Monthly Message | March

Grace and peace to you friends.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Those words are heard and spoken across churches each Ash Wednesday as many have dark ashes pressed to their foreheads in the sign of the cross. They are words God first spoke to Adam after Adam and Eve had sinned against God for the first time (Genesis 3:19).

We hear of ashes again at funerals when someone is commended to God, a pastor may say, “… earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

In a sense, those sobering words that we are dust, and to dust we shall return kick off the season of Lent, which begins March 5 this year with Ash Wednesday. It is a season that is one where we are invited to contemplate more about repentance, about our mortality, and about how we completely need Jesus. We need Jesus for everything.

For a little less than two months that cover the season of Lent, we can feel the weight of the cross — or rather, we can feel the weight of the reason for the cross; the reason for Jesus’s death on the cross, which showed God’s glory. Human sin, our sin, put Jesus on the cross.

The hope-filled part of Lent, and of our lives, is that while we can feel the weight of sin, the weight of the cross, and the sadness of death, we know where Lent and our lives lead to — resurrection and new life. When those words “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” are said, the first part of that sentence is, “In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ ….” We can have faith that Jesus, God in the flesh, defeated what put him on the cross — he defeated sin and death.

This Lent offers an invitation for you, your family, your friends to yes, feel the weight of the season; to contemplate more about repentance; be reminded of God’s glory shown in Jesus and give thanks to God; and be reminded of the sheer need for Jesus in our lives and the complete love he has for you.

This Lent offers additional opportunities to spend time in worship and prayer beyond Sunday mornings. It includes midweek worship at 6:30pm Wednesdays on Zoom and Facebook Live, with services for this year centered on lament. St. Mark also is part of the Nittany Valley Fellowship, which holds Sunday evening worship during Lent at a different church each week.

Lent may begin with those words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and we carry those words with us even after we wash away the ashes on our foreheads. But during Lent and during each day of our lives, also remember that you are a beloved child of God’s, and with God you always belong.

Go in peace. Live in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

Pastor David