[Note: Welcome to another season of Lent! It is an honor to be on this pilgrimage with you for the next 40 days. Each day I (or one of the many amazing guest bloggers!) will be offering a short reflection to try to enrich your spiritual reflections for this season. As always, I welcome and encourage people to speak about and reflect your perspective, wisdom and insights in the “comments” section of each blog entry. It really does add so much. So without further ado, let’s start the journey together, shall we?]
I really do love this season of Lent. I can’t say that I always felt that way, but I do now. For me, it really is an opportunity to start again, rededicate myself, get back to basics.
What amazes me is that I could do this at any time. But somehow, having a specified 40 day period where I do this alongside millions of people all over the world is really just a pretty awesome thing. (I also love how our season of Lent coincides with the Muslim holy season of Ramadan this year. I do feel a different sense of religious solidarity with my Muslim neighbors all over the world…)
Our readings today begin with such a beautiful invitation from Joel 2, “Even now, says God, return to me with your whole heart.”
I love the idea that God desires “whole-hearted people.”
Brenee Brown, a famous researcher, author and spiritual guide, has defined whole-hearted living as “engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.” (In fact, she has ten principles for a “whole-hearted life” that I would highly recommended that you check out. These could be great Lenten practices…)
Growing up Catholic, most of my experiences of Lent (and of church, in general) were about my being UN-worthy and never measuring up to some near-impossible ideal. But our scriptural tradition offers us a “come as you are” invitation, and I love Brenee’s idea that the first affirmation we make on Ash Wednesday is that we are worthy and good.
What a wonderful starting place for this season!
You are worthy. You are good. God absolutely loves you, and nothing you do (or don’t do) during Lent is going to change that one bit!
And then we move to 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul reminds us that we are “ambassadors for Christ” in this world.
What does that mean to you – to be an ambassador?
Paul is saying that even though you may not realize it, you are a living witness to the gospel in this world. What we do during Lent matters (and what we do all year round matters too!). Our lives influence other people and set certain energies in motion.
That’s part of why we take up the traditional Lenten practices mentioned in today’s gospel from Matthew 6, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are the practices that Jesus specifically mentions, and these are the ones that the church has taken up for a thousand years as disciplines that help to both change the world and us.
Imagine for a moment that for 40 days, we pulled out all the stops and acted as we hoped the world would be. We loved fully. Shared freely. And only took what we needed. What a wonderful world that would be!
Imagine what people would say!
Well, Jesus does imagine this and counsels his followers not to do these things so that we will get noticed or praised. Quite the opposite. He tells us to do all this on the down low – so that only God sees it. No fanfare. No praise. Just do it because it’s the right thing to do.
We spend time in prayer to try to re-align ourselves with what God desires for our life.
We fast from the things that we do not need or do not need so much of in our lives so that we might hunger for God and God’s kin-dom in this world.
And we give generously – remembering that EVERYTHING in our lives is a gift and the only way to honor that is to give it away to others.
So if I were to combine the messages of today’s scriptures into a kind of Ash Wednesday message from God, I might say something like:
You are so good.
You are so worthy.
And, yet, you have strayed from the path.
We all have!
So return to me with all your heart.
During these 40 days
Practice Authenticity and Self-Compassion
Cultivate Joy and Resilience
Foster Gratitude and Creativity
Because what you do and how you do it
Matters in this world
Others will notice and be influenced by you
But don’t just do it so that others will notice you
Pray
Fast
and
Give
Because these are practices
That help you get closer to my heart
May your Lenten journey be blessed!
4 Comments
Sarah Brownell
One thing I feel motivated to add to this, as a way to say “YES!” to this notion of abundance that Mike writes about: I’ve noticed that when I give or direct organizations I’m involved with to give, whether in money, time or emotional energy, even if it is beyond what I rationally think I/we should give, somehow God takes care of it. It may not be the way I expect. It may not be a return in cash value. It may not even be returned in gratitude. But it is always made okay in some way. We are held up. God comes through.
Mike Boucher Author
Amen, Sarah!
Tami Best
Beautiful blog and great way to start the Lenten season – thank you Mike. As a side note – I love the insights of Brene Brown! I’ve used her sermon at the Washington National Cathedral when teaching my Coaching Healthy Behaviors class – applicable to all of us….
Sue Spoonhower
Grateful to begin a Lenten practice both on my own and with a community.
I need the support and inspiration!