Stroop Sermon for Ash Wednesday

Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest

Austin, TX

A Sermon for the Eve of Ash Wednesday

Jesus our brother, you followed the necessary path and were broken on our behalf. May we neither cling to our pain where it is futile, nor refuse to embrace the cost when it is required of us: that in losing ourselves for your sake, we may be brought to new life, Amen. [1]

Lisa Suhay recently published a story that begins like this: Leaf looked out across the pink dawn sky and down over the spring garden. The dewy breeze grazed it and left it fluttering … Leaf adored all of the elements – wind, sun and rain. But it was most certainly in love with the wind. Wind gave it the freedom of motion … Wind made Leaf to dance. [2]

Wind whistled haunting tunes through the branches; it whispered, and sometimes it even sang … "[I have been] high up in the mountain to the very door of Heaven today," Wind told … Leaf. "I have heard the voice of Life itself, and it is so beautiful."

Leaf shuddered.. "When will life speak to me?" Leaf asked Wind … [Wind replied] "You can hear Life's voice in me." I will love you for all time," Leaf whispered to the moving air around it. "I could not be happier."

I grew up in on the rural side of the small town of Klamath Falls, Oregon. My friends and I spent our summer months and after school hours hiking the hills together, catching lizards and snakes, stealing apples from the orchards, skinny dipping in the lake near our homes, and riding our bikes over the trails we blazed through the wild wheat that grew everywhere. There was a special gathering place where we would meet to discuss issues important to young men, such as our plans to become the second generation of astronauts, whose "religion" was "right," and what it would be like to kiss Janie Scott, the foxy girl of the sixth grade. As my friends and I grew up, our play became increasingly competitive. We developed bolder and frankly more stupid ways of testing our imagined manliness. For example, not far from our neighborhood was a railroad trestle spanning a wide and deep part of the river that divided our town. The challenge we devised was to play chicken with the trains. We hid in the middle of the trestle, and then jumped in front of the train just as it started across the span. The train engineer would honk his air whistle, and apply the brakes. There was no way the train could stop in time. At the last minute, we would dive off the trestle into the water below, and hide from site under the trestle structure. Sounds like a scene right out of the movie Stand By Me doesn't it? Although we thought we invented this test of bravado, we learned that the older brothers of some of our friends had done the same thing. Somehow, this foolish and dangerous nonsense drew us together. It also gave us the right to walk the walk and talk the talk of guys who had been tested and survived. We were proud of ourselves.

In the Gospel story today, Jesus and the disciples are on their journey to Jerusalem. They had left the safety of the northern country and were walking secretly through Galilee on their way to Capernaum. Jesus' ministry had already widened to include outcasts, the diseased, and Jewish and Gentile men and women in the Kingdom of God. The disciples saw Jesus perform great wonders, and had themselves participated in the feeding of five thousand Jews [3] and four thousand Greek Gentiles. [4] They, like the crowds of onlookers in Mark's Gospel, saw Jesus do everything well; making the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." [5] The disciples knew that they were blessed to be with this healer and teacher. They were proud of Him, and full of pride in themselves. They were so sure of themselves that they would try to stop someone casting out demons in Jesus' name because that person was not one of them.

The disciples, proud to be members of The Twelve, argued about who was the greatest. When Jesus asked them what they had been discussing, they grew silent – just as I grew silent when my parents asked me what I had been up to when my buddies and I had been playing chicken with a train! Jesus, who knew full well the content of the disciple's discussion, gathered them together, assumed the sitting position of a Rabbi and taught them about the relationship of servant hood to discipleship. [6] He taught that the ambition to rule needed to be replaced by the ambition to serve. [7] The fact that Jesus' teaching is juxtaposed to His prediction of His passion and death helps us to understand that he wanted His followers – including you and me – to look for ways to give of ourselves, to put the needs of others ahead of our own. By extension, Jesus also warned us to not let our ambition cause us to neglect some people in favor of those individuals whose influence can help further our ambitions.

Jesus' teachings extended the Kingdom of God to the most socially invisible people of Biblical times: the children. Today, the most obvious socially invisible are probably the hunter-gatherers of our society such as the poor and the homeless many of us worked with this past January term. Jesus' words speak loudly to our prideful tendencies, and if we listen, His words call us to always look for and serve not only the invisibles around us but also to stand up for those who are oppressed or discriminated against, including those who live lifestyles that are unfamiliar or perhaps even threatening.

The letter to James also helps us to see that pride and covetousness always get in the way of what Jesus was trying to write on the hearts of His disciples. The craving for greatness leads to an increased need for more and more. Conspicuous consumption increases, fueling the drive for further success. Maybe you've been caught up in that cycle; I know I have. Success makes us proud and boastful, and in time, pride plus the things we are proud of, themselves become idols. We would be well to remember that "God opposes the proud." [8]

When Wind told Leaf that Wind would love Leaf for all time, Leaf was filled with happiness.

Hearing Leaf's joy, Tree emitted a deep chuckle. "Enjoy your youth and beauty while you can, for soon enough you will be withered and brown, dry as dust, and blown away by the same breeze as stirs your heart today … Your time will come to curse the wind and the way of things."

