Be reconciled to God.

Ash Wednesday fell on February 26th last year. I preached in utter ignorance of the looming pandemic. I think it’s safe to say that none of us knew what was coming. At that point, we had just a couple of cases of COVID-19 recorded in the country and none in Florida. We wouldn’t have our first recorded cases in Florida until early March. (I say recorded because researchers are learning COVID-19 was spreading among us as early as October of 2019, which means it had already begun to spread around the world.) We went into lockdown 4 weeks later, on March 18th. There were just 40 cases in the state that day and a couple of deaths.

Now, a year later we are hopeful.  We are hopeful that as we go along doctors are becoming more adept at treating this virus with medications and therapies we already have as well as those that are being developed and tested around the world. We are collectively, and each of us at our own pace, learning to bear the grim reality that the virus itself and the economic hardships that have come along with it have brought into focus. Governments around the world are struggling to contend with all of the issues around this and we should have a great deal of patience with our own. Meanwhile each of us has to come to grips with all of this on our own terms, taking into consideration the health and safety of those around us.

And this isn’t just about survival. Many COVID victims suffer debilitating effects to various organs which may affect them the rest of their lives.

I haven’t yet mentioned the vaccines. We have a great deal of hope that vaccines will soon tame this bug, and its variants. Yesterday about 500 vaccinations were administered at the First Institutional Missionary Baptist Church on D Street in Lake Wales. Those were among, perhaps the first, vaccinations in our community. Their pastor, J.J. Pierce, networked registrations through our ministerial association, pulling 22 churches into the mix with the Northwest Neighborhood. Deacon John Motis helped a number of our folks get registered and it all went very smoothly I’m told.

That first shot produces immunity for about 65% of people. The second shot will push that immunization up into the 95% range. But even that first shot also gives them nearly 100% of protection from hospitalization and death even if you did get the virus or one of the know variants. It may be that COVID shots will become, like flu shots, a regular part of our general health that people will choose according to their risk and sensibilities.

I confess I have not been worried about the virus for myself (although I did have one moment of real panic about it.) I’ve been very worried for Meg as she is immunocompromised, and of course for the “seasoned” citizens I serve, my parents etc. As I’ve received news of people’s vaccinations each one comes with a great deal of relief. It’s like they’ve reached base. And it’s like each one is a ray of light piercing the gloom that has hung over us this past year.

Think about the way a vaccine works. Whatever the particular method employed, vaccines essentially teach our bodies to defend itself against the real virus. The sophistication of that process is changing dramatically, which is why having effective vaccines within a year is a medical miracle. But in any case, these vaccines amount to creating a good infection that will stop the bad infection.

All of this serves as a very fitting model for our faith.

Life is terminal. None of us escapes the reality of physical death.

The hope and promise from God secured through Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is that he has broken death’s hold on us. We are saved from eternal death by grace through faith in Jesus. As Paul noted, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Baptism is like a vaccine, meant to produce in us a death to sin, a death to putting ourselves and our interests ahead of God, a death to the old ways of the flesh. We have been in effect inoculated for eternity. We proclaim this an indissoluble bond, 100% effective.

But it is not some magic trick that binds God according to our will. We rely always and entirely on God’s promise and his perfect mercy and perfect judgment. We must also remember that our eternal life is not just some point in the future to be experienced after we die. Eternity includes today and Our Lord commands us to enact the kingdom in our present time. He wants us to have fulfilling lives that draw us closer to Him and demonstrate his life to the world around us.

In order to live a good life, we need a healthy diet. We also need a healthy diet spiritually. We are to feed on his word, drink in Christian fellowship and other elements too - hospitality, music, and art. All of these and more are meant to nourish our souls with a healthy diet of God’s teaching and grace.   I hope that you have decided your Lenten discipline or are thinking about it. If you plan to give something up, I bet it’s something like chocolate or ice cream that you really enjoy but isn’t actually very good for you.

A good life also requires healthy exercise. For our faith, this includes prayer and other spiritual exercises. It may mean getting more involved with active mission and service. If you are taking on a spiritual exercise in Lent, I bet it is something along those lines.

At key points like Ash Wednesday, we confront our mortality and the reality of our condition, the deadly infection of sin and its deadly effects have on us, our communities and the world as a whole.

Some may deny the disease of sin.  Some may question or even deny the cure. But God has called us to repentance, to prayer and to service. Laying up treasures with him that secure our life with him forever.

As I impose ashes on your forehead, I hope that you will at once soberly remember your mortality and that bright ray of hope Christ won for you on the cross, and remember that the gift of eternal life includes today.  It is to be nurtured and exercised all our lives, and shared with a world that increasingly needs it.

AMEN