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Our Journey with Christ
Begins on Ash Wednesday
Reflections on the
lessons
for Ash Wednesday
By The Rev. Mark A. Lewis, Vicar
Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103:8-14
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew
6:1-6,16-21
On Ash Wednesday we begin another
journey,
regularly scheduled every year,
just like a train timetable.
And it's a journey that people sometimes don't like to think
about
or don't have much practice thinking about.
And so people talk about it in oblique ways.
It's not a journey toward Calvary
and the events of Holy Week and Easter.
It's not a journey toward a more abstemious way of life.
The list of honest and well-meaning,
but finally evasive, rationales is long.
We're starting a journey,
ideally,
toward a better understanding
of ourselves,
our faith,
and the imperatives that rest on us
as a result of our Christian identity.
Cutting out cigarettes and booze
and chocolate.
And taking up more exercise
and reading improving books are good things.
But they're peripheral.
Jesus, I think, would rather have
you fat
and full of good news
than thin and low-cholesterol
and full of finally wan ideas
about how we can make our lives holier
by dint of self-denial and self- deprecation.
The journey begins with a look at St. Paul's advice from the second lesson.
"We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be in vain."
Paul says,
"Please don't get busy fussing about little "s" sins
and forget the underlying foundation of the world that we call God
which binds us all together with a sacred common humanity."
I believe that the word "sin" has
become a very small word for us -
- even a ridiculously old fashioned word -
- connected with too many calories,
inevitable lapses,
illegal parking,
and many small missteps
that all of us make every day.
Because of long exposure,
we don't take those things very seriously.
But exactly that long exposure
is what makes sin so threatening to us
in a very big way.
From the First Letter of John:
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves."
You don't have to be either very
religious
or very sensitive
to know what I am talking about.
Sin is the most normal thing in the world -
- small sin and large sin.
And so often we rivet on the small,
get used to it.
Stop there,
and wallow in the larger kind.
We ignore the fact that sin is bigger than underreporting
income on our taxes.
The sin we are called to stare at
in horror
is the force that destroys our capacity
for taking God and each other seriously.
The Bible is full of Jesus'
favorite kind of person:
People who cheat on taxes
or people who just can't help themselves
when it comes to doing this or that.
But people who at the same time look past the surface
and try to connect with God
in ways that make things happen.
I am always aware that people are
only too ready
to beat themselves up over shortcomings.
And I don't want to foster that.
But I am also sadly aware in my own life
and in many of those I live with,
that we hustle around trying to be nice
while we persist in disturbed relationships
with God,
with our families,
with our neighbors,
with the world,
and with our inner selves.
The institutional church's idea of
a person doing battle with sin
is not at all like Jesus Christ's idea.
His idea is that we rise above the
morass of sin
and proceed in the general direction of connection with God
by being the servants of others.
Jesus said that in God's kingdom
the greatest one would be the servant of all.
Not that the greatest one would be the nicest of all.
Or the one who had found just the right balance
between good works and a busy home and work schedule.
The real test of a saint
is not one's willingness to talk about what Jesus said,
not to dabble around the edges of what Jesus did,
but one's willingness to do something like washing -
- that is, being willing to do those things
that seem unimportant in human estimation
but count as everything to God.
Saying YES to that is doing battle
with sin on a cosmic scale.
Saying MAYBE to that is simply sad.
Saying NO is,
well,
I don't know what that would be
because I don't know hardly anyone who really says NO.
The readings for Ash Wednesday
all caution that the outward appearance of virtue
is far less worthy than the inward reality of a believer's
life.
I challenge myself -
- and you -
- on Ash Wednesday and every day
to never stop trying to see clearly
past the superficial aspects of sin and virtue
and seek the substantial foundation
of connection with God
that will burn away the small things
and transform our flesh and blood
into the body of Christ
given for the world God has made,
a living sacrifice of our easy living
for the sake of abundant life
for us and for all the living things
that share God's sacred love with us.
-- Mark Lewis
Your comments or questions are welcome MLewis@secaucus.org.
Links to additional "Reflections on Lessons" may be found at the bottom of the Sunday web page.
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