Beauty and Brokenness - An Ash Wednesday Homily

Good evening again. It is so good to be with you on this Ash Wednesday.

So as some of you may know, before moving to Cincinnati, I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 3 ½ years. When I first moved there, I tried to explore this region as much as possible, to get to know my new home. Well, one of the places that I discovered pretty early on was the California Academy of Sciences.

Now, some of you may not know this about me, but back in the day when I had other plans for my life, I majored in Biology in college and even though God has since taken me on a very different journey in life, I have never ceased loving science.  Thus, I was very excited during my first visit to the Academy.  Also, interestingly enough, I was in a particularly contemplative mood on that occasion.  

And so as I walked through the Academy that first time, I found myself reflecting on the beauty and creativity all around me – whether it was the impressive architecture, the 3D films, the earthquake simulator, or the beautiful spaces that were cultivated and cared for that served as homes for plants and animals – the Academy was a sight to behold.  And as I reflected on all that saw, I was left with one particular impression that day, and that was when men and women put their minds, creativity, ingenuity, and their desire for beauty together, they can really accomplish some amazing things. 

The Academy was a clear example of this.  Men and women with knowledge of ecology, geology, architecture, engineering, art, film, design, and much more used their knowledge and their abilities to make this place possible.  How cool was that.  This was a great example of human collaboration and humans living into their true calling. As ones created in the image of God, all humans are to be co-creators and co-artists with God, working together to create beauty and meaning in the world.  As I walked around the Academy, I saw this truth being played out, and I had this profound moment of being really proud to be a human being.  Humans can be profoundly creative and good.  

What a wonderful truth to reflect on that day, and I would have continued with that reflection, however, unfortunately, my day took an unexpected turn.  

Little did I know, as I was enjoying my time inside the Academy, someone was outside demonstrating that there is a very different side of human beings.  Someone was breaking into my car.  So when I went to my car at the end of the day, I found an unfortunate sight.  A window was missing and shards of glass were everywhere. 

I cleared out some of the glass as best as I could, and started my trek home, and of course, would you know it, it started to pour down rain.  As I drove down the highway that afternoon, water continually splashed into my car through my window – at one point, there was even an entire wave of water that came over and into my car as the car beside me came to stop.  And as you can imagine, my reflections on humanity took a different turn for the day.  Now, my main thought was that humanity can be so profoundly bad. 

When I got home that evening, my housemate and I started the process of cleaning out the car, and as I did that, I decided to keep some of the remaining glass. While that might seem strange, I kept it because actually, it was quite pretty.   You see as the glass shattered, the patterns that developed were quite fascinating.  Moreover, now that it was broken, it became more clear to me that the glass was actually a lovely greenish-blue tint, which I had not previously noticed.  In fact, the glass was the exact color I chose all the time for the pillows, blankets, and decorations in my house.  

So I thought, I am going to redeem this unfortunate event by keeping some of the glass and using it as embellishment for my potted plants.   I still have a few pieces left, although most of them did not fair well going cross country.  I also have this life-sized picture, which shows how the glass fragmented.

Yes, perhaps I am a little weird for keeping this glass.  But, I found that this glass did not just provide a random decoration for me, , but this glass also served as a daily reminder to me of the human condition, of my condition. 

As pretty as that glass was, this glass could no longer be used for the purpose for which it was created.  Moreover, if I was not extremely careful, the sharp edges and shards of glass would cut me.  To me, this was the perfect picture of the state of human beings and our relationships with God and each other.  

For on one hand, this glass had a beautiful quality to it, which reminded me of the beauty that resides in all human beings.  We after all have been created in the image of God.  My original reflection at the Academy was true.  At the Creation, God created man and woman and He pronounced them good.  

And you know what, we can take this even further – for God did not just pronounce man and woman good, He also pronounced them beautiful. According to the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Old Testament, God pronounced the creation to be kalos – kalos is a greek word derived from the verb “to call” which means beautiful.  So there is this sense that when God brought us and all creation into existence, He began to call out goodness and beauty from us, and when he created human beings, he also gave us the ability to create good and beautiful things.  

Yet, sadly, that is not the only reality about us.  On the other hand, just like the glass that once formed my car window, we are also all now broken because of the sins of others and because of our own sins.  The harmony that God intended for us when he created the world has been shattered.  And, like the broken glass from my car window, all of us now have rough edges, which when they rub up beside one another, sometime cause cuts and bruises, and yes even deep wounds.  And like the glass from my car window, all of us find that the purposes for which God created us are frustrated to one degree or another.

