#InvisibleCrosses

Hashtags are everywhere. The symbol we used to call a pound sign or a number sign is now more commonly known as a hashtag, a modifier used to categorize tweets or status updates by a common theme.

#TBT (ThrowBack Thursday) a time to show off an old photo you treasure
#blessed or #LifeIsGood when something’s going just right for you.
Last night’s debate even had its own hashtag so people could send in their own questions from home via Twitter. #Demdebate

Using a hashtag makes searching for content easier and holds the power to create a virtual community. For instance there’s one hashtag that’s used on Ash Wednesday by people all over the world. #ashtag...not easy to say, but it looks pretty good online. People take selfies of their cross shaped ashes on their foreheads and use #ashtag when posting the photo on social media. The #ashtag makes discovering ash-wearing individuals easy and creates a virtual community of Christians, a communion of saints, who are beginning the season of Lent.

A writer in The Christian Century names some strengths and weaknesses of this practice:

“Pro: Sharing photos of your ashes shares the meaning of the day with the world and is a modern way to evangelize.
Con: The solemn reminder of the day--that humans are made of dust and to dust they shall return--is diminished and lost in the smiley, happy tweets.”

So…#WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? Or say about the ashtag, I wonder? In the reading from Matthew Jesus warns of the dangers of practicing our righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. Jesus encourages his followers to fast, give and pray and to do these activities in a way that does not draw attention.

And yet when we come here today we do draw attention, whether we make a post on social media or not, to a small cross marked with ash on our forehead. We bear that visible cross out in the world, even if only for a day, to remind ourselves and to share with others that we belong to God. In life and in death, in joy and in sorrow, in times of suffering and times of great celebration we belong to God.

Today, for a moment in time we see clearly that we are marked with the cross of Christ. We can feel the ashy bits tickle our forehead as the cross is traced. The ashes remind us that we are made from the earth. And someday we will return to the earth. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

But as I mark crosses of ash today, I also remember all the other times I have traced invisible crosses on someone's body. The crosses no one sees, but that mark us just the same, as God’s beloved.

Every joyful baptism I have done at my church. With fragrant oil I trace a cross on the baby's head and I say, “You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”
At the bedside of the sick or dying in my job as a chaplain, “May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord's face shine on you and be gracious to you and give you peace”
Playing with young children at the baptismal font as they prepare for their first communion and we learn about the connection between the two sacraments. I teach them to make the sign of the cross on their own bodies, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
Infants born too early to continue living outside their mother’s womb, “In life and in death, you belong to God who loves you.”
On caskets before being lowered into the ground, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. May the Lord bless you and keep you this day and forevermore”
And today, the mark of ash soon to grace your brow, will call to mind your own mortality--remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.

So today, we remember that dust and ashes are Good News. They point us toward the power and love of God—both at the beginning and the end. They remind us that God is with us as we live between dust and dust, and that today and always, we are called to repent and return. Turn toward the one who created and keeps us in love’s embrace.

In these 40 days, our Christian tradition teaches us that the disciplines of prayer, fasting and giving are powerful practices that draw us closer to God. And the ashes we receive today connect us not only to the God who made us and saves us, but they connect us more deeply to the struggle and hope we share with our brothers, sisters and siblings in Christ, saints and sinners among us now, and those who have gone before us and who will come after us.

So what will your hashtag be for Lent? #blessed, #belong2God, #sinrepentrepeat, #forgiven, #dust2dust. Or maybe you’ll stick with the original #ashtag for today or use none at all. No matter what you decide about your public witness during these 40 days, may your lenten journey of self examination, repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love strengthen you in faith and help you to live in harmony with all creation.