Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down!

My colleague, Pastor Glen VanderKloot of Faith Lutheran Church in Springfield, Illinois, has given me permission to post his excellent Ash Wednesday message and notes here.

As children when we danced and sang…

"Ring around the rosey, pockets full of posies.
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

we had no idea that the song was about the Black Plague that
occurred in Medieval times.

"Ring around the rosey..." describes the sores with the rings
around them that the plague caused.

"Pockets full of posies..." is talking about how they hid
flowers in their clothes to hide the smell of the illness.

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down" is talking about the death
the black plague caused.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a day when
we do talk about death. As we receive the ashes, we are
reminded of our own mortality…

"You are dust and to dust you shall return."

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

We fall down in sin. All the time. Everyone of us.
Romans 3:22-23 teaches…

There is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God…

We know that we do not measure up. We know that we fall short.
We let down ourselves. We let down others. And we let down God.
And we know it. Like King David wrote in Psalm 51:3…

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

We have failed to love God with our whole heart, mind
and soul. We have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We have even failed to love ourselves. We sin and we fall
down day after day after day.

However, we get back up in the forgiveness God gives us.
In the song "We Fall Down", Bob Carlisle sings:

"We fall down, we get up
We fall down, we get up
We fall down, we get up
And the saints are just the sinners
Who fall down and get up."

We sin and fall down day after day. However, because God showers
us with his forgiveness day after day, we get back up.

"The saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up."

We never have to stay down. Just like the boxer who can get
back up after being beaten down, we too can get back up.
God's complete and absolute forgiveness gives us new life.
God breathes into us a new breath giving us the power to get
back up. Don't ever let guilt hold you down. Instead remember:
God's forgiveness enables us to get back up.

We have been washed clean in the waters of baptism. We come
and receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ along
with the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sin. Daily
we rise to newness of life. We get back up in the forgiveness
God gives us.

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down." We fall down in death.
Everyone of us is going to die. There are no exceptions.
I am going to die and you are going to die. It is only a
question of when.

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

Psalm 103:15 reminds us of our fleeting mortality…

As for mortals, their days are like grass;

I Peter 1:24 makes it even clearer that death will touch us all…

All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,

We cannot escape death. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that…

There is a time to be born and a time to die. (v. 2)

There is a rhythm and cycle to life. That rhythm include
birth, life and death. Some of us are trying to kid ourselves,
but the truth is we are headed toward death. We can deny it
all we want, but that does not change anything. We are all
going to die.

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

However, we get back up in eternal life that God gives us.
Romans 6:23 tells us…

The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross in love so that
we can live with God forever. We were created to live with
God forever. This life is only a prelude of the life to come.
The resurrection of Jesus proves that death is not the end.
There is something more. Something far better and richer
awaits us. As we pass from this life to life eternal, we
will live in the presence of God forever. The scriptures declare
that…

God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no
more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more…
Revelation 21:4


Jesus has prepared the way for us. He told us that in John 14…

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe
also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you
may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.

We live and die as God's children.
No matter what, we are in God's hands.
No matter what, God is our father.
No matter what, we are God's children.
No matter what, we are loved and forgiven.
No matter what, we are headed to eternity with the father.

Our relationship with God defines our lives. Paul taught
in Romans 14:7-8…

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for
himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die,
we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we
are the Lord's.

Our first challenge then is to live every day remember
whose we are…

Therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

Remembering whose we are makes a difference in our…

choices
priorities
relationships, and
commitments.

Our second challenge is to live every day with the sure
and certain hope of the resurrection. This is our baptismal
heritage.

Believe it.
Claim it.
Remember it.
Live it.
Die in it.

Amen.

Glen VanderKloot


Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
Sermon Notes

We fall down in ___________.

There is no distinction; for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 3:22-23

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Psalm 51:3

However, we get back up in the ________________ God gives us.

We fall down in ______________.

As for mortals, their days are like grass;
Psalm 103:15

All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls.
I Peter 1:24

However, we get back up in ____________ ________ that God
gives us.

The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no
more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more…
Revelation 21:4

We live and die as God's ______________.

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;
for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for
the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
Romans 14:7-8

Our challenges are…

To live every day remembering ____________ we are
To live every day with the sure and certain _______ of the
resurrection.