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THE INVITATION OF ASH WEDNESDAY
I heard Pastor Matt once describe sin as being like gravity. I know gravity to be a constant, slow and powerful force that influences, shapes and changes all things. It’s a force that we can’t escape…and neither can our kids.
If this is true, we have to start to view the world differently. What if we teach our kids to see sin for the constant force that it is? It isn’t simply a sorting tool or a checklist. It finds its way into every system and relationship. It erodes trust, it crushes self-confidence. It separates us; from each other, from God and from the Kingdom.
That’s the design of it. But it is only by understanding how dark things are that we can truly appreciate how big, powerful and triumphant Easter really is. Knowing Christ doesn’t eliminate the pull of gravity, but it gives us the freedom to identify the force and have a stronger one with which to push back against it. A shield of faith. A light in the dark. A guide on the path.
Sin highlights our frailty, but Lent invites us to turn back to Him as the source of our strength.
As we remember Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent together, we are offered this invitation. We are invited to see our sin and the sins of our world. We are invited to turn from the things that separate us and turn back to Christ. We are invited to acknowledge our need for God to change us, as we are not strong enough on our own. We are invited into the compassion of a healing God, the strongest force there is.
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