Lent 4

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Lent 4

22 March 2009 

Text:  John 2: 14-21; Numbers 21: 4-9

Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2: 1-10 

Today is Refreshment Sunday.  It's also called Mothering Sunday in Great Britain, but I figure we women won't be able to convince the rest of you that we need 2 Mother's Days this spring.  Our Roman Catholic friends call the 4^th Sunday in Lent "Laetare Sunday" for the Latin word meaning "rejoice."  Our forebears recognized that even in penitential seasons we need a break in the rigors of our Lenten disciplines (which used to be much more rigorous than most people choose to undergo today).

      By Refreshment Sunday, we have made it through over ½ of Lent, & the church seems to tell us to "lighten up."  How many of you have found those well-intentioned Lenten disciplines—what you promised to give up or take on—harder to adhere to than you at first thought they would be?  Don't answer that aloud; it's a rhetorical question.  Perhaps, instead of shaming ourselves for where we've gone lacking, we would do better to adjust our intentions to those which will better help us experience Jesus' extraordinary journey to the cross & through it to resurrection, & cut ourselves some slack.  Learning to evaluate & realign ourselves at midpoints in our lives is one of the most useful & nourishing skills we can develop.

      Our Lenten home groups studying The Shack continue for 2 more weeks, & if the 3 groups I've visited thus far are any indication, the meditative reading of the novel enriched by forthright discussion has led to new awarenesses & deeper relationships with God as well as with others.  What beautiful personal & community Lenten learnings!  Others have told me the daily meditation booklets have helped them ponder their own priorities & be more alert to the challenges of the larger world.  Weekly on Friday some gather for Stations of the Cross to walk Jesus' last journey with him, remembering his gift to us.  Ahead of us we have the pageantry of Palm Sunday which is also the 4^th anniversary of our first worshipping together as one community, & then the powerful worship of Holy Week:  Maundy Thursday, Good Friday which we'll share with our sisters & brothers from our neighboring churches, the Easter Vigil with baptisms on Saturday evening, & then the Festival of the Resurrection on Easter morning.  Each of these services provides a piece of the Easter miracle;  please plan to attend each of them to experience the whole of the joy of Christ's overcoming his death to new life—& ours, too. 

      Turning to our scriptures today, we find Jesus deep in conversation with Nicodemus who has just been quizzing Jesus about how he can reenter his mother's womb to be born again.  The Greek anothen is also translated "born from above," so Jesus is inviting Nicodemus to let go of what he has been taught in order to accept what Jesus has to offer.  Nicodemus sees only one dimension, much as some Christians today who are heavily invested in pinpointing the moment they felt "saved" & accepted Jesus as their personal savior.  Certainly personal salvation is an aspect of a Christian life, one which emphasizes a person's action in response to Jesus' gift of new life.  Jesus invites Nicodemus, & all of us, to recognize the gift, Jesus' invitation to be transformed, to let go of our own agenda in order for Jesus' life, death, & resurrection to be at the center of the way we live our new lives daily in Christ. 

      You may have heard this invitation before:  Jesus says that God loved the world so much that God gave Jesus to the world so that we might all have eternal life.  In most instances, John the evangelist tells us that God sent Jesus into the world—an act of God's will—a rational decision.  Here, God gives Jesus to the whole world as an act of love.  Jesus was made flesh & came to live among us because of God's love for the whole world.  Jesus was a gift of love.  Awesome!  Such an act of love pouring out of the very heart of God isn't a once-for-all experience but rather a gift which keeps on giving, as some commercial says, & not just to one person but to the whole world.  If we choose to accept the love-gift, we get to spend the rest of our lives living into the new life in Christ.  And we don't travel the Gospel road alone, for that very familiar scripture tells us God loved the world—that's plural, folks—& everyone who believes is offered eternal life. 

      In the other gospels, those which seem more closely connected to each other, Jesus offers God's kingdom to those who believe & spends a lot of his teaching time describing God's kingdom:  the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, a pearl of great price, a lump of yeast, & a myriad of other metaphors to help us recognize glimpses of that new life when we see it.  John the evangelist prefers the term eternal life, but he's offering the same thing.  And we learn that God yearns for us to accept the invitation to eternal life just as our gospel reveals;  God didn't send the Son for condemnation but for salvation.  God's greatest desire is for us to live into that gift by believing in God.

