Dear Friends:
“Lent is a season for realists,” says the writer and theologian Diana Butler Bass.
Yes it is. Lent is the time where we are invited to slow down and assess who we are, where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there. It’s time to really reflect on our relationship to ourselves and to our neighbors.
I said something about this in my Ash Wednesday sermon. A number of folks have commented on it so I thought I might share some of these thoughts with a wider audience.
The Ash Wednesday liturgy opens with an Invitation to a Holy Lent, an invitation to self-examination and repentance by prayer and fasting and self-denial, and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.
I don’t know about you, but I am much in need of Lent right now.
I’m in need of a time to engage in what in Eastern practice is called the Third Eye, the engagement of the Observer Self. I’m in need of a time to stand outside myself and to stand outside the sea I’m swimming in—the sea we are all swimming in—a sea whose waters feel turbulent, unsettled, even dangerous.
The events of the past few weeks in our nation have lifted the veil from our eyes. Violence is all around us. The rhetoric of demonization, the crimes of bigotry, the contempt for those with differing beliefs, all this and more is a form of violence right here at home that has become all too commonplace.
I want to suggest that Lent is just the right occasion to prepare our hearts and souls to navigate the violent seas we are swimming in. So let’s talk about the discipline of prayer.
If you don’t already have a regular prayer practice, Lent is the perfect time to start. Daily. And if you already have a daily prayer practice, will you consider taking on as a Lenten discipline praying for your enemies?
Right, you say, but what does that really mean? We hear throughout Scripture, “Love your enemies.” OK, here I am, loving my enemy, but is anything happening? Leave it to Jesus to take it a step farther.
In the Sermon on the Mount, we hear him saying:
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
– Matthew 5:43–48.
Now let me say that as Christians, we must always—always—stand firmly and resolutely against any and all forms of injustice, belligerence, and aggression, acts of bigotry and hate, acts that demonize or marginalize or malign any of God’s children.
And that means anybody and everybody. And there are times when that means pushing back forcefully against evil, defending the children of God from danger and harm. Make no mistake about that.
But when that sort of action comes from a place of aggression and a thirst for retribution and revenge, a place of “an eye for an eye,” Jesus calls us to stop, to step back, to engage our Observer Self, to pray for our enemies. And to heal the violence in our own hearts. Let me say that again. The first step to healing the violence in our world is to heal the violence in our own hearts.
Along with prayer, we are also called to fast in Lent. So, if we are to sincerely and intentionally pray for our enemies, it will be very helpful to us to fast from self-righteousness, to fast from bitterness and resentment, to fast from our impulse to retaliate when things aren’t going the way we want them to go.
Fasting from those impulses is harder—at least for me—than fasting from chocolate and dessert—not that it isn’t hard enough to do that too! But you know, the pull to self-righteousness, the pull to resentment and bitterness, is corrosive to the soul. The more we allow those impulses to take root and flourish in our hearts, the more we become those impulses. And that’s way more destructive than an extra pound or two.
So, these are my two Lenten disciplines: to pray for my enemies and to fast from self-righteous judgmentalism and resentment.
Let me invite you to consider joining me. Because here’s something I know about prayer. When we pray with others, there is a mysterious, grace-filled way in which our prayers multiply geometrically.
So what if we, all of us gathered here together, would commit to pray for an end to violence in our own hearts, to pray for an end to violence in our nation and around the world, to pray for peace and justice to prevail?
One thing is for certain. Our prayers together are powerful. When we know that someone or so many are praying with the same intention, our own intentions become strengthened. Our resolve is strengthened. We’re not in it alone.
So now, as a start to healing the violence in the world and healing the violence in our own hearts, I invite you to reflect on A Prayer attributed to St. Francis found on p. 833 of the Book of Common Prayer.
A Prayer attributed to St. Francis
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Blessings to you and all the ones you love in this Holy Season of Realism,
Lex
