“For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6.21)
Traditions often carry
the deepest of meanings, some painful and some joyful. They elicit deeply
profound emotions that sit at the heart of being human. There are Thanksgiving
traditions, and Fourth of July traditions, St. Patrick’s Day traditions, and
Christmas traditions.
One tradition that has
been around much longer than any of those is Lent and Ash Wednesday. It has
been around so long that other long-held traditions have developed around and
because of it (Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday, Palm Sunday, and even Holy Week). I
am not going to describe how the forty days of Lent ended up beginning on Ash
Wednesday; I do hope to describe why Lent is important. When Lent first came
into being, it was considered a time for converts to prepare for baptism. After
a period of fasting, prayer, learning, and dedication to a community, at the
Easter Vigil, the first service of Easter, the converts would be baptized into
the community of faith. As Christianity grew and there were fewer and fewer
converts (because a majority if not all the people in a community were already
baptized), Lent changed.
Instead of being a time
to prepare people to be Christian, Lent became a time to prepare people to be
Christian. You may have noticed that I repeated myself. If you didn’t notice,
it is ok, I understand. What I am saying is that although the intended group
changed, the purpose of Lent did not.
I stood here just a few
days ago and spoke about the importance of spiritual practices as a way to
deepen our faith in God, to mind the gap between the character we have and the
character we seek, and to bring us alive in meaning. (These were the reasons
described in Brian McLaren’s book Finding
Our Way.) The philosophy of embracing our traditional practices is much
different from what our culture teaches. The culture teaches that spiritual
practices are unimportant and most definitely unsophisticated in light of the
modern world.
Most, if not all of us,
live in that modern world. It is a place where we are safe and secure in our
homes, we have food, family, freedom, and education. We are blessed beyond
anything that many in the world can imagine. Of course, we want more
possessions, but that is another chapter. We dream, from our safe and secure
ivory towers, that we can save others. I don’t discount the honest integrity
that sits at the heart of such a dream. It is, as Jesus taught us, an important
goal of being a disciple.
But we are missing
something in that dream. That dream envisions us as completely fulfilled givers,
believing that our needs are minimal and, those minimal needs can easily be
rectified with a Visa card and a couple of hours of shopping. From our perch of blessedness, we are pretty
clear that we have everything figured out and that is why our primary goal is
to help others reach their potential (just as we have reached our own).
That mindset is why we
continually practice Lent because Lent is about breaking apart our
self-satisfaction in a way that will open up deep spiritual growth (the God
centered aliveness that McLaren writes so passionately about).
Its not that we don’t
serve others, service is part of that journey into the soul that Jesus speaks
about. The trap is serving others with an understanding that we are not as much
in need as those we serve.
Consider the Gospel
lesson we heard today from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus warned his
disciples (and us) not to be so proud of our achievements (like our ability to
rise above the world – with money, public philanthropy, prestige for our gifts
and talents, and pointing to our wonderfulness). Jesus concluded by saying
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The true treasure that
Jesus speaks of is the treasure that God provides to all people, equally. It is
attained not by gathering the most (it is not a competitive experience), but by
practicing ways that center us on finding what is deepest in our soul.
So no matter how much we
have or how safe we are or how much more we have than others, we have yet to
capture the vastness of the treasure that exists in our soul, a treasure that
eludes those who are satisfied with where they are.
So, practice Lent! Look
deep into your soul and find ways to become a better Christian. For some, that
will mean giving up something that gets in the way, a habit that distracts us from
reaching deeper into the meaning that God provides. For me, the habit that
holds me back is focusing on time at the expense of the experience.
Equally valuable is
taking on a new habit that will deepen our experience with God. Years ago, I
took on the practice of leaving my regular routine busyness to take on a Lenten
gardening project (a practice way outside of my normal) and last year I
challenged myself to experience yoga (another practice outside of what is
comfortable for me).
There are as many Lenten
practices as there are people. Discerning your Lenten discipline is the first
task in taking on a Holy Lent.
There are two things
that St. Patrick’s has made available during this season of Lent. One is the
labyrinth now available on Wednesdays in the Great Hall. The other is a new
worship experience on Sunday evenings. Practice Lent! It is a tradition that
helps us discover the treasure that exists in our hearts.
Lent is a traditional
time to explore our life in Christ. It is a time to prepare people to be
Christian. It begins with this solemn day of fasting and prayer known as Ash
Wednesday, when we symbolically recall our nature as mortal creatures, formed
of the earth, and grounded in the Spirit of God. Embrace this experience for
the next forty some days, so that, on Easter, you can celebrate a resurrected
you. Reformed with God’s help and the support of your brothers and sisters in
Christ. Lent is an ancient spiritual practice and one that can and will
transform us in ways unimaginable and indescribable. Blessings on our Lenten journey,
we do it together in Christ.
The Rev. Dr. Kurt
Gerhard (kurt@stpatrickschurchdc.org)
St. Patrick’s Episcopal
Church (www.stpatrickschurchdc.org)
Ash Wednesday
February 22, 2012
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