      The Shack, the book some of us are reading illustrates God's gracious gift & desire for continual relationship as the protagonist Mack spends a weekend in the presence of the Trinitarian God, interacting with the 3 persons of God & experiencing their love & joy in one another & in his growth in trusting & believing in them.  As Mack lets go of the obstacles which have blocked his ability to trust God, first one & then another of the 3 aspects of the Trinity exhibit unconditional love for him while challenging him to new depths of acceptance & eventual understanding.

      We, too, are invited into deeper relationship with God whom we may experience at various times as Papa, the human Jesus, & the sustaining presence of the Spirit, Sarayu in the book.  Some choose to block out the light of God from their lives & in so doing, often blame God for their own rejection of the light.  Our choice to accompany Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem & to the cross means we are willing to at some level let go of our own independent notions that we have a better way to live & are willing to embrace Jesus' journey.  Each year, we live through the humility & self-emptying of the cross in trust that we will be raised with Christ.  This journey is not a solitary one; Jesus is ever with us as is the company of saints who also take up their crosses to travel in a caravan with Jesus who tells us that the burden of our crosses is light.

      After the affirmation of our faith & our prayers for others & ourselves including the confession of those things which hold us back from full acceptance of Jesus' incredible invitation to walk with us, we will stand to pass the peace, greeting other pilgrims on our journey whom we need & with whom we are privileged to travel.  As we greet our fellow pilgrims, let us offer prayers of thanksgiving for each of them as well as those who are absent from our presence today.  You might even reach out to some of them after worship today to let them know they are missed. 

      Take a deep breath, pause & give thanks, & commit to start over again on our Lenten journey.  Pray for each other & accompany each other as we all respond to Jesus' call to come & see, to come & worship, to come & live eternally with God.

Lent 3

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Lent 3

15 March 2009 

Text:  John 2: 13-22; Exodus 20: 1-17

Other Readings:  Psalm 19; I Corinthians 1: 18-25 

      John's gospel passage today is one of the most awesome yet troubling in all the accounts of Jesus.  Jesus & his disciples arrive in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, & upon arriving at the temple, Jesus throws a royal coniption-fit.  When he sees the commerce in the temple, his temper gets the better of him.  Had this happened in Houston, the men-in-blue would have tazed him for disturbing the peace & then sent for the men-in-white.                                                    He hurriedly makes a cord whip & sends the sales people & the money-changers packing.  Later, the disciples recall the passage from Psalm 69 which says, "Zeal for your house will consume me."  All those around him must be downright astonished, but the Jewish religious leaders recover their wits soon enough to ask him for a sign to explain his bizarre action. 

      At times, I have rejoiced in this story, feeling I was justified in a similar explosion, as in, "If Jesus could lose his temper, perhaps it's not too bad when I do the same thing."  At other times, I am dismayed that Jesus isn't always as pacifistic as I would wish him to be.  Perhaps physical violence is the only way he can express his strong objections to what he sees in the temple.  The religious leaders are always trying to catch Jesus in something that will incriminate him; he's in the middle of a first-classed snit & they ask him for a sign.  Sheesh!  Most of the time, this story simply perplexes me.  What can it all mean?

      The other 3 passages read today may help put this one in perspective.  Psalm 19 rejoices in the law, much as does the longest psalm, Psalm 119.  Look how many synonyms the psalmist uses for law:  testimony, statutes, commandment, judgments.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Regardless of which term is used, the psalmist's attitude toward the law is positive & life-giving.  It is perfect & revives the soul, gives wisdom to the innocent, rejoices the heart & gives light to the eyes.  For the Jews, there is a yearning for the law & its fulfillment:  more to be desired than gold, sweeter than honey in the comb. Christians often put down the Hebrew laws & assume that the Jewish people felt burdened by them.  This psalm contradicts any such sense of burden, doesn't it?  On the whole, Jewish people found then & even now find the law life-giving & joy-bringing.  In fact, this psalm begins as a celebration of the wonder the breadth of creation of heavens & earth.

