An alternative view

 The New Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) recommends as the gospel reading for today – the first Sunday in Lent – The Temptation of Jesus story from Luke 4:1-13.  The initial reasoning is obvious I think: the passage talks of the forty days of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.  This segues into the 40-day observance of Lent into which the church has just entered.  At that level I suppose that the reading is appropriate.

But, in another consideration, I don’t like this choice at all.  The reason being that, if we equate our experience with that of Jesus¸ then the purpose or emphasis of our Lenten observance must also be with temptation.  You can use the word “testing” or “trial,” but the connotation is the same.  The time of Lent becomes something grim in our eyes.

Sure, Jesus’ fast translates into our practice of “giving up something for Lent.”  But what about the rest?  There is no real corollary in human experience to the call to transform stones into bread.  We are not truly given an opportunity to rule all the kingdoms of the earth.  And while I don’t want to deny the possibility of divine intervention, I can’t remember any contemporary example of someone who jumped from a high place only to be borne up by angels.  The transference just doesn’t hold up.

I do not deny the value – or inspiration – of this or any other passage of scripture.  And, I don’t suppose that there is any biblical passage that is truly inappropriate for any given Sunday or time of worship.  I do wonder, though, about designating this passage or its synoptic counterparts as the Lenten reference.  The gospel readings for the rest of the season of Lent have nothing to do with forty or fasting.  They call to mind other legitimate seasonal themes.

Make no mistake, the Temptation narrative is the gospel text at my church today.  I call to question, though, the implicit position that this is the great table-setter for the season, and that no other passage can carry the freight.  It is not a season about temptation.  It is not a season about the miraculous.  It is a time when real human beings grapple with their own fallenness and the grace of God that delivers them from that Fall. 

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

Ash Wednesday

 

 

Today is Ash Wednesday.  It is the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent.  The day gets its name from the historic Christian practice of retaining the palm branches that adorned the church sanctuary on the previous year’s Palm Sunday.  In making ready for Ash Wednesday the church burns the palms and then the priest/pastor applies the ashes in the shape of a cross to the foreheads of those who worship on that day.  Wearing ashes is a traditional sign of penitence.  

 

In the Bible persons frequently wore ashes as expressions of grief or penitence (2 Samuel 13, Job 42, Jeremiah 6, Daniel 9, Hebrews 9, Matthew 11 and Luke 10 among others). 

When Christian worshipers receive the imposition of ashes in worship, the presider usually says some form of Genesis 3:19, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  The presider will often conclude with, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Because the date of Ash Wednesday depends on the timing of Easter, this observance moves around the calendar a bit.  It can fall anywhere between February 4 and March 10.

Ash Wednesday marks the commencement of the season of Lent.  These are the forty days immediately preceding Easter (excluding Sundays, which are reflections of Easter Day itself and are therefore inappropriate occasions for denial). 

Some folks erroneously teach that Lent is an extended period of “getting ready for Easter.”  Lawrence Hull Stookey reminds us that

Lent, until its final week, is a time of disciplined consideration of our life and death as transformed by our covenant with God and is closely related to the administration and reaffirmation of baptism at Easter.¹

This season is a kettle that sits on its own bottom.  It is related to – but independent of – our observance of Easter.

The liturgical color for the day (and season) is purple.  This is a solemn hue that represents penitence in the lives of Christians.

The liturgy for the day includes confession and absolution in preparation for the imposition of ashes.  Psalm 51 is a traditional expression of confession and many churches use this as part of their ritual for the day.

^{1 Lzwrence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ's Time for the Church}

^{(Nashville: Abingdon, 1996).}

Shrove Tuesday

  

Today is Shrove Tuesday in the Christian calendar.  Some people refer to the day as Mardi Gras (literally “Fat Tuesday”) – especially as they refer to the carnivals of New Orleans and elsewhere.  It marks the last day before the beginning of Lent.  Since the date for the beginning of Lent depends on the timing of Easter, Shrove Tuesday also moves around the calendar and it can take place anywhere between February 3 and March 9 inclusive.

Shrove is a form of the verb shrive, which means “to obtain absolution for sins by way of confession and penitence.”  The day has a long history in the church.  Going back into the Middle Ages penitents would go to their confessors on this day in preparation for Lent.

It is a day in which households consumed fat – and all pleasant or indulgent foods in the house – as families made ready for the self-denial of Lent.  The tradition of eating pancakes on this day goes back to at least the seventeenth century.

It is a global holiday with a multitude of regional celebrations.  Christians observe the day in one form or another in almost all areas of the world.  Most area festivities carry a sense of a great party or fete prior to entering into the spirit of Lent. 

A Lenten Reading Plan

 

 The season of Lent is a time of deepening our Christian discipleship.  If a Christian wishes to enhance the life of faith, one of the practices that we undertake must surely be reading our Bibles.  John Wesley called it "Searching the Scriptures."  We can crack our Bibles open randomly and read a couple of verses, to be sure.  But that hardly qualifies as "searching."  Searching implies intentionality.  It also strongly suggests an organized approach to the task.

For the season of Lent, our churches are offering a "Forty Day Lenten Reading Plan."  During this season, this resource directs us to daily readings from the Gospel of Matthew.  Over the course of these forty days, the Reading Plan will move us through the entire book in manageable increments.

Besides helping us read the entire gospel, as our congregations use this resource we will be entering into this discipline together.  There is power in understanding that, as we read a section of scripture on a given day, that our family, friends, neighbors and fellow church-members will be centering their thoughts on the same passage.

I hope that you will make use of this offering, and that it is a blessing for you.  The Reading Plan will be available in your worship bulletins on Sunday, February 11` and here.

