Devotional 3-9-11

Lectionary Readings: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51: 1-17; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6 and 16-21.

I think I was in “junior high” when I first became fully aware of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. We lived in Gary, WV (McDowell County), and I had many friends who attended the local Catholic Church. (I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but religious diversity in Gary was limited to the Catholic or the Methodist churches.) My Catholic friends would attend school on Ash Wed. with many constantly pointing out to them that there was some dirt on their foreheads. Some got frustrated with the teasing, but most of them just ignored us. Then on Friday, the cafeteria served macaroni and cheese as the entrée. In our family macaroni and cheese had been a side dish, not the “main event”. I finally got one of my good friends to explain what was going on, and she gave me the “No Meat on Fridays” spiel. She also explained that they had to “give something up” for Lent like coke, chocolate or cookies for the purpose of daily remembering the suffering of Christ. It was more than I could comprehend at the time. I was kind of glad I wasn’t Catholic and wasn’t required to participate in their traditions.

But now, as I read the familiar texts in the lectionary readings, I realize that God is asking me to return to the time honored traditions of Lent in order to reflect on the true meaning of the season. Prayer and self denial are practices meant to prepare me for a greater understanding of the passion and last days of Christ. God is also asking me to “clean house” so that I might be truly ready to worship the resurrected Lord—the morning star. I ask you to join me in attempting to fast, pray and study in an effort to renew a “right” relationship with God. The self-denial cannot be just an exercise to prove that we have will-power. Somehow what we choose to do during Lent should bring us closer to God. Reflection and prayer can be powerful if the outcome is a change in our perspective or a greater focus on what God wants us to do with our lives. Fasting should also provide us with new insights of God’s directions for our future. We cannot control our lives with the force of our will. Only the surrender of our lives to God’s path will bring us to the life He intends for us.

The prophet Joel asks us to change our lives: “Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping; sorry for your sins! Change your life, not just your clothes, Come back to God, your God.” (Joel 2:12-13.)

Isaiah is even more emphatic: “Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives; face my family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—law abiding, God-honoring (even though they have forsaken God’s commandments)……This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. (Isaiah 58:1-2, 6-8)

Dear Loving and Forgiving God: Help us to pray and submit to you as David in his entreaty in Psalm 51: Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry, I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down. You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don’t look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don’t throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I’ll let loose with your praise. Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice. Make Zion the place you delight in, repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls. Then you’ll get real worship from us, acts of worship small and large, Including all the bulls they can heave onto your altar! Amen.

Scripture passages from the Message, The Bible in Contemporary Language by Eugene Peterson, 2002.

Chyrl Budd