Our Journey Begins Again
Sermon
The Courage to Carry On
Sermons for Lent and Easter During Cycle B
Once upon a time, tragedy struck a small church family where an eighteen-year-old boy took his own life. A suicide note was discovered that revealed a heartbreaking reality. The note said, in part, that the boy would rather die than to ask for help. He would rather die than to take a long, hard look at himself and expose his weaknesses to another person. He would rather die than to risk a change of heart and ask God for help. As extreme as that attitude seems, it's probably not uncommon. The miracle is that one could continue to live that way for a lifetime.1
Ash Wednesday reminds us that there is another way to live. There is another reality that appears to be rooted in weakness but in truth reveals a partnership that can sustain us through every chapter of life.
Tonight we begin another Lenten journey. We have an opportunity to begin a forty-day period of penance, renewal, and reflection about our faith and life in Jesus Christ.
The mood of our worship is somber and pensive. But the presence of Christ in our struggle is real and renewing. Hope abounds. Help is at hand.
Our scriptural text is from the prophet Joel.
Joel speaks of gloom, clouds, and thick darkness. "Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart ... Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (vv. 12-13b).
First and foremost, our Lenten journey is about good news.
Joel reminds us how the Lord is abounding in steadfast love. Good news! The forty days of Lent, the Passion of our Lord, the mystery of our redemption, and the gift of our baptism are all good news!
The presence of Christ in our lives and Christ's eagerness to save us, love us, and walk with us every day of our lives is good news!
The Lord's promise of forgiveness and the gift of life eternal are good news -- extremely good news.
Secondly, our Lenten journey calls us to repentance. We are by nature selfish and self-serving.
Our pious gestures and self-indulgent appetites often deceive us and reveal something about us we dislike and struggle to deny.
There is a story of Savanarola, the great preacher of the fifteenth century, and an elderly woman who worshiped at the statue of the Virgin Mary that stood in his city's great cathedral. He saw her there day after day, on her knees paying homage to the Blessed Mary.
"Look how devoted she is to the Virgin Mother," Savanarola said to a fellow priest.
"Don't be deceived by what you see," the priest responded. "Many years ago, an artist was commissioned to create a statue for the cathedral. He looked for a woman to pose as a model for the sculpture. At last, he found one who seemed to be the perfect subject. Shortly after the statue was put in place, a woman came to visit it, knelt before it, to worship and adore the statue. One day, the woman lifted her veil. She was the woman who posed for the statue. She has come every day to kneel down before it ever since. What she comes to worship is herself!"2
Pride and self-centeredness can be terribly poisonous. Lent calls us to face the reality of our sin and repent. The ashes on our foreheads help us regain perspective.
Finally, our Lenten journey calls us to an entirely new way of living.
Often we interpret Lent to be very private. We understand the forty days to be a rigorous time of self-denial and self-discipline. Some of our childhood memories recall a time when we were confronted with the question, "What are you giving up for Lent?" There is nothing wrong with that, of course. But if our Lenten journey consists of only personal experiences, we miss the point! To be renewed by the love of God in Jesus Christ, to repent of our self-centered motives and condition, should always revitalize our faith and our way of living.
When the French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, died in 1662, it was found that he had stitched a piece of parchment into his coat so that it would lie next to his heart. On the parchment paper was a cross surrounded by the rays of the rising sun. Under the cross he had written the year and day of his conversion to Christianity and the words, "I feel joy and peace."3
The patch was always close to his heart and always served as a reminder of the presence of the risen Christ in that heart.
Christ is alive in ours, too!
Our Lenten journey allows us once again to "return to the Lord"; to be aware of who lives in our heart; to embrace the love, mercy, and freedom that we have in Jesus Christ, our redeemer and Lord.
____________
1. Bruce Larson, The Presence (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1988), p. 50.
2. Parish Publications, Inc. (Madison Heights, Michigan: Parish Publications, 1992), p. 3.
3. www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9011.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that there is another way to live. There is another reality that appears to be rooted in weakness but in truth reveals a partnership that can sustain us through every chapter of life.
Tonight we begin another Lenten journey. We have an opportunity to begin a forty-day period of penance, renewal, and reflection about our faith and life in Jesus Christ.
The mood of our worship is somber and pensive. But the presence of Christ in our struggle is real and renewing. Hope abounds. Help is at hand.
Our scriptural text is from the prophet Joel.
Joel speaks of gloom, clouds, and thick darkness. "Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart ... Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (vv. 12-13b).
First and foremost, our Lenten journey is about good news.
Joel reminds us how the Lord is abounding in steadfast love. Good news! The forty days of Lent, the Passion of our Lord, the mystery of our redemption, and the gift of our baptism are all good news!
The presence of Christ in our lives and Christ's eagerness to save us, love us, and walk with us every day of our lives is good news!
The Lord's promise of forgiveness and the gift of life eternal are good news -- extremely good news.
Secondly, our Lenten journey calls us to repentance. We are by nature selfish and self-serving.
Our pious gestures and self-indulgent appetites often deceive us and reveal something about us we dislike and struggle to deny.
There is a story of Savanarola, the great preacher of the fifteenth century, and an elderly woman who worshiped at the statue of the Virgin Mary that stood in his city's great cathedral. He saw her there day after day, on her knees paying homage to the Blessed Mary.
"Look how devoted she is to the Virgin Mother," Savanarola said to a fellow priest.
"Don't be deceived by what you see," the priest responded. "Many years ago, an artist was commissioned to create a statue for the cathedral. He looked for a woman to pose as a model for the sculpture. At last, he found one who seemed to be the perfect subject. Shortly after the statue was put in place, a woman came to visit it, knelt before it, to worship and adore the statue. One day, the woman lifted her veil. She was the woman who posed for the statue. She has come every day to kneel down before it ever since. What she comes to worship is herself!"2
Pride and self-centeredness can be terribly poisonous. Lent calls us to face the reality of our sin and repent. The ashes on our foreheads help us regain perspective.
Finally, our Lenten journey calls us to an entirely new way of living.
Often we interpret Lent to be very private. We understand the forty days to be a rigorous time of self-denial and self-discipline. Some of our childhood memories recall a time when we were confronted with the question, "What are you giving up for Lent?" There is nothing wrong with that, of course. But if our Lenten journey consists of only personal experiences, we miss the point! To be renewed by the love of God in Jesus Christ, to repent of our self-centered motives and condition, should always revitalize our faith and our way of living.
When the French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, died in 1662, it was found that he had stitched a piece of parchment into his coat so that it would lie next to his heart. On the parchment paper was a cross surrounded by the rays of the rising sun. Under the cross he had written the year and day of his conversion to Christianity and the words, "I feel joy and peace."3
The patch was always close to his heart and always served as a reminder of the presence of the risen Christ in that heart.
Christ is alive in ours, too!
Our Lenten journey allows us once again to "return to the Lord"; to be aware of who lives in our heart; to embrace the love, mercy, and freedom that we have in Jesus Christ, our redeemer and Lord.
____________
1. Bruce Larson, The Presence (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1988), p. 50.
2. Parish Publications, Inc. (Madison Heights, Michigan: Parish Publications, 1992), p. 3.
3. www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9011.
