Year B Ash Wednesday 2024 If You Could Not Fail

 Year B Ash Wednesday, 14 February 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“If You Could Not Fail”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

Jesus said, "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.

"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. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"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. But 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.

"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. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so 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.

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

Tonight, we come to begin a season of penitence, contrition, and self-discipline. This is a good thing. It is good, and right, and true.

We mark the season as we mark ourselves, with the sign of the cross so that we can know that we are sitting ducks with our faith. We are declaring, or better yet, proclaiming that we are of Christ, in Christ, and for Christ. We identify with him, and as he turned his face to Jerusalem, so do we. We could not be more profound in what we do here today. We know the outcome of this journey. But in promise, we also know the Triumph of Easter.

Saturday we laid to rest a dear woman of God. Some funerals are easier to do than others. Susan Chambers was kind through and through. I am sure I will see her in the Resurrection. Of her I have no doubts. But in the service we are promised the Hope of Easter, and no matter when we have a funeral, in penitential times like Advent or Lent, it is always a joyous celebration with the Alleluias included. As the rubric for the funeral rite says: 

The liturgy for the dead is an Easter liturgy. It finds all meaning in the

resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we too, shall be

raised.

The liturgy, therefore, is characterized by joy, in the certainty that

"neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,

nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else

in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ

Jesus our Lord."

As we celebrated the life she lived, we are also reminded that this was not the end. Susan is singing and celebrating and living and serving God still and with no doubts or questions like we have on this side of the veil of death. The early church embraced this and lived like there is a forever tomorrow, and this foundational belief changed the world.

We have lost the sense of the early church in that we are unstoppable. There is a phrase that is bandied around, often as a motivator for people. 

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

Another way to say it is also heard…

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Great questions. There have been several movies of late where people seemingly die, and then magically or technologically they zap back to where they were with no ill effect. It is done in the comedy Groundhog Day, and the sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow, and with superheros in Dr. Strange. They all are fulfilling that fantasy of what we would do if we knew we could not fail. And in Hollywood they say fail, and what they really mean is DIE. As followers of Christ, we are promised that death is not the end, and a victory as follow Christ. As St. Paul said, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

So, what would you do if you knew you would not die?

That is a very different question. It is the driving force in the early church when they voluntarily went to serve lepers in leper colonies, or sang praises to God while being fed to Lions. The early church knew something that shook the moral fabric of the Roman Empire to its core. And somehow martyrdom and love conquered the Roman Empire.

These people were not afraid of death, some even willingly and joyfully embraced it. 2nd Century Theologian Tertullian said, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” Graphic, but history does not negate his thought. 

Today, we come. We come to be reminded of our mortality. We come to be reminded that we know the outcome of the path, whichever way it may lead. We come to acknowledge that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Like when Jesus was asked about paying taxes, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” When we meet our ending, give back to the earth what is earth, and give unto God what is God’s. And that is what made you YOU, anyway. You and your soul are made in the image of God, and it will return home.

One of the great founders of the modern missionary movements is William Carey. He said in a sermon, “Expect great things for God. Attempt great things for God.” And knowing the outcome of the game makes us taking bets with our finances, our families, our very lives, much easier.

That is why Jesus can instruct us when we pray, or fast, or give alms, do it for the God at work in you, and not for the recognition here on earth. We keep our disciplines secret, we keep them safe. We entrust them to the one for whom they are done.

When we treasure what God treasures, we are well on the way to the maturity that Christ calls us to. And we are storing up those treasures where they can never be taken away.

As you enter into this season, know that Christ is our Lord, but also our brother. He walks with us. He encourages us. He has walked this way before and we can trust his promptings to enrich and enhance our path.

And when we fall or fail, Christ will pick us up, dust us off, and invite us to begin again.

What would you do if you could not die?

You answered this in your baptism. You died to sin and death, and were raised into newness of life, but even more ETERNAL LIFE!

In closing today, I want to share a prayer from the prayer book, A Prayer for Young Persons (BCP, p. 829). And since we are all children of God, it fits all of us too, the young, and the youthfully challenged. I find it alarmingly appropriate as we begin the journey of Lent. It has been modified to the first person. Let us pray:

God our Father, you see us your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show us that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help us to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give us strength to hold our faith in you, and to keep alive our joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.