“You are going to die!” That’s how one of my colleagues (The Rev. Rob
Baldwin, Rector of Trinity in Lawrence, KS) said he’s going to begin his Ash
Wednesday homily.
Another colleague is calling attention
to the lyrics of “Dust in the Wind”, a chart-topping hit in the 1970’s by the
group Kansas (a rock group formed in 1970 in Topeka, KS): “Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse
to see… Dust in the wind - all we are is dust in the wind…. Now, don't hang on,
nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy. Dust in the wind - all we are is dust in the wind. All
we are is dust in the wind.” (Randall Curtis: http://videosforyoursoul.com/portfolio/ash-wednesday-dust-in-the-wind/)
Indeed, we are going to die.
Indeed, the ‘things’ we think are so
important in this life will, eventually, crumble to the ground.
Indeed, our bodies are animated dust…
and to dust we shall return.
And, as Christians, we don’t believe
“all we are is dust in the wind.” We
believe we’re more that isolated, lonely drops of water in an endless sea – we
are beloved by God and marked as Christ’s own forever through our baptism. We believe that something does last forever –
God’s promise to us of everlasting life through Christ. And, we’re called to live out this good news
together in Christian community.
Welcome Ash Wednesday, my
friends. This will mark our transition
into Lent, the season of our church year in which we grapple the realities of
mortality as well as prepare for participation in the promise of resurrected
life.
As many of you know well, we give up
saying ‘Alleluia!’ and singing the
Gloria during the season of Lent as we enter 40 days of somber reflection and
solemn preparation. And, as the Psalmist
reminds us today (Psalm 103:8-14), even as we move through this time of
reflections on our sins and mortality, we maintain faith and hope because: “The
Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. He will not always accuse us, nor will he
keep his anger forever. He has not dealt
with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to out wickedness. For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so is God’s mercy great upon those who hear him.”
Lent (from
the Old English word lengten), is a
time of year when the daylight is lengthening again which underscores that
we’re entering a time of growth and renewal.
The spirit of our Lenten season originated out of the quality of time
spent by early church ancestors as they made their final preparations for
baptism on Easter (when Easter was the time to initiate people into the
faith). It also became a time during
which those who had fallen away from the faith were reconciled and prepared for
restoration in the community.
Here’s
something memorable to consider… We’re
invited to embrace our 40’s during Lent.
Lest you hear that we’re being asked to stretch our chronological age in
either direction, let me clarify that this invitation is to a special time of
awareness and transition – time in the desert, if you will.
In our biblical stories, times of 40 signal an important
time in our journey with God. For instance:
- 40 days and nights of the great flood
(Gen 7:4)
- 40 days Noah waits before exiting the
- 40 years in the desert wilderness as the
followers of Moses leave captivity and traveled to a promised land (Num
14: 33; Deut 29: 4)
- 40 days, twice, of Moses fasting on
- 40 days that David was taunted by
Goliath (1 Sam 17:16)
- 40 days that Elijah fasted in the
wilderness when all seemed against him (1 Kings 19:8)
- the Holy Spirit lead/drove Jesus, after
his baptism, into the desert for 40 days to be tempted and tested (Matt 4:1-11; Mark
1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13)
- and, as we’ll consider after Easter, 40
days that the resurrected Jesus helped prepare his followers from the
coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:3)
…and
so on.
What do all
of these 40’s have in common? The
characters in these stories weren’t choosing to enter these 40’s for their
health or vanities about self-discipline (I believe I’ll give up chocolate or
do more exercise for forty days). No,
they were generally led into 40’s by God for a higher purpose. Whether forty is numbering days or years,
whether the journeys are literal or metaphorical, they’re all periods marked
by: being in between; waiting; trials of trust; tests of will and spiritual
mettle; and precursors foreshadowing some form of liberating deliverance or
salvation. Forty represents periods when
the faithful are pushed, often the brink… by God… to repent and further develop
and demonstrate the depths of their faith, hope, and love.
And so here we are in our 40 – forty days of Lent (not counting the Sundays, which are
breaks in our fast as we celebrate the Lord’s feast at His table) – in which
we’re invited to learn more about our mettle, our deepest hungers and
temptations, and our ultimate reliance on God.
Sisters and brothers, how will you embrace you “40” this year?
