Hi everyone,
Welcome to our service for this Ash Wednesday, which lands on Wednesday, February 18, 2026
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service or just use the words on your screen. The sermon is included both in the bulletin as well as on this page below the video.
This world can be infuriating, can’t it?
Wars fuelled by greed; border disputes over disagreements on who is entitled to deserve what; prejudice and racial tensions between whole people groups stemming only from melanin levels and the so-called winners of the lottery of birthplace and DNA; and don’t even get me started on the divisive politics that distract all of us from what is truly righteous and just. We look at all the evil around us and it’s hard not to internalise it. We see and read about the situations that happen to others and might start to interpret our own situations through a lens of suspicion, cynicism, and pessimism. We might get trapped in this darkness and begin to label “them” as bad and “us” as victims of their badness. We might start to see every action against us as malicious hostility and we learn to allow that hate toward those that have wronged us to creep into our hearts as well.
I know, all this sounds pretty heavy for a Wednesday evening, when we’re here anticipating a bit of ash on our foreheads. We might have been expecting some happy clappy Lenten hymns. Maybe we just wanted a nice light and perhaps joyful Ash Wednesday service reminding us that we’re but dust and to dust we shall return. But we all we got was this morbid talk about hatred and division.
Well, I assure you, there is a point. Something happened to me last week that really took up a lot of space in my mind, and no, it wasn’t my milestone birthday that shall never be mentioned again.
It started with my quest to find a new watch. My old watch was on its last legs, and I was getting sick of having to charge it at least once or twice a day, give or take. I had an idea what I wanted to get, but I also wanted to spend as little as possible because I’m frugal that way. So instead of looking at brand new in the stores, I decided to check what deals I could score in the used market.
As luck and my internet scouring prowess would have it, I found one listed at a killer price. My wife had reservations and felt it was a “too good to be true” type thing, but I assured her that I did my research on the watch and will be careful and make sure it’s legit. Then I went to meet the guy. Well, in the heat of the moment and in the excitement of saving hundreds of dollars, I brought the watch home without checking for its authenticity thoroughly enough, as it turned out to be a replica, worth less than a fraction of what I paid. My heart sank. I grew angry.
I messaged the seller right away but he wouldn’t take it back, even though he lied to my face about it being real. I have had stuff of questionable authenticity before and I normally don’t care about that kind of thing, but this one just didn’t sit well with me. Maybe it was the price. Maybe it was being lied to. Or maybe it was because my wife most definitely did tell me so. But, it isn’t a bad watch, replica or not, it’s just not what I had expected or hoped for, and not what I was promised it would be. So I felt duped. Like a total idiot for falling for such an obvious rouse. Like a victim, even.
I know, it’s just a watch and I made a mistake to buy it so hastily. No one was physically hurt or worse. No real harm was done. My bank isn’t broken and I can still afford to eat and feed my kids. And it was there that I realised what was happening, what was going on in my head, why I was making this into such a big deal.
It was all about me.
All I was thinking about was me: my feelings, my situation, my wants and expectations. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that per se, in fact it’s important for us to consider, take care of, and watch out for ourselves. But because I was so caught up in me, me, me, I didn’t think about the guy who sold me the watch. What he might be going through. Why he needed to rip people off like this. What he might be facing to get to this point?
I know, this doesn’t excuse illegal activity and doesn’t justify hurting others. But as we’re reminded again and again, “hurt people hurt people.” So maybe he has it way worse than me. Maybe this was his only way to get out of the hole he is in. Maybe my money inadvertently helped him in some way.
Perhaps this is just a stretch to reframe it this way and a desperate ploy for me to make myself feel better for my stupidity. But as I thought about it, I have no problem giving that amount to charity. I have no issues in paying that much for other fleeting things for others that don’t benefit me at all. I am ok with losing that much money. So why should this bother me so much?
And now you might be thinking that this really has nothing to do with Ash Wednesday. But the thing is, the point of this day and the whole season of Lent is for us to learn to empty ourselves. To come down off those self-erected pedestals we plant ourselves on. To learn how to ease off those ego trips and consider the bigger picture. The bigger picture that includes others that God welcomes and loves, that humbles us to see we aren’t the only ones that matter, that reminds us that we are but dust and to dust we shall return.
It’s in that emptying of ourselves that we can truly have compassion for others. It’s in that humility that we can truly see how much we are loved and forgiven. It’s in the realisation of our mortality that we can truly recognise God with us, lifting us up out of our own shame, and graciously leading us into salvation.
But that’s hard in this broken world. We often get in our own way. We often are fooled by our own sense of self-importance. We often fall into the trap of entitlement and assume we deserve more than we get. So I think we need to let go of the things that set up in us a false identity, the one that tells us that we’re anything but a child of God. We need to learn to recognise our temptations as temptations, and not as flawed personality traits that feed us the lies that we’re disqualified from God’s embrace. We need to be able to hear God’s call for us to return to God, who loves us, saves us, and leads us into the peace and community of this body of Christ.
You know, like what this season of Lent gives us space to do.
I get it though, this isn’t comfortable. It’s not normal for us to not expect ourselves to be the best and deserving and feel slighted when we aren’t. It’s not really in our nature to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. But as I learned last week with the whole watch fiasco, it’s that exact nature that’s holding us down. It’s that mentality that we’re deserving of more that’s keeping us in disappointment, hurt feelings, and that victim mentality. This world has just become easier for us to hate.
That’s why this season of Lent is so important. Not just to remind us who we are and where we’re going, but in what ways we matter outside of what the world tells us. We’re told to be right, to be respected, and to tell everyone about our accomplishments and exploits so they can look up to us, but God tells us to act and live not for ourselves with our egos in the center, but for the good of the community with Christ as its head.
This doesn’t mean that we’re worthless and should be unloved. This doesn’t mean that we don’t matter and our feelings are invalid. This doesn’t even mean that we should be giving all our money to scammers willy nilly. But it does mean that even when we do fall for the ways of the world, God forgives us anyway. Even when we so often get tripped up in our notions of identity and loyalty, God continues to welcome us and bring us into community with all the saints anyway. Even when the world teaches us to feel this righteous indignation against those who disagree with our interpretations of life, God will always and eternally love and save us anyway.
Not because we have earned it, but because God gives it. Not because we have made ourselves worthy, but because God welcomes and calls us as God’s people. Not because we are deserving and mighty, but because God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Thanks be to God. Amen.
