In the World, but Not Of the World

Yesterday marked the beginning of Lent, with a ritual that makes us all equals, that reminds us who we are and from where we came.  It also reminds us where we are headed and what our journey is about as we walk through our lives each day.  Today’s readings for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, also point us on our journey this Lenten season.  What we heard today is sometimes known as the High Priestly Prayer and I can understand that – this is Jesus, praying to God the Father, asking and hoping and glorifying and calling upon God on our behalf.  Yet for me, calling it the High Priestly Prayer somehow separates it from us and this prayer is intended to do just the opposite. 

Jesus prays, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)  This is eternal life.  That we might truly know God.  This is at the core of Lent because Lent is about stripping away those things which separate us from God so we can know God, know Jesus, feel the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Lent is about a change of heart, a change in our perspective, a change in our daily focus, so we might get in tune with God and understand who we are and who we are called to be in this world. 

Our saints are great examples of doing that.  Today, we celebrate Polycarp, who knew the apostles and spread word of Jesus.  He died living into his faith because he stood up to the government and would not renounce Christ. Look through all of the saints and you will find every kind of person, doing amazing, simple, creative, bold, life-changing things in order to more fully live into who God was calling them to be in this world.  My friend, Scott Gunn, and a few of his friends have gotten together to create “Lent Madness” as a way of getting people to better know the saints and have them meet one another in a “holy match up” March Madness style.  This is not only a fun way to approach learning about saints in Lent, it is also a way to engage with those who have gone before us and who we might learn from.  Each of these saints (and many more that did not make the brackets) have lived lives just like we are and have made a difference by living into God’s calling in an amazing way.  Feeding the poor, standing up to authority, telling the truth, preaching the Gospel, etc. Each of them were living in the world but did not get consumed by the world. That is our task this Lent.  To take a step back and be in the world but not of the world, to fully engage who God is calling us to be in whatever way that looks for you this season, and to come to know God in a new way.  

Remember and Reconnect

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart. - Joel 2:12

Each year as Lent begins, I am reminded that my son was born on Ash Wednesday.  While friends offered prayers for new birth we also shared a vivid reminder of our mortality as ashes were spread on our heads.  This simple ritual of smearing ashes on our foreheads is amazingly simple and clear.  This mark reminds us that we all are mortal, that we, like everything else on this earth, were born and will die.  This is a certainty that we share with one another.  Today, we are reminded of the mystery of life – the cycles – the beginning and the end. We are reminded of who we are and from whom we come. 

Ash Wednesday is a reality check, a day that we step up and look at who we are, what our relationship with God is and how we can, return to the LORD, as the prophet Joel tells us to do. We are invited to journey inward where we can encounter and confront all that separates us from God.   It is also a time to journey outward where we can encounter and confront that which causes pain, damage and separation with others. 

Lent calls us to acknowledge birth and death, dying to the old in order to be born into the new, giving up those things that get in the way of God and one another.  Lent is a journey of returning, a journey in which we ground ourselves, where we come back to reality, where we remember our baptism and our call to God.  Lent is a time of restoration.  It is a season of change, a season in which we are called to empty ourselves so that we might find new life, new birth, and new health in our life with God. 

This is the season to remember, to reconnect with who we are, with who we can be, with who God made us to be.  We are human beings made in the image of God.  We are made of dust and to dust we shall return.  

(This was originally written for Episcopal Relief and Development's Lenten Meditations 2012.  Please support the work that they do by going to www.er-d.org and donating to world relief and development.)