Finding Faith ... in being made of dust

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Feb. 16, 2021. This was the 39th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.

This week's preaching text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Concerning Almsgiving

6 “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Prayer

5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Fasting

16 “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Treasures

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Message:

Tonight, Faith Family, whether you're part of the team here in the sanctuary, or at home, or maybe you're even in a car sitting outside the church listening to us , tonight as we begin Ash Wednesday service, I would invite you to take with me a very deep breath and then let it slowly blow out. ... And in the pause of that deep breath, in the pause of that very sound of "Yahweh," I hope that it reminded you that I am dust and to dust I shall return.

Faith Family, it is in that very simple admission that we as followers of Jesus Christ find our foundation. Because, after all, God loved us so much that he came to earth in the form of an earthly man, an earthly man made of dust. And if being made of dust only to return to dust was good enough for Jesus Christ, our savior. ... Then this Ash Wednesday should be a very poignant reminder to us that "being" is enough.

This year, after this very difficult year, that we've all experienced together, there couldn't be a more important reminder than this one, simple truth that binds all of us together: Each and every single person born is made of that very same dust that our Creator used to make the entire universe. And each and every single one of us will return to that very same dust.

How humbling of a thought that is, Faith Family? ... Whether we are rich or poor. Whether we are a farmer or a rural dweller versus a city dweller. Whether we are liberal or conservative. No matter the earthly differences that separate us on a daily basis, we all, each and every one of us find common ground in the fact that we are born of our cosmic Creator's dust.

That very same dust that makes every one of us broken. That very same dust that makes every one of us sinners. That very same dust that makes each of us in need of our Father's bread, that daily bread that we need to survive.

Faith Family, I do not know what burdens you as you come into service tonight. What it is that you might feel that you are obligatory chasing or that you might be running away from. Or on this night what might make you weary. ... But Ash Wednesday is an invitation to you, each and every one of us, to lay all of that at Christ's feet.

Ash Wednesday is a reminder that little, ol' you is enough. You, the one made of dust and the one who will return to dust, is simply enough. And we know we are enough because we are unified in Christ through that very same dust. We are unified through the fact that Christ took on an earthly form and also knows what it is to live a life of dust.

Faith Family, we all need God's grace. We all need God's forgiveness and deliverance from evil. And we all need God's redemption. And so I find it very appropriate, and I find it very good, that tonight all of us together whether here in the sanctuary, or at home watching, or later in a recorded video, or if you're sitting outside in a car anticipating communion, I find it

very good that we all together to hear that very simple message: That we are dust and to dust we shall return. ... And in that message we are united in Christ.

And that is the Good News, Faith Family, for this Ash Wednesday, 2021. ... Amen.