What Day is It? The Feast of the Presentation

On Sunday’s when I preach, my practice is to form my message from one of the Readings for that day. Today, I have decided to alter that practice so that we might discuss Lent, which begins this week on ASH WEDNESDAY – February, 22. So let’s talk a bit about Lent…… Why do we have it? How did it begin? Why do we call this period LENT?? Lent actually gets its name from Germanic roots meaning “lengthening.” Lent occurs in a time of early Spring where the days are “lengthening;” “Lent” is NOT a religious term per se. In the first three centuries, the period of fasting in preparation for Easter was only 2-3 days long. The first mention of a 40 - day Lent occurs in 325. The period of a “40-days preparation of candidates for Baptism at Easter is most likely the origins of the “40-Day Lenten Fast.” The 40-day Fast is most likely suggested by the fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, Himself, as reported in Scripture. During the early centuries, the observance of the fast was very strict with minimal food allowed. Only 1-meal was allowed, taken in the evening. Meat, poultry and fish were not allowed. By the 9 th Century on, the rituals of the fast were relaxed. By the 15 th Century, the main meal was taken at noon with light food and drink allowed in the evening. After 1966, the Roman Church completely relaxed its rules and practices limiting fast and abstinence to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The Eastern and the Orthodox Churches still maintain a strict Lenten Fast for 40-days taking only one full meal during the day. The Church of England, after the Reformation, continued in the observance of Lent by continuing the Roman traditions. The Episcopal Church has no formal policy for Lenten fasts leaving the decision to the individual member. That said, I ask you to review the Book of Common Prayer beginning on Page 264 to see the significance the Church places on Lenten traditions and prayers. I would also ask that during Lent you might read through the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Page 446, to see the means Jesus provides for the forgiveness of our sins – IF we are willing to act. Every day, throughout the world, we see the effects of hatred between people. It takes place on city streets, whenever violence breaks out. It happens in so many senseless ways when people full of hatred decide to lash out at whatever person happens to be crossing their path at that moment. We also see the devastating effects of violence and hatred in so many places in our world that are at war. Where once there were people raising their families and making livelihoods for themselves, there is nothing but the ashes and rubble of destroyed homes and businesses. We humans can become so full of rage that we don’t care who we destroy. All the destruction that takes place in this world has one source – the sin that is lurking in every human heart. We might want to point the finger at others. We might blame governments or other institutions for all the world’s misery. But ultimately, hate and violence spring from the human heart which rejects God and His love. Lent is a blessed time when we stop what we are doing to observe a tragedy, the tragedy of sin. Our history as a human race is scarred by endless conflicts as a result of sin. Sin has brought nothing but death and destruction like the many wars that continue to be fought all over the world. Most sin however, wreaks its havoc in small ways in our personal lives. There is no one who has not been marked by the effects of sin. When terrorists attack, OR senseless shootings in schools and malls take place OR any other act of insane violence occurs…… we’re not always sure what to do about it or how to prevent it from happening again. However, we do know what to do about our personal sin. God tells us through the Prophet Joel in the Old Testament. “Even now says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Once we realize the damage that sin has done to us, we have no choice but to turn to God and show our regret in a dramatic way. THIS IS WHAT LENT IS ALL ABOUT!! It is about returning to God and asking God to change us and make us new again. On Ash Wednesday, we will mark our foreheads with ashes. It is a symbol that we are guilty of the destruction which sin has brought to our world. It is a sign that we take responsibility for the choices we’ve made to reject God’s love and all the damage we’ve caused as a result. It is also an acknowledgment that our evil choices have disfigured us, so we are not the pure and innocent people God calls us to be. By accepting ashes on our foreheads, we are also acknowledging that we are ashes and dust. We are not God, but merely one of His creatures. We do not have the power to determine what is right and what is wrong. Only God has that power! All we can do is obey Him out of humility, the humility of creatures who did not create themselves but who were brought into being by a Loving, All-Poweful God. As we approach the altar next Wednesday to receive the ashes, let us receive them as a sign of our repentance and a sign that we mean to change. The ashes provide another symbol for us - a symbol of Hope. For God who created us of the dust, can also re-create us. No matter how badly we have sustained ourselves through our own choices, we can be made clean. Again the prophet Joel reminds us, “For gracious and merciful is God, slow to anger, rich in kindness, relenting in punishment.” Our belief in a God who desires to forgive us is what gives us the courage to stand up and publicly profess that we are sinners AND that ONLY GOD can save us. At the same time the ashes represent our hope