2.18.24, "Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Genesis 9.8-17; 1 Peter 3.18-22

Good Morning and God’s Peace.

Welcome to the First Sunday of Lent … 

It began on Wednesday, Ash Wednesday!

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

here’s who I am, 

this is my life, 

here’s where it begins … here’s where it’ll end …

 and in between … a life - a life to live.

take hands with a neighbor, lift up the fallen, 

offer kindness and grace, go to bat for each other, 

speak truth to power, 

live in faith, hope, and love.

Ask plenty of questions.

Never be afraid of doubt.

Laugh when you can; cry when you must.

And never, ever, be afraid of love … it will take you to good places, even dangerous places, places where Christ lives.

Ash Wednesday … ashes to ashes, we all fall down.

Reality #1, we’re mortal to the core … 

When we’re young, life stretches out ahead as if it were forever … and then some time in our late 30s, early 40s, we begin to hear the clock tick … 

calendar pages pick up speed … 

time hastens on … 

we look at retirement and sign up for medicare.

insurance companies pester us to take care of our loved ones. and - “make those final arrangements” … 

Mortality… we don’t have to dwell on it, but maturity of character requires our awareness of it … honesty demands it … life needs it.

To help us value what’s important, straighten out our priorities … keep little things in check, so we can focus on the really big things, the things that count!

When Sally died, her children and grandchildren took up the task of disposing of her belongings … a house full of old furniture and nicknacks, doilies and books … in the attic, several large boxes, full of china - every piece carefully wrapped and tucked away - beautiful, expensive, china … apparently never used.

One of the grandchildren asked, “Why was this never used? What is it for? I never saw any of this on her table.”

One of the other children said, “She began collecting this as a young lady, and then throughout the years, kept adding to the collection … I think she was saving it for some special occasion.”

A special occasion that never came!

Ashes to ashes, we all fall down.

Reality #2 … sin … now that’s a word to get everyone excited … am I right???

Sin is a part of the story … tragedy, cruelty, selfishness, all curled up tight in our souls.

Sinners we are.

Has the church made too much of sin? I believe so … 

Some parts of the Christian church have devoted way too much time to sin.

Sin is fun to preach … damning a few souls to hell before breakfast has been the stock in trade for many a priest and preacher … whoopee doopee ding dang.

But ignoring sin doesn’t help either … we all know something about the darker side of life, for ourselves, for others … sin is a part of our reality.

Jesus said to the mob ready to stone a woman to death, Let the one without sin throw the first stone. 

I don’t know what sin is, exactly … but I know what it looks like:

A tree shattered by lightening … 

Life shattered, life torn apart, life broken … 

families torn apart … 

nations pitted against one another …

the soul at war with itself …

broken, bent, twisted and torn. 

Ashes to ashes, we all fall down.

Ash Wednesday helps us say the simple, but important words, “I’m sorry … 

I’m sorry for what I have done, for what I have said … I’m sorry for what I could’ve done, and didn’t … I’m sorry for what I should’ve said, but chose silence instead.

The road to life requires reality … 

We are mortal creatures, with only so much time.

We are sinners, always in the need of grace.

All religions deal with this … one way or the other … here we are, in this Christian place, a Presbyterian Church, and here’s a place, as good as any, and far better than some, to grow into the goodness and promise of life … to embrace our realities, understand their importance … the stuff of maturity.

And what is maturity? Mindful of the realities that hurt and harm, we set our minds upon the greater realities of goodness and mercy. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way:

“To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; 

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; 

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; 

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.”

Ash Wednesday - behind us - ahead of us now, the Lenten Road.

Come, and follow me says Jesus, one step at a time … on the Road to Jerusalem, 

to the heart of the matter, 

to confront the demonic powers … 

religion upside down, government harsh and cruel … 

religious leaders long on law and short on love … 

political leaders who know only the sword and the spear … 

and the people, always the people - who get lost in the shuffle, shoved to the side, ignored and even despised … the widow, the orphan, the stranger at the gate … so many who have no voice, but heaven hears their cry.

There is work to be done …

The immediate story ends on Good Friday … a crown of thorns, nails pounded into flesh and bone, a spear thrust into the ribs … three men executed that day, as enemies of the state … but God is the God of the Second Chance, the third and the fourth chance, the fifth and sixth, an infinite number of chances, moments, rewrites on the script, start-overs, mulligans on the golf course, and new days before us.

What looked like the end, wasn’t the end at all … there is always Easter … and a stone rolled away.

The gospel goes forth:

be not afraid … 

you are mortal … God’s love is eternal.

you are a sinner … God is merciful.

walk the Lenten Road … 

you’re with the LORD, and the LORD is with you.

Ashes to ashes, we all fall down … and the hand of Christ lifts us up to a better day … 

Dear friends,

Look for the sunshine behind the clouds.

Take note of a child’s smile.

Listen to the parrots squawking and screeching their way across the morning sky.

Remember your friends.

Give special attention to those who are hurting.

