107 Concord Road, Wayland Massachusetts 01778

Ash Wednesday services at 9:30 am and 7:30 pm will be simple, spoken communion services.

You will hear the invitation to Lent and be invited to write down your own Lenten discipline(s). In an earlier email I suggested that you should look at these disciplines broadly. Whatever your personal Lenten discipline I hope that in the six weeks of Lent you will make a special effort to let your life be fed by the word and sacrament worship offered to you on Sunday morning, at Peace, or at some other church if you are traveling. The discipline of Sunday morning worship is the food and water of life for the Christian heart.

A ritual of Ash Wednesday is the imposition of ashes on our foreheads. The ashes are from last year’s palm branches. Imposed on your skin and skulls, the ashes are not an ancient ritual or a Catholic ritual (as some have told me over the years). Ashes on our foreheads remind each of us that we, along with every living thing around us, will die. The ashes remind us of the fleeting nature of our troubles and triumphs. The ashes remind us of the grace of Jesus Christ that follows us into the ashes of this mortal life. In the ashes, so to speak, is the most profound proclamation of the Christian gospel.

Ash Wednesday is the day of the great confession. In it we claim who we are. There is a great freedom and release in confessing who we are. In the Christian order of things, forgiveness follows confession.

Following the confession of Ash Wednesday comes a time of amendment of life, which is Lent.

We can do better. We can be kinder and more patient people. We can be more committed in our observance of our faith. We can be more charitable in our assessment of others. We can make better use of our time and of our resources. Lent invites us to turn to a few amendments of our lives.

Ash Wednesday is a day of foolishness. The ashes make us self-conscious.

Ash Wednesday is a curious observance to a death-denying secular culture. It is a strange observance to much of the church today, especially to Protestants–and, ironically, to much of the church throughout the Christian centuries–in it’s denial of death and its twin denial of the earth.

Christians need not keep an Ash Wednesday observance, but the day stands on our calendar with an offering to remind us of the limits of life and of the unlimited love of God. The two are known together.

In you, O Lord, have a I taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame. Psalm 71:1

The Gospel for Sunday is Luke 4:21-30. Jesus is still in his hometown, but he’s turned the locals against him with some unexpected words. God’s grace and love are for the stranger and the foreigner, the enemy and the outcast. When Jesus says this, the people of the village make the judgment that he is not one of them, so they take him out to the place of execution outside of town and try to kill him. Another episode of this village scene will happen outside the holy city of Jerusalem. There the people, with some help from the authorities, succeed in killing Jesus. In both scenes the people murmur and shout that he’s not one of us. He doesn’t play by our tribal rules. He doesn’t run with the pack; he seems to be under some other authority; his ideas and his actions upset us.

The promises of God-as delivered by Jesus- are for the outcast, the foreigner, the lonely, the excluded, the prisoner, the broken-hearted etc.: not for them as well as for the powerful,the secure and the enfranchised, but for them, period. I believe that this is one of the main messages of Jesus. It’s hard to wrap our minds around it, let alone try to run a human organization (the church) with that as the principle of operation. But there it is, I believe.

Words of thanks to everyone who joined in the celebration of Epiphany on Sunday. A special word of appreciation to Mary Ann, Carol and Warren for working together at a number of tasks throughout the week, and when everyone else had gone home, to make the day a  success; to Kim Canning, the teachers, parents, and our wonderful kids, for presenting the Epiphany procession; to Stephanie and Veronica for creating the star; to all of you for working together on the potluck, for so willingly helping out before and after, and enjoying one another’s company. It felt to me like our congregation was in the zone as a family of faith on Sunday.

The nativity scene is complete on Sunday–the festival of the Epiphany-when the wisemen from the east arrive, late, of course. After all, they are wise men, and they think too much, take circuitous routes, take neat and detailed notes, They calculate and cogitate all the way to Bethlehem. (Recall that the shepherds dropped their staffs and ran when the angels announced Jesus’ birth.)

Jesus is not only a blessing to Israel, he is a light to the nations as well. Jesus is not only a blessing to the simple side of ourselves, the trusting, believing soul in each of us. He is a blessing to the skeptical, number-crunching, all-business side of ourselves as well. The wise men stand for people like us: the over-educated, over-scheduled, too-important types that we are, most of the time. Matthew tells us that the wisemen were overjoyed when they finally found Jesus. Then their spirits could rest. They bowed down and worshiped him, just as the shepherds did.

Epiphany has been loaded up with many meanings, shifting and evolving, over the years, in the Christian church east and west. This should not surprise us, since the characters of the wisemen are international, cross-cultural, and, as we like to say today, “diverse” and “inclusive”. We’ll hear about some of the traditions, customs and commemorations surrounding Epiphany on Sunday. Kim Canning will tell about some of the traditions of Epiphany from around the world, especially those involving children. Then our own children will help us “see” the wisemen, following the star, as we sing an Epiphany hymn.

In the relatively brief history of the Lutheran Church in the United States, Epiphany has been a season in which we emphasize world missions. Our ELCA has missionaries all around the world, serving people in the name of Jesus. Right after the service on Sunday we will ritualize this out-reaching part of the Christian message as we burn the Christmas greens. The light of Christ that warmed our hearts on Christmas Eve blazes out to the nations, and to the natural world, not with domination, new rules and commands (as it has so often done over the Christian centuries) but with deep humility and a spirit of service.

Remember that we will share a potluck lunch. Bring something to share. Kim has prepared an Epiphany activity for the children.