in a God who promises to make all things new. NOT only us, but the world! Sin has left a mark on us individually, on society as a whole and on our environment. BUT there is nothing sin has done that God cannot undo. There is no evil that takes place in our world from which God cannot bring about a greater good. So we accept the ashes on our foreheads with belief and hope that our sorrow will one day give way to Easter Joy! Sin and death are not the final chapter in human history. THERE IS A HAPPY ENDING FOR US ALL! For as tragically as sin has disfigured our lives, just so mercifully has God saved us in Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve could never have imagined what evils their disobedience would unleash upon the world. Neither could they have imagined that  God would take on our humanity and die to bring the new life of the Resurrection. During Lent as we are abstaining from meat, fasting and praying, we do these things to show God that we intend to change. The God who knows our hearts, sees how serious we are. We can never know how deeply our sins has offended God, nor how far our bad choices have gone-out to hurt others. Nonetheless, we can know how completely we are forgiven. We can live these next 40-days leading up to Easter with a new commitment to turn things around in our lives with the strength that God provides. With God’s help, may these 40 days of prayer, fasting, and charitable giving be the beginning of a real transformation in each of us, in our homes, in this Church, and in the World! AMEN!

Did you feel it yesterday? Love was in the air. Flowers were purchased en masse, balloons were filled, and enough chocolate was bought to give the Incredible Hulk diabetes. Yes, friends, it was St. Valentine’s Day. The day for love, for expressions of romance, for beheading. Wait, what? Indeed, Valentine’s Day is so named after a saint in the Christian Church. Saint Valentine. His story goes like this. In the late 3 rd Century, when Christianity was still illegal in the Roman Empire, a bishop named Valentine or perhaps Valentinus was arrested for evangelization. While being tried by a judge, the judge, whose daughter was blind, decided to put Valentine to the test. He said that if Valentine could heal his daughter, he would do whatever was asked of him. Valentine agreed and the blind daughter was brought to him. Valentine, through a miracle of God, healed the young woman. True to his word, the judge asked what he should do. Valentine told him to destroy the household gods, fast for 3 days, and have the entire household baptized. He did so and released the saint. Later on, Valentine was arrested again and this time was brought before Emperor Claudius II. Claudius asked for Valentine to recant his faith in Jesus and when he refused, he was beaten with clubs and beheaded. His skull can be found in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. Nothing says love like getting your head chopped off! The conversion of St. Valentine’s Day as a religious holiday to a romantic one took several centuries and involved the amalgamation of a Roman love fest and the work of renowned English author Chaucer.  The modern-day festival of Valentine’s Day bears little to no resemble to the earlier church festival of a martyr for the cause of Christ but at least you now know its origins. Maybe next year instead of giving flowers we should give heads of lettuce?

If you were awake at 1 am like I was, you might have tuned in to see the Requiem Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Saint Peter’s Square was filled with mourners and the curious while the areas leading up to the dais were filled with cardinals and dignitaries. Laying in the center of the white ramp were the earthly remains of the German pope who resigned from office to lead a life of prayer for the Church. What struck me during the Mass was that, even if you did not know Italian or Latin, if you knew the Mass you knew what was going on. You knew when the Gospel was being proclaimed, you knew when the sermon was being given, you knew when the Elements were being Consecrated. Even if you were not Roman Catholic, you could follow along, and that is what was impressive. This funeral was for a pope and according to Roman theology, he was the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Christ, the human representative of Jesus Christ on this earth. He was for a time, like or not, the most important Christian in the world. Yet even so, Benedict received the same funeral Mass as your grandma. Sure, because he was a pope there was more pomp and circumstance. Diplomats, Swiss Guard, processions, etc., but the liturgy was the same. This can also be said in the Episcopal Church. We have, in our Book of Common Prayer, two burial rites. Rite I and Rite II. A person who dies in the Episcopal Church will receive one of those rites. It doesn’t matter if you were President, Prime Minister, Postman, Priest, or Pauper, you get the same liturgy out of the prayer book. This uniformity sends an important message. We are all sinners before the Lord. None of us is better than the other, no one has a leg up on righteousness, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because of this reality, we all receive the same funeral Mass. Again, like the pope, depending on the person being buried the service might be more or less elaborate but the liturgy is the same for everyone. All of us need Jesus. All of us need the salvation of the Cross. All of us, regardless of our position, need saving by the Lord Most High and our funeral rites reflect this. It is a powerful reflection of our faith to believe that all of us are equal in death and all of us need Jesus for life.