      It's not coincidental that the reading from the Hebrew scriptures today is God's delivery of the 10 Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  God commands the Israelites to keep these 10 basic guides for living as they wander in the desert for 40 years.  In fact, the Godly Play program which our young children experience for Christian formation calls them the 10 Best Ways.  To form & develop cohesive community, God's chosen people need laws for healthy behavior with each other.  The first four commandments refer to the Israelites' honoring one God, the Hebrew God Jhwh:  having no other gods, not making an idol of anything or anyone else, not misusing God's name to do magic or to discredit God, & keeping the Sabbath holy--setting aside 1/7th of the week to worship God & be rejuvenated for work.

      The other 6 commandments are guides for living closely together in community:  honoring parents who brought them here in the first place, doing no murder, not committing adultery or stealing, not defrauding a neighbor or coveting any of that neighbor's possessions.  These lessons for living with each other peacefully still work pretty well when we follow them, right? 

      Was Jesus undermining these very practical religious practices when he threw the merchants out of the temple precincts?  Heavens, no.  He even told those trying to trap him regarding the law to follow the Shema: to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, & strength; as well as the partner commandment: to love their neighbors as themselves. 

      The point Jesus makes here & elsewhere is that observing the 2 great commandments means the heart of all the laws is fulfilled.  Jesus doesn't just want a rote grudging or judgmental following of the law.  He wants his disciples to love the freedom fulfilling the law should mean to them, not the penny-pinching slavishness to the law which had added 603 more through the years.  In fact, the temple represents the epitome of the law to the Jewish people who go there to offer sacrifices & adoration to God.  What Jesus seems upset about is that the Jews' meticulous adherence to the law means they often follow them blindly.  I'm sure some poor people were literally wiped out financially by the cost of the required sacrifices.  You may remember that Jesus' parents gave two turtle-doves in celebration for his birth at his presentation in the temple (Luke 2:24). 

      So Jesus answers the religious leaders who ask him for a sign.  He says, "Destroy this temple," & of course they think he is talking about the building which took 46 years to build.  In his own mind, Jesus has already replaced the temple with his own body which they will in fact destroy.   They misunderstand him, however, assuming he intends to destroy the temple, this holy place of sacrifice & worship which represents the heart of their religious observance.  It isn't that they are failing to be faithful Jews.  They are, in fact, fulfilling the details of the law so fully that they have lost the spirit of the law. 

      Jesus' anger is that their focus on fulfilling every detail of the law has blinded them to God's call to be more loving & more faithful.  We see Jesus over & over uncovering the hypocrisy & self-righteousness of the religious leaders, & here at the geographic center of their worship, once again he sees hypocrisy & self-righteousness at work.

      One commentary calls this powerful vignette Jesus' "displacement" of the temple.  Jesus the human lived faithfully on earth, was crucified, died, was buried, & rose again to break the bonds of sin & death.  He presents himself as the new site of God's revelation, the new "temple."  In the new Covenant with God, we are to worship Jesus just as the Jews worshipped in the temple.  What's more, we are to follow Jesus with the same life-giving joy which the Psalms attribute to the Law.

      There wasn't anything wrong with the law as given to Moses on Mt. Sinai as we read about 1st today.  What had developed was the "religious people's" worshipping the law itself rather than worshipping God the law-giver.  When the law became the god of the people, that was sinful.  We call that idolatry, making something else into God.  Look back at the 2nd commandment:  "You shall have no other gods before me;  you shall not make for yourself an idol. . . ."  

      In today's world this tendency crops up regularly not in worship of the law or worship of the temple but in worship of the Bible.  The Bible is the inspired word of God, but it's not God.  The Bible is an awesome tool for us to know God more fully, especially through the life, death, & resurrection of God's son Jesus Christ.  But sometimes, instead of wrestling with a passage to see what God is saying for our lives today, we simply cut to the chase & say we should or shouldn't do something because it says so in the Bible.  Of course, in order to make that work, we have to pick & choose what we decide to take literally in the Bible because it is often contradictory.  Our Gospel reading today is a good example.  In other places, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, but we certainly don't see any cheek-turning when Jesus enters the temple grounds, do we?  It is God through Jesus Christ whom we worship & not the Bible itself.  If we do, we make the Bible an idol.

