(part of the “Breathing Out” Lenten Series)

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21 (Ash Wednesday)

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is always such an odd day in our church calendar. In fact, if we were to back away from the notion of it a bit, far enough to watch ourselves getting the remnants of burned leaves smeared on our foreheads while at the same time told that we are no better than the very ashes that are dripping down into our eyes and settling on our shirt, we, too, would think that was a very, very weird practice.  Because in terms of where we stand in this society, in this culture, this is indeed very, very bizarre.

And I think that may be the point.  Just like the passage from the Gospel account by the writer known as Matthew that we read every Ash Wednesday, we are being reminded that the “normal” way we do things, the things that are accepted by our society are not the things that bring us closer to God, that bring us closer to the vision that God has for us.  We cannot align with the ways of this world and at the same time become the one that God envisions.  The two ways are incompatible.  Where the world wants to build walls and borders to control who is in and who is out, Jesus called us to welcome the stranger, release the prisoner, feed the hungry,…you know, all those Sermon on the Mounty-type things.  We cannot hold both ways within us.  We will metaphorically, spiritually, and certainly explode.  You cannot breathe everything in at once.

That is often the problem for many of us.  We breathe in when we should be breathing out.  It is, on some level, a sort of “spiritual asthma”.  When a person suffers from asthma, it is not, as many people think, that they cannot get air into their lungs; it is that they can’t get air out.  And, as a result, their lungs are too full to receive life-giving oxygen.  The breathing cycle is disrupted and the person, swelling with over-inflation, begins gasping for breath. 

This spiritual asthma is a similar dilemma.  If we hold onto those things with which we fill our lives, to our habits and our fears and our misconceptions of what our life should be, to those plans and those preparations that we’ve so carefully laid, there is no room left for the life-giving breath of God.  And we are left with dust and ashes.

But there is more.  This is not just a day of morose belittling of ourselves.  A rabbi once told his disciples, “Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket, so that he or she can reach into one or the other, depending on their needs.  When feeling high and mighty, sort of overinflated, if you will,one should reach into the left pocket, and find the words: “Ani eifer v’afar; I am dust and ashes.  But when feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or without hope, one should reach into the right pocket, and, there, find the words: “Bishvili nivra ha’olam…For my sake was the world created.”  That is the breathing in and the breathing out.  And they are both necessary for the journey.

On this Ash Wednesday, breath out…breathe out the ways of this world. Breathe out the norms to which you are accustomed.  Do this so that there is room to breathe in…to breathe in who you are supposed to be, to breathe in life.  Lent is not just about giving things up; it is about emptying your life that you may be filled.  Lent is not just about going without; it is about making room for what God has to offer.  And today is not about clothing yourself in the morbidness of your humanity; it is about embracing who you are before God.

So…remember…you are dust and ashes…breathe out…..

For you the world was created…breathe in….

BIG BREATH…Amen.

Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void. (Simone Weil)

Grace and Peace,

Shelli