February 14, 2024
Ash Wednesday
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51:1-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
The Palm Tree
Good evening, friendly humans. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Palm Tree. My siblings and I don’t grow this far north. And even though your weather has been unseasonably warm, I’m a little nervous being in Wisconsin in February!
I was honored to receive the invitation to speak to you tonight. When I came in earlier, I mingled with some of you. Several of you voiced confusion as to why a palm tree would be asked to speak on Ash Wednesday. After all, wouldn’t it be more natural to hear from me on the religious day named after me, Palm Sunday?
I must confess, I was a bit confused, too, when your pastor invited me to speak on this occasion. But then she explained the deep connection between palms and Ash Wednesday.
Tonight, all of you will be given the opportunity to come forward. When you do, you’ll receive a smudge of ash on your foreheads. That ash will be drawn in the form of a cross.
Today is the beginning of your season of Lent. It’s an introspective season. Your service tonight will include an admission of your finite and limited nature. In a few minutes, you’ll confess that faith in Christ has not been central in your life. You’ll confess your sin, your inability to live true in faith.
You’ll admit your mortality, that some day you will die. In that way, we are alike, you and I. We’re no different than the grass of the field, here today, and tomorrow thrown in the oven.
Just like the palms you waved around your sanctuary last Palm Sunday. You’d gathered in a festive spirit that morning. You waved the branches jubilantly, just like the people in Jerusalem did when Jesus entered its gates. You sang hosannas, you pledged your devotion to him.
But then, that faith and that spirit withered, just like the palm fronds did. Those dried out palm fronds – that’s what your pastor burned to create the ashes you’ll be marked with tonight!
Now, she assures me that no palm trees were harmed in this gruesome process. These were fronds that had been trimmed from trees in a natural way. I’ll admit that I appreciate a good pruning myself! I think I look much nicer after a good trim.
So when you receive those ashes, you’ll be taking part of me on you. Those ashes symbolize the death of your best intentions. They’re an admission of your finite nature – that you will die – just as I will, just as this planet and our sun will, one day in the future.
But my friends, it’s not all doom and gloom. Take heart! For those palm ashes will be placed on your foreheads in the form of a cross. And that shape speaks to the hope of life beyond death. They testify to the boundless forgiveness beyond your failings. That cross is the sign of hope from the ashes.
I have one more thing to share with you before I close. With the beginning of Lent, you start on this 40-day passage. It’s reminiscent of Israel’s 40-year journey through the wilderness and the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness during his temptation.
The wilderness is a lonely place. But what looks at first to be barren isn’t bereft. There is life out there, and there are oases along the way. When you travel through barren passages, take heart. There are oases awaiting you. And where there’s an oasis, there’s a palm tree. So when life takes you on a lonely and desolate path, look for the signs of life that are assuredly there. Look for the oases of grace along the way. And when you reach them, drink from the waters there. Rest in my shade and eat from my fruits. You are not alone, friend. God’s grace surrounds you.