      Today is the 3rd Sunday of Lent, & this week we'll be halfway through this 40 day period of penance & preparation.  What salespeople & money-changers does Jesus need to pitch out of your temple so that there is room for Jesus to dwell there & be the Lord of your life?  What spring housecleaning do you need to do in your life so there's room for God to be truly at home there?  What nooks & crannies have you been holding back, trying to keep control of them yourself?  I pray that you'll open the door to those secret places & give them a good airing out so that God can dwell there. 

Lent 2

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Lent 2

8 March 2009 

Text:  Mark 8: 31-38; Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16

Other Readings: Psalm 22: 22-30; Romans 4: 13-25 

      A farmer's finest horse disappeared one night.  His neighbors shook their heads & said, "What a terrible thing to happen to you."  The farmer said simply, "Perhaps so; perhaps not.  Time will tell."  A few days later, from over the hill behind the farmhouse came the horse, head held high, leading a whole herd of wild horses.  The neighbors exclaimed, "What great luck!"  "Perhaps so; perhaps not.  Time will tell," replied the farmer.  As the farmer's son began breaking in the wild horses, the most spirited one bucked him off, & he broke his arm.  Again, the neighbors bemoaned, "What terrible luck for your son."  Once again, "Perhaps so; perhaps not.  Time will tell."  The next day, the king's recruiter rode through the countryside, conscripting young men for the army.  The farmer's son was bypassed since he had a broken arm.  The neighbors, not the brightest lights on the tree, declared the farmer truly blessed.  "Perhaps so; perhaps not.  Time will tell," repeated the farmer wisely.

      How many times have we labeled something either very good or very bad, only to find that our first judgment of the situation sorely lacking?  Perhaps Peter could have sympathized with the farmer's neighbors in our gospel lesson today.  Just preceding today's reading, Peter has identified Jesus as the Messiah in what we call the confession at Caesarea Philippi.  We even celebrate a feast day on the 18^th of January each year to commemorate Peter's Confession of Jesus as the Christ.  Immediately, Jesus silences the disciples concerning his identity.  Then, Jesus explains what type of Messiah he is.  In the first passion prediction according to Mark, Jesus announces openly that suffering & death lie ahead for this Messiah.

      The disciples simply cannot imagine their leader Jesus suffering, being further rejected by the religious leaders, actually being killed, & then rising again.  In fact, Peter, usual spokesperson for the disciples, misses Jesus' resurrection prediction completely & takes him aside to rebuke him.  Peter dares strong language with Jesus as "rebuke" is a powerful word often describing Jesus' exorcisms, his casting demons out of a person.  Having just identified Jesus as Messiah, nothing in Peter's Jewish background has prepared him for such a Messiah who suffers & dies.  In defense of Peter, he & the other disciples have left homes, families, & professions to follow Jesus.  They've given three years of their lives to this itinerant preacher, looking forward to Jesus' power play when both the religious authorities & the Romans will learn just who is in charge. 

      Thus, Peter isn't prepared when Jesus, in turn, rebukes him with "Get behind me, Satan!"  What might this rebuke mean?  Could Jesus be tempted to become the conquering messiah they expect & satisfy the religious authorities as well?  Peter offers Jesus a way out just as Satan had in the desert, yet once again, Jesus resists.  No doubt he reminds himself as well as Peter that such is human & not divine thinking & behaving. 

      Jesus then proceeds to outline for his followers what his messiahship will mean for them as well as for him.  Jesus is actually pleading with Peter to continue to follow him when he says, "Get behind me," in much the same way we might ask someone to "back"—to support—us, in some endeavor.  Jesus realizes that he must suffer, not because God wants to see his Son suffer, but because Jesus' understanding of God's will for the people is diametrically opposed to that of the religious authorities.  Actually, Jesus is telling the disciples their responsibility isn't to protect, guide, or possess Jesus but to follow him—whatever the cost.

