Today is a a day of quiet reflection for all Christians, as we enter the period of Lent. It is now, more than ever that I find myself thinking about how my day job and the vocation that I believe is truly mine come into a little bit of conflict, it's not the sort of thing i should be publicising to the church authorities, as i suspect that they are all for change in all it's forms, seeing change, blanket change as being the cure to all evils. I am, what Americans cringingly call a "change agent" - one who looks for ways to make things better, but in many cases I believe that the way to make things better is to reinforce one's position, rather than move away from it. As such we have less and less attendance at "traditional" services and a move towards evangelical or "happy clappy" worship. Are we truly catering for the will of the people, or diluting the message to make it more palatable, as one pours water into wine to make it easier to drink? I think that there is room for both, but this means that both sides of the argument need to stop, and reappraise the other. The value of chant, silence and Elizabethan prose, for example, as found in the 1662 prayer book can be compared favourably to the most modern interpretations of the services from Common Worship (2000) they both enjoin us to worship God and to remember the sacrifice through his son given for all of us, but the mood is very different - there is a duality in Christianity of recognising sin, asking for repentance, showing contrition and enjoying the universal love of God through Jesus Christ it's a fair argument to say that perhaps the traditionalists spend too much time on repentance and introspection and not enough on sharing the love and peace that Christ's death and resurrection promise to us all - the converse is that the "new mob" are too involved in the "nice" parts of our faith and do not do enough to stop and consider sin and forgiveness (although the evidence from outreach projects suggests a slightly different story) so this brings me back to my laptop, in the vestry, here on Ash Wednesday - we're having a service of imposition of ashes here - for those of you outside of the communion, this involves the placing of a cross made of the ashes of last year's palm crosses to remind us that "from dust we came, and to dust we return" - it's a reminder of the frailty of the human condition, and the hope that Christ gives us, but a service which is sparsely attended and looked upon as being largely irrelevant today - my colleague at work told me that his teenage daughter informed him that she was giving up cakes, sweets and chocolate for Lent - when he reminded her that she was going out for a big birthday meal on Thursday - the second day of lent she told him that she would be observing "aspects of lent" - which is an interesting concept! Rather like (in my mind) Christ saying that he would be submitting to "aspects of crucifixion" - which ones exactly?! but it;'s a prevalent attitude - take the bits you like and leave the rest - but it's often the "rest" that matter so much. The period of Lent should be one of denial, thought and self examination - what better way of prompting this than by conscious denial of pleasure - our forefathers gave up fats and meats as they represented the luxuries of the day, but our society is one of convenience - everything is there for the taking 24/7 and this paradoxically presents us with a much easier choice as to what to forgo as our means of honing the mind through Lent - we can all forgo convenience - do you have a can of pop and a bag of sweets from the vending machine at 11 o'clock? - then cut it out, do you get cheap, intensively farmed meat at the supermarket because it's easier? - go to the butcher and get properly raised and butchered meat - these things are hard, but that's the point - by consciously invading the standard processes of your life, you are making room for God - it's almost ridiculous to consider that a can of 7-up could take more time of our day than God - but I suspect that often it can be true.
Another theme, which springs to mind in our current political situation is the similarity of our Lenten tradition to the Muslim tradition of Ramadan. It is a sad fact (to me, at least) that you will hear newscasters referring to "the Muslim holy month of Ramadan" or the "Muslim festival of Eid" but never the "Christian period of Lent" or, even more tellingly, "the Christian festival of Easter" - Easter has become, like Christmas, a touch-point for consumption - and not consumption as a recognition of God's bounty, but a period to make more and more money (I know, I used to work for a supermarket!) and this is not the fault of Muslims - their dedication to God (Allah is merely a translated form of God, like "Dieu" or "Gott") is an example of how we both used to be and could and perhaps should be. They fast for exactly the same intellectual reasons, introspection, contemplation of God but what they lack, and this is where our interpretations differ is the intense Grief of Good Friday and the unbounded Joy of Easter Sunday - which we must work hard to reclaim from Salmonella laden chocolate vendors and restore as the most holy period of our church year. Interestingly, I find that if i say I'm cutting something out of my diet as a matter of health - I just can't do it, but during Lent, I always seem more than capable. Now this may have one of two explanations, the first, and my preferred option, is that God is there by my side - Jesus walks with me past the vending machine like a good friend in my ear. The second, and less palatable option is that I am doing it to be ostentatious - to show how pious I am. this would be a big problem, because the Bible expressly tells us that this is a bad idea; Matthew 6:16 - "So, too when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites: they make their faces unsightly, so that other people may see that they are fasting. I tell you this: they have their reward already. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that men may not see that you are fasting, but only your father who is in the secret place; and your father who sees what is secret will give you your reward" - now, to conclude, what this tells me is that I must interrupt the comfort of my life to spend more time with God and Christ - and how I will do it is my business, i'm going to writie it down and keep it, reviewing it on Easter Sunday - why not do the same?!
Amen
Another theme, which springs to mind in our current political situation is the similarity of our Lenten tradition to the Muslim tradition of Ramadan. It is a sad fact (to me, at least) that you will hear newscasters referring to "the Muslim holy month of Ramadan" or the "Muslim festival of Eid" but never the "Christian period of Lent" or, even more tellingly, "the Christian festival of Easter" - Easter has become, like Christmas, a touch-point for consumption - and not consumption as a recognition of God's bounty, but a period to make more and more money (I know, I used to work for a supermarket!) and this is not the fault of Muslims - their dedication to God (Allah is merely a translated form of God, like "Dieu" or "Gott") is an example of how we both used to be and could and perhaps should be. They fast for exactly the same intellectual reasons, introspection, contemplation of God but what they lack, and this is where our interpretations differ is the intense Grief of Good Friday and the unbounded Joy of Easter Sunday - which we must work hard to reclaim from Salmonella laden chocolate vendors and restore as the most holy period of our church year. Interestingly, I find that if i say I'm cutting something out of my diet as a matter of health - I just can't do it, but during Lent, I always seem more than capable. Now this may have one of two explanations, the first, and my preferred option, is that God is there by my side - Jesus walks with me past the vending machine like a good friend in my ear. The second, and less palatable option is that I am doing it to be ostentatious - to show how pious I am. this would be a big problem, because the Bible expressly tells us that this is a bad idea; Matthew 6:16 - "So, too when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites: they make their faces unsightly, so that other people may see that they are fasting. I tell you this: they have their reward already. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that men may not see that you are fasting, but only your father who is in the secret place; and your father who sees what is secret will give you your reward" - now, to conclude, what this tells me is that I must interrupt the comfort of my life to spend more time with God and Christ - and how I will do it is my business, i'm going to writie it down and keep it, reviewing it on Easter Sunday - why not do the same?!
Amen
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