From the table we set up outside the church’s front door for Ashes To Go, in subzero temperatures!
From my Ash Wednesday sermon, February 18, 2015
I want to say that Lent is the Extreme Sports Season of the church year. It’s when each one of us has the chance to test our spiritual mettle and try some truly dangerous feats.
For instance, to not eat meat on Fridays for six weeks? I often see vegetarians getting teased about not eating meat, and there can be pressure to eat like everyone else. And our belly can be very insistent about what it wants and when it wants it. For me to eat pizza without pepperoni is both a real test of will and a real disappointment.
Ladies and gentlemen, going without meat can be a feat of great strength and daring.
Or you might go without meat at all for Lent. Now that’s an extreme sport.
Or to go without alcohol or refined sugar for 40 whole days?
Or to read a psalm every morning before breakfast?
This is Extreme Spirituality. It’s hard, people. It’s easier to fail at this stuff than to succeed every single day.
But that’s the point of Lent. We humans are weak-willed, we fail, we can’t keep it all together all the time. We’re made out of dust and one day we will die and return to dust again. But we also have hearts that long for God, love, and faith. We have amazing potential for creativity, hard work, leadership, friendship, learning, and service. Will we avoid a Lenten discipline because it’s too hard and we know we’ll just fail or be cranky? Or will we choose something so hard that it’s impossible to keep up with, and we’ll give up? How do we find a place to stand between these two extremes?
Here’s the thing: the real goal of Lent is reflection. The point of all these disciplines is to get us to think more – about our longing hearts and our life struggles. To ask ourselves questions like: What does God’s love mean to me? What does the cross mean? Who is Jesus Christ for me? What does the Resurrection really mean in my life?
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, but, you know what? It’s also the first day of Easter. Because today is the day we start getting ready to experience and try to comprehend again what the miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection means for us. The Resurrection is at the center of our faith – it’s a big deal, so big that we spend 40 plus days of Lent getting ready beforehand and 50 days of Eastertide afterward to celebrate.
Lenten disciplines matter because Easter matters. Giving something up or taking something can help us know better the meaning of the Cross and the Resurrection.
But the Resurrection matters, too – it matters more than a Lenten discipline. We must not allow a discipline to push others away from us, or to allow ourselves to feel we are better than other people because we’re keeping one!
This Lent, let us remember our sins and mistakes, and remember God’s love for us.
Let us admit the ways we fail and fall into sin, and confess how our hearts long for wholeness and for God.
Let us keep a Holy Lent in order to prepare for a Holy and Blessed Easter.