The Tree said no more and Leaf tried not to think about what Tree had said. Of course, it had heard the stories of how leaves grow old and die, but it would never be hateful. Leaf shouted to the world, "I will never hate Wind. I will not give into fear or unhappiness!"

Even though Jesus told the disciples once before that He would die, they didn't want to hear it. Because Jesus realized His death at the hands of other men was inevitable, Jesus also knew He somehow had to write His message on the hearts of his disciples, or God's work would be seriously jeopardized. The disciples were also clueless about the resurrection the first time Jesus told them, and in today's reading, Jesus tries again to explain his death and resurrection. But, still again, the disciples do not hear. Why? The Gospel says they were afraid to ask Jesus about what he meant by His talk of His passion and resurrection. The tone of the whole Markan passion narrative is one of fear and silence punctuated with the astounding capacity of the disciples to miss the point.

The next time Wind came to call, Leaf was still fearful. Leaf could not help but ask. "When I become old, dry, and brittle, will you destroy me as Tree says?" Wind said, "I will not destroy you, dear one. All earthly things grow old and dry. That is not my doing." Leaf was shaking, and Wind could see Leaf's fear. Wind added, "Don't give in to hate and sorrow, and when the time comes for you to fall, I will be there to catch you."

Time passed. Leaf grew and changed. At first it became big and strong. Then, as the air grew chill, Leaf began to take on the most magnificent of colors. "You are most beautiful today," whispered Wind. "I think that of all the leaves in the world, there is not one to match you."

"It is the beginning of the end for you and all your kind," Tree [declared]. "Soon, now, oh so soon, you will be nothing but a speck in the dirt.

As the days passed, Leaf began to feel thin and tired … Leaf knew its time grew short. Still it would not be sad, because each day now Wind told Leaf of the wonderful adventures that were to come.

Seeing Leaf clinging to happiness made Tree angry. One day when Wind came to call, Tree shook for all it was worth, and Leaf snapped away from its branch and began to fall. Tree watched and waited for Leaf to scream and cry, to realize what horror had befallen it.

I nstead, Tree heard the sound of laughter.

"I am flying!" Leaf laughed in pure joy. "You are falling! Plunging!" shouted Tree. "I am soaring like a little bird," Leaf sang out. "See how I go!"

Leaf felt itself lifted up. Wind had kept its promise. "I cannot take you far right now, just to rest on the ground. No matter what happens, do not be afraid. I will return for you." Leaf rested upon the ground. [Through the roots in the ground], Leaf could feel Tree rumble. "You see, now you will become just like all the others. It is all just like I said. Just give up now" Tree said.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Lent is a time of transition when we can get in touch with our Souls, with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and with God. We mark the beginning of Lent by remembering that we are really little more than a kind of dust in transition. But we also recognize that this is a time of anticipation and hope; hope grounded in the faithfulness of God's promise to us through Jesus Christ. God's promise is not only in the resurrection, but in God's willingness to be with us in our suffering, our pain, our losses. God knew the "consequences of creatureliness that caused illness and death – including the poor choices we often make." [9] And God sent Jesus to act among human kind; to preach, and teach, and heal. Jesus carried out the work of God on earth, and in that we have God's eternal promise.

After a time [of lying on the ground] Leaf nodded off to [something like] sleep. [After a time] Leaf awoke. Instead of feeling old stiff and papery, Leaf could move about. It could hear Wind singing softly and it felt itself lifted up and spun higher and higher.

"Did I not promise all would be well?" crooned Wind. "You have become the dust of the earth, so light and so fine, I can carry you anywhere with me."

And so Wind did carry the dust of leaf and scattered it over fields, the mountains, and into streams and the oceans. The whole earth was covered with Leaf. Everywhere Leaf fell brought a grain of pure joy, a drop of hope, and a touch of love for wind and life.

Leaf did not understand what would happen when it snapped away from the tree, any more than the disciples understood what would happen when Jesus died. But Leaf, never gave in to hate, and it trusted the reassuring voice of Wind to love and protect it. Jesus was saved and transformed by the power of God's great love, just as leaf was transfigured into Heaven's Dust. Jesus' love gives us hope and sustains our faith. He and the Holy Spirit are with us during our darkest times, just as Wind was with Leaf. We should be of good cheer; His voice calls to us. Can you hear it?

James 4:1-10

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁴Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? ⁶ But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

"God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble."

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

[1] Janet Morley. "Lent 3." All Desires Known. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1992. 11.

[2] The story of 'Leaf' is modified from Lisa Suhay. "Heaven's Dust." Tell me Another Story. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2001. 100-105.

[6] Pheme Perkins. "The Gospel of Mark." The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995. 637.

[7] William Barclay. The Gospel of Mark, Vol 2, Revised Ed. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1975. 222-223.

[9] Paraphrased from Lisa Kraske Cressman. "Journey in Compassion." (Eds.) Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer. Preaching Through the Year of Mark. Sermons that Work VIII. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1999. 113.

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