“The Good News Is…All Are Invited”
Preached Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Today you are getting the soft launch of our new Sermon series. I’ll introduce the theme again on Sunday morning as we’ll have more people there…but that’s not holding us here tonight back from starting our Lenten journey of rooting ourselves in The Good News.
Our sermon series this Lent is entitled, “Tell Me Something Good: Grounding Ourselves in the Good News this Lent.”
Lent is often viewed through a negative lens. Yes, it’s a season of fasting, of repentance, of turning back to God. Traditionally, Lent was a time for new converts or those who needed to be welcomed back into the fold of the Church, to study and learn about the core tenants of the Christian faith. It is a season of focusing on the Gospel. And the Gospel inherently means, “Good News.”
Perhaps like me, your soul is deeply longing for some Good News.
I think our world is deeply longing for Good News. And I think we all desperately need to hear the Good News of the Gospel. It is a tragedy of our current world that many non-churched people or folks who have left the Church, don’t see the Christian church spreading “Good” News - what they’re heard coming from the mouths of preachers or through the actions of people who confess Jesus with their mouths and deny him with their actions are anything but “good.” The Good News must be what the angels pronounced at the birth of Christ: “Good News of Great Joy for all people.” If it’s not that, it ain’t the Gospel.
I think people who already know Jesus and his Good News need to reconnect to the Goodness of the Gospel message too. In a world of so much “bad” - it’s all too easy to become disconnected from the core Goodness of the Gospel.
And so this Lent, we will focus on the Gospel. We will focus on news that is Good for all. We will repent of all that is not the Good News of the Gospel.
And so today we are going to perform two rituals to connect us to the Good News of the Gospel: the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion. Let’s talk about the meaning of each, the goodness inherent in them, and what practicing them together this Ash Wednesday has to say to us.
First: the imposition of ashes.
Throughout Scripture, ashes are used as a sign of repentance and humility. In the Old Testament they are regularly used to convey sorrow for one’s sins, a desire for forgiveness and return to right living with God. Part of humbling ourselves before God with the imposition of ashes, is recognizing our own mortality and relationship to God. The Divine Creator of the Universe formed us from dust - and when we die, our bodies are meant to be returned to the earth, decomposed, becoming one with the earth again - dirt, dust, ash. When our mortal bodies return to the ground, our eternal souls are in the presence of God, the one who created us and the one who is forever and ever our God.
I have always held that Ash Wednesday is one of the most counter-cultural traditions of the Church.
We live in a culture where humility is not seen as a virtue. We admire those and give positions of power to those who puff themselves up - who have endless wealth. Who get what they want and do whatever they want with little to no accountability. If we too could just do the impossible task of pulling ourselves up by our boot straps and become billionaires, we too could be like gods and so our culture tells us to puff ourselves up, to live large and in-charge, to move through this world with heavy footsteps as one determined to leave a mark of our own greatness.
We live in a world where we pretend that death and grief are not real. We hide death away - regulate it to hospital rooms where death is seen as the loss of a great fight, not a fate that eventually will meet us all. We embalm the dead bodies of loved ones, making them look as if they are just asleep and keeping their mortal forms from becoming one with the earth again. We expect people to mourn in private - especially after the funeral. And if it’s “too long” after to get over it, as if grief isn’t complicated and something we live with our whole lives after losing a loved one. And we don’t deal well with our own mortality - so often sticking our heads in the sand rather than dealing with eventual fate - whether that is our aging bodies or the fact that none of us are promised tomorrow.
A Christianity that seeks and admires worldly power, that is proud, that is focused on individual greatness is not the Good News of the Gospel.
A Christianity that hides away from death and grief, that pretends that we will live forever, that death will never touch us is not the Good News of the Gospel.
Ash Wednesday is deeply counter-cultural.
