The Venerable Howard Stringfellow
March 1 2006
Joel 2:1-2,12-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
In the Name of the True and Living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The voice you are about to hear may, or may not, resemble mine or yours.
“Grimy things, ashes. They are sooty and dirty, too. And when the priest presses them into my forehead, they’re gritty, too. They rub in and scratch a bit. And if they’re too many on the priest’s thumb, they fall down onto your nose and glasses’ frames. Then they’re the devil to get out. One year some ashes got stuck in my glasses’ frames next to the lens, and I didn’t find a way ever to get them out. I took the glasses back to Lenscrafters, had the lens removed from the frames and put back in when they had gotten rid of the ashes. Whew! What a lot of bother for some worthless and God-forsaken ashes!
“I don’t see why we use them, really. After all, we all know we’re going to die, and our bodies will turn to something like ashes—we know that already, and we aren’t afraid of that; at least I’m not. I’m just afraid of the traffic on Highway 22. Those cars zip by so fast, and so many of the people talk on their cell phones. You could easily get killed out there. I don’t need the ashes to remind me of death so long as I drive on 22.
“But what I’m not sure of is that part about living after death. That’s always been the thing that has been hard for me. I know that Jesus rose from the dead—I don’t have any problem with that, after all Jesus was God; and if he were alive today he would tell us so and a lot more, too.
“I don’t see why he had to die first before he rose from the dead. After all, couldn’t he have been this glorious and well-liked person—a sort of Man of the Year except he would be a Man of the Centuries—who just lived forever and was still with us to show us the right way and to tell the politicians what they ought to do rather than what they do? Couldn’t he have done that?
“And if he didn’t have to die, I don’t see why I have to take on these ashes and try to put away some sins with God’s help. Can’t God just save me the way I am? Why do I have to be better and be what God wants me to be? What does that have to do with anything? I’m good enough to be saved just as I am. I helped out when they needed it down at the church. And I used to visit old Mr. Johnson when he was so sick and so bitter. I made my pledge, too. Isn’t that enough? Why do I have to put on these ashes? And trudge through Lent like so much slush as though it were a special season?
“I’ll put them on, though. Wouldn’t be Ash Wednesday without them. Maybe in time I’ll understand those things I don’t understand now.”
Whoever has that voice, and all the rest of us, too, need all the help we can get.
In Christ’s Name. Amen.
