There are a few things on my mind. This year we experience a kind of weird overlap between the church’s holy days and secular frivolity. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day and ends on Easter Sunday, which falls on April 1.
Yeah, that’s right. April Fool’s. This has not happened in my lifetime – last time was 1956, I think – but it certainly offers us an opportunity for contrast. Some will note the correspondence of April Fool’s and Easter and take satisfaction in saying: At last, Easter finally arrives on an appropriate day to describe the poor souls who believe all that nonsense.
Yes, we must be prepared. But do not be afraid. In fact, laugh along. Once you break through the familiarity of resurrection language which we absorb in church, the conviction that Christ is raised and that we will share with him in the resurrection of our bodies is not scientifically provable, much less self-evident. And yet, this is our faith. Early Christians seemed like fools to those who didn’t agree with them, and today those who follow Jesus will look like fools in a society that promotes self-aggrandizement and defeating one’s enemies. It’s not an easy practice.
So, as we reflect upon the transient nature of life with ashes on Ash Wednesday and look ahead to what God does on Easter Sunday through the promise that even our ashes are not forgotten, you might as well admit it can seem ridiculous. We are fools. But we are fools in the hands of God.
A second thing: when we see the correlation between the holidays this year, it reminds me that our praise of God is not an after-thought. It’s been said that complaint psalms are the backbone of the Psalter. The psalmists complained. They told God what was on their mind; what was going wrong in their lives. And yet, the Psalms end with a cathedral of praise, Psalms 145-150. Life is full of hardship and trail; we are called to live by commandments that are a challenge to us personally and socially; we have enemies; we fear death. It is a long journey. The psalmists are not dismayed. They end in praise: “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord” (150:6)! Maybe that’s the only real praise there can be – the kind that knows what hardship really is. This is the end-goal of our faith. In the middle, it may not seem possible. But this is the end.
Peace to you – and to our world, David