Ash Wednesdays I have talked about gwhyh we use ashes and gwhenh Lent begins, etc. Tonight I want to talk about gWhere.h

First, the gwhereh of where to put the ashes. We place them on the forehead. That is where they will be most prominent, where they will be seen the most obvious. If we have a morning service, then they would be seen all day long. We could put them on the palm, or on the back of the hand, but we have to wash our hands throughout the day, so the ashes would get washed off. The chest might be a good place, too, right above our hearts. The ashes are a sign of sin. Both the dirtiness of sin itself, and the result of sin which is death, and what happens to sins once they are forgiven, they are destroyed and turned to ashes. This is a sign we want to see when we look in the mirror, it is a sign that we want to witness to other people, so that they can see that we are Christians who consider the importance of sin and death and forgiveness and life.

So the next gwhereh is where we go with the ashes on our foreheads. Tonight we are probably going to go straight home, so only or family members will see us. But if this were a morning service, then would be go to the office or school with an ashen cross on our foreheads? Would our Christian witness be a matter of pride or of shame?

You see, the ashes are a sign of death. The funeral service says, gearth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.h The ashes are a sign that we are dead because of our sin. People who see us walking around with the ashes should say, gLook, there goes a dead person!h But for us Christians, those ashes are in the sign of the cross. We are dead in Christ, we share his death on the cross. And so we are at the same time alive in Christ. The ashes show that our sin is forgiven, destroyed unto ash. We are alive in Christ!

Tonight we will go home and wash our faces before going to bed. When you wash your face, remember your Baptism. In Baptism our sin has been washed away.

Even though it is Ash Wednesday, Christians do not need the ashes. Matthew 6 suggests that we need to take care of showing off our Christianity. We must not go around as if we were better Christians and put people down for not acting like we do. We must not be proud or haughty or conceited. I used to think that rather than water baptism, which cannot be seen after it dries off, maybe Christians should receive a tattoo, like some cults and gangs. Now I do not think that is a good idea, because being a Christian is a matter of spirit and the heart. The Holy Spirit makes his mark when we do good works and speak the Gospel.

And so the final gwhereh is the place of our hearts and souls. That is where sin tries to control us, but where Christ has forgiven us. It is a place where old ashes cannot enter, but where Christ enters to give us forgiveness, eternal life and salvation.

Amen.

Try e-mailing this page to a friend!
Free JavaScripts provided by The JavaScript Source