Ashes - you, me or us?

The church has a holy day coming up on February 25th; it’s called Ash Wednesday. It marks the first day of Lent, and has been a day of confession. It invites us to make a decision to go in a different direction. This opens up a lot to talk about.

First, I have a lot of problems with the way the Church has talked about sin. We human beings can certainly do a lot of stuff that is destructive, hurts people and is just plain wrong; but I also think the Church has used ideas like sin to simply control people.

Second, “confession can be good for the soul”, but, when forced on or dictated to another, it can also make one’s soul feel like it is held in a vice on someone’s work bench.

Even with these hurtful traditions, I think Ash Wednesday and confession can be turned to the good, especially this year. This is why.

First, sin is not just something that happens when someone does something destructive or hurtful or wrong; whole groups of people, whole cultures can do the same thing. As a group, Caucasian people have not had a good track record with other races. We (yes, I am Caucasian) have oppressed just about every group of people who have a different skin color than ours. Many groups either have someone they discriminate against or are themselves the objects of discrimination. The collective “We” can certainly find enough to be sorry about.

Second, our world is in trouble. Nations practice distrust for one another. International corporations seek to make a profit regardless of who they may hurt or use. The prison system disproportionately arrests and imprisons persons of color, usually male. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is disappearing. And please, don’t get me started on global warming! If you want a list of things to be sorry about, this may help get us started.

Third, you might say, “Yeah, things are bad, but I didn’t do it.” To that I would say, “Yes and no.” Unless you’re very powerful, it’s unlikely that any one person made this mess in which we live; and unless you’re very powerful, it’s unlikely that any one person will be able to fix it. But if you follow systems theory, we are all responsible. System’s theory says that everyone in a group contributes to whatever happens, good or bad. The bad news is that we are all responsible for our mess. The good news is that we are all able to do something about it.

So this year at Ash Wednesday, I will offer prayers on behalf of us all. I will ask forgiveness for the way we – We – have done things that are destructive, hurtful and just plain wrong. And I will ask for blessing on our creativity and cooperation, so that we may be empowered to make a decision to go in a different direction.

There is a lot to talk about. There is a lot to pray about.