Ash Wednesday

Let’s get ready to go

Jl 2:12-18 Ps 51:3-6, 12-14, 17 2 Cor 5:20-6:2 Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

Today is Ash Wednesday which is, of course, the first day of Lent. Lent is the season of the Church year where we prepare for Easter, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. What does Lent mean to you? In the Church, traditionally, it means a special time for fasting, almsgiving and prayer.

One brother told us about when he was growing up (oh so many years ago…) that Lent was probably his least favourite time of the year - because he always had to give something up. His mum insisted that they fast as a family. Sometimes they chose to give up dessert (that was really hard because they all had a sweet tooth – they sometimes ate almost as much dessert as they ate of the main course). Sometimes they used to give up eating any snacks in between meals – which was also hard because they loved our morning and afternoon teas. Their mum saved all the money that she would have spent on dessert or snacks and gave it to charity. So their fasting led to almsgiving.

Today, as we head into Lent, we’re going to look at what Jesus says about almsgiving, fasting and prayer. For all three he basically says: Don’t make a fuss of them. Don’t use them to show how good you are. Don’t use them to lift yourself above others.

For almsgiving he says try and do it quietly, because the reward we seek should be one in heaven, not on earth. Jesus actually says, “When you give alms, your left hand should not know what your right hand is doing.” When Jesus talks of prayer, once again he warns us not to pray just so that others can admire us. He tells us to go to a private room where no one can see us, shut ourselves in and pray to our Father in that secret place. And he reminds us that we should be seeking the reward of our Father in heaven, not the admiration of others here on earth. Prayer is between us and God, not between us and those who watch us. Thirdly, Jesus speaks about fasting. Once again he tells us that when we fast, we should do it in private and we don’t want to look like we are suffering. We shouldn’t be using almsgiving, prayer or fasting to show others that we think we are better than they are. As much as possible we should try and make it look like this is business as usual so to speak – Jesus speaks in particular about not putting on a gloomy face as though we are suffering, as though fasting is a huge burden that we have to carry. If anything, we should be even happier than usual because fasting is the opportunity to do something for Jesus, to purify our lives by removing the unnecessary or the things that prevent us from connecting more fully with him.

Fasting in particular is a great way to remind ourselves every day that God is there and that we can follow him because every time we give something up, we are reminded of who we are and what we are doing this for, why we are fasting. We are making a small sacrifice as an imitation of Christ who made the ultimate sacrifice of his life so that we could have eternal life, so that we could live forever. Often in our fasting we can think of material things to give up like food or TV or shopping or leisure activities. But we can also fast from other things that separate us from Jesus like our moods, our selfishness, gossiping or judging others. Imagine spending 40 days without gossiping or thinking only the best of others or spending time helping other people every day and being able to incorporate that into our whole life for good, not just for Lent. I don’t know about you but for me, that would be a radical change in my life.

The whole idea of almsgiving, prayer or fasting in Lent is for our own personal growth in faith, not because we want to appear better than others. By removing something that is worldly through fasting we are reminded of what is most important. We are reminded that our spiritual nourishment means more to us than material food, the spiritual gifts we can receive from God provide more to us than material possessions.

And through giving what we have to those less fortunate, we realize both how much we have to share from a material point of view and how easy it is to survive on less, rather than always trying to seek more. It can put things into perspective, show us that perhaps we don’t need to win Lotto to be happy, or get that promotion at work to be successful.

And by taking some of the unnecessary things out of our life, we leave more room for God, more time for him. We get more time for prayer, for contemplation, for a true relationship with Him. The fasting and almsgiving can be wonderful means of seeing material ways that we can serve the Lord but probably the most important focus of Lent is prayer. Prayer is what brings us closer to God. It is what makes us able to maintain our fast. It is what makes us generous enough to give to others less fortunate than ourselves. Prayer is what builds our personal relationship with God and lets him show us his plan for us, for our lives. Lent is a time to get as close as possible to God, to really see and hear him, to act for him and to thank him for the sacrifice he made for us through the death of Jesus on the cross. Lent is a chance to really get to know Jesus one-to-one, to give him room by expanding our prayer life, to allow him to open up our eyes to the realities of the world. We get the chance to find joy in his Word, in what he has to say to us personally. We can let him come right into our lives, into the little room that is our heart and convert it, take it back for himself - so that when we go back out, we act and speak for him. How do you see prayer? Do you see it as something you do as a way to check in with God, say hello, but not much more? Or do you see it as an opportunity to get to know God better and yourself better, the real you, the person that God created you to be?

Lent is 40 days because that is the time that Jesus spent in the desert preparing himself for his mission. We imitate that preparation time so that we can be ready to celebrate the greatest act in the history of mankind – the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection at Easter – the ultimate act that gave us all the chance to be saved. Lent is a time for a personal journey, one that can bring us closer to our destination, closer to the place that has been planned for us. We need to use these 40 days to bring ourselves closer to Jesus through fasting (which imitates his sacrifice), almsgiving (which imitates His giving) and through prayer (which imitates Jesus’ prayer to His Father in heaven – prayer that continued right up until His death on the cross).

Where do you want Lent to take you? Do you want it to bring you to a closer, deeper relationship with Jesus? Lent is like every time in life, the more we give, the more we put in, the more we get out. Jesus doesn’t promise us our rewards here or now. He promises them in Heaven. But through our relationship with him, through our prayer, we can begin to experience Heaven already. We can be united to him, one in body and mind and spirit – one in our focus, our mission. Through that unity, we can experience the love and the joy of being where we were made to be – with him.