      Up until now, the disciples have enjoyed following a popular Jesus as he has healed, preached, & comforted the common people.  Now, Jesus' invitation to follow him leads them most likely not to earthly power but to death. Denying themselves, taking up their crosses, & following Jesus might not be too safe for them.  In fact, Jesus says specifically that those who want to save their life will lose it & those who lose their life for his sake will save it.  Wait just a minute now; all of a sudden Jesus is talking life & death, the disciple may say.  Does he mean others might have to forfeit their own lives also?

      In our reading from the Hebrew scriptures today, God changes Abram's name to Abraham & Sarai's name to Sarah as signs that they have been faithful to God thus far & will be called upon to trust God in the covenant God makes with them to parent multitudes which is what Abraham means.  Sarah, by the way, means princess, so God sees her as royalty in birthing Isaac & thus the Hebrew people. 

      But I get ahead of myself.  If you were 100 years old like Abraham, or even 90 like Sarah, & were told God's covenant with you would include child-bearing, would you consider it a blessing?  "Perhaps so; perhaps not.  Time will tell," Sarah might say, & if you know the rest of the story, you'll know that Sarah must have pondered the blessing of this covenant many times in the years following.  According to Paul in today's epistle reading, Abraham hoped against hope that he would indeed father many nations even though his body was as good as dead, & God reckoned Abraham's faith to be righteous & blessed him with sons as well as land.  Often, God's ways are certainly not our ways, are they?

      Certainly Peter had a hard time seeing that anything but horror would come out of the end that Jesus predicted for himself or for his followers.   I'm a bit like Peter here when Jesus says I have to deny myself, take up my cross, & follow him, even if it means following to my death.  I understand what Jesus is saying, but I don't want to believe it—I can't bear the thought.  What does Jesus mean that we have to lose our lives for the gospel's sake in order to save them?  Not many people in today's world have to literally sacrifice their lives for Christ's sake though we hear stories of people like Archbishop Oscar Romero in South America murdered for his faith.  Certainly in World War II, millions of Jews lost their lives in the Nazi gas ovens just because they were Jews. 

      And then I have to get honest with myself & realize that taking my Christian walk seriously meant I've had to die to old ways of living.  Over 20 years ago, I first mourned what I would miss when I gave up drinking alcohol, knowing that it was toxic to me.  Today, I can enumerate how many blessings of health & friends & abundance of life I've gained from being willing to give the booze up.  Over the years, I've explored other character defects & let go of them, submitted to spiritual disciplines to grow in discipleship, & returned to school to take up a new profession.  Basically, I had to die to being the center of my own universe in order to be born again to follow the Messiah. 

      The ancient wisdom which has provided us with this Lenten season & these Lenten lessons to ponder turns us year after year to explore how Christ calls us to be better equipped for discipleship.  Lent comes around once a year because we need to revisit ourselves & discover where the cobwebs are in our own attics.  What wreckage of the past is Christ calling you to surrender to God this Lent?  What cross would Jesus have you take up this year in order to follow him? 

      Amendment of life takes courage which we often lack on our own.  At such times we learn to rely on our Christian community to hold us up in prayer as we do the same for others.  Some people find that they need to make sacramental confession to a priest to prepare for resurrection at Easter.  Our home study groups exploring the nature of God & the necessity of forgiveness in discussing The Shack allow us to grow spiritually with the support of a small part of our community.  It's not too late if you would like to join one of the groups.  Certainly, you may metaphorically walk with Jesus toward crucifixion & eventually resurrection each Friday evening at the Stations of the Cross.  I also commend each of our Holy Week services to you prior to the celebration of Easter.  May we be blessed as a community in the path of discipleship as we move toward the hope of Easter!

Lent 1

The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Lent 1 - 1 March 2009 

Text:  Mark 1: 9-15; Genesis 9: 8-17
Other Readings: Psalm 25: 1-9; 1 Peter 3: 18-22 

      Today's readings are about covenants, among other things.  God's relationship with humans has often been in the form of a covenant, & the end of the flood story is one of the first covenants in the biblical account.  Covenants are usually made between unequal parties.  Equal parties usually contract with one another, but here, God's covenant is with all creatures, not just humans, & none, not even all gathered together, are equal to God.  This covenant isn't just with Israel but is between all present & future generations of humans & other living creatures & God. 

