Ash Wednesday

Joel 2.1-2, 12-17; 2 Corinthians 5.20b-6.10; Matthew6.1-6, 16-21

"Let us joyfully begin the all-hallowed season of abstinence; and let us shine with the bright radiance of the holy commandments of Christ our God, with the brightness of love and the splendour of prayer, with the purity ofholiness and the strength of good courage. So, clothed in raiment of light, let us hasten to the Holy Resurrection on the third day, that shines upon the world with the glory of eternal life."

These are the words of one of the hymns at Mattins on the first day of Lent in the Orthodox Church, which was actually, Monday just gone. Notice how it sets the tone of the season. Read through the many hymns of the Orthodox Lent service book and you'll be struck by the sense of deep, deep repentance that the words draw forth. It's a 'no holds barred' challenge to our relationship with God, to it's shallowness and the depths of sin in which we live. But having recognised that and the need for repentance, the words I quoted describe the frame of mind and heart in which we should meet the challenge. Because Lent is a journey to Easter, the Feast of Feasts and the joyful celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, as the quote says 'let us joyfully begin the all-hallowed season of abstinence and let us shine with the bright radiance of the holy commandments of Christ our God, with the brightness of love and the splendour of prayer, with the purity of holiness and the strength of good courage.'

Our Western Church is in a more solemn mood as shown by the lack of flowers and the colour purple. But Jesus tells us to go about the discipline and days of this season as if, at least on the outside, nothing was happening - when you pray go into your room, when you fast, do it with a smile, when you give alms, do it in secret. And this tells us right away that Lent is not about what goes on around us, outside of us, but about what goes on in the heart and mind. The Church, in her wisdom has given us this once a year opportunity to make a determined effort to get right with God; to repent, and return, just as the prodigal son repented and returned to his loving father. And just as the prodigal returned to an unexpected encounter with unconditional love, so, even in our sin and in the difficulty of our repentance we can look forward to travelling the road of return with joy.

And so there are two sentiments going on here. There's our sadness as we recognise and admit our sinful state and our separation from God and also the joy that we feel knowing that we are returning, during this season to God; returning, as the prodigal son, to our home. The theologian Fr. Alexander Schmemann calls this a 'bright sadness', which I think describes the 'atmosphere' and the state of heart and mind of the season very well. But how do we find the way home? How do we get there? What can we do to make our way back to God?

The Church in her wisdom follows what Jesus Himself taught us. She tells us that we repent and return to God during this season through the disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. This is what we need the Church says. Now, these aren't works which in themselves restore our lost relationship with God because the lost relationship has already been restored in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These works aren't a penalty we have to pay because we 'broke the rules', because we disobeyed the commandments. I like to think of this in the way that the ancient Church thinks of these things. Our sinful state isn't merely a breaking of the commandments of God, it is spiritual sickness. Our lost relationship with God, our estrangement and forgetting of God is spiritual disease; and prayer, fasting and almsgiving is the medicine that the Church prescribes for us so that we can return to spiritual health. These things also have physical and psychological benefits too because God has created us mind, body, soul and spirit. We are a whole being, our body is the temple of the spirit and we are only a whole body when each part is functioning as it's created to be. This time of Lent is designed first for the spirit but as I said, has other benefits too.

These spriritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are disciplines that we are expected to live by every day as Christ's disciples. We can infer that from our reading of the gospel. But the season of Lent is the one time in the year when we are expected to pay particular attention to them. And we need to do it seriously if they are to be of any benefit at all. Most people simply pay lip service to these things. They treat them as some sort of curiosity that it's a bit of fun keeping, whatever is left of them which is usually the idea that we have to 'give something up for Lent.' Pancakes and giving something up have nowadays, with the secularisation of society and Church, become things right out of context and therefore ultimately meaningless and without any benefit whatsoever in the long term.

But put back into the rightful context of the Church and our lives as members of the Body of Christ these disciplines find their home and their value. During Lent we are encouraged to pray more, not only our own prayers but to enter into the prayers of the Church more, the prayers that have been prayed together for almost 2,000 years. This is prayer which leaves no stone unturned, prayer that is itself whole and leaves nothing out and lacks nothing. We are asked to immerse ourselves in the Church's prayer as much as we can, so more frequent attendance at church is called for.

And then there is fasting. The Church prescribes particular food from which to fast. Chocolate and cakes aren't in the list. And the Church doesn't give us a choice. If we treat fasting seriously as the Church has received it and fasting which benefits us most then we don't have a choice. Choice is one of the evils pervading society today. Choice is heresy. And it infects the Church as well. Choosing what I should fast from defeats the object because I'm bound to fast from something that in the end doesn't really matter. I'll fast from a luxury when I need to fast from something that is essential. Only then, when I fast from something that is essential to my well being will I begin to latch on to the fact that it is God who, in the end, provides for me, gives me all I need. And that it is on Him that I depend, ultimatley. Then those words become real 'man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

And then finally, almsgiving. We don't live our lives alone. We are dependent upon God and upon one another for a full and meaningful life, a life that is real and full life. The journey we travel through life we travel accompanied by others and we sustain one another as we journey along. Our almsgiving reminds us of our need for one another and that just as God gives Himself in love for us so we give to others out of our love for others. And then we remember what St. John said, that 'we love only because God loved us first'.

So these three disciplines are our way back to God, our way back to others and our way back to ourselves also. Because when we are estranged from God through sin we are estranged from ourselves as well. That most telling moment in the parable of the prodigal son, that moment of self realisation is the turning point, the point of repentance; the words 'and when he came to himself'.

Lent says to us and Ash Wednesday in particular, now is the time to 'come to yourself', it's time to come to your senses and return to God, return home; return home to the love from which you've been estranged, to the joy and peace of your home and to the feast that will take place there when you do return. And we celebrate that return at Easter. And so today we can set out, yes with that long journey in front of us, a journey that will be far from easy, a journey that in part will make us sad as we remember how far we've come from God and as we have to sometimes push ourselves to observe this prayer and fasting and almsgiving; but a journey with a more deep seated joy that at last we are on our way home.