This brings
us to consideration of our chosen Lenten disciplines….
I read a blog today that said, “The
challenge of the season of Lent, of self-examination, and repentance, is the
invitation to look deeply into yourself, your life, your choices – to see where
cleansing and de-cluttering are needed – to see the places in your life where
unnecessary things are taking up space, widening the gap between yourself and
your neighbor and the God who loves you both.” (The Rev. Mary Cat Young: http://episcopalcommons.org/2013/02/13/graduating-from-self-denial-to-intentional-living/)
What about
fasting? I simply invite you to consider that this
practice is not simply about self-disciple or seemingly arbitrary
self-denial. In fact, be wary of
practices that tempt you into narcissistic obsession with yourself. Self-obsession is not the aim of Lent –
self-reflection for the benefit of our shared life in Christ is. If you do choose to fast (to give up / deny
yourself something that is part of your daily sustenance), be mindful that this
ancient practice (usually referring to giving up bodily nourishment) is about
leading your body, mind, and heart into a new state of awareness. It’s about a sustained period of intentional
self-denial, inducing chronic hunger or want, in order to become more aware of
the root of your desires, our shared state of dependence and our primordial
needs. When you’re suffering from
hunger, you’re close to awareness of brokenness and contrition. From this place
of depravity and need, you can develop more compassionate cravings and begin to
yearn for the promise of abundance in God’s kingdom anew. Consider also that it would be more keeping
with the spirit of Lent if, when you give something up, you also provided
something to those in need (ref: almsgiving).
What about
taking on a new practice? In contrast to fasting, there’s a more
contemporary practice of taking on a new practice during Lent rather than
giving up something. Again, be mindful
that when you take on a new discipline you’re not doing it just for
self-improvement (so I look or feel better about myself). E.g., “I’ll spend more time at the gym each
day.” Hey, that’s a prudent practice to
improve your health… perhaps so that you can better serve Christ’s church… but doing
something new because it’s good for just you personally is not in keeping with
the intentions of this season. If you
choose to take on a new daily practice, make it something that sustains your
attention on growing in knowledge and love of God and each other… something
that compels you to love your neighbor as Christ has loved you.
What did you
take away from today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah (58:1-12)? Hear some of it again as paraphrased by
Eugene Peterson in The Message and
consider what the Spirit is saying to you about Lenten discipline:
Why
do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why
do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ Well, here’s why: The bottom line on your
‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at
the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The
kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this
is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a
pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you
call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to
break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free
the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing
your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting
clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.
What about
wearing your ashes around town or otherwise drawing attention to your piety?
The words of our Lord are pretty clear
in today’s Gospel lesson (Matt 6:1, 16-18), “Beware of practicing your piety
before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from
your Father in heaven…. And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the
hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are
fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast,
put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not
by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you.”
In other words, whatever you do this
Lent to discipline yourself (denying yourself or taking on a new practice),
consider the discipline itself a private matter – not something to boast about
or to use to get respect/admiration/sympathy from others. And, during Lent, don’t go about trying to
look particularly pious or observant – keep yourself clean and presentable as
you would any other time of year. At the
same time that this Lenten journey is a very private matter, your personal
Lenten labor should bear fruits that benefit others.
In today’s Epistle lesson (2 Cor
5:20-6:10), Paul says that as we work together with Christ we ought not accept
the grace of God in vain but should realize that now - even amid afflictions,
hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless
nights, and hunger – is the acceptable time of salvation… time to share the
good news of Christ… time to share patience, kindness, holiness of spirit,
genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God.
As we consider that our bodies are
fundamentally ashes and that our chronological time here is limited, let us
remember that we’re called to live together as much more than ashes – mere dust
in the wind.
May God guide you this Lenten season
to examine more deeply your needs and the needs of others… and equip you with
the resolve and strength to truly meet them.
As you give up things, or make new commitments, may you do so to both
unburden/unclutter our common life as well as to build up our collective
wellness. May you take action to close
the gap between yourself and God while paving new pathways for others to live
in community with you in Christ’s name. (adapted from a prayer written by The
Rev. Mary Cat Young: http://episcopalcommons.org/2013/02/13/graduating-from-self-denial-to-intentional-living/)
AMEN
 |
| by The Rev. Jay Sidebotham |
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