      Furthermore, notice that neither Noah nor his sons ever say a word.  God is the only one who speaks.  God doesn't even require a response.  Isn't it amazing that, immediately after God has destroyed the whole of animal life on the earth except for the 8 people on the ark, God is eager to establish this free & gracious gift with the world which didn't ask for, earn, or even respond to God's promise.  What an generous God we worship!  God yearns for relationship.

      God obviously knows that even these folks whom God saved in the flood are going to sin; that's part of the equation.  Yet, sin is the starting point of redemption, & God is willing to take another chance on the beings on this earth.  Just in case God forgets this rash promise to continue to relate lovingly to the world, God places a rainbow in the sky to remind Godself first as well as the rest of us of this lavish covenant. 

      In Peter's first epistle, we are reminded of God's patience with Noah & Noah's family & that Noah's prehistoric family was saved from the waters of the flood just as we are saved through the waters of baptism into God's covenant with us through Christ. 

      The gospel story today has 2 parts:  Jesus' baptism & Jesus' temptation.  First, let's look at the image of covenant, this time through baptism.  God's gift of Jesus & affirmation of relationship with Jesus is a powerful part of Jesus' baptism.  God's voice affirms to Jesus:  "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."  How much more lavish could God be in covenanting with us than through the gift of a Son who dwelt among us as fully human & was even destroyed for humankind's short-sightedness & sinfulness?

      Lent is an appropriate time to focus on the Covenant we're most familiar with in our own worship & life-story:  that of the Baptismal Covenant.  In the early Church, Lent was the time of intense preparation for those who would be baptized at the Easter Vigil, & the larger Christian community took the pre-baptismal journey with the new converts, & in so doing, prepared to renew their own baptismal vows in solidarity with the newly baptized.  Why is regular renewal of covenant such an important part of their & our lives?  Simply, because the 5 baptismal promises, although they are basic to being a disciple, challenge us to commit once again to make the Christian journey the center of our lives. 

      On the evening of the 11th of April, the evening before Easter at 5:30 p.m., we will be baptizing several children as part of the Easter Vigil service, & it is not too late for you or a family member to choose to be baptized.  However, you need to let me know soon so we can schedule a time of preparation for baptism.  It is my solemn prayer that the whole Hope community makes the Easter Vigil an integral part of your Lenten discipline, for new Christians need your presence, & all of us need to recommit to these basic tenets of the Christian faith.

      You see, God still makes covenant with us regardless of whether we ask for it or respond to it, & we can certainly never earn God's love.  God sent Jesus the Christ to all of us, those who acknowledge that gift, but also those who never recognize Jesus as Lord.  God continues to reach out to us unconditionally, so our response isn't about earning God's grace or forgiveness.  That's already lavished freely upon us.

      When we respond by living into the covenant which God makes with us, our lives are infinitely richer.  We're invited, in community, to respond to that incredible love of God by covenanting—promising—to live faithfully in Christian community & reaching out to ever-widen that circle of community.  Because we need a sign much like God's rainbow reminder of our promises to God in response to God's love for us, we repeat the baptismal covenant on a regular basis. 

      The 2nd of those baptismal promises (which are found on pages 304-05 of the Book of Common Prayer) states:  "Will you persevere in resisting evil, &, whenever you fall into sin, repent & return to the Lord?"  And we all respond, "I will, with God's help."  We don't ask if people will fall into sin but when.  We all know that we will sin, & when that happens, we promise to repent & return to God.  Years of experience have taught some of us that the quicker we repent & return to God, the sooner our pain will be lessened & the less damage we will do, both in our relationship with God & in our relationship with one another. 

      We enter together with wild animals & angels into the scene of Jesus' temptation which happens, Mark tells us in today's gospel, immediately after Jesus' baptism & God's declaration that Jesus is God's beloved Son with whom God is well pleased.  If Jesus' temptation occurs on the coattails of such a powerful affirmation of God's loving relationship with Jesus, why should any of us presume, as I often hear from people, that their acceptance of Jesus' call to discipleship should ward off all temptation?  Didn't happen to Jesus; doesn't happen to us.  Rather, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit's presence with us as we deal with the temptations of life just as the angels ministered to Jesus. 

