reflections on the ashes

This morning I met with the senior guys as usual.  We read through Isaiah 58.  This scripture takes us through the routine of ritual.  The people say that they were honoring God with their fasting and other ritualistic behaviors but they never had a change of heart.  Rituals are nothing but pomp and circumstances if it isn't intimately connected to a changed mind, pure heart and faithful actions.  The scripture goes on to encourage those people to begin to change their attitude and not just blindly walk through the steps of repentance.  How can steps of repentance honor God without a heart of repentance as well?  It can't both must be present followed by change.  I love how the scripture ends: "Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes."  I can't read "restorer" without thinking about the "next Christians" book that calls us to be restorers of God's creation.  To bring things back to the way they were created to be "good".  


So today as I think about the journey that we are beginning I connect this scripture to the fact that God sent us Christ to be the restorer of all things.  His design was to begin to set things back the way that He had created them to be.  Christ the ultimate restorer of our lives, relationships, hope and all of creation.  Honoring him by having the imposition of ashes on our heads but imprinted on our hearts.  These 40 days are about more than ashes.  They are about the light from which the ashes come, of which we are all children.  We have an opportunity to honor God by fanning that light into a glorious flame.


Create in me a clean heart, O God,...take not your holy Spirit from me. - Psalm 51:10