A holy Lent
Commentary
Object:
Imagine life in a northern farming community a couple of centuries ago. It's early March. The sun is getting brighter and the days longer, but snow still covers the ground and it is bitterly cold. Food stored away at the fall harvest is dwindling, perhaps down to shriveled turnips or rutabagas or whatever it may be that is everyone's least favorite meal. The chickens are laying less, if at all; perhaps a weasel crept into the barn over the winter and killed the flock. Winter illnesses may have brought members of the family low; some may have died, but their bodies cannot be buried until the ground thaws. Connections with the outside world by road or ship have come to a halt. Cabin fever is well advanced. In such a world, Lent makes sense. It reflects the realities of a difficult season and offers spiritual support to people experiencing privation. The fasts of Lent are congruous with decreasing food supplies; the disciplines of prayer and repentance are appropriate for shortened tempers and exhausted, possibly grieving spirits. The word "Lent" comes from the Old English lencten, which refers to the lengthening days that mark the arrival of spring.
How different a world most of us live in now! While winter still presents challenges, central heating and heated cars and buses protect us from the cold. Twenty-four-hour supermarkets offer bountiful fresh produce year-round. For the more affluent among us, jets can whisk us to warm-weather getaways or to ski resorts, depending on our preferences for sand or snow. Of course, heat and fresh food are not so easily purchased by all in our society, but the shared sufferings of late winter are much more muted than in generations past. What then do we make of Ash Wednesday and Lent in a culture that is so different from the contexts in which our Lenten traditions came to be? What then do we make of Ash Wednesday and Lent in a culture that increasingly does not even know they exist?
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
The prophetic book of Joel is brief, difficult to date given its lack of historical references, and rarely read in church apart from Ash Wednesday. In the Revised Common Lectionary, readings from Joel are appointed for Thanksgiving Day in Year B and Proper 25 in Year C. That's it: one Sunday every three years, if that. You see, Proper 25 often falls in late October, so depending on the year and the church, it may be missed entirely in favor of All Saints and/or Reformation Sunday observances. So today is a rare day to spend with this work, though the promise of God's spirit poured out on all flesh appears in Peter's speech read at Pentecost (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).
The first chapter of Joel gives a poetic description of the land ruined by a plague of locusts, stripped bare and laid waste. A threat of similar impending destruction by another invading army (which may be read as either locust or human) gains the name "the day of the Lord." Chapter 2 mixes descriptions of the ferocity of a locust invasion with descriptions of the darkness and gloom brought by the dry, dust-filled desert wind, Sharav, which marks the transition between the dry summer and rainy winter in Israel. Together, the dust-laden desert wind and crackling, devouring, seething locust hoards create an apocalyptic scenario, though one based in actual natural events. In the face of this threat, the call to prayer and fasting in Joel 2:12-17 appeals to every member of society, for none will be spared. Joel 2:18-27 describes God's pity on the people, the land, and its creatures, and how the invading army will be driven away and the land become fruitful again in the early rains.
Few, if any, of us have ever experienced the horror of a locust plague, but the call to repentance in the face of a natural threat that will leave no person untouched is amazingly contemporary. Climate change threatens to send drought, storms, and yes, even plagues of locusts and other pests and diseases across the globe. Even if we are spared particular tragedies in our local communities, in this global economy our food and other natural resources and those who produce them will be affected. As in Joel, one way or another, no one will be left out. In recent years, more and more churches have taken time in Lent to examine their relationships with creation and to encourage Lenten disciplines that seek to restore some aspect of the natural world. Taking action to reduce a household's or a congregation's carbon footprint is one option. Lent can present a discrete amount of time to try something new and perhaps challenging or inconvenient, such as giving up a clothes dryer and instead using a clothesline, carpooling or using public transportation instead of driving alone, or eating vegetarian meals for a part or all of the season. The range of possibilities is wide, but all call for intentionality, reflection, and prayer. An internet search on "Lenten Carbon Fast" will turn up multiple resources and possibilities.
