Look Away

The Rev. Joseph Winston

February 17, 2010

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.1
In 1950, the Zenith Radio Corporation introduced a product that dramatically
changed the way people watched television. They invented the world first remote
control for the TV. By today’s standards, these early remotes were rather primitive
tools. These gadgets could only perform the basic tasks of turning the TV on and
off along with providing the ability to change from one channel to the next.
Not everyone in the typical American house was happy with this new fangled
device. Housewives complained loudly of the unsightly cord that connected the
remote to the TV. Children tripped over the cord and then injured themselves as
they ran around the living room. The man of the house almost instantly fell in love
with the remote control. It gave him power. He could finally surf.
During the early fifties, it really did not make any sense to have a remote
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.

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control at home. It took forever for the remote to advance to the next channel.
Sunlight streaming through the windows confused the second generation of re-
motes and they ate batteries like there was no tomorrow. Zenith’s next advance
was the ultrasonic clicker. These new fangled devices did not need any power be-
sides the human pushing the button but decoding the sounds they made took six
dedicated tubes, which raised the final price by thirty percent, out of the range of
many consumers.
Despite all the technological advances made by Zenith, the remotes sat unsold
on the store shelves. All by themselves, the remotes were too expensive. Add that
to the price of the required new TV and almost no man in his right man could
justify the price.
Transistors solved that problem. They single-handedly dropped the prices of
the remote and the TV from the stratosphere into levels normal men could af-
ford. The second important factor in the remote’s adoption was a remote only
makes sense if you have channels you need to select. That solution came good
old-fashioned competition. In order to obtain the privilege of selling cable TV to
the cities and towns, the cable companies worked hard to win the municipalities’
business. The cable companies came up with attractive packages that people actu-
ally wanted. For the first time ever, many markets had more than one channel. The
final product that brought this all together into an unstoppable marketing force
was the Reclina-Rocker from La-Z-Boy. You now could be comfortable while
you surfed through the many different cable channels.
The next few years could rightly be called the golden years of remote con-

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trol. We had access to inexpensive cable contract, the companies provided us with
quality show, and the man of the house had the time to enjoy the program.
One word seems to sums up the allure of channel surfing: choice. We like
to turn off that annoying announcer. We want to change the channel whenever
“those” commercials come on. We want to select the programs we like.
While there is not any problem with choosing the TV channel with the remote,
it is apparent how this attitude can cause problems in our everyday live. When we
tire of the demands our family places on us, we “tune them out.” When our spouses
bore us, we “change them out for another.” And when we no longer want to put
up with the program, we “switch” to something else that we like.
It seems like our interactions with the world outside of TV almost exactly
mirror our fascination with changing channels using the remote. Communication
inside of families is at an all time low. “Why bother,” we say to ourselves, “when
they do not listen.” You can find the tragedy of divorce in ever part of society. This
also includes Christians. The rate our couples break up is almost exactly the same
as the rest of the country. Organizations all over this country report that people no
longer want to “do things.”
This evening, we have continued an ancient tradition that is at least one thou-
sand, three hundred years old. I drew the outline of the cross on your forehead
using ashes.
The society we live in no longer remembers why we do this. To them, these
dark smudges on our brows are nothing more dirty marks. The public no longer
believes that we are dust and to dust we will return. Just look outside these four

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walls. Where are the old? Where are the infirm? Where are the ill? We have
quickly grabbed the remote and flipped past the channels that remind us of our
death. That is why we keep them out of our sight.
The rest of the Church is not much better. Many of the non-denominational
churches in the area do not hold an Ash Wednesday service. One reason given is
that Lent does not fit in with their programs. Of course, it does not. Our society’s
idea that everything is getting better everyday flies in the reality that Lent brings.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are mortal. We age and we die. No drive
through healing service at the mega-church down in Houston will ever fix that
little problem. It is so much easier to just deny that it ever happens to anyone we
know by changing to a channel we like. A second response from some churches
when asked why they leave out Ash Wednesday is that this whole idea about Lent
cannot be found in the Bible. True enough. There is precious little in the Bible on
how to “do church.” The Bible does not contain a section called the Church year
neither does the Bible have a place where you pick up a given worship service
like tonight’s Ash Wednesday liturgy. Instead, the Bible tells us what is important
in this life. It reminds us what is required and it informs us of the wonderful gift
of life that Jesus gave to us. Churches like ours that follow a rhythm of worship
believe that it is very important to bring this message of constraints on our lives
and unbelievable grace from God in a way that people can understand. We are not
limited to speech. We teach these lessons with beautiful pictures in the form of
stained glass windows, we bring the message through hymns that touch the heart,
we convey what we know through posture, and we speak through the changing

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seasons of life. All this is difficult work but we believe that it is important to
speak in a language that resonates with people.
Christians should remember why we place ashes on our foreheads. We are dust
and to dust we shall return. These ancient words pronounced over this assembly
recall our common heritage. We come from the earth. What animates us, liter-
ally, what makes us alive, what transforms us into humans is God‘s breath. Every
breath out of your lungs is an act of faith. You must wait for God to fill you once
again with His life.
We do not want to know this basic fact that God gives us our every breath.
We deny this reality by quickly changing to a station that brings us the news that
we want to hear. On this channel, we learn how important we are. Buy the car
you want. Get the clothes you need. You deserve it. This is the message the world
wants you to believe.
When we turn off God, we sin. When we ignore the needs of others, we sin.
Our rebellion finally brings us death.
The church continually must bring you this message. If we do not remind
ourselves who we really are, we will change the channel and conveniently forget
our true nature.
The smudge made on our foreheads tonight is nether the first time this outline
of the cross was drawn on you nor will it be the last mark of Christ on our bodies.
Many years ago at your baptism, the pastor traced the cross on you. Perhaps, the
pastor made the sign of the cross with oil or maybe the pastor only used their
fingers. It does not matter. The cross on your forehead and your breast marks you

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as a follower of Jesus. Jesus recognizes you as one of His own. In the water and
the words of your baptism, Jesus came to you and said for all to hear, “You are
my child. I am well pleased with you.” You receive all the blessings that Jesus
has already set aside for you because He has already forgiven all of your sins. No
matter how many other baths you happen to take, no matter how much dirt covers
your face, this mark of God always stays with you. Changing the channel of even
turning off the TV does not matter. Christ’s benefits for you are indelibly inscribed
on you.
The last gown that you will wear carries an exact copy of this cross that Jesus
traced on you at your baptism. The funeral pall that covers your casket contains
a cross, which proclaims boldly to the entire world, “I am a Christian. I will live
again because Christ saved me.”
When you leave the nave for the last time, the pall is removed from your casket
before you begin your journey to the cemetery. The final cross that you wear here
on earth is made over your body as it returns to the earth. The pastor proclaims
to you one final time, “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” and traces out
a cross with the dust you will become. Powerless, you can do nothing. You must
trust in God to save you.
In reality, that is the story of our entire life. You can do nothing to earn a place
in Heaven. The exact opposite is also true. Nothing that you have done in this life
prevents you from living forever. Jesus has already done everything that you need.
He died for you and His blood covers every one of your sins.
Rest assured, knowing the cross that marked you in death as a follower of

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Christ will stay with you in life in Him.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”2

2
Philippians 4:7.