Today is known as Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40-day journey of Lent (46 if you include the Sundays). During the season of Lent, we learn more about the ministry of Jesus while he walked this earth, while, at the same time, we are invited to intentionally adopt disciplines that draw us closer to God. As we adopt these spiritual disciplines, we orient our lives in such a way that we begin living our lives more like Jesus – serving and loving those around us. Therefore, Ash Wednesday has the focus of confession, forgiveness, and repentance as the first steps of drawing us closer to God and beginning this journey.
Psalm 51:1-17 is a wonderful song/poem, where the author, King David, conveys the tension of both acknowledging our sin and yet seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness:
1Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion! 2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin! 3 Because I know my wrongdoings, my sin is always right in front of me. 4 I’ve sinned against you—you alone. I’ve committed evil in your sight. That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict, completely correct when you issue your judgment. 5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space. 7 Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more. 9 Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds! 10 Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! 11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.12 Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways, and sinners will come back to you. 14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.16 You don’t want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering, you wouldn’t be pleased. 17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
One of the things that stands out to me while reading this passage is how abundantly clear David is about who he is and who God is. In particular, David has an acute awareness of his sinfulness and what the consequences of his sin have done to his spirit, to his relationship with God, and to his relationship with others. David is aware of his brokenness while at the same time knows that God is a mender and a healer.
Note that David doesn’t mention God’s wrath or anger to be the deciding factors in his turning toward God. Instead, the author understands God’s character of “…faithful love…[and] great compassion.” (v. 1) God’s faithful love and great compassion are what compels David to turn away from sin and turn toward God.
As a result, David’s vulnerable confession is an invitation for God to act out God’s character; to mend the brokenness in his life and create in him a clean heart as well as a new, faithful spirit. (v. 10) The author continues by drawing on the positives that are yet to come as the healing power of God’s faithful love and great compassion take root in his life: joyful salvation, a willing spirit, outreach, deliverance, openness, praise, and proclamation!
And so, as we begin this season of Lent on this Ash Wednesday, may God grant us the grace to clearly see the ways in which we have sinned, offer our broken spirits, and receive God’s forgiveness and healing by His faithful love and great compassion through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tyler
You can learn more about the Season of Lent by going to our website at www.mountainparkumc.org/lent
Discipleship Guide
This week, you are invited to re-read Psalm 51:1-17 daily and consider the following reflection questions:
THURSDAY (2/18)
Spend time in prayer asking yourself: What is the Holy Spirit revealing to you as you re-read this passage?
FRIDAY (2/19)
Spend time in prayer asking yourself: How does fear or guilt prevent you from being vulnerable with God? (cf. Psalm 51:2)
SATURDAY (2/20)
Spend time in prayer asking yourself: What sin is God gently and gracefully calling you to name, confront, and repent from? (cf. Psalm 51:3-5)
SUNDAY (2/21)
Spend time in prayer asking yourself: What does a clean heart look like for you? (cf. Psalm 51:10)
MONDAY (2/22)
Spend time in prayer asking yourself: How does God’s faithful love and great compassion draw you closer into God’s presence? (cf. Psalm 51:1, 11)
TUESDAY (2/23)
Spend time in prayer: Ask God to fill you with the joy of your salvation and to provide a willing spirit this day, the days throughout the remainder of Lent, and beyond.
Typically, on Ash Wednesday, as a sign of remembering our sinfulness in light of Jesus’ redeeming love, we would receive an ashen cross marked on our foreheads with the following phrase spoken, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Repent, and believe in the Gospel. This year, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have two opportunities for observing Ash Wednesday: