Ash Wednesday 2007
at Trinity Episcopal Church, Clanton, Alabama
by the Rev. Steve Shanks, Deacon
Isaiah 58:1-12 | Psalm 103 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 | Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Beloved sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May only God’s word be spoken,
May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

Sometimes it seems best to simply read the texts slowly, clearly, and well, and then sit down. It is almost as if the read word speaks and comments clearly on itself, and a person like me who is called to offer a reflection on the readings must be careful not to detract from the written word. It seems that way to me for these passages appointed for Ash Wednesday.

A friend, Jim Sundholm, describes a time some years ago when a friend of his, a pastor in the American Baptist tradition, was reading the Isaiah 58 text in worship, that we heard just a few minutes ago, getting ready to preach from it. As Jim tells it, his friend got up to begin preaching, and said, “I can’t.” He paused. Again he said, “I can’t.” He then started to gently cry and said, “These words are beyond me, I can’t preach them.” The result that day, from the silence that followed, was that people spontaneously spoke out in similar confessions for about twenty-five minutes.

It is on this day that we face our frailty, our coming from and returning to dust, our sin. The Holy Scripture that we encounter calls us to be conformed to the values and character of God. For Isaiah, the call is to “do” the fast that the Lord chooses. For the psalmist, it is David’s desperate words about enduring the deep sadness of sins past that literally bring him, and us, to a position of humility and brokenness before God. For Paul in Corinth, it is engaging and demonstrating “the righteousness of God.” For Matthew it is recognizing that the “fast” is for you, it is about your internal life being conformed to the “mind” of God and “storing treasures in heaven.”

Isaiah in chapter 58 longs for a new day, one that is not formed or defined by the circumstances of injustice and oppression but rather a day that God chooses. A day of bonds being loosened and suffering being undone, a day of sharing our food with hungry people, offering shelter to those who are poor, and clothing those who are naked.

Kimberly Smith is a friend of mine whose heart burns for work in the international missions’ field. It is where her heart is broken. She and her organization, Make Way Partners, are engaged in work to prevent and combat human trafficking and modern day slavery which affects 30 million persons, mostly women and children. The work has taken this group to Portugal and Romania, and they are also on the ground in the south Sudan.

Today, at this moment, the challenge in the south Sudan is disease. Kimberly is there and in the midst of the ongoing meningitis outbreak. The disease is considered a fatal infection and is caused by bacteria that affect the thin lining of the brain and spinal cord, though if diagnosed and treated early it can be survivable. Those who do recover are very weak and face a variety of complications resulting from the disease, including brain damage and deafness. When a person survives meningitis, they are in great need of vitamins and minerals. The best way to get those into them is by using supplements since there is not a reliable, continual source of adequate food. Of course, it takes money to buy the supplements and arrange transportation to get it to where it’s needed.

The outbreak continues to spread throughout this area. It has been said that there is now written confirmation that 300,000 doses of meningitis vaccine are to arrive in the area on February 26th, more than a month after this current outbreak began. Hopefully, the aid promised by the government will come. Kimberly is today in the midst of working to organize an international medical team to bring skilled care givers and medicines to the region, but the costs and logistics are great.

There is a pressing need for simple medicines. A six-week old baby died just this past Monday due to not having anti-diarrhea meds. Kimberly reports that it is “frustrating” not to be able to get simple medicines. There are no local pharmacies where one can just go and pick up what you want. Meningitis can also cause pneumonia or other respiratory problems, and there is not an adequate supply of decongestants. I invite you to join me in remembering Kimberly and Make Way Partners in our prayers, as her team continues the work of raising up and delivering resources to people living in the dust in the south Sudan.

Isaiah knows the story of exile, as does Kimberly – the story of the scattered, starving refugee, those who are wandering, bearing great suffering. Isaiah cries out to God’s followers in their personal comfort, “Heed the unmet need about you, that’s what pleases God.” Yet, the cry goes on in every generation. The “fast” that Isaiah describes is what a broken, recovering community needed long ago; but the words are tragically fresh in our own day.

Matthew, in our gospel reading, reveals Jesus offering from the beatitudes – given from the mount in Matthew’s previous chapter and from level ground in Luke a couple of Sunday’s ago – a new, yet very old, word. Jesus’ call also seems similar to Joshua’s to “choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). I can choose the gods of this culture who entice me to pursue exterior comfort and appearance, or I can choose the Lord of inner confidence and certainty who treasures the connections that I make to the others around me.

When Matthew speaks (v. 21) about our heart and our treasure being located in the same place, it was helpful for me to reflect on the Hebrew concept of a single “heart-mind” where the heart is the center of our physical, mental, and spiritual life as human beings. This Hebrew sense of heart is not just about feelings, but is also linked with the activities of the mind and the will. The Hebrew sense of heart is about what is at the center of our moral and spiritual life. So, my treasure reflects not just how I feel about something, but it also how I “do” the fast that Isaiah describes, how I decide to choose to live out Christ’s call to me in every moment of my life.

For me, that includes a reordering in this new day that reflects the values of a new kingdom worth dying and rising for. This is a kingdom that not only recognizes that we both come from and return to dust, but a kingdom that invites us to reflect the new day of an old order, in both the fabric of our lives and the choices we make.

In Christ’s name, Amen.