Ash Wednesday Reflection - 2017

A blessed Ash Wednesday to each of you.

While I was in Tokyo with the Blaine Wind Ensemble, we visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (as I mentioned in my last post). One of the interesting exhibits was on global issues facing future generations (including ours?). The exhibit focused upon the choices we have and how they effect the future. What I thought was interesting was the time spent distinguishing between "forecasting" and "backcasting". "Forecasting" gets the most press in the United States. To forecast, we extrapolate current conditions adding/multiplying (depending upon the case) a rate of change allowing us to predict (often quite accurately) what will happen. Backcasting moves in the other direction. What kind of future do we want? What type of future is beneficial? Backcasting then asks, "how do we get there?" Backcasting is goal oriented.

What does this have to do with Lent? Rather than just giving something up for Lent, why not practice backcasting?

These are but an example of the type of questions backcasting asks. What would it mean if our investments aligned with our values/kin(g)dom of God? What does a healthy mind, body and spirit look like, and what steps to I need to put into place to get there? If I truly want to lower my carbon footprint, can I continue to sail in this really light wind (challenging myself in the process)? Do I need to drive, couldn't I walk or bike instead?

So rather than give something up for Lent, I'm going to try using backcasting as a spiritual discipline. Who knows, maybe by the time we reach Easter the process will become a spiritual habit.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Below is my Ash Wednesday Service for those of you apart from a church community this Ash Wednesday.

GREETING:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.
God’s mercy endures forever.

OPENING PRAYER   (from the United Methodist Hymnal #353)
O God,
maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made,
from the dust of the earth you have formed us
and from the dust of death you would raise us up.
By the redemptive power of the cross,
create in us clean hearts
and put within us a new spirit,
that we may repent of our sins
and lead lives worthy of your calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SCRIPTURE:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51 (#785 in the UMC Hymnal)
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
the early Christians observed with great devotion
the day of our Lord's passion and resurrection,
and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration
there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation.
During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.
It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins
and had separated themselves from the community of faith
  were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,
and restored to participation in the life of the Church.
In this way the whole congregation was reminded
of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ
  and the need we all have to renew our faith.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,
to observe a holy Lent:
by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditation on God's Holy  Word.
To make a right beginning of repentance,
and as a mark of our mortal nature,
let us now kneel (or bow) before our Creator and Redeemer.

(a brief silence is kept)

THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence,
so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift
  are we given everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

IMPOSITIONS OF THE ASHES
(as people come forward, a leader dips a thumb in the ashes and makes
a cross on the forehead of each person saying:
  Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

DISMISSAL WITH A BLESSING