“With All That You Are”
Preached Wednesday, March 2, 2022 (Ash Wednesday)
One of my mantras or rules of life that I often repeat, to myself and others, is that my worth is found first and foremost in God. The God who created me, knows me, loves me - unconditionally. Second - and this is even a very far second from number 1 - but second - my worth is found in my family, friends, and those who love me. And third - and this is waaaaay below the second one - everything else. My job, my accomplishments, the church, everything else.
Of course, maybe this is one of my mantras or rules that I repeat often to myself and others because…And I’m about to show my cards and get a little vulnerable here: caring what people think about me is something that I struggle with and I very easily slip into measuring my worth by my productivity, my resume, my accomplishments or what people think about me - the praise I did or did not receive, the criticism that’s been nagging at me…
While I strive to remind myself that my worth is in God alone - followed by my relationships with those I love and who love me - my natural default is to care too much about what people think. I work hard on keeping my focus of my inner worth on being a beloved child of God cause it’s all too easy for me to get lost in what others think of me.
And I won’t ask you to raise your hand if you’ve ever cared about what others think about you - for while it may ebb and flow throughout our lives - we’re all human, so of COURSE, at some point, you have cared too much about what others think of you.
So with that in mind - let’s turn our attention to today’s Gospel lesson.
Now, isn’t it kind of…ironic? That on a day where we literally put ashes on our foreheads - something that draws people’s attention and makes us stand out - that the assigned Gospel reading, every year, is this reading from Matthew? That tells us to not practice our piety before others. To not make a big deal when we give money. To not pray in public. To not fast before others….
Except that’s not actually what the Scripture says, right? Like, I know I’ve had conversations with some of you before about, “Is it okay to say grace before eating in a public restaurant cause the Scripture says to not pray in front of others?” But that’s not actually what the Scripture says.
The Scripture says to not practice piety in public if you’re only practicing piety in public so that you’re seen practicing piety.
It says not to make a big deal when you give money cause you shouldn’t give money just because you want to be praised for it.
The Scripture says not to pray in public…if you love to be seen praying in public. If you’re praying in public just so people will look at you and say or think, “Oh, what a good person.”
The same thing with fasting in public.
It comes down to the question - do you do what you do to have a right relationship with God? Or because you care what people think and say about you?
This passage ends with the famous line:
"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.”
And while we often talk about this line in stewardship and giving and material goods - I would also make an argument that it’s applicable to how we view ourselves, how we take stock of our worth.
If we place our worth, how we view ourselves, here on earth, well, it won’t end well. Moth and rust and thieves will obfuscate our worth, stealing it, hiding it, eating away at it - making it harder to see ourselves as the beloved children of God that we are. When we place our worthiness in the things of this world, too easily our hearts and lives follow, and the things of this world - what it deems as success, what it has to offer us, how it will treat us and talk about us - it will never be equal to the worth that God places on us. What God has for us is unconditional love, an unconditional love for all that we are, every part of us, God loves us. That’s our worth. And that alone. And it’s never ever too late to turn to God, with all that we are and place our worth in eternal things. As the Scripture from Joel says, “Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart…” With all your heart and all that you are…
So today, when we receive ashes - people will likely notice! Cause it’s a little strange - to get ashes on the forehead and walk around with them. But when we get ashes on our foreheads it’s a way to say, “the things of this earth, including myself, are not permanent. I remind myself that from dust I came and to dust I will return so that I will not get lost in the things of this world. Instead I will turn my mind to things eternal - like God’s eternal, undying love for me.”
This evening, I hope you will leave here not just with ashes but with this handout as a gift. Now, if you’re online, this went out as an attachment from the email with the Ash Wednesday bulletin. If you still need it you can email the office. But this is called a “Wellness Wheel” and it says it’s an assessment tool for expansive living.
So, when we care what this world thinks about us, it limits us. It places constraints on us. It keeps us from being the full and expansive person that God created us to be. Now, in Lent we often think about taking stock of our lives and giving something up so that we can focus on God more. And that’s okay if we do that. AND, I would like to invite you to take stock of your life, not just for a 40 day fast from something, but to take stock of your life so that, knowing that our worth is found fully in God, we can unabashedly and without fear, live the love-filled life that Jesus calls us to.
This wellness wheel is a tool for that. To consider all areas of your life: the emotional, spiritual, social, financial, physical, mental, environmental, and occupational areas of your life. To ask yourself: knowing that my worth is fully in God, am I living into that in *this* area of my life? What does a life where I know that God loves me, all of, unconditionally - what does that look like for me?
By recognizing our mortality today with the sign of ashes, I would pray that it would be an opportunity to focus not on the things of this earth, but to lay up our treasure, our whole selves, our worth, our wellbeing, our lives in heaven and in doing so, live more fully in this life, knowing that the only opinion that matters is God’s - and God loves us, each of us, you, me, all, unconditionally.
Amen.
This passage ends with the famous line:
"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.”
And while we often talk about this line in stewardship and giving and material goods - I would also make an argument that it’s applicable to how we view ourselves, how we take stock of our worth.
If we place our worth, how we view ourselves, here on earth, well, it won’t end well. Moth and rust and thieves will obfuscate our worth, stealing it, hiding it, eating away at it - making it harder to see ourselves as the beloved children of God that we are. When we place our worthiness in the things of this world, too easily our hearts and lives follow, and the things of this world - what it deems as success, what it has to offer us, how it will treat us and talk about us - it will never be equal to the worth that God places on us. What God has for us is unconditional love, an unconditional love for all that we are, every part of us, God loves us. That’s our worth. And that alone. And it’s never ever too late to turn to God, with all that we are and place our worth in eternal things. As the Scripture from Joel says, “Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart…” With all your heart and all that you are…
So today, when we receive ashes - people will likely notice! Cause it’s a little strange - to get ashes on the forehead and walk around with them. But when we get ashes on our foreheads it’s a way to say, “the things of this earth, including myself, are not permanent. I remind myself that from dust I came and to dust I will return so that I will not get lost in the things of this world. Instead I will turn my mind to things eternal - like God’s eternal, undying love for me.”
This evening, I hope you will leave here not just with ashes but with this handout as a gift. Now, if you’re online, this went out as an attachment from the email with the Ash Wednesday bulletin. If you still need it you can email the office. But this is called a “Wellness Wheel” and it says it’s an assessment tool for expansive living.
So, when we care what this world thinks about us, it limits us. It places constraints on us. It keeps us from being the full and expansive person that God created us to be. Now, in Lent we often think about taking stock of our lives and giving something up so that we can focus on God more. And that’s okay if we do that. AND, I would like to invite you to take stock of your life, not just for a 40 day fast from something, but to take stock of your life so that, knowing that our worth is found fully in God, we can unabashedly and without fear, live the love-filled life that Jesus calls us to.
This wellness wheel is a tool for that. To consider all areas of your life: the emotional, spiritual, social, financial, physical, mental, environmental, and occupational areas of your life. To ask yourself: knowing that my worth is fully in God, am I living into that in *this* area of my life? What does a life where I know that God loves me, all of, unconditionally - what does that look like for me?
By recognizing our mortality today with the sign of ashes, I would pray that it would be an opportunity to focus not on the things of this earth, but to lay up our treasure, our whole selves, our worth, our wellbeing, our lives in heaven and in doing so, live more fully in this life, knowing that the only opinion that matters is God’s - and God loves us, each of us, you, me, all, unconditionally.
Amen.
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