2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:10
I am always brought up short by Paul's boastful-sounding list of privations and virtues in the second part of this reading, especially in juxtaposition with Jesus' words in today's gospel about keeping acts of piety secret. What are we to make of Paul's bragging on this day that is all about humility? It is worth noting that the contexts for Paul and Jesus are very different. While Jesus was offering wise teachings to his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, Paul was issuing an emotional plea after a difficult visit to Corinth and challenges to his teaching and personal integrity. More than anything, Paul wishes for the members of the church in Corinth to know the true joy and freedom of life in Christ, and to that end, he rhetorically gets down on his knees and begs for them to return to God. Paul's humility is found in his plea for reconciliation, and it is worth pondering on this day of repentance and renewal how many of us have Paul's courage and forthrightness to seek to mend painful and conflicted relationships. It is far easier to lash out in anger, to cut off, to ignore, or to pretend that the hurt isn't really there, than to face into pain and seek to mend a relationship. In verses 6:4-10 Paul is employing some of the rhetorical conventions of his day in service to this end. Reconciliation with God and with others we have hurt or who have hurt us is deep and holy work. For some, this Lent may be a time to seek to renew and restore important human relationships by reaching out across months or years of distance or conflict. The end is never assured when we seek reconciliation, but the act of seeking it can transform us. To seek it well requires strength and humility, which Paul models here in his own uniquely human way.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Today's gospel is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, which we read on Epiphany 4-7 this year, picking up where Epiphany 7 left off. Some preachers may wish to note that the missing verses of Matthew 6:7-15 consist of Jesus' teaching of the Lord's Prayer, which is not something to lightly pass over in considering his teachings on prayer! In churches that have the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday, the question often arises out of this gospel whether it is best to go through the day with ashes on one's forehead or whether it is better to wipe them off so as not to make a show of one's piety. Since Jesus' day was one in which shows of piety led to personal credit and acclaim, that question is best answered with the question of whether in the current context having ashes on one's forehead would lead to congratulations or some other reaction, and whether it serves to deepen the bearer's faith and commitment. The teenager going to public school might have a different answer from her mother working at a Catholic hospital and her father going to work with the local government. But really, the question generally tends to be a self-involved one about other people's reactions, compared with the call from Jesus to put aside regard for what other people think when it comes to sustaining one's own relationship with God.
One of the more interesting and challenging words in today's gospel for a modern audience is that simple word "when" (or "whenever" in some translations). Jesus says it over and over, "When you give alms.... when you pray... when you fast." Jesus takes for granted that his listeners do all these things as part of their regular religious practice, and any faithful Israelite male of his time would have done them, but how true is this for most parishioners sitting in our pews, and even those of us standing in their pulpits? At least in my part of the world, there is little public reward for practicing piety -- church-going is the occupation of the minority, not an expectation of the majority. Outside of church, shows of piety tend to make others uncomfortable and win awkward silences or quick changes of subject. When the surrounding culture does not support religious expression in public or in private, Christians need to support one another in building and sustaining holy, life-giving disciplines of prayer, alms-giving, and fasting. Spiritual Classics and other works by Richard Foster, among many other resources, can aid individuals and small groups wishing to consider intentional Christian rules of life.
Application
In the Ash Wednesday service in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, after the sermon and before the imposition of ashes, the minister reads a short summary of the history of the season of Lent in the Christian church followed by these words: "I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word." Reflections on the readings above have offered several examples of possible Lenten disciplines, but the greatest message by far is the call to return to the God who made us in love. A holy Lent is one in which relationships with God, neighbor, and all creation are examined, tended, and restored. We are told on Ash Wednesday to remember that we are dust, which means that our time on this earth is limited, but also that we are molded from the earth by our creator, whose breath enlivens each one of us, as told in the creation story in Genesis 2. To be humble means literally to be of the earth, and perhaps that is what we need most of all -- to be reminded of our humanity and our connection with all creation. Lent offers the opportunity to cut out some distractions and reconnect with the holy that is always so near to us.
