A Matter of Life and Death

The scriptures referred to are Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 and Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21.

Animals seem to be very bad at judging slow moving threats. You've probably seen nature documentaries where a lioness is crouching and creeping up on a herd of gazelles. And the gazelles see the lioness but they continue grazing and standing around until the lioness springs up and makes a run at them. Only then do they also run. Or you may have seen a video of a bunch of birds at the edge of the water with a crocodile floating in plain sight, gliding slowly closer. And then it launches itself onto the shore and grabs a bird. Similarly the chickens here on Big Pine Key do not get out of the way of my car until I am practically on top of them.

We humans aren't much better. Our threats might be more subtle but we are also much more aware of them. Yet we smoke despite knowing that it can slowly kill us through cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. The same goes for abusing alcohol, drugs or eating junk and processed foods. Or simply eating too much. We need food but you can have too much of a good thing.

We tend to think of life and death as static states. You are in one or the other category. But you could also say that people are either enhancing one or making the other come sooner. When we get healthier we are living better and longer; when we do things that damage our health, we are making ourselves sicker and by increments advancing towards death. Just this week I heard from a fellow member of the clergy that an inmate with whom I had a lot of contact in the jail, and who had just gotten out, died from an overdose. I was sad, at least in part because he had to know that taking these drugs was a form of Russian roulette. If you don't quit, the only possible way it ends is in death.

In Jeremiah, we read, “To this people you shall say, 'Thus says the Lord, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.'” (Jeremiah 21:8) This echoes what Moses says in Deuteronomy: “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.” (Deuteronomy 30:15) These sound stark and harsh to us but as we've seen, we all choose paths that lead to one or the other.

And this is true not only physically but spiritually. There are lots of people who spiritually are among the living dead. They move, they eat, they work, they have sex but inside they are dead. Life has no meaning. They have no purpose. There is a void within them that they try to fill with possessions, pleasure and power but these don't make their lives any fuller. They are hungry for something besides food; they are thirsty for something other than drink; they feel the need for something that the world does not provide. And as C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

There will come a time when God will recreate the earth and restore it to how it should be before we ruined it. He will repopulate it with those who in this life trusted and followed him. In the meantime, we can still nourish our spiritual needs. It requires turning to the source of our spiritual health, God. And in the Bible we are told about the exercises that enable us to get closer to God.

In the Book of Common Prayer, there is also a pretty good list of things that help us do this. In the invitation to a holy Lent, we are advised to do it “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.” Let's begin by looking at these. And, if I may be so bold, I will add another.

Self-examination is an important part of physical health. Last year breast cancer was diagnosed in more than 300,000 women and in more than 2,700 men. It is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in women, killing about 43,000 women in 2022. One way to catch it early is to do a breast self-examination looking for lumps and abnormalities. If you're a guy, there is a self-examination you should do periodically to detect testicular cancer. And down here all of us are aware of watching any moles or freckles for changes in color, size or the irregularity of borders to spot the beginnings of skin cancer.

In the same way, we need to do a spiritual self-examination periodically. We need to look at our relationship with God. We also need to look at our relationships with other people. And we need to look at our relationship with ourselves. Often people leave out one or two of those relationships. Jesus encompassed all of them in stating the two greatest commandments. And he said it was ultimately about love. I don't think he meant trying to manufacture warm and fuzzy feelings. Love is doing what's best for the beloved, even during times when you don't feel the emotion. As loving parents we continue to feed, clothe and take care of our kids even when they are driving us crazy. As loving spouses we don't abandon our partners when they are going through tough times and are less than pleasant. Love is a commitment. It is manifested in patience and communication and understanding and honesty and sometimes just being there for the person. Paul gives a terrific checklist of the qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

When doing a physical self-exam, if you find something troublesome, you go to a doctor to get it checked out and treated. The parallel is repentance. Again it doesn't necessarily involve tears and great emotion. It is a recognition that something is wrong with these relationships and you need to go to the great physician and get it treated. The word “repent” in Hebrew means “turn back.” Go back to your creator so you can be healed. I know a woman who was afraid of doctors and needles and so she didn't have a large black skin lesion checked out. The melanoma metastasized to her brain and killed her. Don't let unexamined spiritual problems cut you off from God, others or yourself.

