This week's author is the Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Minister of Communications and Technology for the Connecticut Conference, UCC.
[Jesus said:] "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
"So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
It is a natural consequence of a seminary education to have friends who tend to think about Lent, and Lenten spiritual disciplines; and to have friends who are willing and indeed eager to share those insights with you. I'm very fortunate to have those friends, and more so to have friends who are very much worth listening to.
Reading these words of Jesus as we enter Lent, I immediately recalled the annual protest of the Rev. Leigh McCaffrey (currently serving as an interim pastor in Miami, Florida). Nearly every year, somewhere around the fifth week of Lent, Leigh will suddenly burst out: "I'm so tired of sin, death, and blah!"
So, apparently, is Jesus. "Do not look dismal," he says in the Sermon on the Mount. "Put oil on your head and wash your face." In other words, look your best. If you're hungry in your fasting, don't show it. I can only admire the editors of the Revised Common Lectionary who chose this text for Ash Wednesday, when the centuries-old Christian ritual of palm ashes on the forehead unmistakably marks the penitent worshipers with a stark symbol of their guilt and confession. Our very act of contrition butts right against our sacred text.
Jesus clearly favors the view of Isaiah in chapter 58 (another of the lectionary's Ash Wednesday readings), which rejects the empty fast in favor of concrete acts for justice and mercy. "Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?" writes Isaiah. "Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?"
But this, too, can be an entrance into a different kind of "sin, death and blah." Active public service can be as spiritually empty as ostentatious public prayers, and for some it may be an invitation to fruitless self-condemnation. I've certainly known people who could not ground their frenetic activity in a sense of the Divine. I've known far more who've groaned at the list of tasks they've assembled for themselves, and groaned far worse when they found themselves unable to complete it to their own exacting satisfaction.
Another friend, the Rev. Genavieve Heywood, a pastor in Sunnyvale, CA, shares a very helpful insight with her congregation each Lent. It's not important that Christians give something up (or take something on) for the season before Easter. "What's important," she says, "is that you make a space for God."
What use the most rigorous Lenten discipline -- the extra service, the renounced pleasures, or the added gifts -- if they do not make a space within us that God might fill? Yes, there is value in the practices themselves. The world needs the time we give it in Lent. Our bodies are no doubt better for the break from fatty foods, or the extra exercise. The Church and charities of our choice will find good use for the funds we contribute. God, however, looks for something even more from us: a way inside. A place to plant a seed. A home within us where love may grow.
No sin, death, and blah for us. We are, even in Lent, the Easter People. By God's grace, sin, death (and blah) have no power over us. Yet there is room in our hearts, our souls, our spirits, that we need to clear away for God. Let the disciplines help you make the space for the Holy Spirit to come in.
May you find that place within yourself this holy season, and may you find yourself filled beyond imagining.
Gracious God, be with us in this Lenten season as you would be in every day of our lives. As we make a space for you, come be God With Us, with your love and care ever growing within. Where we mistake our fasts or disciplines for you, gently turn us from self to self-awareness, and lift our eyes once more to see and know the One who loves us best. Amen.
Please remember our Conference Minister, the Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree, as she continues treatment for breast cancer. You can follow her progress and leave messages for her at this site:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidacrabtree
Please also remember:
the loved ones of Peg Zappulla, wife of the Rev. Jon T. Zappulla, pastor of Bunker Hill Congregational Church, UCC, of Waterbury, who died on February 19th after a long struggle with brain cancer;
Patricia "Patsy" Bjorling, who will join the Conference staff as Associate Conference Minister for Generosity Ministries in April;
the loved ones of Margaret Thomas, member of the First Congregational Church UCC in Stamford and mother of the Rev. John Thomas, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, who died on Feb. 8th at her home in Baltimore, Maryland;
Cheryl McNamee, daughter of the Rev. Al Turner, pastor of South Congregational Church UCC in East Hartford, who is being treated for breast cancer;
the Rev. M. J. Hinchliff, pastor of First Church of Christ, Congregational, UCC of East Haddam, who is being treated for breast cancer;
members of the Conference staff who are ill or recovering from broken bones;
the leaders of this nation, that they may meet the challenges of the day with insight, wisdom, and compassion;
those suffering due to the ongoing financial woes of the nation, be they struggling to meet an unaffordable mortgage, confronting the loss of a job, or working to find just resolutions to the crisis; and
those serving or living in war or conflict zones around the world, or where terrorists have struck, particularly in Gaza, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, and the Sudan.
To be added to the prayer list, please send an email to your Regional Minister or to webmaster@ctucc.org.
Lyme
First Cong'l Ch of Lyme
P The Rev. Steven E. Burt
Lyme
Grassy Hill Cong'l Church
Madison
First Cong'l Ch of Madison
P The Rev. J. Christopher Nichols
MV The Rev. Boyd M. Johnson Jr.
CE Ms. Candice Guerette
Madison
North Madison Cong'l Ch
P The Rev. John B. Pelletier
Manchester
Center Cong'l Church, Inc.
P The Rev. Terry A. Schmitt
PE The Rev. Newell H. Curtis Jr.
IAP The Rev. Pamela Rose Vollinger
Manchester
Second Cong'l Church
IN The Rev. David F. Jarvis
To read previous editions of the Spirit Calendar, visit:
http://www.ctucc.org/fido/spiritcalendar/
To learn more about or subscribe to the Spirit Calendar, visit:
http://www.ctucc.org/fido/
The Spirit Calendar: February 23, 2009 by Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Minister of Communications and Technology
