Dear Rose Park,
Have you ever heard the phrase “every poet is a thief”? It essentially means that thoughts, ideas, words, etc. are rarely original; but rather stolen and modified from something else. Rarely, do we reinvent the wheel; perhaps we tweak or repair the wheel but more often than not we are merely adding on to the work of those who did it before us. These letters I write are a great example; I am not reinventing the wheel through these letters. In fact, most of the inspiration for these letters comes from you all. As I’m visiting with you over coffee, saying a prayer with you in the hospital, crossing paths with you at the gas station, or even waving to you while on a run I am inspired by your thoughts, ideas, and words.
Such is the same for our lives in relation to Scripture. Our words and actions are not divine or biblical acts by themselves, rather they are echoes of what was once done. Primarily, and hopefully, our words and actions are echoes of what Christ did. For example, it’s our hope we can turn the other cheek just as Christ did some two-thousand years ago. It’s our hope we can love the unlovable and care for the widow, orphan, and poor just as Christ did some two-thousand years ago. And it’s our hope we can love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves just as Christ did some two-thousand years ago.
On this Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of our morality. In light of this beautiful and challenging Christian holiday it seems painfully ironic to remind us of our mortality when we are living in a season that abrasively reminds us of it on a daily basis. We don’t have to look too far in our local newspaper or flip too many channels on our televisions to find stories involving loss of life: the death toll rising from Covid-19, children dying of hunger across our nation, victims of senseless crimes losing their lives daily, and families losing loved ones to natural disasters around the globe. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us of our dependency on God and our need for a savior; they also offer a lens in which we can reorient our view around the human life.
Let us be reminded that from dust we were created and to dust we shall return (Genesis 3:19), but let us also be reminded that we are not guaranteed a certain amount of days, months, or even years before we return to dust. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us of our calling to love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself with whatever time we are given. We do not need to reinvent the wheel in our loving of God or neighbor either; we simply echo the words, prayers, thoughts, and actions modeled for us in Scripture, shown to us in the rich history of our denomination, and explained to us through the worship of the Church.
Because let’s remember…every poet is a thief.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark