Did you notice the change in the sanctuary today? If you were not looking for it, you might have missed it. It is a subtle change, nothing drastic, but a change nonetheless, a reminder that there is something new going on. What is the change? It is the color purple you see on the pulpit, the Communion table, and our stoles reminding us that we have entered a new season the church year.
We have entered the season of Lent. Lent is the 40-day period, which starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on the day before Easter. It is an ancient practice dating back to the first century of church history. Throughout the past 2000 years, the observance of Lent has gone through some changes. Originally, it was a week of preparation for baptism leading up to Easter. During the Reformation, Lent began to take on a new meaning as a time to focus on our sin, our need for God’s grace, and what God did for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But over the years since the Reformation, Lent has slowly lost
some of its theological importance in the lives of the faithful. Now, Lent is viewed either as a time when we
fast or give up something we like, or as a time to take on something that is
self-giving. Certainly these different
understandings and ways to observe Lent are indeed faithful, but neither fully
grasps the depth of what is meant by this time of Lenton devotion and
discipleship.
The fuller understanding of Lent,
which takes us back to it’s original intent, is that of a time of disciplined
and devoted self-examination, a time when we engage more deeply and more
honestly our spirituality and faithfulness, a time when we called to
contemplate the reality of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and
to ask the tough questions of ourselves, such as:
Am
I fully committing myself as a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Am
I truly growing in my walk of faith?
Am
I joyfully and reverently offering my time, my gifts of the Spirit, and my
possessions to the work of Christ’s church?
Am
I living in true Christ-like relationships with God, my family, my spouse, my
children, and with others?
Am
I engaged in devotional acts such as prayer or Bible study?
Am
I consistent in participating in the life and ministry of the community of
faith?
Am
I consistent in joining together with others in communal worship?
Am
I witnessing to others the Gospel of Jesus Christ, serving others with
Christ-like compassion and love, and giving myself to the work of God in the
world?
These questions, and others, move us
from thinking about Lent as just a time to give up something or as just a time
to take on something, to using this time before Easter to really begin to
consider our relationship with the One to whom we belong, the purpose we were
created for, and who we can become as God’s people.
This is why Lent is more than just a new season, it is a yearly
journey of contemplation, self-examination, re-discovery, a yearly journey in
which we confront directly and honestly the very condition in which we find
ourselves, and then look beyond ourselves to the One who brings the promise of
reconciliation, renewal, and hope, to the One who offers us endless
possibilities and potential as God’s people, to the One who gives us the
assurance of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
And so we begin this yearly journey
with our first step, but this first step may be the hardest one we have to
take, for it requires us to put away our pretensions and posturing, to break
down the wall that surrounds us, and to let go of our need for self-importance
and self-gratification in order to come before God with everything we are and
with everything we are not, to come before God with a openness and willingness
to be moved, shaped, and transformed by God’s abiding presence and act of grace
through the power and provision of the Spirit of the living Christ.
But as I said, this first step is not an easy one to take because
it means that we have to be honest to God about ourselves, and it is not always
easy to be honest to God about ourselves, because being honest about ourselves
means that we have to admit the best and worst about ourselves, our gifts and
our faults, our hopes and dreams as well as our fears and doubts, the good, the
bad, and the ugly. And that can
sometimes be a difficult thing to do with our fragile human ego.
I remember the first time I discovered
I was afraid of heights. It was when I
was in Jr. High School and I went with some of my friends to the
So we arrived at the pool and I and my
self-inflated ego strutted to the ladder to climb up to the platform ready to
prove to the world just how cool I was.
I climbed the ladder, stepped out onto the platform, and made the most
grievous mistake I could have possibly made.
I looked down. All
30+ feet of it. It might as well
have been 100 feet. At that moment, the
enormity of the moment came crashing down upon me, and my precious ego burst
like an over inflated balloon. I felt
very small, very unsure, very scared.
For the first time, I had to examine myself, and I realized that I was
vulnerable. I was not as invincible as I
thought I was. I was not as courageous
as I had made myself out to be.
For the first time, I realized that the self-constructed identity
I had created for myself was as shaky and wobbly as my legs were up on that
platform. I stood on that platform for
who knows how long. Walking
to the edge over the water. Walking back to the ladder.
Telling others to go ahead in front of me. All the while trying to think of some reason
not to jump and go back down that ladder.
Until I finally decided to take a step of faith and make the hardest
step of my young life into the warm, refreshing, and renewing water below. In doing so I learned a couple of valuable
life lessons.
First, when you jump off a 10m platform make sure you hold onto
the bottom of your swim trunks or you will be wearing them under your
armpits. And second, be honest about
yourself, be honest about your strengths and weaknesses, be honest about who
you are and who you are not, and let go of your fear, your anxiety, and your
ego so that you may become someone different than you were before, someone
different than you thought was even possible, someone different and new.
And yet, so often we fail to really be
honest to God. We may climb the ladder
and stand up on the platform, but all we do is peer over the side. Unable to commit, unable to put ourselves out
there, and unwilling to break down the walls of our self-constructed identity,
in order to fully be given a new identity as one who belongs heart, mind, body
and soul to Jesus Christ. Instead, we
think of ways to retreat down the ladder to where it is safe and comfortable,
to the place that is familiar. We may
even go through the motions of faith walking back and forth encouraging others
to go in front of us, but in the end we only find ourselves in the same place,
unmoved, unchanged, untransformed.
We cannot allow this time of disciplined and devoted
self-examination lead us toward a kind of spiritual arrogance or give us a
false sense of spiritual security. This
is not an opportunity for us to prove to God, ourselves,
or anyone else how religious, spiritual, or even Christian we are or can
be. Nor is this a time for us to earn
and build up brownie points so that our names don’t get erased from pages of
the book of life. Lent reminds us that
we cannot just go through the motions of religious piety. It reminds us that we cannot just stay where
we are walking to the edge but never taking the hard first step of faith.
God knows our hearts and our deepest thoughts. God knows our motives and the intentions
behind our actions. God does not want
machines who go through the motions because they think
they should because it looks good, God wants people who are honest to him about
themselves. God wants people who are
ready and willing to be molded and fashioned according to his design. God wants people who are ready and willing to
be formed into instruments ready for use by him in the world.
Lent is not about earning salvation, it’s about remembering the
acts and promises of God in human history, and then, and only then, learning
how we are to respond to God in faithful obedience. And so, for the next 40 days we will go on a
journey, a spiritual journey, a spiritual journey that begins with us
reflecting upon our disobedience and rebellion against God and ends with the
fruits of our penitence, a life of redemption and renewal, and a faith that is
transformed and directed by God’s abundant grace.
On this first Sunday in Lent, as we
move to the table to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, let us never forget the
proclamation of the divine words, “Never again.” Let these words be the confirmation and
affirmation of God’s intention for us, in our life of faith and discipleship. Let the promise of these words revealed in
Jesus Christ, be for us a renewing and liberating power that carries us, not
just for the next 40 days, but to that final day, when we too will be finally
and fully redeemed, restored, and risen. Amen.