First, the Bad News

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 58:1-12.

When we meet new people, we often make a connection by talking about something we have in common. When you get to a certain age, you swap tales of ailments. I was speaking to a man who also had a problem which was eluding multiple doctors. Finally he got a diagnosis. It wasn't great news but he said, “At least, now I know what I am fighting.”

The word gospel means good news. And often people take that to mean everything is great. But sometimes the good news is that, first of all, you are not mistaken: things are bad. It's not all in your head. The second part of the good news is that there is a solution to the bad news.

Of course that means first acknowledging there is bad news, which many people cannot seem to do. For instance, we have a higher standard of living today than people had in the past. But the bad news is that getting there has caused a lot of damage to the world. According to an article in Forbes, species are going extinct at a rate 1000 times faster than they have since the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. And more than 14 million acres of primary forest have been lost since the year 2000. As writer Drew Hansen puts it, “Commercial agriculture, timber extraction, and infrastructure development are causing habitat loss and our reliance on fossil fuels is a major contributor to climate change.” (See the whole article here.) Climate change is predicted to cut the production of food by double digits. (See an article here.) And with the UN predicting the world population will reach 10 billion by 2050, which is about double the earth's population in 1990, we could see massive starvation and political instability around the globe. The consumer goods we enjoy and the energy to power them weren't conjured up magically. They came from the planet we live on, and its resources are not infinite.

There are some solutions to these problems we could implement. But if we don't acknowledge the problems we aren't going to put money and effort into the solutions.

So what does this have to do with Lent?

Lent is an acknowledgment that we have spiritual and moral problems. The good news is that Jesus has the solution. But to see the significance of the cross, we need to admit to the sins that led Jesus to that sacrifice.

So in a few minutes we are going to pray together a rather comprehensive litany of the ways we fall short of the glory of God. After all, he made us in his image and we ought to do a better job living up to that. But we have taken the good gifts he has lavished on us and used them in ways he never intended, ways that are destructive to us, to others, to our fellow creatures, and to this fragile earth, our island home. We have burned the bridges to and marred our relationships with God, other human beings and even with ourselves.

Now as I said, there is a solution. It was what Jesus did on the cross. He did for us what we could not do, just as, after my accident, a surgeon did what I could not do in order to save me. And just as I had to trust a doctor to cut me open and fix what was wrong inside, we need to trust Jesus to come into our lives and fix what is awry in us spiritually.

But after the doctors did their job, I had work to do. I had to follow doctor's orders, go to physical therapy and work to take advantage of what the surgeon made possible. So too after accepting what Jesus did on the cross, we need to follow his orders for getting us back on our feet. And during Lent we get reminded of those spiritual disciplines that will enable us to take full advantage of the benefits Jesus offers us.

Faith is, among other things, about meaning. So during the Sundays in Lent we are going to look afresh on things I will mention in the Invitation to Lent and explore the ways they can make this season leading up to Good Friday and Easter meaningful. We will also come together on Wednesdays to share physical and spiritual nourishment in our soup suppers and Bible study. In that time we will look at the layers of meaning found in the term sacrifice, leading up to what Jesus did for us but also looking at what our response should be.

During Lent Christians often give up something that is supposed to be meaningful. The more significant the sacrifice the more impact it will make on your life. Giving up snacks may be hard for you but why not aim for something that pinches a little, that reminds you that you are making an important change in your life and the reason why? It could be giving up one meal a day and putting the money you would spend into a fund for the hungry. It could be giving up time watching TV or going on the internet and using the time for prayer or reading a spiritual book. It could be making your Sabbath truly one of rest and not a frantic time of catching up on errands and chores. One Lenten challenge is to give up one thing a day, one good item around the house that could help someone else and donating it to an organization where it will go to good use. It could be taking on something as well: spending time tutoring or helping at the senior center or visiting people at the nursing home or driving people to doctor's appointments.

There are also tasks that may seem meaningless to others but not to you or not to someone else. At the jail I am legally constrained in what I can do. I can't lend money to or handle money from inmates, obviously. But I also cannot pass messages from inmates to those on the outside or from friends and loved ones into the jail. I can't call their boss or their landlord and ask them to hold their job or not throw their belongings on the street come the first of the month. They may have been down here on vacation but I can't call a relative and just tell them where they are. But what I can do is sit with them and listen.

Monday night I was about to move from one unit to another when a man asked if I could just hear him out. I sat back down and he shared how he was struggling with his ego and his anger and his addiction. As is often true, the longer he talked the more he realized what he had to do. He knew he had to make some hard choices and give up some things and make changes in his attitudes and in his life. His motivation was to get out and be a better father to his 14 year old daughter. I didn't have to say much, just listen. He talked for the better part of an hour. It meant I wouldn't have as much time to spend in the other units I normally visit but this is what I was being called to do at the moment: be a calm, supportive presence in a loud, spirit-crushing place for a man wrestling with himself and his demons. And then we prayed. Sometimes just sacrificing your schedule and being there to listen and understand another person is enough.

In Lent we take a long hard look at the disease of sin in its various manifestations: selfishness, callousness, arrogance, laziness, lust, greed, rage, envy, self-indulgence, foolishness, irresponsibility, and ignorance, often willful. It's not pleasant and it's not easy. But at least we will know what we are fighting. And we know who is on our side, fighting alongside us: Jesus, the man of sorrows, God made flesh, leading us to the glory of Easter by way of Gethsemane and Golgotha.