When we walk miles and miles with God, we reclaim our kinship with God, from whose heart we were shaped. We can no longer divide the human community into “friends” and “others,” and we discover rather quickly that there are no strangers or aliens in God’s country.
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
What can we learn from the Devil?
Jesus rejects all forms of dominion and power over one another than enrich individuals at the expense of the broader community. God rejects all religious, social, political power that demands total allegiance. And by this rejection, we are invited to reject such power as well - and entrust ourselves to God.
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
It’s good to have an intro rock anthem. My new fave right now is Sarah McLaughlin’s White Flag.
Anthems buttress us whatever others might do, if we feel alone, outnumbered, and we need a little something to encourage us forward.
But that is not what Ash Wednesday is about. We need to raise the white flag and be ready to put our hope in God.
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
We are often fooled into believing in different narratives. School, politics, Twitter, whatever. They buttress our own buffered selves, souls, and egos, reassuring us: "no, really, you are alone."
The Gospel offers something very different. God beckons us into God’s community - and invites us to imagine the grandeur of God and God’s hope for us.
Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)