Prayer is simply talking with God. It doesn't have to be in fancy words or be filled with “thees” and “thous.” It can be spontaneous or it can be a written prayer that says what you want to say better than you feel you can. It doesn't have to be serene either. Read the Psalms. Every human emotion is expressed there: sorrow, anger, impatience, joy, amazement, and confusion. If it's on your heart, God knows it, so express it honestly. And if you have trouble expressing it, we are told “the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” (Romans 8:26) So ask for what you need, thank God for the good things and people in your life, and open your heart and mind to what his Spirit is telling you.

If you don't have a regular time to pray each day, institute one. You can use the forms for Morning and Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer or in the ELW. If you download the Mission of St. Clare app on your phone or tablet, they offer the text of Morning, Noonday, Evening Prayer and Compline. They include the scripture readings for the day and even audio of appropriate hymns. They even have Morning and Evening Prayer in Spanish. And they are updated daily.

Fasting is a very ancient spiritual discipline. It can express grief. It can be a form of sacrifice. It can be used to get a deeper experience of God, where prayer is substituted for eating for a certain period of time. There are 3 forms of fasting according to the Holman Bible Dictionary. There is the normal fast, where one abstains from food but drinks water. (Luke 4:2). There is the absolute fast, where one neither eats or drinks for a very limited time. (Esther 4:16; Acts 9:9) There is the partial fast where one restricts one's diet, eliminating certain foods, as Daniel did. (Daniel 10:3) A lot of people do this last kind of fasting in Lent, giving up, say, chocolate. The problem is people often do this to lose weight rather than commune with God.

A fast should have a spiritual purpose and be for a certain amount of time. It should not endanger one's physical health, so you should not usually give up water because you need that more than food. And certain health conditions, like diabetes, may make fasting impossible for some people.

So remember that fasting is a form of self-denial. Some people find it beneficial to give up TV or the internet or some other pleasurable distraction from God. And fasting should not just be about giving up something but taking on something spiritual as well, like additional prayer or Bible study. There is no virtue in simply not eating.

Reading and meditating on God's word is something Christians should do daily. In Lent it is helpful to do a special study of one book or a topic. There are loads of Lenten devotional books and online programs one can use.

And may I suggest that we not neglect meditating on and studying God's Living Word, Jesus Christ. Since Sundays are technically not counted in the 40 days of Lent, there are by the calender actually 45 days from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday. That's enough time to read the gospels of Luke and John back to back, 1 chapter a day. Or start the day after Ash Wednesday. 6 days of the week read a chapter from the earliest gospel, Mark. When you finish, start reading the last gospel, John. If you want, fill the 3 days of Maundy Thursday through Holy Saturday by reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. On Sundays in Lent think about the lectionary readings. This is a good way to remember that at the center of the faith is Jesus.

In addition you can read a good book on Jesus. Like The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. Or Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey. Or Your God is Too Small by J.B. Phillips. Or just about anything by C.S. Lewis.

Or go to the Great Courses, or Wondrium as they now call it, and download lecture series like Jesus and His Jewish Influences by Dr. Jodi Magness, or Jesus and the Gospels by Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson. Or anything by Luke Timothy Johnson.

To this I wish to add one thing I am surprised that the Book of Common Prayer did not include in the instructions for a holy Lent: going outside yourself. In Isaiah 58, God tells the people that their fasts do not connect with him because they are disconnected from the way they live the rest of their lives, especially when it comes to other people. “Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, you oppress your workers. Look, your fasting is accompanied by arguments, brawls, and fistfights. Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven....No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke. I want you to share your food with the hungry and provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don't turn your back on your own flesh and blood!” (Isaiah 58:3-4, 6-7)

In other words, don't just concentrate on yourself. Do things for the needy. You could put aside a can of food each day to take to the food pantry, or each day take out your closet a good garment you don't wear anymore and take them to the Salvation Army. If you fast, take the money you would spend on the meals you skip and give it to a local charity, or to the discretionary fund the pastor uses to help people out. Volunteer for some local program, like visiting or reading to the elderly. Get creative. There are lots of needs out there that are going unmet. What can you do to help?

Lent is a time to shift your focus from the business and busyness of everyday life to your spiritual life. Just as not taking care of your body can harm your physical health, neglecting your connection to God can harm your spiritual health. And that can even happen when we substitute empty religious rituals for secular ones. Like fasting, they have to be aimed at the right goal. Otherwise we will forget the meaning and purpose of life, focusing on things rather than persons, like God and other human beings. And the best way I know how to focus on both is to keep our hearts and minds on Jesus, who is fully human and fully divine. In him we see what God is like and what we can be, if we let him live in us.