Shrove, Ash, Lent 1 Yr B

Special Edition

This is a special edition of the Faith@Home newsletter—it is a combination of Ash Wednesday and Lent 1 (with Shrove Tuesday thrown in).

For Shrove Tuesday

Also known as Mardi Gras and Carnivale. I trust you had your pancakes and sausage or bacon. And a little syrup! YUM! 

For Ash Wednesday: Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; . . . do not sound a trumpet before you, . . . whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door . . . when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face . . . store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Ash Wednesday Reflection

[Ed.'s note: This is a repeat from 2018, but worthy.]

Lent is generally considered a somber time of year. We focus on penitence, sin, death and ashes.

“From dust you were made and to dust you will return” we are told on Ash Wednesday. That all sounds very gloomy and transactional. Can we think a bit differently?

Every particle and scrap of energy was created by the Big Bang about 14Bn years ago, in a moment when matter and spirit were joined for the first time in a grand and ongoing outpouring of divine love. So that means that all the dust that we have been created from is as old as the universe itself. It is the same dust that at some point could have been part of a star or sun or planet. It also means that at the end of our lives the dust that we are made of returns to the universe to be reused over and over again.

So doesn’t that mean we are participating in a continuous act of creation and resurrection?  “At the heart of matter is the heart of God” as Teilhard de Chardin eloquently put.

Lent is therefore a time to comprehend our place in this ever-unfolding universe of love and action, created by a God waiting to be in a direct relationship with us.

We were chosen in Christ before the world was made. Ephesians 1:4

Maybe it would be better to say that from stardust we are made and to stardust we will return.

~©2021 Edwina Winter

Thoughts About Introduction to Lent

Life has its ups and downs. “Everything has a season, and a time for every matter under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die. . . . A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance.” 

“For everything there is a season ....”

In the church we live through liturgical seasons. Advent flows into Christmas into Epiphany into Lent and Holy Week into Easter into Pentecost, taking us through the life of Christ and the church as we seek to learn to emulate Jesus to a hurting world. Lent and Advent are the two penitential seasons. They are seasons of  contrition and repentance. In every Eucharist we  confess our sins, but these seasons are different. Lent is a prolonged period of contemplation of our lives and our beliefs. It is a necessary preparation for the jubilation–despair–joy of Holy Week and Easter. Lent is necessary for my full joy on Easter, without which I seem to be simply floating along on the lazy river of life. I grew up in Louisiana where the exuberant celebration of Mardi Gras emphasizes the switch in seasons. Fasting follows debauchery as abruptly as Cinderella’s loss of her carriage, horses, footmen, and finery at the stroke of midnight.

So, how do we spiritually grow through Lent, how do we prepare for the resurrection of Christ after the crucifixion and all that led up to it? Perhaps the key to be found in the tripod of our liturgy: scripture, music, and the steadfast familiarity of language of the Book of Common Prayer. They each speak to us of the depth of our faith.

The Lenten scriptures take us on a journey of our Biblical faith, beginning with the sweeping overview in the second chapter of Joel:

Blow the trumpet in Zion
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near . . . .
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love . . . .

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.

But Lent also requires us to pause, to try to understand its meaning, for our scriptures are full of obscure injunctions, apparent contradictions, and puzzling inconsistencies. 

We read Matthew, chapter six, every Ash Wednesday and are confronted with the great scriptural conundrum, Jesus instructing us “do not sound a  trumpet before you” when you do good: “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.” We are warned not to be like the hypocrites, and soon we walk up the aisle to be marked with the sign of a cross, made from the ashes of last year’s palm fronds. Once again our world has circled the sun and we are back where we started, reminded of our sinfulness and mortality, reminded that our “Hosanna” quickly becomes “Crucify Him!” And troubled by the smudge on our foreheads: “Do I wash it off or leave it there?”

We sanctify a fast, gather a solemn assembly. But Jesus warns “do not look dismal,” disfiguring our faces to show others that we are fasting. “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others . . . .” “Blow the trumpet,” but “do not sound a trumpet.” And we haven’t really gotten into Lent; we’re just on the cusp.

At least the first Sunday of Lent seems to give us some relief. Now we’re hearing about water—floods and baptism and rainbows. Another covenant, this one between God and Noah. But of course, the Bible throws us a curveball. The Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove, God proclaims “You are my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” “And the Spirit immediately drove [ Jesus] out into the wilderness.”

Our Lenten Bible is full of curveballs and screwballs and sliders, and maybe even a spitball or two. But you know many of them, although like me, you may notice a few more as you pay close attention. Feel free to stroke your chin and think “hmmmmmm.”

A puzzlement I just discovered is about the Bronze Snake which we are told about on the fourth Sunday of Lent (Numbers 21). The previous week we heard the Exodus lesson of the Ten Commandments. You know, like “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them . . . .” etc. So the story the following week is this: The Israelites were unhappy about the route chosen by God and Moses, complaining that there was no food or water along the way, or at least no food they didn’t detest. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” That annoyed God, who sent poisonous serpents to teach the Israelites a lesson. The serpents bit the Israelites and many died. Scared, the people begged Moses to pray for God to take away the serpents. Moses did. God’s solution was surprising. “‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.” Don’t make an idol unless I tell you to.

All of this is preparing us for the climax of the story upon which our faith is built. Jesus moves steadily toward Jerusalem and his death and resurrection. He is denied thrice by Peter, the rock upon which the church would be built. He dies and on the third day returns to life, making himself known first and foremost to Mary Magdalen; Jesus picked her to tell the others he had arisen, the most joyous message of Christianity.

Lent is challenging, demanding our full attention, contemplation, meditation, and prayer. Only then will we truly appreciate Easter.

~© 2024 Gregory B Adams

For Lent 1: Mark 1:9-15

. . . And the Spirit immediately [after the baptism] drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. . . . 

sermons4kids: “. . . Lent is a time when we focus on the call of Jesus when he said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) Just as Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry. Lent is a good time for us to draw closer to God and dedicate ourselves to following Jesus. ”

Scripture: 

1. For Ash Wednesday, February 21, 2023—Joel 2:1-2,12-17 (image); Psalm 103 or 103:8-14 (image); 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 (image); and Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 (image). A visual and oral journey through the scripture.

2. For Lent 1, February 26, 2023—Genesis 9:8-17 (image); Psalm 25:1-9 (image); 1 Peter 3:18-22 (image); and Mark 1:9-15 (image). A visual and oral journey through the scripture. Coloring page for Psalm 25.

Collect: 

1. For Ash Wednesday: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

2. For Lent 1: Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Reflection: 

1. For Ash Wednesday: In today’s Gospel reading from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples to do acts of piety in secret (Matt. 6:1–6, 16–21). However, in an earlier part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his disciples, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). How do you manage this paradox in your life?

2. For Lent 1: The phrase “kingdom of God” occurs fourteen times in the Gospel of Mark. Though Jesus is described at the Gospel’s opening as being “from Nazareth of Galilee” (Mark 1:9), at Jesus’ baptism it becomes clear whence he comes and to whom he belongs. Jesus is God’s beloved Son, and his baptism signals the only realm to which he owes allegiance. His baptism, then, not only is a religious act, but also is a political and economic one. In what ways does your baptism into Christ make claims on your political, social, and economic practices as well as your religious practices?