Today is Ash Wednesday, when we are reminded of our own mortality by wearing the mark of ashes on our forehead. It’s a solemn ceremony that ushers in the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday reminds me of the day that Ezra read to the Israelites who had returned from Babylon, the scriptures that they had neglected before they had gone into exile. The realization of the yawning gap between the people they had once been, and the people they had become, was overwhelming, and there was much weeping and distress. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

Lent, of course, is a fast, and not a feast, unless you think of the period as a deepening and a clarifying of our relationship with Christ. In that sense, Jesus is saying to us exactly what Nehemiah said to the people: Put aside your grief, fear,distress, and the church has put aside forty days of renewal and hope as we inch closer to the Resurrected One. Ash Wednesday is the opening to the path that reunites us with our God, and with the conscious knowledge of our unique relationship with Him, we have strength that comes from Him, a strength that is delivered in joy, even as we grow in our awareness of our own mortality.

Nehemiah’s message is a preview of the Gospel itself. It’s the announcement that though we are unable to rescue ourselves, and are dismayed at our own weaknesses, there is One who is capable and willing, and even desiring, to deliver strength to us, and the strength is wrapped in joy.

Christians have the advantage of knowing the end at the beginning of Lent: the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Nehemiah is delivering the message to his people, that, though they have seen a corner of the truth about their losses, God has declared them still to be His people, and in that there is nothing but joy.

Easter will be a great feast for us, us Lent is a movement toward that feast, with the growing reminder that the One we celebrate is our strength, and it is not a despairing strength, but a joyful one from the strength of Christ Himself. The Joy of the Lord is your strength.

Love in Him,

Prue

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day!