Education is a process that never ends, and I learned
something new that I had not known previously about the season of Lent.
We begin the observance of Lent tonight with our Ash Wednesday
service, and like most pastors, I know a few things about Lent. What I did not know until this week is that
the word “Lent” originally meant the season of spring! I picked this up from a colleague in ministry - the Reverend Dr. Fred Anderson of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York.
Maybe you knew that, but I did not. In fact in Old English, even as late as the
1300s, Lent was the word that referred to our post-winter season. It was only in the 14th century
that Spring sprung into common use.
And here it is Ash Wednesday and we are getting ready for
some spiritual Spring cleaning with a bit of dusting – not removing dust, but
adding dust. Ashes are about to be
placed on our foreheads.
But now that I know about the history behind the word “Lent”
I am thinking about spring cleaning and dusting – getting rid of the cobwebs that
have gathered in our lives, or the other unnecessary trash that get in the way
of our understanding of God in our lives.
Holy dusting for Christians has traditionally involved three
spiritual disciplines: prayer, self-denial, and acts of charity, or more
specifically still, giving to the poor.
These Lenten traditions are very ancient, but helpful to us
in our modern world.
Prayer is, of course, how we draw near to
God. It is an intentional communication and contact with God.
It is a time of focusing on the always present God, in such
a way that we can truly feel the presence of God.
On Sunday mornings, our bulletin includes the Seven Marks of
Discipleship – seven actions that ought to always be part of our lives, and one
of them is to pray daily.
If you have not already been practicing this discipline
daily, I invite you to begin your holy dusting this way. Commit yourself to praying daily – or better
yet, three times daily - with prayer at
morning, noon, and night. It need not be long or eloquent. The prayer simply needs to be purposeful and intentional.
Philippians 4:6 teaches us “Do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.
And in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we
are instructed to “Pray without ceasing.”
Self denial is another one of
the ancient disciplines.
This was often done through the act of fasting, and during
Lent one of the strong traditions was to deny oneself of a type of food –
perhaps coffee, chocolate, or other food to which one had become
dependent. But more than fasting, self
denial might be the elimination of smoking or other unhealthy action. It might mean controlling the amount of
alcohol. In this 21st century,
it might mean denying oneself of technology – television, texting, or other
online diversions. Anything that keeps
us from connecting with God or our neighbors can be something we might deny
ourselves for a period of time.
This sort of self denial helps clear the mind, clean up our
spirit, and draw us back into intentional dependence on God.
Self denial is holy dusting for our spring cleaning – our Lenten
observance.
In Matthew 4, Jesus begins his ministry with a period of 40
days of self denial – fasting in the desert.
It is what makes him strong enough to resist Satan and to begin his
journey to death on the cross and the resurrection to follow.
The third way we shake the dust off of our lives is through
charity.
Intentional, generous, purposeful giving to the poor or the
needy.
Caring for the poor among us is one of
the foundational acts to being a member of the people of God.
Time and again Jesus calls us to give to the poor and to
help those less fortunate than we are.
In Matthew 25 we read these words:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations
will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the
sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will
say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry
and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took
care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous
will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food,
or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it
that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it
that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will
answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these
who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to
those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry
and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger
and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in
prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will
answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer
them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these,
you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.”
We are expected to show charity to the poor and needy.
As you push the dust out of your life this Lent, begin to
look for a way in which you can give to someone in need. See what a difference
it makes – not just in the life of the person you help, but in your own life.
Finally, as you begin this season of holy dusting, I invite
you to take upon yourself the dust of ashes.
Ashes have long been, since earliest biblical times, a sign of
grief and repentance. They also serve to
remind us that you and I are mere mortals who live by the grace of God, and
someday will die and be embraced in the salvation of God.
"Remember you are dust, from dust you have come and to
dust you will return. Repent and believe the gospel."
This evening we mark ourselves for this time of holy
dusting, this spring cleaning of our souls, so that we might be better prepared
for Lent, better prepared for Easter, and better prepared to be the disciples
Christ seeks.
Copyright 2015.
Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved
Ministers may feel free to use some or all of this sermon in their own ministries as long as they do not publish in print or on the Internet without ascribing credit to the author.