I pray that this will be a blessing for us all.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

The Transfiguration of the Lord

 

Today is the observance of The Transfiguration of Jesus.  That is true for United Methodists and some other Methodist groups; it is also the day on which the several Lutheran groups in the United States mark the event.  American Presbyterians have also included the celebration in their liturgical calendars since their acceptance of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU)  lectionary (now the “New Revised Common Lectionary”) which COCU first published in 1974. In the liturgical calendar of these groups the feast occurs on the last Sunday after The Epiphany.  To put it another way, the Transfiguration takes place on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

Most of the rest of the Christian Church observes The Transfiguration on August 6.  Through the ages the church looked upon this event as a minor feast, when it raised it up at all.

Much of the Eastern Church counts The Transfiguration as a Trinitarian Feast, as it recognizes all three persons of the Holy Trinity as taking part (the Son experiences transfiguration; the Father speaks; and the Holy Spirit is present in the form of the cloud).

The Anglican and Episcopal Churches have had a sort of love/hate relationship with the feast.  At times in the churches’ history these communions omitted the recognition altogether.  Recent Books of Common Prayer include the day and locate it on August 6.

The August 6 date that many worldwide denominations select for this recognition usually marks a relationship to an important occurrence in the secular calendar.  For instance, it was on August 6, 1456 that news that the Kingdom of Hungary had repulsed an Ottoman invasion of the Balkans by breaking the Siege of Belgrade. In thanksgiving the Pope declared that the minor observance of The Transfiguration on that date become a major feast.

In placing the feast at the end of the Season After The Epiphany, churches that observe this date bookend Ordinary Time with two theophanies: The Baptism of the Lord and The Transfiguration.  Placing these two events in these spots provides emphasis to the revelatory nature of this season.

I wouldn't want to paint this day as a mere historical curiosity.  The devotional value of this day is unlimited.  It is one of the few instances in the New Testament where the voice of God is recorded.  The presence of the figures of Moses (Giver of the Law) and Elijah (arguably the most well-known of the prophets) symbolically validate the work of Jesus.  The cloud is representative of the presence of God (as seen in the Exodus story and other places).  The seeing but not appreciating response of the disciples carries out one of the themes of this liturgical season.  

This day effectively brings us to the close of the Season After The Epiphany, though strictly speaking tomorrow and Tuesday belong to this portion of the cycle.  I believe that concluding Ordinary Time with this feast helps the time go out with a bang.  It is a kind of exclamation point in a wondrous season.

The peace of the Lord be with you.

Not-so-ordinary time

 

We are in the last full week of Ordinary Time.  In a lot of ways the church already has its head and heart in Lent (more about that soon).  These days are often regarded merely as an “in-between” time.  We are getting over the high intensity seasons of Advent and Christmas. We look ahead to Ash Wednesday and Lent.  So, we often treat Ordinary Time as a respite in which nothing happens.

 

I want to take exception to that view.  This time is bracketed by the two great theophanies of The Baptism of the Lord and The Transfiguration.  In each of these events God speaks from heaven and affirms that Jesus is God’s son.  In the intervening weeks, the church considers scripture lessons that demonstrate that the disciples of Jesus — and the population in general — have a lot of questions about who Jesus is and what his role might be.  

 

The great themes of this season are the presence of light and the mission of the church.  As the light of the Star of Bethlehem led the Magi to the presence of the one born king of the Jews, so this time emphasizes the church’s task of sharing the light of Christ’s mercy with a creation that is desperately in need of grace.

 

I frequently speak of such times as being kettles that sit on their own bottoms.  The significance of these days is not dependent on what has gone before, or upon what follows.   Ordinary time has its own revelation to those attuned to the light.

 

The peace of the Lord be with you.

Candlemas

Today is the Feast of Candlemas.  It is a fixed feast that the church observes on the second of February.  Other designations for the day include The Presentation of the Lord, The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and The Purification of the Virgin Mary.  It marks the event that the Mosaic Law prescribes forty days after the birth of a male child.  Luke 2:23–52 tells the story that describes both this and the participation of Mary and Joseph in the tradition of the redemption of the first-born.

Candlemas refers to the practice of the church in which it blessed the beeswax candles that it would use over the next twelve months.  Sometimes there were extra candles and parishioners would take these blessed candles home for their household use.  Other parishes encouraged people to bring their own candles to the blessing ceremony and then return home with the newly-consecrated candles.

 The Lukan passage contains the beautiful poem that the church calls the Nunc Dimittis.  The common English title is The Canticle of Simeon. It reads:

Lord, you now have set your servant free
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations,
and the glory of your people Israel.
--The Book of Common Prayer

John Wesley had a fondness for the day.  He mentions the feast and his own worship practices for the observance in several places in his Journals and Diaries.

Candlemas is the official end of all Christmas and Epiphany observations across the church.  Some communions have active celebrations up to this day.  Others pack away any last bits of seasonal appointment before sundown.

 If the calendar aligns in a certain fashion, the Candlemas celebration almost immediately precedes the commencement of Lent.  If certain factors fall into place, Ash Wednesday can occur as early as February 4.  So, in that peculiar alignment Candlemas, Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday would fall on consecutive days.  Usually, though, there is a bit more space between The Presentation and Ash Wednesday.  (This year, for instance, Ash Wednesday does not come around until February 14.)

Beyond the blessing of candles, I am not aware of any widespread activity that celebrates this day.  But, maybe we can all light a candle and remember the victory of light over darkness.  We remember Jesus’ Presentation on this day.  We can also reflect on the “why” of His coming.

Happy Candlemas!