At Creator there are many memories associated with Ash Wednesday including Creator's Mardi Gras / Shrove Tuesday celebrations which traditionally happened every year when David Lee provided our worship music until 2015. For years David invited a select group of musicians to perform upbeat jazz standards. Juxtaposing those joyous musical moments and camaraderie with the dust-to-dust Ash Wednesday services provided the congregation some unique perspectives and gave an unusual balance to how Creator moved into Lent.
This year snow and ice delayed some of us delivering ash and devotionals in Lent packets to the congregation. This was an invitation to become more focused throughout the day on what is meaningful.
Pastor Janell attempted something new today. She invited me to model with her how we might approach the Lent readings of Sister Joan Chittister and process the questions Sr. Joan asks in the devotional we will center ourselves in during this year's Lent season.
The scripture we centered on tonight was the admonishment given in Joel 2:13 - Rend your heart and not your clothing.
Sr. Joan asked two questions. 1) What doors of your heart do you need to open this Lent? and 2) Do you think there are "worlds" you may have "allowed to go sterile" in your life.
These questions gave me a new perspective on the Joel verse. I thought it was about choosing to change from the heart rather than changing from what you want to appear to be because it is often paired with today's Gospel verse where Jesus talks about not being a hypocrite and the proper way to fast. Like so much of scripture this scripture is worn smooth by tradition and with repetition. This can help make it sink in deep but it can also make easy to hear without grasping the meaning or the challenge.
There is a difference for me between rend or tear (your) heart and opening your heart. Opening the doors or eyes of your heart implies more choice and control of the inspired changethat leads to the better, holier life Sr. Joan writes about in this reading. Rending, to my ear, implies less control and also implies something that will forever change, cannot be taken back. There is more vulnerability. In the life of Jesus when God is close there is often tearing.
Mark records "The heavens torn open.”The word that’s used here in the Greek is the word, “schizo.” It’s the word from which we get our English words “scissors” and “schism,” etc. “Schizo” means to “split,” to “rend,” to “tear apart” or “rip open.” It has almost a violent connotation. So the heavens were being “split wide open,” “torn apart,” when Jesus was baptized.
Matthew records "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”When Jesus died, the veil was torn, and God moved out of that place never again to dwell in a temple made with human hands (Acts 17:24). God was through with that temple and its religious system, and the temple and Jerusalem were left “desolate” (destroyed by the Romans) in A.D. 70, just as Jesus prophesied in Luke 13:35. As long as the temple stood, it signified the continuation of the Old Covenant.
A change in how God relates to humankind has changed and change, again, is both freeing and frightening to us and we are asked "How is God changing my heart at this moment?" This passage is not about identifying and planning ourselves what will rend our hearts but being open to God's will for the opportunity to be vulnerable to a heart-rending encounter with the humanity in us.
The second question was about opening worlds that have gone "sterile" in my life. My wife Mary gave me an acrylic paint set and an easel. Lichtenberger's words are a prayer I will repeat this Lent as I try to live into this new endeavour.
In this season of Lent, consider this....
Fast from criticism and feast on praise,
Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy.
Fast from ill-temper, and feast on peace.
Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment.
Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.
Fast from pride, and feast on humility.
Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.
Fast from fear, and feast on faith.
Written by Arthur C Lichtenberger, a former presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
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