Lent can be a time of fasting from those things that come between us and God, and a time of feasting on God's presence and grace in our lives. Over the years there have been many variations and expansions on the Lenten feast/fast theme that appears below, but I believe the original Lenten charge is this one by Arthur Carl Lichtenberger, which appeared in his 1964 book The Day Is at Hand. Feel free to use, adapt, write your own, or have church members create their own best version for a holy and life-giving Lent.
Fast from criticism, and feast on praise.
Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy.
Fast from ill-temper, and feast on peace.
Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment.
Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.
Fast from pride, and feast on humility.
Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.
Fast from fear, and feast on faith.
How different a world most of us live in now! While winter still presents challenges, central heating and heated cars and buses protect us from the cold. Twenty-four-hour supermarkets offer bountiful fresh produce year-round. For the more affluent among us, jets can whisk us to warm-weather getaways or to ski resorts, depending on our preferences for sand or snow. Of course, heat and fresh food are not so easily purchased by all in our society, but the shared sufferings of late winter are much more muted than in generations past. What then do we make of Ash Wednesday and Lent in a culture that is so different from the contexts in which our Lenten traditions came to be? What then do we make of Ash Wednesday and Lent in a culture that increasingly does not even know they exist?
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
The prophetic book of Joel is brief, difficult to date given its lack of historical references, and rarely read in church apart from Ash Wednesday. In the Revised Common Lectionary, readings from Joel are appointed for Thanksgiving Day in Year B and Proper 25 in Year C. That's it: one Sunday every three years, if that. You see, Proper 25 often falls in late October, so depending on the year and the church, it may be missed entirely in favor of All Saints and/or Reformation Sunday observances. So today is a rare day to spend with this work, though the promise of God's spirit poured out on all flesh appears in Peter's speech read at Pentecost (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).
The first chapter of Joel gives a poetic description of the land ruined by a plague of locusts, stripped bare and laid waste. A threat of similar impending destruction by another invading army (which may be read as either locust or human) gains the name "the day of the Lord." Chapter 2 mixes descriptions of the ferocity of a locust invasion with descriptions of the darkness and gloom brought by the dry, dust-filled desert wind, Sharav, which marks the transition between the dry summer and rainy winter in Israel. Together, the dust-laden desert wind and crackling, devouring, seething locust hoards create an apocalyptic scenario, though one based in actual natural events. In the face of this threat, the call to prayer and fasting in Joel 2:12-17 appeals to every member of society, for none will be spared. Joel 2:18-27 describes God's pity on the people, the land, and its creatures, and how the invading army will be driven away and the land become fruitful again in the early rains.
Few, if any, of us have ever experienced the horror of a locust plague, but the call to repentance in the face of a natural threat that will leave no person untouched is amazingly contemporary. Climate change threatens to send drought, storms, and yes, even plagues of locusts and other pests and diseases across the globe. Even if we are spared particular tragedies in our local communities, in this global economy our food and other natural resources and those who produce them will be affected. As in Joel, one way or another, no one will be left out. In recent years, more and more churches have taken time in Lent to examine their relationships with creation and to encourage Lenten disciplines that seek to restore some aspect of the natural world. Taking action to reduce a household's or a congregation's carbon footprint is one option. Lent can present a discrete amount of time to try something new and perhaps challenging or inconvenient, such as giving up a clothes dryer and instead using a clothesline, carpooling or using public transportation instead of driving alone, or eating vegetarian meals for a part or all of the season. The range of possibilities is wide, but all call for intentionality, reflection, and prayer. An internet search on "Lenten Carbon Fast" will turn up multiple resources and possibilities.