On Ash Wednesday we say we are not gods. We are not powerful. We are not great. One of the traditional readings for Ash Wednesday is from Psalm 22 that compares ourselves to worms before God. That might be too strong language for my tastes because each of us is beloved and special in the eyes of God. Each of us is called to love ourselves. We are to love God and neighbor as self - that means we need to love self too. That self-love though is a love that comes with a dose of humility. We are loved by God and held in the hands of God. The Creator of the Universe made us out of dust and to dust we shall return. We are mortal. Our time on earth is limited. We will die. And, we are not afraid of that death.
Henri Nouwen wrote this on accepting our deaths, “Death is such a mystery. Forcing us to ask ourselves - why do I live? How do I live? For whom do I live?
And also, am I prepared to die? Now? Later?...
…When you are no longer afraid of your own death, then you can live fully, freely and joyfully.”
And so Ash Wednesday causes us to pause and view our limited earthly lives in light of God’s eternal and Divine love for us. To move beyond fear of death to acceptance. That acceptance makes us ask questions: How are we to move through this world knowing that we are just passing through? How are we to live in this world knowing that God is ultimately in charge? How should we spend our precious days on this earth knowing that we will all stand before God - sooner or later - and we will be asked by the God who is Love how we loved God, loved neighbor, and loved self in this life?
This is what it means to put ashes on our foreheads. We are to repent from the norms of this world that would have us living in ways that are not loving, that are contrary to the Good News of the Gospel. This requires humility, it requires us grappling with our mortality, and it requires us - in light of those things, to commit to leading lives of Love - Love of God, love of neighbor, love of self. In our precious limited life spans, to choose a life rooted in love - this is the Good News of the Gospel presented to us on Ash Wednesday through the imposition of ashes.
The second ritual we are participating in today is Holy Communion.
There is so so so much Good News present in this holy ritual.
There is the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection.
There is the Good News that through this meal we are empowered to be Christ to and for others.
There is the Good News that this table connects us to Christians in all times and places who participated or will participate in this meal.
There is the Good News that this table is just a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that we will all one day feast at.
There is the Good News that Christ is present in this meal through the Holy Spirit and participating in this meal is a guaranteed encounter with the Divine.
There is so much Good News in this meal - and the Good News I want to focus on right now is that all are invited.
In The United Methodist Church we practice an Open Table. That means we do not put hoops you have to jump through, barriers you have to climb over, in order to receive this sacrament. You do not have to be a United Methodist, you do not have to be a member of this church, you do not even have to be baptized in order to receive - all you have to want is to encounter our risen and loving Lord in the bread and the cup.
The invitation is truly for all - the question is, are we accepting it?
We live in a world where we pretend that death and grief are not real. We hide death away - regulate it to hospital rooms where death is seen as the loss of a great fight, not a fate that eventually will meet us all. We embalm the dead bodies of loved ones, making them look as if they are just asleep and keeping their mortal forms from becoming one with the earth again. We expect people to mourn in private - especially after the funeral. And if it’s “too long” after to get over it, as if grief isn’t complicated and something we live with our whole lives after losing a loved one. And we don’t deal well with our own mortality - so often sticking our heads in the sand rather than dealing with eventual fate - whether that is our aging bodies or the fact that none of us are promised tomorrow.
A Christianity that seeks and admires worldly power, that is proud, that is focused on individual greatness is not the Good News of the Gospel.
A Christianity that hides away from death and grief, that pretends that we will live forever, that death will never touch us is not the Good News of the Gospel.
Ash Wednesday is deeply counter-cultural.
On Ash Wednesday we say we are not gods. We are not powerful. We are not great. One of the traditional readings for Ash Wednesday is from Psalm 22 that compares ourselves to worms before God. That might be too strong language for my tastes because each of us is beloved and special in the eyes of God. Each of us is called to love ourselves. We are to love God and neighbor as self - that means we need to love self too. That self-love though is a love that comes with a dose of humility. We are loved by God and held in the hands of God. The Creator of the Universe made us out of dust and to dust we shall return. We are mortal. Our time on earth is limited. We will die. And, we are not afraid of that death.
Henri Nouwen wrote this on accepting our deaths, “Death is such a mystery. Forcing us to ask ourselves - why do I live? How do I live? For whom do I live?
And also, am I prepared to die? Now? Later?...
