YBAshWed18sr                          A Lenten Spirit                                                       

Yesterday morning, one of my clergy colleagues remarked on how the imposition of ashes was becoming more popular in Christian churches. It seems for a long time, that many people thought of ashes as a particularly Catholic tradition. However, more and more protestants seemed to be coming around to the idea.

Of course this comment prompted a response from another member of our group. She spoke about a story she read about the tradition of imposing ashes. The story went that the imposition of ashes were reserved for the worst members of a church. In the middle ages, being a part of the church was an important thing. Much of the labor that built cathedrals and other did other public works were done through the church – so everyone tried to stay in the good graces of their local parish.  

Well, on the first Sunday in lent, a tradition developed where the priest would call forward two to three especially bad people, those who had cheated their neighbors, or spread lies, or worse, didn’t contribute. These people would be marked with ash, and then led to the door of the church, and told to pray and consider the peril to their souls until Good Friday, when they would be allowed back through the doors, to hear the Good news of what their Savior suffered for them. Whew! That’s harsh!

However, the people of one parish had an answer for this. Many of the people who were given ashes, had friends and family in the church who cared about them.  So, one year, when three people were called up front, and their sins were announced to the church, 5 more got up and came forward, confessing that their sins were just as bad, and asking for ashes as well. And so, in the space of a few years, the whole congregation, asked for ashes as well, and as you can imagine, the priests didn’t really feel like they could banish them all, so they made lent a time of penitence and reflection for all. 

This evening, in our gospel lesson, Jesus addresses the same kind of religious corruption as found in our story this evening. The Chief priests and Pharisees had made it a practice of pointing out sinners and casting them from the community of faith. In addition, they made a great fuss about those who made a great show of giving of alms, of prayer, and of fasting into an outward ritual. Indeed, one commentator noted that some Pharisees put tassels on their robes to identify how many times they had fasted. But our religion is not for show, and that is what Jesus is trying to tell us.

The time of lent is a time of repentence and self-reflection. A time of repentence for us to repent of the worldly spirits of arrogance, fear, and prejudice that consume so much of our lives. A time of self-reflection for us in humility to consider how we might be better disciples of Jesus Christ. It is important to note in our story, how the people stood together, but it is even more important to note that they did not give up going to church. The giving of alms, the prayers, the time of fasting did not end, but the people did these things for the right reasons, to grow in their relationship with God and with each other, not as a show for their leaders to judge their righteousness.  

This morning, I went to the Ash Wednesday Prayer Breakfast at the Federated Church. There Pastor Wayne Derber told us about Christianity for Dummies – many of you know these books that try to make complicated things easy for us to understand. His scripture lesson was on the greatest commandment. Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Lent is a time for us to consider this commandment and to evaluate our lives, to ask ourselves if we are truly seeking this, or just pretending for show. So I would encourage you in this Lenten season, to start some kind, any kind of religious discipline. To put some money aside to give to a mission of the church, to spent some time each day in prayer, to consider how you might honor your body and seek for it to be more healthy. After all, you body is a temple to God, how can you make it more holy!

If we are pretending, then moths and rust will consume our Christian faith, but if we are sincere in our hearts, then we shall indeed have treasure in heaven, stored up for us in this life, and in the life that is to come. And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen.