Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. – 2 Corinthians 7:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 14, 2018): 2 Corinthians 7

Today is Valentine’s Day. It is also Ash Wednesday. The two seem to be a mismatch. I have been joking to those around me that I cannot think of a better way to celebrate your earthly love than to bring your significant other to a romantic Ash Wednesday service. Or maybe not. Yet, I do believe that there is a connection.

We all recognize that Valentine’s is a celebration of romantic love, albeit sometimes the celebration seems forced and people rebel against the idea that they argue has been created to sell greeting cards and flowers. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and our walk toward Good Friday and the Cross of Calvary. While Valentine’s Day is a happy celebration of love, Ash Wednesday is the saddest day on the Christian calendar. Ash Wednesday is even sadder than Good Friday because, while Good Friday occurs in the shadow of our Easter Celebration, Ash Wednesday stands alone, often in the cold of late winter, weeks before any celebration invites us into its happy arms. On Ash Wednesday, we contemplate our own mortality, the inevitableness of death, and the daily practice of our sacrifice.

But the connection between Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday is that they are both the result of our celebration of love. Ash Wednesday could not exist if it were not for the celebration of God’s love for us that happens so dramatically on Good Friday. If Good Friday and the death of Jesus on the Cross casts its long shadow over Ash Wednesday, then while we are considering our own mortality, and as we hear the words “from dust you have come, and to dust you shall return,” we recognize that even in our weakness, God has found a reason to love us.

Paul isn’t talking about Ash Wednesday in this passage, as Paul worked and ministered Ash Wednesday didn’t exist as a part of the Christian calendar, but his words can be applied to our current contemplation. Paul is writing to the Corinthian Church regarding some words of his that had caused the church sorrow. But Paul is arguing that there can be no regret because godly sorrow has a purpose in our lives; it brings us closer to salvation, and closer to being able to live life the way that it was intended to be lived. Worldly sorrow can only bring death. And we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13), because even on Ash Wednesday, while hope seems to be so far away, it is still there glowing in the distance. So we can rejoice, even if it is godly sorrow that exists in our midst, knowing the godly sorrow leads to repentance which brings the salvation that we most desperately need.

So welcome to Ash Wednesday. May you find repentance and salvation as you contemplate your own mortality. And as you hear the words “from dust you have come, and to dust you shall return” may you hear the voice of love, spoken from the one who promised that he would stay with us, even to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 8 & 9