A near death experience and Ash Wednesday

Last year in January I had a bad fall off the loading dock behind our Dining Hall.   If you hadn't heard about it, here is the link to my 2011 6 month summary.  (There is not much there except a picture of me with my stitches.  I chose not post the worst pictures)   Thankfully, I was not out for very long.  I, dazed and confused, called my wife who immediately took me to the hospital, where it was confirmed that I had suffered a mild concussion.  They gave me several stitches and I went home.   It could have been much worse.  I'm thankful to God for preserving my life and for the lessons that I consequently have learned.  For me, falling off the loading dock was a near death experience.

For Christians, Ash Wednesday is designed to be a similar reminder to the near death experience.   For most evangelical denominations this tradition is not often practiced.  Yet, the things of which Ash Wednesday is supposed to remind us are central to our active embracing of the gospel.

First, it is supposed to remind us our inevitable mortality.  Genesis 3:19 says  "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (ESV).  We are from the ground, and will return to it.  Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust.  When people step up to receive the ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, they are remembering that they are mortal and death inevitably comes to all of us until the return of Christ.

Second, Ash Wednesday should consequently call us to repentance.  Because death is inevitable, there is an ending point in which our actions will be called into question before God.  Each of us are doubly guilty before God because (a) we were born into a family of people at war with God, the family of Adam, and (b) we have persisted in actions contrary to God's will for humanity.  This puts all of humanity in a place of opposition to God.  Stepping up to receive those ashes reminds us that we must repent of our sin and turn to God.  We must surrender to the King-over-all-Kings.  His destroying army has not arrived yet, and we have been given the opportunity to turn and defect.  We have been given advance warning.  Now is the time to repent, because death is coming.

Third, Ash Wednesday should push us towards Good Friday.  Our repentance is not simply a call to do more good works, but it is a push to embrace the one way of salvation which is gained through the cross of Christ.  Jesus died to rescue us, his enemy, and make us part of his people.  Death is coming, and the only way of salvation is Jesus.

Fourth, Ash Wednesday should push us toward Easter.  While death is coming inevitably, it is not the end for those who have been united to Christ, to those who have pledged their allegiance to Jesus.  Being linked to Jesus means that we are not just buried with him in his death, but we are also raised with him to life in the resurrection.  The resurrection is the key to our being born into a different family and becoming citizens of a new kingdom.  When Jesus rose from the dead, he inaugurated a kingdom whose inevitability is life, not death.  Ash Wednesday pushes us to long for Easter, where life is granted to all those who trust in Jesus.

The Center of the Universe

This morning I read from Psalm 50. Verses 7-15 are some of my favorite of the Psalms. In them God rebukes the Israelites for something they had been doing wrong in their sacrifices. It was not because they were holding sacrifices from him and were greedy like it may have been other places in the Old Testament. Here it says that “your burnt offerings are continually before me.” They had been giving plenty! 


The real problem with their sacrifices was that they were treating God as someone dependent upon them. They thought that God was essentially eating these sacrifices, and perhaps needed them to survive. 


How does God respond to this preposterous assumption? He says essentially, “Look, I own EVERYTHING!! If I were hungry, I would not come to YOU.” [emphasis added] Then he tells them what he wants them to do. He says, be thankful and do what you promised me; and when trouble comes, “call upon ME and I will deliver YOU and YOU shall glorify ME.” [emphasis added] 


The point is that they had made themselves the benefactor in this God-man relationship. They had come to believe that they were the givers, and God was the receiver. This is the essence of pride, to assume that God needs man, and not the other way around. It starts with a misconception about the nature of God and an exalted understanding of man. This misunderstanding taints all the ‘good‘ actions the Israelites had been doing. All their worship had been in vain because it ultimately made themselves the center, and not God. This should be challenging to us. It should cause us to ask some difficult questions. 


The tendency to place ourselves at the center of the universe, I believe is the most common mistake among Christians of this century, and perhaps of all time. You can attend Church every week, sign an evangelical doctrinal statement, believe the Bible is true, love the poor, be a good father or mother, be a follower of Jesus, and still get this wrong. We should all ask ourselves if our worldview places God at its starting point. Does God need us to love him, to worship him, to give him money? If not, then why do we do it? 


 To be clear I absolutely affirm that loving God, worshiping him, caring for the poor and giving money are things we should do. But we don’t do it because God’s work will fail if we don’t, or that God will be lonely if we don’t love him. No, we do these things because WE GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT. God is endlessly rich, fulfilled, and happy. He needs nothing, including us. 


 In actuality our existence is a result of his desire to be the giver. He desires to give us HIS VERY OWN inter-trinitarian satisfaction, love, knowledge, wealth, and happiness to us. God is overflowing with everything we need and is eager to give it to us. We worship God TO RECIEVE! Again, to be clear, do not mistake what I am saying for a health, wealth gospel which places material objects at the center of our worship. 


How is this not self-centered on our part? The things which God gives magnify/glorify/make known the One who gives them AND they are the things which we truly want the most. We get something INCREDIBLE, and God, the giver, is demonstrated and shown to be the all-superior and good Being. This is why the message of the gospel glorifies him so much. God’s granting of mercy highlights our weakness and his greatness... AND we get something out of this relationship, namely we get rescued! He rescues, we are recipients of his rescuing, and this glorifies him. It demonstrates his endless worthiness of receiving worship and honor. It shows that he is strong and we are weak AND we get something incredible. God is the giver, we are eternal receivers.

Cuddle bugs

My current morning routine is to get up around 5:30am and go into my office to study and read for my seminary course.  About the time, I get back (around 7:30am) my three girls are usually up and awake.   Whoever wakes up first usually asks for some milk and then wants to cuddle with Mom.  After one wakes up, the other shortly follows ... and wants to cuddle with Mom.    I love my family.

A video about solitude

I saw this video on Mike King's Blog titled "How to be Alone."  Solitude has so many benefits as a spiritual discipline, here are some of the intangibles set to a performed poem.  I hope you enjoy it and that it encourages you not to be afraid when you're alone, but to embrace all that being alone can offer.