“Our Lenten Offering” Ash Wednesday February 25, 2009

(First read the texts for this sermon: Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)

It all begins with the ashes on our foreheads, and the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The reality of Lent begins there – with the remembrance that life is short.

And the years flash past. How is it that I have been ordained a pastor for 30 years? How is it that I’m old enough to receive a senior citizen discount? A week ago a former parishioner in a former parish called to say that her younger-than-me husband had died. Life is so short.

Does all of this strike you as morose? Depressing?

Some would react that way. Instead, let me suggest the alternate reality for us who follow Jesus. The phrase, “remember that your are dust, and to dust you shall return,” is a path to joy. Because those words drive home the reality that each day is to be received, a gift from the God who loves us. You and I do not deserve a single one of those days. (You have heard me say this many times.)

Where does joy come from? Joy comes from thankfulness. And we are thankful when we remember that the gift of each day is precious. That there is a limited number of days, and so we cannot take a single one for granted. That there cannot be such thing as “the boring routine”; or “the same old same old” – because each day is one of a limited edition; each day is precious; pure gift from the God who has created our lives!

One purpose of the season of Lent is to remember this! The gospel writer of Mark gives this keynote passage, only 14 verses into the gospel: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

To repent means to return, and to remember. To return to what you and I already know: that everything comes from God. That each day of life is a gift. Lent itself is a gift of grace, an opportunity to practice responding to each day as the gift that it is.

Our response is our Lenten offering! It is our Lenten offering! In thankfulness, we offer ourselves, our time, our abilities, our possessions, our lives, to God!

I’m not sure that a follower of Jesus can do any of this unless s/he prays. Prayer will be the faith practice we’ll focus on during Wednesday nights this Lent, in the context of Holden Evening Prayer. I’ll use the Lord’s Prayer as a point of departure, but I won’t simply talk at you! We’ll practice prayer. And my prayer is that the Spirit will work on you during the weeks of Lent to deepen your practice.

Here’s a preview: Prayer is not about “asking God for stuff.” Not primarily. Prayer is, most importantly, opening to what God is doing in my life, in your life, during our life-long repentance, our return to God, our life-long conversion. Prayer is discerning how the Spirit is leading you and me along the journey into God. Obviously, then, prayer must most often be about listening. Listening for God means this: even when we are speaking our needs in prayer – our fears, our anxieties, our hopes – the Spirit works to bring our desires into line with God’s desires!

When I talk like this (which is so much different from what many of us learned about prayer as children), I hear people say, “I don’t know how to pray.” Well, that’s what we’ll practice on Wednesday nights in Lent. Our prayer will be part of our Lenten offering.

Jesus refers to prayer, in tonight’s verses from the gospel of Matthew. The gospel writer also has Jesus talking about generosity. (That old fashioned phrase, to “give alms,” means to give money.) When many people think of an offering, they think of giving money. But what else will be part of your Lenten offering –your response, in thankfulness, for each day that is a gift?

The prophet Isaiah tonight encourages us to think of engaging in social justice actions as one generous response to what God has first given us. The prophet declares:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,… (Isaiah 58:6-7)

According to the prophet, God does not care about our “fasts,” our worship services, our pietistic practices, unless they translate into action on behalf of the poor. Acting to build social justice means being generous with your time, with your talents. It’s a Lenten offering!

I am aware that all of this talk can be deadly! It is so easy to turn Lent into law, into obligation, into what you should do. I want to avoid that! Because the season of Lent is a gift of grace, from the God who loves you and me. God loves us with an anguished love when we wander. God is joyous when we return from our wanderings. God desires that you and I will respond to God’s love in ways that increase our joy!

And so, on this Ash Wednesday, you and I hear these words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” What might be your Lenten offering, in joyful response to the gift of each precious day in this life that is too short?

Might your response to the shortness of life be to exercise for 30 minutes a day, five days a week? Would a joyous response be to ride your bicycle on the bike path for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, turning your pedaling into prayer? Would it be gardening for the same amount of time, digging in the dirt while you pray? How about refinishing furniture, or reading a novel 30 minutes a day, five days a week, consciously thankful for the gift of the day? How about visiting friends you’ve neglected, thankful for their presence in your life?

You see what I’m suggesting. I’m raising possibilities of how to respond to this year’s gift of Lent, in positive ways, in joyous ways, in ways that increase our health, in those ways opening ourselves to God’s presence and blessings that we receive each precious day that God gives to us.

In other words, our Lenten offering is to offer ourselves – as we return to God in joyful thankfulness!

I pray for you a holy Lent.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia