Wednesday, February 18, is the day in the church that is set aside for the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther, Reformer.  He died in a house in the town of Eisleben, Germany.  The house was in the very shadows of the town church where he had been baptized 63 years earlier.   It was said that his death was well recorded since he had a number of his friends and cohorts in the room with him as he died.

One of his friends asked him as he began to breathe his last, “Good Dr. Luther, do you have faith in God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to care for you in eternity?”  He breathed a few breaths and responded very simply, “Ya.”

After his passing, and as the men began to prepare to take his body out of the house, another friend took Dr. Luther’s coat and went through his pockets to collect any valuables.  Story has it that the only thing found in his pocket was a piece of paper with the sentence scrawled in his handwriting, “We are all beggars” written upon it.

We are all beggars, this is most certainly true.  We are flesh and blood, sinew and muscle.  We have a limited time on this earth—we beggars—striving, pushing forward on this earth for the sake of others.

Wednesday, February 18, is also Ash Wednesday this year.    It is the first day of a six-week long trek of prayer and contemplation.  It is a time to consider – as blessed as we are – what it means to be a simple beggar on this planet.

When you have less, you tend to become more aware of all that is around you.   That is in part what the discipline of Lent is all about.  We give up “things” – but when we do that, we should place something in its place.  Pastor Ed and I are working hard to make sure we all are challenged to search our hearts for how we can try some new things, strengthen the disciplines we are already involved in, and to plant the seed of knowledge about what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It starts at the beginning.  Beggars are normally people who have nothing.  For one reason or the other, they live very simply, day-to-day, moment-to-moment.  As Ash Wednesday approaches, let’s start thinking about what we can do to serve our neighbor.  What can we do to make this world a better place.

Read your newsletter for one thing to see what’s coming up in Lent.  We’ll say more next week about this.  In the meantime…

Remember that God loves you and so do we!

Pastor Jim