March 6, 2025
Dear Central Church,
There are parts of my job I don’t like, but I guess every job is like that. For example, my friend is a veterinarian, and I had the chance to watch him work for a day. He has a clinic in a rural part of Arkansas and cares for “all creatures great and small.” I’ll never forget accompanying him to a cattle farm and watching him deliver a stillborn calf. In order to save the life of the heifer, he had to partially dismember the calf inside her. It was as gross as you can imagine.
He recounted to me several times, “I went to school for more than 10 years so I could spend my days covered in mud and manure.” He didn’t like this part of the job, but those farmers were counting on him.
Last night, I did a part of my job that I don’t like. I told people that they were going to die: “From dust you were created and to dust you shall return.” What a drag! It’s this thing we do every year as we begin the season of Lent. I don’t think anyone “enjoys” an Ash Wednesday service, but it’s essential to our annual telling of the Gospel story. How can one appreciate the empty tomb and the hope of Christ’s resurrection if they do not go with Jesus through the wilderness and to the cross? This season of repentance, mourning, fasting, and praying prepares us to fully appreciate that moment when we gather again in that same sanctuary and declare, “Christ is risen…He is risen, indeed!”
Our culture wants to skirt the reality of death. We think of different ways to avoid talking about this inevitable reality, and the unfortunate consequence of this is people who live unexamined lives. They awake each day unaware of their own mortality. They treat people as if they have forever to make amends. They consume resources as if there was an unlimited supply of everything. They speak indiscriminately as if their unfiltered words were not doing irreparable harm. For the one unaware of their own mortality, relationships are transactional and expendable.
Believe me, it’s not part of the job I enjoy, but I don’t think anyone else has the guts to tell you: “From dust you were created and to dust you shall return.” It’s not what you wanted to hear, and it’s not what I wanted to say. I hope you’ll stick around for the next 40 days though…the news gets better…much better!
Until He’s Finished,
Pastor Mark