An Invitation to Lent
Pastor Richard K. KlafehnOn February 22 Ash Wednesday, the liturgy (Episcopal and Lutheran) invites us to the holy season of “Lent”. The word “Lent” comes from an old English word “lencten” meaning “spring”, the lengthening of days after winter is over. It seems odd to think the church needs to invite people to “spring” – especially here.
Yet what Lent is about really requires an invitation. Lent is when converts prepare for baptism at the Easter Vigil by instruction in doctrine and holy living and when offenders of serious sins repent and are restored to the Christian community. Lent is when we are invited to return to our baptism and our own need for repentance and forgiveness, and to make a fresh commitment to discipleship and following Jesus.
In Lent we are invited to make time for self-examination and repentance; for prayer, fasting, sacrificial giving, and works of love; for God’s Word in Scripture and for coming to Christ’s Holy Table.
On prayer. The Gospel for Ash Wednesday is Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21. Like prophets before him, here Jesus warns against wordy and showy public prayer. It feeds ego, pretensions, and sinful pride, not the soul. It can lead away from God and not nearer. It falsely can substitute for genuine good done for others.
Instead, Jesus teaches us to pray simply, humbly, and sincerely. By his own example in Gethsemane (Mark 14.36) he teaches us to pray “Abba,” “Daddy” like a little child talks to her or his daddy, with trust and love in our hearts. (Romans 8.15, Galatians 4.6) No big, long, fancy words, no high level of schooling, and no religious education are needed. Just be yourself. Talk to God wherever you are, on your own, without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5.17) God who knows you and loves you as God’s own beloved and precious child will listen and care for you. (Luke 11.5-13)
Let this season of Lent be a time to become more disciplined in your prayer life – for your self, for your family, for others, for the community, our nation, and this world.
If you do not pray before meals, let Lent be a time to begin. Remember Jesus on the hillsides with the multitudes, with his disciples on the night before he died, and Easter night at the inn when he prayed before he broke bread. Remember when you pray, that Jesus is alive, with you, and for you.
On self-examination and social justice. It is all too easy to focus solely on our own personal words, deeds, thoughts, and habits. We are social beings. We are both products and contributors to the society and culture around us. The sin inside us is always connected to the sin around us in society, the economy, and politics. Jewish and Christian faiths never separate the well-being (shalom) and salvation of the individual from that of society and the greater community.
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6.8; see also Amos 5.21-24, Hosea 6.6). “Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1.11-17) Jesus casts out greedy money-changers from the temple and says what we do for the least of us we do for him (Matthew 25:31-46).
Let your self-examination be in the context of society and culture around you. Make a commitment to move our community, culture, and country to more holy living: less focused on the moment and more focused on the future of the environment and of future generations; less focused on our own good and more on the common good; less greedy and more generous, by caring for the least of us, the poor and those in need. As Jim Wallis writes, “Ultimately the common good is our own good, and the best thing for all of us is the right thing for the least of us.”
In Lent I will offer a 5-part Sunday sermon series, based on the themes of Jim Wallis’ book “Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street.” In this book he argues that the economic crisis since 2008 – like the season of Lent – is a genuine opportunity to rediscover moral values for ourselves and for our society. I commend this book for your Lenten reading.