…When you are no longer afraid of your own death, then you can live fully, freely and joyfully.”
And so Ash Wednesday causes us to pause and view our limited earthly lives in light of God’s eternal and Divine love for us. To move beyond fear of death to acceptance. That acceptance makes us ask questions: How are we to move through this world knowing that we are just passing through? How are we to live in this world knowing that God is ultimately in charge? How should we spend our precious days on this earth knowing that we will all stand before God - sooner or later - and we will be asked by the God who is Love how we loved God, loved neighbor, and loved self in this life?
This is what it means to put ashes on our foreheads. We are to repent from the norms of this world that would have us living in ways that are not loving, that are contrary to the Good News of the Gospel. This requires humility, it requires us grappling with our mortality, and it requires us - in light of those things, to commit to leading lives of Love - Love of God, love of neighbor, love of self. In our precious limited life spans, to choose a life rooted in love - this is the Good News of the Gospel presented to us on Ash Wednesday through the imposition of ashes.
The second ritual we are participating in today is Holy Communion.
There is so so so much Good News present in this holy ritual.
There is the Good News of Christ’s death and resurrection.
There is the Good News that through this meal we are empowered to be Christ to and for others.
There is the Good News that this table connects us to Christians in all times and places who participated or will participate in this meal.
There is the Good News that this table is just a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that we will all one day feast at.
There is the Good News that Christ is present in this meal through the Holy Spirit and participating in this meal is a guaranteed encounter with the Divine.
There is so much Good News in this meal - and the Good News I want to focus on right now is that all are invited.
In The United Methodist Church we practice an Open Table. That means we do not put hoops you have to jump through, barriers you have to climb over, in order to receive this sacrament. You do not have to be a United Methodist, you do not have to be a member of this church, you do not even have to be baptized in order to receive - all you have to want is to encounter our risen and loving Lord in the bread and the cup.
The invitation is truly for all - the question is, are we accepting it?
In this evening’s Gospel lesson we heard of a parable of a banquet feast where those invited did not accept the invitation - those who would have been on equal social standing with the host of the party make up excuses of other things to do. They will not be attending dinner. And so the invitation is extended - to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Those who would have been considered - and often still are considered - the last and the least. The invitations, however, do not stop there. After that, the host then tells his servant to go into the streets and compel anyone and everyone - any who will accept the invitation - to come in and feast.
So often our invitations to the tables we sit at look like the first round of invitations the host sent out - invitations to those of the same social standing or sphere. So often our tables are full of people who look, act, and think just like us. This is not the Good News of the Gospel.
The Good News of the Gospel is that the invitation is truly to all.
At the birth of Christ the angels proclaimed “Good News of Great Joy for all people.” That is echoed in this parable - all are invited to come and feast with Christ, all are invited into the Kingdom of heaven - all - and especially the last, the lost, and the least. This is the Good News of the Gospel. This is the Good News we are rooting ourselves in today.
And so it is at this point where you may ask, Pastor Allison, where is the overlap? How do these two rituals we are participating in today overlap for us? Where is their interaction of Good News? I want to lift up three brief but very Good intersections between the two rituals.
One - Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality. The table reminds us that this is but a foretaste of the heavenly banquet table. Even in the midst of our world where there is so much grief, death, and general hopelessness - there is hope. There is something more. Remembering our mortality is not all doom and gloom and sadness - remembering our mortality reminds us that the life after this one is a big party with a generous and lavish table overflowing with food, laughter, and joy.
Two - That heavenly banquet table is more diverse and more beautiful in its diversity than we could ever imagine. People of every race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, ability, social status, etc, etc, etc are surrounding that banquet table. This is something to celebrate and it also should give us a dose of humility - that same humility we accept when we receive ashes. We need to remember that we are but one guest at a table where all are invited. It should make us pause and to consider how we treat and love our fellow guests. And even who we are inviting to feast with us at our earthly tables?
And finally, three - just as the act of receiving ashes is extremely counter-cultural in a world that values pride and power and hides from death and grief, inviting everyone to the table, and even eating at a table full of every diversity under the sun, is highly counter-cultural as well. In The Moral Teachings of Jesus, David P. Gushee writes: “It is as if Jesus is looking at every social gathering that he witnesses as a rehearsal for that great messianic banquet in the upside-down kingdom of God. And he suggests that we had better start thinking and acting in this same upside-down way if we wish to be ready for that day.” Ash Wednesday and indeed the whole season of Lent is a counter-cultural or upside down way of life. It is repenting of the ways of this world and following the ways of Jesus. It is rejecting the Bad News of the World - that which is Power and the lie of Earthly Immortality. It is rejecting the Bad News of the World which limits who receives an invitation to the table based on social status, ability, or a myriad of other divisions. It is rejecting all that is not the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Good News of Great Joy for all people.
The Good News that we are but dust - and in being dust, are eternally cared for and loved by the Creator of the Universe who is the God of Love who formed us out of the dust.
The Good News that we are all invited to the table.
The Good News that all of us can humble ourselves and accept that invitation.
Today, this Ash Wednesday, let us embrace the Good News by humbling ourselves through the imposition of ashes to accept God’s invitation - to the banquet feast and to a life rooted in the Good News.
Amen.
So often our invitations to the tables we sit at look like the first round of invitations the host sent out - invitations to those of the same social standing or sphere. So often our tables are full of people who look, act, and think just like us. This is not the Good News of the Gospel.
The Good News of the Gospel is that the invitation is truly to all.
At the birth of Christ the angels proclaimed “Good News of Great Joy for all people.” That is echoed in this parable - all are invited to come and feast with Christ, all are invited into the Kingdom of heaven - all - and especially the last, the lost, and the least. This is the Good News of the Gospel. This is the Good News we are rooting ourselves in today.
And so it is at this point where you may ask, Pastor Allison, where is the overlap? How do these two rituals we are participating in today overlap for us? Where is their interaction of Good News? I want to lift up three brief but very Good intersections between the two rituals.
One - Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality. The table reminds us that this is but a foretaste of the heavenly banquet table. Even in the midst of our world where there is so much grief, death, and general hopelessness - there is hope. There is something more. Remembering our mortality is not all doom and gloom and sadness - remembering our mortality reminds us that the life after this one is a big party with a generous and lavish table overflowing with food, laughter, and joy.
Two - That heavenly banquet table is more diverse and more beautiful in its diversity than we could ever imagine. People of every race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, ability, social status, etc, etc, etc are surrounding that banquet table. This is something to celebrate and it also should give us a dose of humility - that same humility we accept when we receive ashes. We need to remember that we are but one guest at a table where all are invited. It should make us pause and to consider how we treat and love our fellow guests. And even who we are inviting to feast with us at our earthly tables?
And finally, three - just as the act of receiving ashes is extremely counter-cultural in a world that values pride and power and hides from death and grief, inviting everyone to the table, and even eating at a table full of every diversity under the sun, is highly counter-cultural as well. In The Moral Teachings of Jesus, David P. Gushee writes: “It is as if Jesus is looking at every social gathering that he witnesses as a rehearsal for that great messianic banquet in the upside-down kingdom of God. And he suggests that we had better start thinking and acting in this same upside-down way if we wish to be ready for that day.” Ash Wednesday and indeed the whole season of Lent is a counter-cultural or upside down way of life. It is repenting of the ways of this world and following the ways of Jesus. It is rejecting the Bad News of the World - that which is Power and the lie of Earthly Immortality. It is rejecting the Bad News of the World which limits who receives an invitation to the table based on social status, ability, or a myriad of other divisions. It is rejecting all that is not the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Good News of Great Joy for all people.
The Good News that we are but dust - and in being dust, are eternally cared for and loved by the Creator of the Universe who is the God of Love who formed us out of the dust.
The Good News that we are all invited to the table.
The Good News that all of us can humble ourselves and accept that invitation.
Today, this Ash Wednesday, let us embrace the Good News by humbling ourselves through the imposition of ashes to accept God’s invitation - to the banquet feast and to a life rooted in the Good News.
Amen.
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