Sermon Tone Analysis

Pancakes

Cook 2 pancakes

This week sees the start of lent.

A time when we remember Jesus time in the wilderness, how he went without food, focused on His Father and has an encounter with satan.

The Lenten period starts with Shrove Tuesday (pancake day) and Ash Wednesday.

I want to start by cooking pancakes.

Cook normal pancakes.

- give to someone.

This is the sort of pancake that we eat on Shrove Tuesday - mmm tasty - Give to someone.

Life is like this lots of ingredients mixed together, some are wholesome, like the milk, some we just need to have to keep things together, like the flour, some elements are indulgent - I don’t need Butter and syrup, but they are nice.

Let’s make another.

Make second Pancake - Leave the egg shells in.

Offer this one.

- add extra sugar and syrup.

Why Ash Wednesday

Not so nice this one.

Even if we add extra nice stuff around the edges.

This is what Ash Wednesday is all about.

it is a day that reminds us that for life to be better it is not only necessary to keep adding things to it.

It is necessary to remove some things.

If the eggshells were not in the pancake it would have been better than the first one.

Our lives are like that.

we keep adding stuff to it, hopefully good stuff, God blesses us adding more stuff but you know what if we don’t remove the bad - the sin, the unhealthy activities and relationships and seek and most importantly accept forgiveness our lives can become like this pancake full of great things but totally undesirable.

The focus of Ash Wednesday is repentance, a time to get right with God and accept his forgiveness.

Ash Wednesday is not specifically mentioned in the Bible and It is not something we tend to focus on.

it emerged in the early church, but from Biblical times, sprinkling yourself with ashes has been a mark of sorrow for sin.

Several times the Bible mentions people repenting in dust and ashes; for example: Mordecai ( ), Job (), ), the inhabitants of Nineveh (), and Daniel ()

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Repentance in dust and ashes often was accompanied with fasting during Bible times.

It was a dramatic affair where everyone saw your suffering, your denial.

This was about corporate repentance of a whole people group, it served as an example to others to repent as well.

For some though especially in the time of Jesus this was more about the person than their repentance and it could be…

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Repentance in dust and ashes often was accompanied with fasting during Bible times.

A: I’ve given up Coffee

B: Well, I’ve given up Coffee and Alcohol

A: Well, that’s nothing, I’ve given up Coffee, and Alcohol and Chocolate.

B: That’s so indulgent, I’ve given up Coffee, and alcohol and Chocolate and oxygen [Holds breath, gets more and more frantic - Takes a massive gulp of air, pants and declares] Well, maybe not Oxygen.

Fasting is not just giving up something

It is about us and God, and us and others.

The type of fast Jesus himself endorsed was the following, found in , "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.

For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

The type of fast Jesus himself endorsed was the following, found in , "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.

For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

The type of fast Jesus himself endorsed was the following, found in ,

Jesus promoted a personal focus on fasting, to look to the Father and and Jesus as we repent, remembering the source of our forgiveness and salvation it through the Grace of God and not through how many days we go without a chocolate digestive

Isiah goes even further telling us helping us to understand how we should act in a fast (the context was that teh people had started to act like that little sketch.

- says,

Jesus is calling us, His followers to avoid making a show when fasting, but rather to help those in need.

He is calling each of us to think externally in avenues of service, instead of only thinking internally toward ourselves.

The point of that matter is this; Jesus is interested in the condition of the heart and not merely external appearances or show.

As you think about your life, repentance, and fasting where is your heart?

Are you others focused or self focused?

Do you desire to have true repentance and fasting as mentioned in (especially verses 10-13, 17),

Are or are your Lent actions merely based on outward tradition?

It’s that time of year again to fast, maybe lose a pound or two before we get to eat all that lovely chocolate at Easter to put it on again.

Fasting - Giving up on something impacts on us a little.

We may be hungry, we may loose the story line in Coronation Street for a week or two but you can soon pick it up again

True fasting impacts on us a little physically, but has a massive impact on us spiritually and has the potential to impact on others.

Even the smallest act of kindness that we do in the name of Christ has the potential to be the seed that grows in something life changing - I never thought that I would quote Spike Milligan in a service but here goes.

Smiling is infectious,

you catch it like the flu,

When someone smiled at me today,

I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner

and someone saw my grin.

When he smiled I realized

I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,

then I realized its worth.

A single smile, just like mine

could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,

don't leave it undetected.

Let's start an epidemic quick,

and get the world infected!

I bet each of you have experienced this at some point I know I have when I have passed someone in the street or in Tesco with a beaming smile, within moments I am smiling too.

If this happens with a simple smile (and I encourage you to do that) how much more can God use the little things we do to bring about Salvation, and restoration of the people we meet and interact with.

-

Small things have big impacts.

Bridge picture

A Tameside woman - who has struggled with suicidal thoughts - is trying to help people in the same position she was in, with a few words of kindness.

Lisa Barnes has launched 'Bridge the Gap', a campaign to decorate bridges around Greater Manchester with handwritten messages of hope and support.

She started her campaign on the same bridge in Hyde where she found herself a year ago, after battling depression and suicidal thoughts.

We are God’s Ambassadors here in this village, in our schools, workplaces, coffee shops.

We are the little messages of ‘Good news’ in peoples lives.

We ‘the church’ is the hope for the nations, we are God’s rescue plan.

We are Gods Ambassadors here in this village, in our schools, workplaces, coffee shops.

We are the little messages of ‘Good news’ in peoples lives.

We ‘the church’ is the hope for the nations, we are God’s rescue plan.

tells us.

Should Christians Celebrate Ash Wednesday?