February 2009

Jest drabina do nieba,
Przy drabinie stoi krzyż

Here is the ladder to heaven
And beside the ladder stands the cross

These words are translated from a very old Polish Lenten hymn.

Jesus came to call us to heaven. This is a wonderful invitation but the party is not free. There is work to be done.
We are called to repent and to do even more. We are called to be reborn, or as Bishop Hodur said, to be regenerated.

From the bottom of the ladder it looks like a long way to the top. Even worse, we must pass by this cross. Before we begin our climb we have to look up and see the body of Jesus, bloody, beaten, and dying on this cross.

If our faith is weak, if we are not committed to Christ, we walk away from the ladder. We take the easy road – the way of the world. For those of us here tonight we are well on our way. We are climbing. Some may be on the lower rungs, some higher up. We are making the climb.

Today’s readings remind us that our God is a God of forgiveness. He is a God that cares more about the loyalty of the heart than about outward appearances. Our God gives us the grace and strength to make the climb as long as our hearts are loyal to Him.

Do we slip a few rungs?
Do we sometimes hold on by only our fingers?
Do we make mistakes? Yes!
Does that doom our climb and cast us into hell? No! Because our God is a God of forgiveness.

I started by saying that the invitation to the party is not free. The offer is free, but we have to respond to the offer.

We respond by our work and our dedication.
We respond by our love.
We respond by the loyalty in our hearts.

I will mark you with ashes. Picture this mark in your minds and remember it is always there. You are Christians. Use this Lenten season to gain control. Ask for God’s grace to control your desires. Fast, abstain from meat as the church asks you to. It is not simple piety. It is the first step to saying that with God’s grace we have mastery over the world. We can control evil’s influence over us.

When the road to spiritual death seems most open and easy, when the road to sin looks like fun, picture the sign on your heads and hang onto that ladder.

Amen.