Ann Barker, Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008

In the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, we focused on God’s gift of Godself to us in Jesus. At Christmas we rejoiced that God wanted to be in relationship with us so much that Jesus came to share our humanity. In Epiphany, we celebrated God’s love for us as we saw it in Jesus’ teaching, healing and calling of the disciples to follow and learn from him about God’s coming reign of love and justice. As we enter the season of Lent, our focus shifts from God’s side of the relationship to ours. Jesus did not come to earth just to say hi. Jesus came to save us, to reconcile us to God. Without his willingness to sacrifice himself, there was no possibility that we could return God’s love as God wanted us to. The cause of that impossibility is sin. (P)

Lent is a time we focus particularly on sin. Our aim is not to make ourselves feel so guilty or bad that we hate ourselves or run away from God. That is not what God wants.

We are called to self-examination so that, with God’s help, we can discern those areas within us that are for whatever reason blocked from receiving God’s love, and therefore from sharing God’s love with others. Once we discover what they are, we can offer them to God. We can open ourselves to God’s healing power and forgiveness so our relationship with God can deepen and strengthen. (P)

Sin is about our desire to be something other than we are – human beings that are dependent on God and not in control of our lives. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his book “Creation and Fall” that humans were created in the image and likeness of God, but the sin of the garden was the desire to BE God – the desire to know what God knows, to see what God sees, so that we could be independent of God. Our desire to “be God” takes many forms. In the lesson from Isaiah, the people are fasting and performing other prescribed rituals to show their dependence, but God is not having any of it. The people are oppressing their workers and others while they fast. They are not loving their neighbors, so no matter what they say or do, they are not seeking God’s love. If they were hungry for relationship with God, they would be doing righteous deeds, because that is God’s will. They would be freeing the oppressed, caring for their neighbors, sharing food with the hungry and taking care of their families. They only want to be attached to God to get the blessings God wants to give them. They are forgetting that being in relationship requires actions by both parties. Their actions show they want to get their needs met by using what God gives them to amass power and security for themselves by taking advantage of others. They think they will become independent this way, thus taking them out of relationship with God. (P)

In the gospel, Jesus warns about fasting, prayer and almsgiving so that we will be praised by others for being pious. We do not want to be dependent on God, but we have simply exchanged one dependency for another. We become dependent on our neighbors to build up our egos and give us status. In addition, our neighbors do not put demands on our behavior as God does. Jesus says that anything we do should be to seek God’s favor, to store up heavenly treasures. Earthly treasures are fragile and finite. We may get the recognition we crave from others, but it will never satisfy. Seeking God’s favor blesses us and keeps us fulfilled too.

Nowhere in the lessons does it say that fasting, prayer and almsgiving are bad. They are excellent spiritual disciplines that serve to open us to God. They are ways to empty us and fill others. When we choose to empty ourselves physically, emotionally (by giving up some financial security) and spiritually, we are asking for God to fill us. We are demonstrating our longing for God. It is when fasting, prayer and almsgiving become outward shows to get on God’s good side and the heart is uninvolved that they are emptied of their power. Our true relationship with God, Paul says, should be one of working together for the coming of God’s loving reign. We allow God to fill us so that we can gift others. If you leave church with ashes on your forehead and someone asks you about them, you are witnessing to God’s love. That is a righteous act. Only when the intent is to be noticed and praised are we in danger of false piety. If you set up a foundation to right a wrong or to research a disease, that is a righteous deed. It is only false piety if you want people to know how much money you are giving so you can be praised by others. I don’t think anyone here is planning to pray in the public streets, so Iwon’t even address that one. (P)

Paul says God made Jesus, who never sinned, to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. What a joy and what a responsibility. It is our call to demonstrate God’s righteousness – God’s love and compassion and justice – to the world. As we bless others, we shall be blessed, forgiven and healed. The more we walk with God, the more God is able to do for us. As we are able, with God’s help, to release whatever blocks us from receiving God’s love and loving God in return, the more God is able to guard us and keep us, to satisfy us in our parched places. God strengthens us and helps us in our work when we ask. (P)

God longs for us and invites us into relationship, but the sinful places in us keep us from doing so as fully as we would like. Especially during Lent, it is important for us to remember that the only reason we can examine ourselves, repent and ask for healing and forgiveness is because God made it possible for us to do so. God came to us in Jesus and died for us so that we might be healed, forgiven and reconciled. Jesus’ suffering and death accomplished something for us that we could never have done for ourselves. Therefore, Lent is not the season for self-loathing; it is a season for gratitude. Hatred of self, others or God produces no fruit; it brings no light. Gratitude for Jesus’ faithful obedience even unto death produces the righteous fruits of repentance and deepens our relationship with God. May we all be blessed with a grateful Lent. AMEN.