2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:10
I am always brought up short by Paul's boastful-sounding list of privations and virtues in the second part of this reading, especially in juxtaposition with Jesus' words in today's gospel about keeping acts of piety secret. What are we to make of Paul's bragging on this day that is all about humility? It is worth noting that the contexts for Paul and Jesus are very different. While Jesus was offering wise teachings to his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, Paul was issuing an emotional plea after a difficult visit to Corinth and challenges to his teaching and personal integrity. More than anything, Paul wishes for the members of the church in Corinth to know the true joy and freedom of life in Christ, and to that end, he rhetorically gets down on his knees and begs for them to return to God. Paul's humility is found in his plea for reconciliation, and it is worth pondering on this day of repentance and renewal how many of us have Paul's courage and forthrightness to seek to mend painful and conflicted relationships. It is far easier to lash out in anger, to cut off, to ignore, or to pretend that the hurt isn't really there, than to face into pain and seek to mend a relationship. In verses 6:4-10 Paul is employing some of the rhetorical conventions of his day in service to this end. Reconciliation with God and with others we have hurt or who have hurt us is deep and holy work. For some, this Lent may be a time to seek to renew and restore important human relationships by reaching out across months or years of distance or conflict. The end is never assured when we seek reconciliation, but the act of seeking it can transform us. To seek it well requires strength and humility, which Paul models here in his own uniquely human way.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Today's gospel is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, which we read on Epiphany 4-7 this year, picking up where Epiphany 7 left off. Some preachers may wish to note that the missing verses of Matthew 6:7-15 consist of Jesus' teaching of the Lord's Prayer, which is not something to lightly pass over in considering his teachings on prayer! In churches that have the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday, the question often arises out of this gospel whether it is best to go through the day with ashes on one's forehead or whether it is better to wipe them off so as not to make a show of one's piety. Since Jesus' day was one in which shows of piety led to personal credit and acclaim, that question is best answered with the question of whether in the current context having ashes on one's forehead would lead to congratulations or some other reaction, and whether it serves to deepen the bearer's faith and commitment. The teenager going to public school might have a different answer from her mother working at a Catholic hospital and her father going to work with the local government. But really, the question generally tends to be a self-involved one about other people's reactions, compared with the call from Jesus to put aside regard for what other people think when it comes to sustaining one's own relationship with God.
One of the more interesting and challenging words in today's gospel for a modern audience is that simple word "when" (or "whenever" in some translations). Jesus says it over and over, "When you give alms.... when you pray... when you fast." Jesus takes for granted that his listeners do all these things as part of their regular religious practice, and any faithful Israelite male of his time would have done them, but how true is this for most parishioners sitting in our pews, and even those of us standing in their pulpits? At least in my part of the world, there is little public reward for practicing piety -- church-going is the occupation of the minority, not an expectation of the majority. Outside of church, shows of piety tend to make others uncomfortable and win awkward silences or quick changes of subject. When the surrounding culture does not support religious expression in public or in private, Christians need to support one another in building and sustaining holy, life-giving disciplines of prayer, alms-giving, and fasting. Spiritual Classics and other works by Richard Foster, among many other resources, can aid individuals and small groups wishing to consider intentional Christian rules of life.
Application
In the Ash Wednesday service in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, after the sermon and before the imposition of ashes, the minister reads a short summary of the history of the season of Lent in the Christian church followed by these words: "I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word." Reflections on the readings above have offered several examples of possible Lenten disciplines, but the greatest message by far is the call to return to the God who made us in love. A holy Lent is one in which relationships with God, neighbor, and all creation are examined, tended, and restored. We are told on Ash Wednesday to remember that we are dust, which means that our time on this earth is limited, but also that we are molded from the earth by our creator, whose breath enlivens each one of us, as told in the creation story in Genesis 2. To be humble means literally to be of the earth, and perhaps that is what we need most of all -- to be reminded of our humanity and our connection with all creation. Lent offers the opportunity to cut out some distractions and reconnect with the holy that is always so near to us.
Lent can be a time of fasting from those things that come between us and God, and a time of feasting on God's presence and grace in our lives. Over the years there have been many variations and expansions on the Lenten feast/fast theme that appears below, but I believe the original Lenten charge is this one by Arthur Carl Lichtenberger, which appeared in his 1964 book The Day Is at Hand. Feel free to use, adapt, write your own, or have church members create their own best version for a holy and life-giving Lent.
Fast from criticism, and feast on praise.
Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy.
Fast from ill-temper, and feast on peace.
Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment.
Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.
Fast from pride, and feast on humility.
Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.
Fast from fear, and feast on faith.