      Mark does not elaborate on Jesus' temptations as the other gospel writers do, but we can be assured that Jesus is being tested intensely.  What a powerful story to struggle with our first Sunday of Lent!  During this 40 day period, we have the opportunity to walk with Jesus through his final days as a human on this earth, & in doing so, we can take heart that Jesus knows the intensity of our own temptations because they were part of his earthly life, too.  Part of our Lenten discipline is cleansing ourselves through confession of our most grievous sins—those issues in our lives which trouble us, beyond which we have a hard time proceeding.  Mack, the protagonist in the novel The Shack which we are reading in small groups during Lent, certainly struggled with some of the same issues in his life.  Private sacramental confession is available for those who would like to avail themselves of this ancient sacrament of the Church.  Just let me know when you would like to come in for Confession.

      Giving up or limiting habits which are not healthy for us—whether it be alcohol or television or texting while driving or sending critical e-mails or any number of other infelicitous behaviors makes us aware of our dependence on God but also help us clear the excess out of our lives & open ourselves to what God might have in store for us.  Taking on disciplines which develop our relationship with God or with others, especially within the Christian community, allows us to hone skills pleasing to God but also encourages us to give & take within our primary faith community & beyond. 

      I hope you are making use of the Lenten booklets I sent a week or so ago, & I have more for any household that did not get one, so that you & I & our whole community may turn your prayer attention to the struggles of those at home & abroad whose choices & sometimes their very lives are limited. 

      I commend our Lenten services & activities to you in this time of journeying, reminding you that in addition to Sunday morning worship, we have small study groups meeting weekly as well as Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings at 6:30, & your purple insert in the pew bulletin will outline Holy Week services for mid-April.  May we journey together with Jesus for the next 6 weeks so that we may be truly joyous on Easter morn, more committed to our own spiritual deepening, & more a community of sisters & brothers in the faith here at Hope.  Come, let us travel together!

Ash Wednesday

By the Rev. Martha Frances
Ash Wednesday - 25 February 2009 

Text:  Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21.
Other: Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17; Psalm 103: 8-14; 2 Corinthians 5: 20b-6: 10 

      ". . .the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—a day of darkness & gloom, a day of clouds & thick darkness!  Like blackness spread upon the mountains, a great & powerful army comes. . . ."  The prophet Joel proclaims a foreboding time every bit as bleak as our news stations & talk radio foretells today, & neither President Obama in his speech before the joint session of Congress last night nor all the pundits who responded to it minimizes the present economic woes of our country & indeed the wider world for the foreseeable future.  My suspicion is that all of us have already experienced the effects of this recession & recognize that the near future will be grim for most folks.  Joel's prediction of doom & gloom rings true to us today, doesn't it?

      Joel doesn't stop there, however.  He does not leave us comfortless, & we can certainly take heart in Joel's admonition to us as we begin our Lenten journey today. 

      Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart,

      with fasting, with weeping, & with mourning; rend your hearts

            & not your clothing.

      Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious & merciful,

      slow to anger, & abounding in steadfast love, & relents from

            punishing.

And later

      Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast;

      call a solemn assembly; gather the people.

Joel calls us, as do the Ash Wednesday collect & call to a Holy Lent, to turn to God with all our hearts, to be reconciled to God, as today's Epistle states, for now IS the acceptable time, now is a time for which none of us asked but during which we can choose to learn trust in God at a whole new level & can perhaps truly learn to store up treasures in heaven.  After all, most of us who have any treasures here on earth are seeing moth & rust consume our interest rates & in some cases thieves breaking in & stealing what we had considered secure.  Lent comes around once a year, & this year especially, we can benefit from some version of the centuries-old practices urged by the Church as we give ourselves over to accompanying Jesus on his journey to the cross which precedes resurrection.  The quality of our experience of resurrection will in large part be determined by the faithfulness with which we observe Lent.

