"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust"

 from The Order for the Burial of the Dead, The Book of
Common Prayer, page 333

I am writing this on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, so tomorrow I will be in church to receive the ashes on my forehead and hear as I do so the injunction “Remember, O man, that thou art dust and unto dust shalt thou return.” That reminder of our mortality is based on God's statement to Adam in Genesis 3:19: "...for dust you are and to dust you shall return." The reason that God says to Adam “dust you are” is found in Genesis 2. You see, there are two different ststements about the creation of humanity in the Book of Genesis, The more familiar one is in the Genesis 1 as part of the “Seven Days of Creation” story in which God creates all things by the power of His Word alone, but the second story in Genesis 2:7 is different: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

By the way, do not assume that the ancient Jews and early Christians were troubled by the fact that there were these two different stories. Unlike modern Biblical literalists, they were intellectually sophisticated enough to realize that while some of Scripture was written to record actual events. other parts of it were written as what might well be described as “theological narrative,” their purpose being to demonstrate some truth about God and His relationship to the world and its people.

So Genesis 2:7 explains the “dust to dust” language, but what about the “ashes to ashes” part? Where did that come from? It too is Biblical. The Old Testament has many references to ashes as a symbol of extreme grief, shame, repentance, or humility. It also offers us numerous examples, beginning in the Book of Genesis, of the use of dust and ashes together.

Perhaps the most poetic of these is in chapter 42 of the Book of Job. Job had questioned the goodness and justice of God, after which God had appeared to him asking him questions which led Job to accept both that his human mind was inadequate to truly understand those things and also that God was indeed truly good, gracious and just. Job is stricken with remorse for having in essence accused God of being less than He is. Here's the opening of Chapter 42:

Then Job answered the Lord, and said,

“I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Ash Wednesday and all of Lent seem to carry a double focus. It is clearly and certainly a penitential season, a period in which we are urged to examine our consciences and the state of our souls with the purpose of recognizing how we have fallen short of the perfection which God desires for us and of striving to overcome our sinful nature. But it is also a period in which we are called to confront our own mortality, to realize that our time on earth is limited, that each day comes but once, and that one day will be our last.

But the idea that it is a double focus is actually not true. Behind both our knowledge of our sinful failures to truly follow Christ perfectly and our recognition of the fact that we all must die lies a single great truth, and it is this: we are utterly and completely dependent upon God for any hope of having lives of lasting meaning, virtue, and purpose. Sin and death are the two great enemies of human peace and happiness. During Lent we face the fact that we are vulnerable to both. We also recognize that both of those enemies, powerful though they are, have been overcome for us by Christ's sacrifice upon the Cross.

The history of Christianity is riddled with misinterpretations and misrepresentations of the Gospel. Some were honest mistakes, some were outright attempts to support some social or political agenda. Some were put forward to enrich or empower those who spread them. They have ranged from harshly judgmental to mawkishly sentimental and from self-indulgent to grimly puritanical.

The New Testament book of Jude, which is in my opinion much under-valued today, shows that this was a problem that plagued the Church from its earliest days. The author tells the faithful that “you should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” by resisting attempts to introduce false doctrines. One of the striking aspects of the book is that its call to resist false doctrine is addressed not just to theologians or recognized leaders of the Church but to all Christians. The author tells the faithful that “you should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” by “building up yourselves on your most holy faith” by prayer, which would enable them to “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (Job 1:20-21)

Although the Book of Job was of course not written with specific reference to Lent, it nevertheless seems to me to be relevant to it and to provide a useful corrective to two common misunderstandings of how and why to best keep the season. Firstly, Lent is too often seen as primarily an individual effort at self-improvement through discipline and self-denial, but Job reminds us that we are not merely discrete individuals but also “very members incorporate” in the body of Christ, which is the Church. Our Lenten observance is not merely an effort to improve the state of our souls for our own sakes alone; it is also a task undertaken for the purpose of building up the strength of the Church. We are like soldiers in training who add to both their own strength and the strength of the army of which they are a part by improving their abilities and endurance. It is of course good to keep Lent well and seriously as a way to make ourselves better, but we keep it far better when we intentionally do so as a way to be better equipped and prepared to serve God in Jesus' name.

Secondly, it is important to remember that we are not undertaking to keep Lent as a trial of our own unaided will. In our life-long struggles against the trials and temptations of life we are never truly alone, for the Holy Spirit is always working within us to guide, guard, assist, and protect us as we grow nearer to God in Jesus Christ.

-- Father Bragg +

All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee
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SERVICES & EVENTS

This Saturday, February 21, 9:00 AM, DMAS Women's Retreat, Church of the Ascension, 13941 Braddock Road, Centreville, VA 

Sunday, 9:00 AM, Morning Prayer & 11:15 AM, Holy Communion, for online participation go to https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland (7:45 AM service has been suspended)

Vestry Meeting, Monday  February 23, 7:30 PM 

No Discussion of the Saints this Monday, will return Monday, March 2,7:30 PM, undercroft, with Fr. Bragg, all are invited even if you have not been to prior discussions. For online participation go to https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland

Every Friday during Lent, 7:00 PM Stations of the Cross and Lenten Suppers – and every Friday during Lent.  If you can provide a soup and bread supper on one of these Friday evenings, please so indicate on the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the undercroft.

DMAS Lenten Retreat: "Blessed at the Cross", Saturday, March 7, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, St. Alban’s Anglican Church, Richmond, VA, $25 cost that includes light breakfast, lunch, and all retreat materials. For more information and to register go to www.dmas-acc.org
 
MaRiH Crisis Pregnancy Center: Critical Needs & More Updated
Thank you for your help. Instead of presenting the whole list of needs, we are emphasizing the critical needs that MaRiH Center has and listing some other needs. The critical needs list below has been updated:
Diapers, sizes 5 and 6
Winter coats (Boys & Girls), size 2T 
Winter clothing, sizes 3- 6 months and 2T 
Wipes
Baby Blankets
Baby formula: Similac Advance Formula
Bibs: toddler
Lovies, rattles, teethers
Other needs:
Diapers, newborn, 1, 2, 3, 4
Fall/Winter Clothing, 6-9 month, 9-12 month, 12 month-18 month, 18-24 month
Bibs, infant
Winter Coats, all baby sizes
Maternity clothes
Diaper rash ointment
There are two options for helping the Center with these needs! 
 
Option 1 
Amazon has all the specific items needed. You can order the specific item(s) and have them delivered directly to the Center.  

The MaRiH Center
3230B Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-4521
703-370-4774

Option 2 
Go to your local store, purchase the items requested and drop them off at church on Sunday. We will deliver them to the MaRIH Center.
 
Food Bank Needs
 
With the cold weather here the food bank has more folks who need food. Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Those we help feed are very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar). Also lower sodium products are better and more healthy.

Current needs include the following:
canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
peanut butter
jelly
tuna
canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
individual fruit cups (low sugar)
canned fruit (low sugar)
canola or vegetable oil (48 oz)
boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
pasta (regular and gluten-free):
instant potatoes
single serving fruit juice
macaroni & cheese
soups: Chunky or Progresso,noodle soup; chicken broth, cream of mushroom
coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar
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