There are ashes under my fingernail

Last night after the imposition of ashes at the Ash Wednesday service, I found myself sitting in my seat trying to get the ashes out from under my fingernail. Then I had a holy moment. During the season of Lent we take 40 days to look at the sin areas in our lives that keep getting stuck under our nails, the things that we keep trying to give up, but can't.

Lent reminds us that no matter what we do we cannot get the sin of life out from under our fingernails. This is why we need Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who can wash away the sins of the world. During Lent we remember again who Jesus was and is. We remember that Jesus was tempted, chastised, beaten, loved, misunderstood, and uniquely human and divine.

God gave us someone who looked like us to come and talk to us about life and how to live it. God loved us so much that he gave us some time on earth with God's son Jesus Christ. During this season we look at the sin left under our nails and we repent to the only One who can wash us with holiness. We repent because we have a loving God who is desperately trying to take our sin away so we can be closer to God. We repent so we can get out of our own way and have a relationship with God the way God intended. Jesus has already died for us sins, so during this season we recognize the sins we have committed the past year and then we give them to God. Through our repentance and confession we are transformed by God's saving action in our lives. It is then that we stop looking under our nails for the sin we know is there, and start looking upward to the mighty God who loves us anyway.

This season of lent let us confess, repent, and transform together.

~ Pastor Jessie