Cathedral Sermons
Ash Wednesday, 18 February, 2010
Readings: Joel 2:12-17; 2 Corinthians 5: 20-6:2; Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21
Here in the southern hemisphere just as the Church, schools and interest groups, and even some workplaces, begin the year properly following Waitangi Day, Ash Wednesday is upon us. We put aside the holidays, with its recreation, reading and reflection and busy ourselves with planning and doing important and significant tasks just as Lent is about to begin! Since the secular rest and relaxation of January has ended, we feel compelled to now get on with the business of work.
Maybe this is why Lent with its various disciplines is hard to promote amongst our faith communities in Aotearoa / New Zealand today…it comes at an inconvenient time. We in the Church have this dichotomy of ‘getting back into harness’ ’of getting up to speed again’ as it were, at a time when we are being told to slow down. Most of us have already got back into the busy-ness of life, back to work and school, the groups we belong to have had their first meeting, tasks we left in abeyance have been picked up with fresh enthusiasm, and we have returned to the hectic pace of life we left behind at Christmas.
Many of our scriptures, and indeed all of the readings tonight were written in times of great uncertainty, and each of them, from the prophet Joel’s admonition to return to the Lord, to Paul telling his readers to be reconciled to God, to Jesus’ strong words in Matthew’s gospel about being disciplined with our lives if we hope to live in the presence of God. As we connect with our preferred forms of media we are left in no doubt that morally, ecologically, economically and socially we live in uncertain times. So even though we may feel refreshed after a holiday, it is of no benefit or sense to throw ourselves back into a frenzy of being busy, of being all things to all people, of indulging our need to always be needed. In times of uncertainty we need stability and strength, we need to continually take the time to reflect and find a balance so that we remain resilient in the face of challenge. Maybe the fact that Ash Wednesday is upon us and that as Christians we are called to engage ourselves with a forty day pilgrimage with overtones of wilderness journeying is an important brake on our rushing headlong into another year of frenetic activity. The church gives you permission not to be bullied into picking up the pace which exhausted you last year but to gently proceed in a reflective, disciplined and intentional manner.
A healthy balance of contemplation and action is essential for all of us. In stillness we, like Jesus, find our vision. We hear God’s voice above all the noise of life. Such stillness strengthens both our sense of self and our sense of mission. In our connecting with God we can, as Jesus did in the prayerful way he preached the sermon on the mount, discover deeper energies and the inspiration that enables us to witness by our lives, words, and actions in this world. This witness is needed now more than ever within the communities to which each of us belongs.
You may have had a relaxing and refreshing summer break, but when did you last stop to reflect on your life and on God’s intimate care for you?
As we read in Isaiah:
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Spend time this Lent in prayer focusing on God, seeking strength, guidance and clarity of purpose. Spend time working out what needs to be let go, and what needs to be picked up. Acknowledge grief and rest awhile in the wilderness, so that you are able to embrace whatever new form of life emerges from your connection with the God who loves you. Make the time to regain a balanced and holistic life and allow the church to guide and direct you at this sacred season.
As we pause and listen with heart, mind and spirit – we may capture again the significance and relevance of the three great disciplines of lent – Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting as set out in Matthew’s Gospel. In other words: - recapturing a living out of our lives mindful of the needs of others and the responsibility to share our resources; the renewing of our relationship with God; and the denial of attitudes, prejudices, addictions, and obsessions that limit the health and well being that God intends for all.
Lent is not a retreat from the world, to agonise over what might have been, or a time to make grandiose resolutions – it is about being present to God and the renewing of strength for our lives in the world as an Easter people.
I am mindful that as a member of the community of faith and a baptised Christian I owe it to my God and myself to spend these 40 days making a difference to my quality of life. That requires a willingness to stay in the present and through giving, prayer and sorting, I may well make some headway in restoring the balance in my life.
I am reminded of a reflective piece I was given to meditate on at the Mercy Spiritual Life Centre several years ago:
I was regretting the past
and fearing the future.
Suddenly my God was speaking:
“My name is I AM,” he paused,
I waited, God continued.
“When you live in the past
with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I WAS”.
“When you live in the future
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I WILL BE’.
“When you live in this moment,
it is not hard. I am here.
My name is I AM”