FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Dear Central Church,
Last night we gathered and heard some bad news, “From dust you were created and to dust you shall return.” That does not sound like good news. Pastor Jonathan Acre reminded us last night that so many things we say in church are pronouncements of joy, but Ash Wednesday hits differently. It’s an announcement of our own mortality.
I guess there’s a reason 200 people show up for Ash Wednesday compared with 1,200 on Easter Sunday. We would much rather hear the good news of Christ’s victory over death than the bad news of death’s hold over our bodies.
It’s important to remember: this is not the way it is supposed to be. God created a good and beautiful world free of death, pain, and loss. In the wake of human rebellion, God’s good and beautiful world became marred by the consequences of sin. Ash Wednesday reminds us of this, a reality brought into sharp focus by acts of violence like the parade shooting at Union Station.
When I heard about the shooting, I found myself praying a faithful lament that shows up in several different places in scripture: “How Long, O Lord?” We recognize the world is not the way it is supposed to be and the faithful cry out, “How long, O Lord?”
Our Christian journey is lived in the tension between this lament and Pastor Jonathan’s text from Joel 2: “but even now…return to me.” (Joel 2:12) We are invited to return to the Creator: to lament, repent, cry out, and trust that God is at work redeeming all things.
As the people of God, we do not have the luxury of passive cynicism. We are people of audacious hope who dare to believe that God is at work in the midst of our sin, he is redeeming our violence, and he is tenderly present in our suffering.
Even now.
As we journey through the season of lent, I want us to think about those who do not have this hope. Where do they turn when their world falls apart? Who do they go to when their lives are turned upside down? They are our coworkers, neighbors, teachers, classmates, and teammates. It is our mission to come alongside them and share the good news that God is with them, “Even now.”
I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we begin a new sermon series thinking about our shared calling. We are the people of God and we are “Made for Mission.”
Until He’s Finished,
Pastor Mark