Diocesan
Life Columns
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Bishop Paul's writes a monthly column for the Diocesan Newspaper, Diocesan
Life, edited by Communication
Minister, Bill Lewellis.
For more features from the life of our diocese, check Diocesanlife....ONLINE; and Bethlehem
News.
During Lent, the entire church goes on retreat
When We Want God As Much as Air
By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Diocesan Life, February, 1999
Nothing has trivialized Lent more than our tendency to think of
it as a moral tidying up, a sort of moral spring housecleaning.
There is certainly nothing wrong with morality -- as a culture
we need all we can get. But morality is the result, not the starting
point of the Christian enterprise. Our sins are only symptoms,
attempts to fill those empty or frightened places in the heart
that should be filled by God.
In the American Baptist tradition there is the story of a young
man who came to the pastor asking for Baptism. After he and the
pastor had talked for awhile, the pastor said that the best thing
to do would be to go into the church and practice in the baptismal
tank. The man agreed, and they went to the church.
When the pastor let him down into the water, he did a strange
thing. Instead of pulling him up, he pressed down with all his
weight. The young man struggled and splashed and gasped. Finally
the pastor let him up. To the outraged man the pastor said, "When
you want God as much as you just wanted air, I'll be happy to baptize
you."
I offer that story as an introduction to Lent. A number of traditions
and practices and explanations of Lent have clouded its basic meaning.
Nothing has trivialized Lent more than our tendency to think of
it as a moral tidying up, a sort of moral spring housecleaning.
There is certainly nothing wrong with morality -- as a culture
we need all we can get. But morality is the result, not the starting
point of the Christian enterprise. Our sins are only symptoms,
attempts to fill those empty or frightened places in the heart
that should be filled by God.
In Lent, before all else, we intensify our efforts to keep on
doing two things begun in the rite of Baptism. We renounce everything
that draws us from the love of God, and we turn to Christ as savior
and master. Baptism is the commitment to re-order our desires.
It is about dying and living anew -- welcoming the sometimes painful
work of the Holy Spirit.
Lenten repentance starts with a prayerful look at how our life
is going in terms of loving God and our neighbor, being honest
about what needs to change, and then taking the time (I usually
have to sleep on it) to ask what, more than anything else, needs
to change if I am to be closer to God.
It is amazing how often what must go is in itself good or neutral.
As I prepare for the Lenten battle, I realize that for me to have
time and focus for the kind of spirituality I want, two perfectly
fine diversions I value simply have to go. Both are very good in
themselves, and I will miss them, but I have other things I need
to do with the time, things I need to do with God.
Some of us may be called to give up comfort or leisure to pray
more or to get involved in ministries of service to others. Some
of us may be called to change personal habits or the amount of
attention we give to spouse or family. Some of us may be called
to risk more silence in our lives. Some of us may be called to
recapture the Baptismal "joy and wonder" in all God's works.
Whatever it is that Lent calls us to do, it will call us to the
two motions of turning from something and turning to God. Other
kinds of reform are fine, but Lent is about following Christ in
a life increasingly lived with God. It is the one time each year
that we give ourselves the luxury of pulling away from ordinary
distractions to focus on what counts - the entire Church goes on
retreat.
"Remember that you are dust." In the old days, those words were
spoken as huge buckets of ashes were thrown into the air over penitents;
now they are said as our faces are disfigured by smudges of soot,
but the effect is the same: a wake-up call.
As the ashes go on, these words awaken us to bad news and good
news. The bad news is that I am not the center of the universe,
not the final point of reference, not the basic unit of moral measurement,
and that I will weaken, die, and be forgotten.
The good news is that Jesus Christ is the center, is the reference
point, does give a moral standard, and will be there for me when
I must die. The Lenten journey begins with that destination and
assurance. Many of us are awake to the bad news; doing something
about it requires being ever more awake to the good news.
The customary and perhaps trivial question, "What are you giving
up (or taking on) for Lent?" can be answered only if we have some
considered idea of where our Christian journey needs to go next.
I hope and pray that, for each of us, these last few weeks before
Lent begins can be a time to sort that out and prepare to go where
God is calling, to go with the seriousness of that young man fighting
for the breath that is life. Have a great Lent!
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