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"¹Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  ²Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  ³For I acknowledged my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.  ⁴Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.  ⁵Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  ⁶Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  ⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  ⁸Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.  ⁹Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.  ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  ¹¹Cast me not away from the presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.  ¹²Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and up hold me with Thy free spirit.  ¹³Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee."  (Psalm 51:1-13 KJV)

The words quoted above are the appointed Psalm for Ash Wednesday.  David wrote these words in response to God's prophet, Nathan, showing him his sin of adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12).  In much the same way, the Lenten season is the time of year when God, through His Word, shows us our sin in a more pointed way than any other time of the year.  It's a time of preparation leading up to Holy Week where we acknowledge the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf that we might enjoy the blessings announced on Easter Morning!

Unfortunately, this year we won't be able to focus on Jesus' Passion like we have the last few years.  It was with much prayerful thought and discussion that the elders and myself made the decision to forgo mid-week services (except for Ash Wednesday) due to the parking situation caused by our new office building construction. 

  Lent is a time in which God's baptized people cleanse their hearts through the discipline of Lent.  This historic church described it as repentance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  Let, therefore, is a time for growing in Christ by concentrating on our baptism, so that the obstacles set in the way of God's grace by our old nature may be removed by His means of grace.  It calls for a greater openness to the Word of God, zeal in joining the congregation in worship and sharing in Holy Communion where we proclaim our Lord's death until He comes (1Corinthians 11:26). 

As I said earlier, we will not have the benefit of five of our mid-week Lenten services at Trinity this year to help us focus on the "Discipline of Lent."  It's with that in mind that I encourage every member of Trinity to set aside some extra time during the week to remember and reflect on our sinful nature and our Lord's Passion.  This can be attending mid-week services at one of our sister congregations that happen to be in your neighborhood.  It can also be done by using Lenten devotionals or setting aside time for prayer and Bible reading and study over and above your current practice.  It could also mean making a renewed commitment to attend every Divine Service on the Sunday's in Lent and beyond.  Whatever or however you decide to reflect on Lent this year, God grant you to take seriously Jesus' words in Matthew 4:17, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,' for that is the starting point for any Lenten self-examination or remembrance.  It is only when we confess our sins, that God is able and willing to forgive them (1 John 1:9), and that is the point of ashes on Ash Wednesday. 

Many Christians today still have ashes in the shape of a cross imposed on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday.  This rite harkens back to the tradition of wearing sackcloth and ashes in mourning and repentance.  In Matthew 11:20-21, Jesus denounces the cities in which most of His miracles were done because of their unbelief.  In doing so, Her referred to repenting in sackcloth and ashes.  Scripture also tells us that, centuries before, Job repented in dust and ashes when he realized how presumptuous he was in arguing his plight with God (Job 42:6). 

Ashes, therefore, have always been a symbol of repentance in the Christian Church.  Sackcloth, a roughly woven brown cloth, was worn by mourners to show their sorrow.  Dust is a symbol for the brevity of life in the face of death.  The graveside committal rite says it this way:  "We now commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust...." As Scripture so clearly teaches, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

There is a tendency today to sterilize the cross; to minimize the pain and shame; to ignore the blood and the death that it represents.   God, however, never covers over the unpleasantness of it all.  He nowhere ignores sin, death and the devil.  Neither did Jesus turn from mounting the cross to defeat them once and for all.  The anguish; measureless guilt; and blackness of eternal death that He endured on Calvary are beyond human understanding.  But they are not beyond God's gracious giving, and now they are the very source of our salvation.  Jesus endured the cross for us, scorning it's shame.  (Hebrews 12: 2). 

We don't offer the imposition of ashes at Trinity.  Nevertheless, try not to think of an ash-crossed forehead as a strange sign or as an empty show.  For, the cross is signed in ashes, there is also now the sing of the One who destroyed death to give us life!  It's the very sign that marked you at your Baptism, both upon the forehead and upon the heart, to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. 

Receiving His forgiveness and living in the repentance and faith that were made possible through His redemptive work, the committal rite goes on to say in truth:  "....earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."