If you’re stunned to find out today that we’re already into the season of Lent, you’re not alone. We’ve made it really dramatic and obvious for you by going from the fabulous excesses of last week’s festival service for the Dedication of the new Simkins Hall in the Shelby Center to today’s toned down, quite and more somber entry into the forty days of Lent.
But already? Many of you saw the article in the LA Times last week entitled: “Early Lent puts fast on fast track: It’s been nearly 100 years since Easter arrived this early, taking some Christians by surprise.” No wonder it seems early—it is! The last time Lent began this early was in 1913 and Woodrow Wilson was President.
I’ve been saying that there oughta be a law to prevent this sort of thing. We did just get through Christmas and Epiphany, after all. Well, there is a law, of sorts, that governs all this and that determines our Christian calendar. Here’s how it goes: Easter is observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the equinox. And counting back forty days from that—not counting Sundays—put Ash Wednesday on February 6th this year. Fortunately, it won’t happen this early again until 2160 and some other pastor’s going to have to deal with it!
So, ready or not, we’re already into this season. Many of you came out for our Ash Wednesday services last week and I hope that you all have or will pick up this morning your Lenten devotionals—we have them for families and children as well as for adults.
There are many ways to think about what the season of Lent is and what it’s for. My guess is that we here today represent a whole variety of faith backgrounds and traditions around Lent, or none whatsoever, so it can all be a bit confusing. Our Lenten devotional materials will give you some insights and understanding, as does Paul’s nice Focus On piece in our Order of Worship this morning and Mary’s “Spirit-Tending” column on our webpage.
Bottom line is that Lent is to be a season of centering, of refocusing, of realigning our lives and our priorities to help us be more of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Traditionally, the church suggested that we could do this spiritual work by fasting, prayer and self-denial, by self-examination and repentance, and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.
At our Ash Wednesday services, I read the invitation into Lenten observance from our Book of Worship and I share some of that again here today:
”Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: the early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation. During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism [so how very appropriate that we celebrate the baptism of Ethan Matthew this morning]. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church. In this way, the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.”
Lent is a season of spiritual preparation for the great news of Easter, remembering the need we all have to renew our faith.
The church no longer prescribes a list of things that we must do or must not do during Lent. There are lots of suggestions out there, from the old “give up chocolate” approach to something new and of the time from the Anglican bishops of London and Liverpool. In light of global warming and our profligate use of the world’s limited resources, the bishops have proposed a “Carbon Fast” to minimize our negative impact on the environment. How about giving up plastic bags or incandescent light bulbs this Lent? Or giving the dishwasher a day off; biking to work; insulating your hot water tank; or insulating leaky windows in your home? It’s a wonderful suggestion that would help us fast from thoughtless use of resources and realign our lives in humble stewardship.
Any approach to Lent in our time puts more responsibility on each of us to sort out our relationship with God and with others. To be honest with ourselves and with God about where we are on our spiritual journey. To acknowledge our brokenness, our sin, and the ways we have fallen short. And then, having done so, to find or create some ways in which we leave confess the errors of our ways and seek forgiveness. Ways in which we repair any brokenness that may exist in our relationships with God, with others, with the creation.
The lectionary readings during Lent that form the basis of each Sunday service will be of great help to us. They are centered on the goodness of God and the blessings that flow from God’s goodness into our lives, putting the emphasis on God’s abundant grace more than on our human failings. The spiritual work of Lent becomes, then, that of opening our hearts anew to God’s restoring grace and healing love. Even in the midst of trials and temptations. Even in the midst of failure and despair. Even in the midst of sorrow and brokenness. God inundates us with blessings.
I was profoundly moved to hear stories from people in rural Tennessee who lost so much in last week’s devastating tornadoes. With homes and businesses destroyed, lives lost, hopes shattered, still people were focusing on helping one another. One woman said that it was just so comforting to see everyone turning up to help, in whatever way they could. In the midst of whatever life brings, God finds a way to bless us with comfort and love and new beginnings. We see it first, perhaps, in the story of Jesus’ own temptation, summoning all his might to wrestle with the Devil’s promises and ploys. Then discovering, through it all, God was sending angels to look after him and to attend to his needs. In all things, in all our trials and temptations, too, God is blessing us with hope and with glimmers of life made new. In countless guises, God sends angels of hope and mercy and grace and forgiveness and love to help us heal and guide us home.
I want to close this brief Communion homily this morning with a Lenten prayer that has become meaningful to many of you. You’ll find it in my Horizons column in the newsletter, and I offer it now as we prepare our hearts for this sacrament of promise and hope. This Lent:
Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on trust.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on nonviolence.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
May this Lenten season be for you holy and blessed.
Amen.
Notes:
K. Connie Kang: ”Early Lent puts fast on fast track.” LA Times, Feb. 6, 2008, p. B2.
For more on the Carbon Fast, see http://www.tearfund.org/Churches/Carbon+fast+new/
© Patricia Farris, 2008. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
"Forty Days, Holy and Blessed"