      Matthew's admonishment to give alms, pray, & fast are the traditional Jewish disciplines for maintaining righteousness.  Matthew challenges his new Christian community & us also to continue these practices but not to do them in order that others may see how pious we are but rather to open ourselves to God's rule in our lives at a deeper level.  In such a way, we learn where it is our treasure lies.  In these times of economic hardship, we have the opportunity to do just that, it seems to me:  to learn just what is important in our lives. 

      We who have been Episcopalian for several years have faced Lent each year asking ourselves what we will give up for Lent, often dreading the 40 days ahead & grateful that Sundays are considered a feast day so that we have a break each week from the vigors of Lent.  It took many years for me to realize this "giving up" is a form of fasting, & that a modern fast is actually giving up something which we enjoy enough that it seems a sacrifice.  I choose to give up something during Lent, like sugar, which will make me more attentive to what I DO have, like nutritious food, but also which I might carry on beyond the Lenten season because it is just good for me.  In addition to food, it may be an activity which is not attractive or purposeful in my life anyway such as gossiping or being judgmental.  Even last Saturday's Chronicle listed certain possibilities for giving things up with examples from various religious leaders including our own Bishop Andy Doyle.

      The second traditional Lenten discipline is prayer.  Although I have a daily prayer time—or really 2 of them—I personally need the 40 days of Lent each year to recommit to setting aside that time DAILY & using it for quality prayer time, not just going through the motions.  Prayer can include many different forms including meditating on scripture such as Lectio Divina, sitting in God's presence in silent prayer such as Centering Prayer, writing our prayers in a journal, a commitment to a prayer group, & reading & discussing spiritual literature.  This Lent Hope is providing a structured form for such a discipline in our home study groups reading & discussing the novel The Shack.  If you have not signed up for a group, please do so in the parish hall today or by Sunday since the groups start next week.  We hope all adults & youth in the parish choose to join us in this wonderful opportunity for growth spiritually & in community.  This is also a great opportunity to invite a friend to participate with you.  Let me also remind you that starting this Friday & throughout Lent, we will be praying the Stations of the Cross at 6:30 in the evening here in the church.  It's a wonderful opportunity to journey with Jesus through his pilgrimage to Calvary.  Please come & participate in this meditative yet active form of prayer.

      Finally, we are admonished to give alms, especially during Lent.  Perhaps this year, it is tempting to say that our financial situation is too uncertain or our budget too tight to be giving away to others.  Sometimes we feel that WE are the less fortunate.  Although there is some truth to that sentiment in the present difficult economy, you & I all know that our quality of hard times is still more plentiful than that of most people in the world & many here in our own city.  The households at Hope have received a meditation booklet from me this Lent which I hope you will use for your own family devotions but which I hope also keeps us all conscious of the possibility of contributing to fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals, if not through Episcopal Relief & Development, then through another contributing organization.  I hope you plan to keep a container in a prominent place in your home during these 40 days & encourage members of the family to drop in coins or even bills toward an Easter donation to ER-D or some other charity.  You'll be surprised how much your family might accumulate in 6½ weeks! 

      Of course, giving alms might include the discipline of making a pledge to the church & actually getting ahead on paying on it during Lent.  We are still about 20 pledges short of our pledges for last year, & the finance committee is currently deciding what to recommend to the vestry about how we can cut back on an already tight budget.  Remember that giving alms also includes giving of your time & talent to provide for the larger community just as we saw the youth & a whole bunch of adults do at last evening's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper.  What a Mardi Gras party we had as we tried really hard to clean out our cupboards of all the fat before the Lenten fast! How many other ways can we provide elbow grease or other skills to the strengthening of Hope? 

      One of my meditation books calls Lenten disciplines "Holy Habits", these practices which help us to stay focused & attached to Christ during our 40 days before Easter.  Those practices which we choose become, in a very real way, markers for who we are, both individually & as a community.  Their suggestions of Holy Habits include worship, laughter, quiet times, music, listening to a friend, confession, play, & Bible reading.  My immediate additions include stargazing, dancing, enjoying grandchildren, & openness to serendipity.  What holy habits might you choose for your 40 days?