Starting with “why?”
Ash Wednesday 2019
After reading this verse from Jesus on the Sermon on the mount it seems strange that so many liturgical Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians begin the season of Lent by publicly marking our foreheads with an ashen sign of the cross. Depending on when we go to worship, we spend the rest of the day walking around, seeming to proclaim just how faithful we are to the world around us. Rev. Dr. Martin warns us of just how uncomfortable this can sometimes make others around us. Are we judging them, they sometimes wonder, for not making the same sort of public display of righteousness?
This temptation toward public righteousness happens not just in the church. It happens in the wider community as well. Political activists of all stripes often engage in virtue signalling, making sure they are seen to be aligning with whatever is considered to be the correct moral stand in their particular subculture. Not only do we insist on being seen on enacting our faithfulness, we sometimes slip into active denigration of those who do not demonstrate the same kind or intensity of activism that we feel is appropriate.
It is this particular temptation that causes many Christians, including some in our own congregation, to refrain from publicly wearing the ashen cross outside the doors of the sanctuary. Such hesitation makes perfect sense, and I respect those who have prayerfully come to this personal conviction.
That said, Jesus seems to be doing something different in this particular text. He seems to be condemning righteousness as performance art, rather than public faithfulness itself. Indeed, throughout his ministry Jesus seemed to oscillate between quiet, secret healings and large scale demonstrations of God’s will. The context and motivation made all the difference. His plan was not to achieve his own glory or political power, it was to further the kingdom and to draw people closer to God. The goal was the same, it was the approach that changed.
Today I am once more undertaking a Lenten discipline. Over the past several weeks I have allowed my prayer life to become disordered. The transition from deployment back to civilian schedule has meant that all of my routines have been utterly changed. While most of my reflections will not appear online, it is my prayer that during this time the discipline of daily written meditation on Scripture as guided by Rev. Dr. Martin will help me reestablish a new spiritual foundation as I begin the next chapter of my life.
Leaning In, Letting Go: A Lenten Devotional
For several years the Disciples of First Christian Church (DOC) in Dexter, Missouri have used Advent and Lenten devotionals from Chalice Press to guide our personal prayer in preparation for the Christmas and Easter holidays. This year’s Lenten devotional, Leaning In, Letting Go, was written by Rev. Dr. Nicole Massie Martin, the founder of Soulfire Ministries and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. My personal discipline during this season will be to daily respond to her questions in my prayer journal. From time to time during the season I will sharing some of my reflections here on this page.
