Wednesday, March 2, 2022 - Ash Wednesday
/Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 103; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
The Rev. Clint Brown
Theme: The freedom of limitation
As I understand it, there are two basic tasks in Lent. The first is to simplify and reorder our priorities so that the desire for God is before any other. We often reflect this in intentional practices, in the taking on of works of charity or piety or the taking away of things like chocolate or television. The second task is to accept responsibility for our sins…for owning it. We are sinners who, the Catechism reminds us, “[seek] our own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and with all creation” (BCP 848). Sin which we normally work so hard to rationalize, minimize, or deny altogether is very much on the table during the season of Lent. In Lent we are invited to face ourselves squarely and not give ourselves a pass. We are sinners and we need to repent. The Catechism goes on to ask:
Q. How does sin have power over us?
A. Sin has power over us because we lose our liberty when our relationship to God is distorted.
Very curious, that. We lose our liberty? One thinks of sin as getting to do whatever we want, a gain not a loss. How does it make sense, then, to say that it is a loss to wriggle out from under all the “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots?”
Three times today Christ calls out those whom he labels “hypocrites,” a word we use to mean people who say one thing, but do another, like a person who says they never talk bad about people behind their back, and then we catch them talking about people behind their backs. Actually, it’s a word that comes from the world of the theater. It’s the Greek for “one who speaks from under a mask,” since in the ancient world, when only men were actors, it was necessary to wear masks to impersonate different roles, especially female roles.
When Christ calls out the hypocrites, this is his basic idea. They are acting – mask-wearing – pretending to be something they are not in reality. The person who gives money to the poor, but only when the cameras are around, is not doing it out of any genuine concern for the poor, but to impress. The one who prays long, fancy prayers is not usually thinking first about their piety as much as winning the admiration of those who hear them. The warning here is that when undertaking any spiritual practice, our outsides should match our insides, and when they do not, that is a problem. Outward displays that do not correspond to internal dispositions are meaningless because they are not grounded in truth. They are not just deception; worse, they are self-deception. The real “you” is the one away from the cameras and the crowds, the person only you and God know about. And that is the “you” that matters.
It is altogether accurate to say that liberty is the freedom to choose, to self-determine, but true liberty is the freedom to choose what is best for us. So as you move through Lent and tackle your own Lenten devotions, I suggest that you try rooting your piety in your freedom rather than obligation. “I am not eating chocolate this Lent” sounds a lot better than “I can’t eat chocolate this Lent.” The second sounds like an imposition and lends itself to falseness and bitterness, while the first is rooted in authenticity as an expression of identity and personal choice. “I am a person who does this” will always be much more preferable than “I have to do this.” You see, Lent only works when it becomes an opportunity for making the kind of choices that are better for us. It is a time to practice priorities, in particular that all-important recognition that God should always have the greater claim on our lives. So, yes, this Lent choose practices that encourage discomfort over comfort, inconvenience over convenience. Go in whole hog, not because you want to maximize your suffering, but because you are meant to confront the question, “Why am I doing this?” And in complete liberty you may reply, “Because I am choosing Christ.” And that demonstrates, in its ironic way, the absolute freedom of limitation.