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A Perfect Time To Start!

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen

I say this every year, but for me, and I know it is the same for many of you based on the questions I receive and comments I get, this Gospel text is an odd text to read on Ash Wednesday. Just minutes after hearing Jesus’ words to not practice our piety publically, we will all come forward, have the sign of the cross placed upon our foreheads with ashes and we will walk out of here for everyone to see our pietistic act. Are we deaf? Are we so confident in our faith that we think we know more than Jesus and we can just ignore his instructions? Has the church created an act of worship that goes against Jesus’ teaching? Of course not, but we do need to take the time to better understand what Jesus is saying to us in this text as we enter into this Season of Lent.

To begin, I think we need to talk about what is meant by piety. According to the dictionary, piety is the act of following religious principles, or in my words, piety is the actions we take to practice our faith. Yes, as people of faith, we are called to take action. We are called to practice our faith, that is put it into action and when we read a story like the one I just read, it is pretty obvious that Jesus expects that his followers are practicing their faith. Jesus lifts up three ways the faithful can practice their faith: alms giving, that is charitable giving, prayer, and fasting. These are not the only ways we can practice our faith, but they are significant ways and Jesus isn’t suggesting that his followers do them, no, in this story, he is assuming that we all do them regularly. Notice he does not say, if you give alms, or if you pray, or if you fast, no he says, “whenever you give alms,” “whenever you pray,” “whenever you fast.”

So, from this story, we know Jesus expects his followers to put their faith into action and secondly, although, many believe Jesus is advocating for a “private faith,” that is not letting others see us practice our faith, this is not at all what Jesus is commanding his followers. No, the command Jesus was giving his followers, and us today, has to do with our motives. It is not our public actions Jesus is challenging; it is our motives that Jesus is challenging. Why we do these acts of piety is very important.

Jesus expects that we will help the poor financially, but we are not to do such a thing so that we draw public attention to our own generosity, or so that we might gain fame or prestige. Jesus expects that we will enter into prayer with God, but we are to do this so that we might deepen our relationship with God, not so others think we are good Christians. Now, if someone sees you praying, or hears you praying, and that helps them to see, or understand, how they might better practice their faith that is awesome.

Lastly, Jesus mentions the practice of fasting. This is a practice that many of us overlook and for years we Lutherans considered it too Catholic, but it is a practice that Jesus expects us to do. Fasting is a faith practice that is supposed to help the faithful change those habits that cause us to turn away from God’s ways and that cause us to abuse and oppress others. Fasting is not just the giving up of food, either. We can fast from things that we do that keep us from being faithful. For example, as heretical as it sounds, we might challenge ourselves to give up our Wednesday evening practice of watching basketball, and use that time to come to midweek worship instead. Fasting comes in many forms, but most importantly, the prophet Isaiah said that true fasting is done so that the bonds of injustice are loosened, so that the ties of the yoke that oppresses may be broken, and so that the oppressed can be set free. Isaiah then goes on to say that fasting is done so that we might share our bread with the hungry and be able to bring the homeless into our fold (Isaiah 58:6-9).

We give alms, we pray and we fast, Jesus says, so that we might bring about God’s will, not so that others will think better of us. Practicing our faith publically is not a bad thing. In fact, if these practices help others see Christ in the world, if they help others break their bonds of oppression, or if they cause others to stop being the oppressor, then we should go ahead and publically practice our faith and practice it often.

As I said on Sunday, during the past 10 weeks celebrating our faith we have celebrated the birth of our Lord, God’s presence among us, Immanuel, and we have celebrated the many and various ways God has revealed his Son, Jesus Christ, to the world. These were joyous seasons and today we begin a new seasonal journey in the church year, the Season of Lent. For many, this season is seen as a somber, reflective time. But Lent should also be a time of action. It is a time in which we are to discern those things in our lives that keep us from joyously and confidently practicing our faith and then attempt to shed our lives of those things, so we can repent, so that we might live as the holy people God has called us to be, so that we might be a light to the world. As we heard the prophet Joel say, we are to “rend our hearts,” that is rip them open to God and God’s ways. But this is not an easy thing. How do we rend our hearts? How do we identify those things in our lives that keep us from repenting, that is turn us back to God’s ways? Well, as with anything worth doing, we must practice, for as we practice our faith, we become stronger in our faith, so that we might be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). We heard Jesus challenge us with these words just two weeks ago and now we will take time to practice our faith.

As we practice our faith through prayer, charitable giving, and fasting we practice entering into relationships not only with God, but with each other, and as we do these things, we not only come to know God better, we also come to know each other and ourselves better. We come to know true repentance. Practice makes perfect!

But as Christians there is much more to practicing our piety than charitable giving, prayer, and fasting. So, as we journey through this season of Lent we will challenge ourselves to practice learning God’s word, practicing asking the tough questions about our faith. We will practice being in healthy relationships and living our faith. We will practice dying. Yes, I said dying, for this is the core of our faith, isn’t it? Without death there would never have been a resurrection. We must learn to allow ourselves to die to the evil around us and arise to God’s ways. And, as we will hear on Maundy Thursday, we are to practice love. These are all Christian disciplines that Jesus expects of us if we are to truly be a beacon of light that points to Christ and be his living witness in this world.

So, tonight I invite you to join me on a life-giving journey through this Season of Lent. Join me in this season of Lent as we not only gather to worship, but as we explore how we can practice our faith in healthy and life-giving ways. Join me as we learn to practice our faith publically, not for our glory, but for the glory of God. Now is the perfect time to start practicing our faith and repent.

In just a few moments, we will be invited to come forward and receive the imposition of ashes. With those ashes we are reminded of our frailty and our mortality. We are reminded that death is real, but through the cross, new life awaits. This is not a self-righteous public act of piety. No, this is intended to be a public act of piety that points us, and all who are seeking a better way, to the Cross. Now is the time to practice our faith! Amen.

Tags: Sermons