Catholic Trends
February Catholic Trends

by Pastor Allan E. Johnson

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." We begin Lent marked with the ashes of past gladness. Palm Sunday hosannas grown withered and dry, the songs all silent, burnt to gritty dust, telling a tale of death. Like the ashes which stale sins have left; or the ashes of dreams, of youth, of hopes withered and faded like dry leaves. But in the mystery of God, the ashes of our past bear the mark of Christ. We share his death; and we shall share the promise of his resurrection.

Lenten ashes, Lenten discipline, remind us that what we have been must pass. Through these weeks, in our hearts we will go with Christ toward Calvary; remembering that it is our hearts, our hurts, which drove him there. What we are, comes to an end. What is sin in us must die, with no reprieve. But in these days of Lenten spring as the waters wake, we remember also the gift of God in baptism which will yet wash all ashes clean. We are in Christ. We go with him toward Calvary; and to a sunrise beyond. In his death is a new beginning. We who were ashes, dust, now we are children of God.

As for ourselves, so also perhaps for our communities. Our congregations, our divisions, separate loyalties, these too are marked by ashes of our sins. But perhaps also by the cross, toward something new. There was a time we thought we could go alone. When neighboring congregations, neighbor communities of faith, seemed strangers. When our hosannas rose only on separate streets, our songs in separate melodies. But God made us for his love; and made us to bear that love toward each other. So God surprises us. Storm winds which hurl down memories also bring new friends. Changing towns, changing families, bring us to face each other and find partners in Christ Jesus. The waters of Lenten spring remind us that we are baptized into one faith, one family of Christ. When we find, in the mystery of God, that we can no longer stand alone – and reach out, to find another’s hand is there – then perhaps the ashes of our separation and of the sin which has divided us take on the shape of blessing.

So we look for new beginnings. We need each other; because together we need Christ. And as we find our separate pride and self-sufficiency grown silent, burnt to ashes, God grant we may find ourselves together marked by God for partnership. Bearing the cross.

As Lent moves on, toward Calvary and then toward Easter trumpets, may God grant us all a nearer vision of the new life which is ours in Christ; and may that vision draw us toward him, and in him toward each other.

Reverend Allan E. Johnson is pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church, Gibbon, MN, and is a member of the Ecumenical Committee for the Diocese of New Ulm.