secret rewards

from my sermon on Ash Wednesday, 3/9/11 from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Can you keep a secret? God holds great rewards for you...this Lent...starting even today on Ash Wednesday. It will take me a moment to get there so be patient.

First, some in our Disciple Bible Study class asked where did Ash Wednesday come from. Our Jewish forebearers in the faith at a time of grief, when someone died, would show their sorrow by placing ashes on themselves. So we are marked with ashes today as we remember our mortality. Our Jewish forebearers in the faith to show repentance would do so wearing sackcloth and ashes. So we are marked with ashes today as we turn from sin and toward God. And the rewards for doing this...well, it will take me a moment to get there.

When Jesus says these words in the Sermon on the Mount, he does so assuming that people are already doing these spiritual practices. His point is not in what they are doing but how. We are not to do them in order to be seen by others, but to do them in secret where only God can them.

Almsgiving means generosity towards the poor. I am challenging you to practice this discipline these 40 days of Lent. You say to me, "Pastor Lynn, we just finished 6 weeks on stewardship. We used the book, Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity. Enough, already! Let it go!"

My challenge to you is try tithing, giving an actual 10% of everything that comes in, for these 40 days. Make it an experiment. Do it not because of what you filled out on a pledge card or to support the budget. Do it to show how much you love God. Do it in secret. Go beyond a pledge to a gift you make to our Father.

Prayer..I am inviting you to spend as much time as you can being alone with God. The funny thing is that when we are alone with God, we are never alone. I get up early in the morning, reflect on a short piece of scripture and then go walk and pray. My day flows out of that time of silence and solitude with God. You might want to take one of the Lenten devotional guides we have as a starting point. You might try going 1 minute, then 3, or 5 or 10 minutes, being still, being present to God. We lead such hurried, pressured lives. I am inviting you to pause and pray. Especially in times when you are threatening to blow up, repay evil with evil, pause and pray. You might pray when you are driving, and all of those crazy, agressive drivers are around you. If you pray then, just don't close your eyes. Do it in secret.

Fasting means to go without eating food. From this scripture, we get that phrase "what are you giving up for Lent?" You might go without eating a meal or desserts or some other food. The idea is to let the hunger for food call us to what we are really hungry for....God's presence. It is clearing out the clutter in our lives to make room for the presence of God. Fasting is always done with prayer.

It may be something other than food. In our Disciple Class, one said that she was going to cut back on social media presence. She was not going to spend hours updating her facebook page or seeing what others had written on her wall. I once had an associate pastor who used the season of Lent to address the issue of cursing. She...yes, she, had a real problem with expletives. When you go 40 days with a new behavior, it starts to rewire your brain. Try fasting in secret.

I am challenging you to do one thing that will become part of your spiritual practice these 40 days. Do it in secret where only God can see it. You will be rewarded. The commentaries said that the reward would come in the future when Jesus returns or when you go to heaven. I think the reward begins right now. The reward is intimacy with God. You do this practice to show how much you love God. God rewards you by his presence with you. It is a secret that only you and God share.

God can bring new life out of the ashes of this day and this season. About this time every year, we will be overwhelmed by smoke from down south. Farmers in Mexico and Central America burn the stubble of last year's crops. The ashes created go to fertilize the soil, enriching it so next year's crop will come up. God can bring new life out of ashes. God brings resurrection out of the cross. May it be so for you this Lent....if you can keep a secret.