What is Christmas? I know that seems like a silly question. After all, today is Christmas and the signs of it are all around us. The lights, the trees, the Nativity set, etc. ad nauseum. But all of that is surface stuff, all of that is peripheral. Pushing past the obvious, what is Christmas? Christmas, or more historically, Christ’s Mass, is the day when everything changed. I remember watching the events of 9/11 when I was in college and I knew everything had changed. And it had. The entire world has changed because of those cowardly events. But that was the world. On Christmas Day, the entire universe changed. In the beginning, after God created Adam and Eve, He commanded that they not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned them that if they ate from that tree, they would die. Life would be cut off from them and not just physical life but eternal life. Up until that moment, Adam and Eve were destined to exist with God for all eternity because nothing stood as a barrier between them and God, the Source of All Life. However, to the dismay of creation, Adam and Eve were duped by the serpent and fell into temptation. They disobeyed God and their eating of the fruit caused a barrier to exist, a barrier which cut them off from the eternal life given by God. This was not God’s doing, it was ours. But, cut off as we were by Sin, God became present to us through the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, through the Prophets, and the Priests of Israel. Like a master chess player, God spent millennia setting up the board in the exact right configuration until He made His move. And in a move no one expected, God became one of us. In the literary world there is a device called self-insertion and that is where the author writes his or herself into the story. God is the author of our lives and on Christmas Day, He wrote Himself into the story. God was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem and was named Jesus which means, God is our salvation. Jesus’ birth was heralded by a multitude of angels and by the birth of a new star. Shepherds bowed down before Him as did wise men from the east. God had begun something all together new on that Christmas Day. The birth of Jesus signaled a metamorphosis of the cosmos and that divine change reached its fruition on a Friday when that Holy Child, now 33 years old, was nailed to a Cross. The death of Christ paid a debt that we could not pay and the barrier erected by Adam and Eve was destroyed. Through the death of Jesus we are given forgiveness of sins and reunion with God for eternity. That could have been the end of the story, but God does nothing half-way and three days after His death, God walked out of that tomb of His own accord, risen from the dead, in glory and power. In the secular world, after today the tree will come down, the lights will be turned off, and the memory of another Christmas will be filed away on phones and scrapbooks. But for the Christian, Christmas Day is the beginning. It is the beginning of the new thing which God did 2,000 years ago and the best part is that the salvation of Jesus Christ which was begun at the manger is still ongoing. Everyday, we exist in the reality of Christmas Day and of Easter Morning. For the Christian, those two are not mutually exclusive but are united in one symphony of salvation. Adam and Eve took the gift that God had given them and threw it back into His Face and God would have had every right to abandon us to our own Sin but in His exquisite love and mercy, the Almighty became one of us and gifted us with salvation by His Crucifixion and Resurrection. That gift is now offered to us every day and we must choose if we are to take the gift of salvation and live into it or to reject it, much like our first parents.  Therefore, brothers and sisters, the path of salvation is laid before us once again. It is a journey that begins in the creche ends on the Cross. Let us not spurn the forgiveness given us by God. Rather, let us accept the yearly celebration of the birth of Our Lord and recommit ourselves to walk the path of righteousness and redemption. And let us rejoice, for Christ is born. Amen.