“LENTEN DISCIPLINE” –
A sermon FOR THE START OF LENT
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A sermon preached at the Readings: |
Have you given anything up for
Lent? If so, what,
and why?
And is it
something we should all do at this or other times of the year?
Jesus of
course commended “prayer and fasting”
and at the start of his earthly ministry went into the desert,
where the scriptures says (Mt 4) he fasted for 40
days.
This was
a part of his spiritual preparation –
and so traditionally Lenten abstinence, discipline and fasting,
has been seen as our way of identifying with Christ
as we prepare ourselves for Holy Week and Easter.
There is
a huge spectrum of denial –
all the way from the 3rd Century Egyptian hermit
who lived on nothing but cabbage throughout Lent
(a particularly rigorous discipline in my view)
through to my friend who one year gave up chocolates for Lent –
but not the coffee creams, because he liked those….
But –
assuming we give something significant up in good faith -
how and why might fasting and abstinence
help us spiritually?
What, if
any, is the logical link between giving things up and spiritual health?
Here are
a few possible pointers –
1. It helps us clear our mind – focus on what
is really important.
It is a statement about my priorities,
which forces me to address what is really important for me,
sorting out the trivial from the necessary, the ephemeral from the eternal.
2. Medically speaking many experts say that an
occasional 24 hour fast
(all other things being equal medically) can be very beneficial –
giving your system the time to clear out the toxins from the system,
Spiritually the same can be true.
3. Christianity is not about setting out to be
miserable –
it is not a religion which sets out to spoil everyone’s fun – quite the reverse
–
we are called to celebrate and enjoy the good things which God has given to
us.
But we need to recognize that the things we celebrate are not indispensible –
so it
can be good to dispense with them for a while.
4. If you specially enjoy one particular
earthly pleasure –
be it marihuana or whisky or chocolate – car boot sales or Coronation St –
please write in here your own special thing -
and if you feel a little bit addicted to one or other of them –
it might be good to go without for 40 days –
not because the thing in question is
necessarily intrinsically bad (it may or may not be),
but just to clarify for yourself the difference between
enjoying something and being controlled by it.
5. A fast or a period of abstinence can be a
kind of “spiritual spring cleaning” –
getting rid of the clutter, uncovering, rediscovering,
the important things which had been buried in the
muddle.
There is however a danger in any
spiritual exercise –
that it becomes a mindless routine –
in the following
of which we forget the original purpose.
Whether
you are talking about giving things up for Lent,
or going to Church on a Sunday or saying the Lord’s Prayer,
any spiritual discipline can be reduced to a superficial façade.
The OT
prophets are deeply critical of this shallow use of external observance
not
linked to the inner spiritual life
As we read from Isa 58:
“…On the day of your fasting,
you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists…..
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD ?
Is not
this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?....”
Ultimately our spiritual life is
measured
not by our external observance, but by our inner godliness –
Our
Lenten observances are valid and useful
precisely and only insofar as they help us turn away from our sins and back to
God.
On Wednesday I took part in an Ash Wednesday service
at the University, during which the traditional “ashing”
took place –
each person had their forehead marked with a sign of the cross
in ash to mark the beginning of Lent in what you could see
as a modern equivalent of sackcloth and ashes.
My Roman Catholic colleague gave the talk centred around
a dustbin
which he placed in the middle of the chapel.
He described it as a “Sin Bin”.
Into the top of the sin bin he had wedged a paper shredder.
Everyone in the congregation was given a piece of paper
and invited to write on it their sins
(the things that separated or alienated them
from God, from each other, and from themselves).
Then each of us was invited to take our piece of paper
and feed it through the shredder.
Then when the sin bin had received the shredded bits,
they were all set alight and burnt.
Jesus
would not have know what a shredder was, or how to plug it in –
nor do I think 1st Century Aramaic had a precise equivalent for “sin
bin” –
but Christ understood and talked of the need for us all to face up to our sins,
and the need for us to be purified and cleansed of our sins by the fire of
God.
The NT image is of the refiner’s fire –
and our need to purge our lives of all that is impure
so
that we become like gold coming out of the refiners furnace.
But the
symbols mean the same thing –
we need to ask God to purge ourselves of our sins.
That is
what we are called to do in Lent when
(metaphorically speaking) we follow Christ into the wilderness.
Jesus’
fast was a context for the temptations,
when he wrestled with what God wanted of him
and with the temptation to do otherwise.
And so
for us - some fasting and self denial –
will provide a context in which we can better and in a more focussed way
seek to identify our sins, what gets between us and God,
and make a real attempt to understand what God wants of us.
Remember
– when Christ came out of the wilderness,
he began a journey which would take him to Galilee
and then on to Jerusalem and the Cross.
And when
we complete our 40 days of Lenten preparation,
we too will walk again with Christ the road to the Cross.
A final thought.
I saw a piece on TV this week about weightlifters
training for the Bejing Olympics in August,
now just 6 months away.
And Good Friday is only 40 days away!
On Good Friday we will remember again Christ’s journey to
Golgotha –
and we will be invited to walk with him.
Remember Christ’s words:
“If any would follow me, let them take up their cross and follow…”
Will we be ready to bear the weight of the cross?
Maybe we need to start our preparations now!
Let us pray
Lord, Lead
us with you into the wilderness.
Help us to make this Lent a time
of renewal
Purge us of all that divides us
from you and from our neighbour
That when Lent is done,
we may through your grace
be ready to follow the way of the Cross.
In the name of Chriust
our Saviour
Amen.
Order of Service
Welcome
Hymn 138 “Seek ye first”
Prayers (Methodist Worship Book p. 148)
Readings Isa 58:1-9a (p.744)
Luke 4:1-13 (p.1030)
Hymn 130 “Forty days and forty nights”
Sermon – Andrew Sails - “Lenten Discipline”
Hymn 68 “Lead us heavenly Father, lead us”
Prayer and Lords Prayer (MWB p. 152)
Peace
Offertory
Hymn 180 “When I survey”
Communion (MWB p. 153)
Hymn 726 “God of all power and truth and grace”
Blessing.