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As Lent begins, the country is blanketed in cold. Record low temperatures and snowfalls top the news. Well, even here in Florida it has been cold, relatively speaking. At the outdoor Ash Wednesday service people came bundled up in coats, hoods, scarfs, hats, gloves, and blankets. In the dark with all of the cold weather gear, it was hard to tell who everyone was. Even people we knew well were hard to identify submerged beneath a hat and hood and muffler.

This image reminds us of what can happen to us as we make our way through life. We bundle up. We cover ourselves in ways that shield who we really are. We protect ourselves with images and facades. We become layered with the images others have of us. Our true self gets hidden not only from others but sometimes from ourselves.

Lent is a time to notice those layers and covers and shells. It is a time to cast off what no longer fits or is needed. It is a time to come clean. To unburden. To shed. It is a season to pare back, dig down, and rediscover who we really are finding that divine image that may be buried under the layers of our lives.

Lectionary Readings for the day:

Psalm 25:1-10
Psalm 32
Matthew 9:2-13

Prayer: May we rediscover who we really are this Lenten season. Amen.

On Wednesday night, the church had the annual Ash Wednesday service at the home of a parishioner, outside around a fire along the seawall. There was a chill in the windy air. The service ended with communion. The chalice filled with juice and a basket of bread was passed from person to person as people served communion to one another. The last people to be served were my husband and I sitting at the end of the row. Jeff held out the chalice and the basket of bread, saying “Taste the promises of God” as we had been instructed to do. I took a piece of bread and went to dip it in the juice as we had been instructed to do. But the piece of bread fell into the cup. How could that have happened? I giggled and probably rolled my eyes. My first thought was, “So, it’s come to that already.” I took another piece of bread, dipped it, and ate it.

Lent, this season of wilderness time, is a reminder of stark realities. We probably don’t have the grip on things that we think we do. Regardless of what we may want to believe, we are actually not in control. Lent is a time to let the weight of all those expectations be lifted and to be free.

Lectionary readings for the day:

Psalm 25:1-10
Daniel 9:15-25a
2 Timothy 4:1-5

[These daily readings are from the Consultation on Common Texts.]

Prayer: Let go and let God! Amen.

Sin. What is it really? Is it doing something “bad”? Is it not doing something “good”? What is sin? Used to be a couple living together without being officially married was referred to as living in sin. But certainly you can be married and still be living in sin.

There are many ways to think about sin. And the church has had a lot to say about sin often in ways that were meant to threaten people and control them. The belief that sin led to suffering for eternity in hell was used to dictate and control behavior through intimidation and fear.

But sin is more complex than that. It can be personal and behavioral. It can be institutional and systemic. It can hurt you. It can hurt others. It can hurt society. Sin can wall us off from our best selves and from one another. But it can also be hard to pin down or put your finger on.

Then there are those who take the positive approach and pretty much leave sin out of the game all together. Too messy to figure that out. Too unsavory to deal with. Too complex to sort out and resolve. It doesn’t fit with the American positive, optimistic, happy-go-lucky outlook. Just lower the bar and look the other way. Don’t worry about sin. Sin? Who believes in sin?

In Christianity, sin has to do with separation. We are intended to live in community, yet we find ourselves separated. From our best selves. From others. From the sacred.

It’s interesting that animals can’t sin. They cannot commit a moral wrong. They cannot separate themselves from their innate nature. Plants cannot sin. They can cooperate and communicate but they cannot sin. Only humans can sin. It is part of what makes us human and different from other forms of life.

Lent is a season to give some thought and attention to sin even if that is not your usual bent. Sometimes to get where you want to go you have to know where you are. That’s where sin comes in.

Lectionary readings for the day:

Psalm 25:1-10
Daniel 9:1-14
1 John 1:3-10

[These daily readings are from the Consultation on Common Texts.]

Prayer: May I not be afraid to let sin be a teacher. May I have the courage to see myself, others, and the world with honesty trusting the lavish love of God to lead me to wholeness. Amen.

Ash Wednesday. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Lent is a season to re-center. To get back to the heart of things. To remember and return.

But to what? To our essence. To our divine core. To our truest selves. To the love which, like the air we breathe, sustains us.

Ashes are pure. They are what’s left when the rest is gone. They are evidence that something has gone before. They are essence. Fundamentally part of earth, creation, life. This is a season to return to our essence. To remember who we are. To clear away all that obscures the truest reality we can know.

Our lives are crowded and clouded. Lent brings us home to a pure, simple vision of the Light that cannot be put out.

Lectionary readings for the day:

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51: 1-17
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

[These daily readings are from the Consultation on Common Texts.]

Prayer: Show me who I really am. Amen.