Shipboard Ash Wednesday

Many here may have arrived out of mere curiosity. Some have participated in this service for as long as they can remember. So why are we here on this Wednesday?

We come here in this place and time to mark ourselves in an overtly outer manner as Christians. This is the one time where we do this. Why do we mark ourselves in such a bold way when Jesus says, “beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them?” Does this practice violate what Jesus expects of us in the Sermon on the Mount?

I don’t think so, because of the motives involved in what we are doing here today. This isn’t in the same manner that the hypocrites of Jesus’ day showed off their fasting. This is only for one day, if that long, as most people will wash the ashes off at some point in the day. It will mark you as a believer in a world where believing isn’t always looked upon positively. It may mark you as odd, an outsider. It probably won’t bring you respect or fame. It may just end up getting you ridicule or weird looks.

But, it’s not to let the world know we are Christians. We are called to let the world know through our actions. It is placed on our foreheads as a reminder. We forget many things, for example that God is God and we are not. We forget we are sinners. We forget that we don’t really know what a fast is. We forget that we have tendencies that make us like the hypocrites in the Gospel passage from today. We forget that from dust we came and to dust we shall return. We need a physical mark that we feel as it is applied as our reminder.

In Jesus’ time, people would walk around in sackcloth (essentially a burlap sack) and put dust or ashes on their heads to show that they were either repenting from something or in mourning. And because they believed that sins could lead to suffering the two reasons for walking around with ashes on their bodies were very similar. They would let the world know they were turning away from something. They wanted to whole world to know their sins and pain.

But, Jesus came along and said that is not what God wanted. God wanted them to repent in a more private manner. If they are fasting they should put oil on their head and wash their face. The fast God chose is different from what humans choose when they fast. We want everyone to know we are fasting, Jesus proclaims that isn’t necessary because God already knows that you are fasting and the reason behind that fast.

So what is the fast that God chooses and what does that mean for us? God chooses a different kind of fast than we typically understand the word fast. We think it has to involve giving up something for the next 40 days. Actually, its more than 40 days because you get to break the fast every Sunday. We give up things like candy, meat, soda, caffeine, sweets, TV, facebook, etc. These things get so involved in our life that we think giving them up is so difficult that we offer that denial up to God as our fast during Lent. Others will take on extra duties and responsibilities as part of their Lenten discipline. Both of these are acceptable, but is that really what God chose as his fast?

In today’s reading, Isaiah speaks for God and describes the fast God chooses. It’s not what we might consider a fast by today’s standards and today’s culture. Isaiah asks if humbling yourself in sackcloth and ashes with your head down for the whole world to see is the fast God chooses. Because this fast only serves to make us have righteous justification for looking down on others who don’t do the same. Our fast should be lasting and mirror what God wants. That is why we mark ourselves to remember this fast.

Our fast should be one of destroying the bonds of injustice where we find them; lifting oppression anywhere we find it and setting people free. Sharing our bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless and poor into all aspects of our lives, including our homes. Clothing those who need basic articles of clothing. Isaiah says “if you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”

This fast is something that we can do as sailors. It’s hard to give up certain foods for 40 days while underway or working crazy hours. It’s hard to give up caffeine when coffee may be the only drink available. That kind of fast is setting you up for failure and the frustration that comes with it. It’s more like a New Year’s resolution rather than a spiritual discipline, which will change your life and mold you to be like Christ.

The fast God chooses is life changing, done in private and becomes natural. This fast lasts more than 40 days. This fast changes other people. This fast doesn’t require outward signs that you are fasting because when you participate in this fast, people can’t help but know that you are marked. These ashes remind us of this fast, the fast that God chose. The same fast that God asks you to choose today.