Can you imagine the Pharaoh, considered a god among the Egyptians and certainly by himself, humbling himself before God? That kind of thing just wasn't done. It'd never been done before. How would he look among the people? They'd never see him the same again.
The same kind of thinking locks us in. We worry about engaging in new ways. We worry about humbling ourselves fully before the cross. What might people think? What might people say? If we go and join with this organization or serve this kind of people... will rumors start? Some of these things just haven't been done. What might happen?
To fully serve God, we have think only of what God thinks. That's the only seal of approval we need. Let others say what they might say... may we only live for the love of the one who hung the stars in the sky. On this Ash Wednesday, let us fully humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our shortcomings and our mortality, giving thanks to God for covering us with grace and mercy and making a path through death, a way where there was no way.