Be mindful of your loved ones, and tell them every day you love them.

Buy a new cookbook.

Take some art lessons.

Celebrate your goodness; appreciate your gifts.

Pay attention to the world, the good, the bad, and the ugly … stay the course: love God for all your worth, and for all your worth, love your neighbor!

It is the Lenten Road we travel …  

It is the Way of Christ we follow …

Hallelujah and Amen!

5.7.23 "Life: The End!" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Life Series: Part 2

Proverbs 4.10-18; Acts 7.55-60

It’s a terrible end for a good and decent man.

Stephen … chosen to be a Deacon … to care for the needy … the daily distribution of bread.

Then or now, people are hungry … 

Stephen is gifted for the work …

But it didn’t take long for some to challenge him … 

lies are told …

rumors are spread …

reputation questioned

anger stirred up … 

Stephen defends himself well … 

He speaks the gospel with intelligence … 

He doesn’t pull his punches … 

maybe he should have pulled his punches … 

maybe he should have eased up a bit … 

maybe he should have held his tongue …

The crowd heard enough, and they didn’t like any of it.

When a mob is ready, there is no convincing them otherwise.

They dragged Stephen outside of the city … they stoned him … 

So the end comes to Stephen … 

his mortal life undone …

his last breath taken … 

final words spoken:

forgiveness, 

mercy, 

LORD, do not hold this sin against them!

May such grace be ours at the end of the road.

Because the end of the road comes to all of us.

One way or the other.

Slowly it comes upon us, or in the blink of an eye.

Painful, or not.

My father died suddenly … at a Gideon’s meeting … after dinner, he and my mother were chatting with others, when suddenly, he fell backward … a friend said, “he puffed a few times,” and then was gone.

My mother died more slowly, and finally, in the hospital.

Death comes a-calling for all of us …

We’re mortal creatures.

Dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes.

The thought of mortality is disturbing … maybe for all of us, when we think about it … keen observers of the human story all agree - we spend a lot of time, and a lot of money, trying not to think about our death.

Early in my ministry, I spoke of death and dying, with a detached confidence, as only the young can do.

When I was young, death was more abstract than real; it was far removed … but time has pushed me along the road … my future is a lot shorter than my past - death is no longer quite so abstract … 

We begin to hear the clock ticking somewhere in our mid-30s, or a bit later, … 

When we’re children, time is timeless … 

the future stretches endlessly to some distant horizon - 

there’s alway time, and plenty of it … 

We’re in a hurry when we’re young - to hit our teen years … get that driver’s license, graduate, and so on … and then one day, we’d like time to move a bit more slowly … the days hurry on by, taking us to our singular destiny - the way of all flesh … as the Bible says, to sleep with our ancestors.

Death becomes the companion sitting silently in the living room of our mind.

We’ve been able to extend our lifespan well into our 70s and more … for that, we can be grateful … 

We outlive most of our ancestors for whom death was much more the constant companion … 

Our ancestors learned from the nearness of death …  

The poet John Donne:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee 

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; 

And soonest our best men with thee do go, 

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. 

One short sleep past, we wake eternally 

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. 

Death wasn’t easy for any of our ancestors - they felt deeply the loss of loved ones … they wept, they walked through the valley of darkness with bowed heads and broken hearts … they grieved as we do … death is what it always is - hard and sad and unrelenting.

Donna and I both have family genealogies.

Donna’s great grandfather in Sweden kept a marvelous diary, a diary of faith and sorrow; life in all of its ups and downs … 

My great great uncle wrote beautiful letters to his “dear wife, Elizabeth,” from the Civil War battlefield … 

Donna’s grandfather, my great great uncle, lived with death nearby … both spoke of Christ - who was just as near, always kind, and ever-loving … it wasn’t dogma … it was devotion … devotion to the things of God, with a sense of God’s devotion to them … their God was very large, and God’s promises were central to who they were, and what the future held.

My great great uncle assured his dear wife, that if he didn’t return home, he would see her in heaven. 

In the meantime, she wasn’t to worry about harvesting the potatoes - just do the best she could.

Our ancestors might well encourage us:

Remember the things of faith …  

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

The ancient creeds:

I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The Heidelberg Catechism … the first question:

What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

And the answer:

That I am not my own,
but belong—

body and soul,
in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

As it was for Stephen … perhaps it will be mine, as well, and yours, too - to see Jesus at the right hand of God, and the heavens opened up …

However it ends … it ends ... suddenly or slowly, painfully or easily … it ends …

I pray that I have lived well ... not always easily ... life has had some hard corners for me ... probably for you, too.

I've walked with a limp, as Calvin once put it ... 

In the end, little Tommy Eggebeen will be whisked off to the everlasting arms ... some will weep, but the world won't much notice ... time hurries on!

Perhaps I will hear the words of Jesus, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Jesus will likely add, "Well, Tommy, m’boy, you didn't always do it right, but come on in anyway, and we'll see what's next! 

Welcome home Tommy. Welcome home!”

Hallelujah and Amen!