If you recall back to the story of the Fall of humankind, which is found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 3, you will remember that as soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the immediate result was they hid from God, they felt shame, they blamed one another, and their relationships with each other and the earth became strained and dysfunctional.  Unfortunately, these patterns of relatedness have continued ever since.

In many ways, it is very grim picture, and it doesn’t take much looking around the world today to see this dysfunction.  We see it with the racism in our country, the persecution of Christians around the world, the presence of violence in its many forms around the globe, and the inadequate food, housing, and sanitation for large swathes of humanity.  We also see it in the growing individualism, isolation, and resulting loneliness in our own culture.  We see it in our own personal broken relationships.  

Friends, God created us for abundant life, for beauty, and yet we see death everywhere – whether that is the literal departing from this life on earth or the slow emotional, spiritual, and relational deaths that so many people experience on a daily basis.

And this friends, is why we come together on Ash Wednesday.  We come together not to entirely forget about the beauty that remains in us, or our ability to create beautiful things, but we come together to be necessarily reminded of the sin that resides in each one of us that contributes to the dismantling of beauty in our world and leads to the brokenness we find all around us. 

On this night, we are reminded of our sinful nature and also of our impending death, a death that we are all powerless to prevent.  A death that comes because “the wages of sin are death.”  None of us can escape it.  This is why we place ashes on our foreheads on this night, to remind us that “all are from dust and to dust all return.”  We will all die.

Thus, on this night and carrying on throughout the season of Lent, we gather to take a deep, hard look at ourselves, letting Christ’s light reveal to us those dark places in our hearts and taking responsibility for the ways we contribute to death and brokenness in this world.  

The point during this night and entire season is really to look inward.  It is not to point our fingers out there, in other words, at those sinful people, you know the ones who really cause problems in this world.  Yes, friends, there is injustice in this world for which we are not personally responsible, and yes, we must speak out about this injustice.  Still, during this season, the point is really to ask “How am I the problem?”

There is no escaping the fact that this service is not particularly cheerful or necessarily even the most comfortable service for us, and in fact, along with Good Friday, Ash Wednesday is one of the two most solemn days in all of the Christian calendar.  

And yet, friends, it is important that we gather on this night, for it is the proper starting place for this Lenten season as we journey towards the Cross of Christ and take up our own crosses.  And the good news is that even on this most solemn night, there is a message of hope.  After all, the Christian message is all about hope.

In a few minutes, we will be marked by ashes on our foreheads to remind us of our impending deaths and of the sorrow and mourning associated with those deaths.  Depressing, but here is the cool thing.  When we put the ashes on everyone’s foreheads, we will do that in the sign of the cross, which alters the starkness of our deaths.

Yes, friends we will all die, but we as Christians will all die in Christ, which absolutely transforms the nature of our deaths.  We can therefore walk through the brokenness of this world and ourselves, and even the shadow of death without shame or fear because we know at the end of days, we will find ourselves at the great resurrection feast of the Lamb of God.  

Death and sin do not after all have the last word.  Jesus’ death and resurrection have the last word – and that word is that the Father loves us deeply, so much so that Christ died on the cross to forgive us of our sins and to make us right with Him.  The Father loves us so deeply that He gave us the Holy Spirit so that we may see our sin and be changed slowly but surely through His power – our Lenten sermon series at the Mission, in fact, will focus on this truth.  The Father also loves us so deeply that at the last day, He will make all things right in ourselves and in all of creation.

So thus, even on this very solemn occasion, we already look forward to the triumph of the Resurrection and the joys of the New Heavens and New Earth.  As such, we can approach these forty days of Lent without fear, trepidation, or pressure to look pious to God or others.  We can be real about ourselves before God and others because we know that God loves us and is in the process of making all things new.  Just as in the beginning, when God first created the world and humanity, God is in the process of creating things anew, of again calling out beauty from each one of us, and if we allow it, Lent can be a special time to allow God to do this in a profound way.  Friends, God is truly able to mend our broken pieces and to use them for good. God is truly able to turn our ashes into beauty.

Welcome to the Holy Season of Lent. May it be a true blessing to all of us. Amen.