Failing at Lent
Notes
Transcript
There are two great celebratory seasons in the church calendar. The primary celebratory season is Easter, during which time the church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the launch of the new creation. The other celebratory season is Christmas, during which time the Church celebrates the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the eternal unifying of God and humanity. In order to prepare itself for these celebrations, both Easter and Christmas are preceded by seasons of penitence. The most celebratory season, Easter, is preceded by the most penitential season, Lent, and the lesser celebratory season, Christmas, is preceded by the lesser penitential season, Advent.
In order to note the change to the season of Lent, traditionally, a few things happen in the worship service. First, the alleluias disappear and won’t return again until we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Second, the bells disappear from the service as well, and silence plays a greater role in our worship. Third, instead of the Summary of the Law, which we normally hear on Sundays, the celebrant reads the 10 Commandments. I must confess that I always feel a bit of awkwardness on this particular Sunday in Lent, because not only does the celebrant read the 10 Commandments at the beginning of the service but we also hear the 10 Commandments read as part of the Old Testament reading. So, within a short 5 minute window, on this Third Sunday in Lent in Year B, we hear the 10 Commandments twice, which means this is probably a good Sunday to reflect on theologically on the Law, which is what Paul does in our reading from Romans 7.
Paul is convinced that there was nothing wrong with the Law in general nor the commandments of the Law, but Paul is also aware of what happened when the Law came to Israel, which was the same thing that happened when the Law came to Adam: it produced death. But then how can something that is good produce death? Paul solves this problem by arguing that it wasn’t the Law that produced death but rather sin which dwells inside each and every one of us, and what the Law does is expose how sinful we truly are. On our own, apart from Christ and apart from God placing his Holy Spirit inside, we are “of the flesh,” but the Law, Paul says, is spiritual. The commandments we heard today were intended for people who possessed the spirit of the living God inside them. This is the only way they can be kept, and this means that when they came to the people of Israel who did not have the Spirit of God in that sense, they came to people who could not keep them.
But now, the commandments come to Christians, who do possess the Spirit of God, and what happens. Paul describes a war within himself. He says,
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Christians are conflicted people because we live in that liminal space between freedom and release from sin and the final consummation of our salvation. Yes, we have the Spirit of God living in us, but we are still “of the flesh.” We have been set free and yet we await the redemption of our bodies, and until that day, we are caught in the in between, when so often we know the right thing that we should do, or we know the wrong thing that we shouldn’t do, and then we end up doing the opposite. When we look back, we will likely be confused by our own actions because, generally speaking, we know the things that we’re supposed to do and we know what we’re not supposed to do, and yet, so more often than not, at least for some of us, sin rears its ugly head, works hand in hand with our flesh, and we end up doing the very thing we hate.
Our Moral Bootstraps
Our Moral Bootstraps
One response to this reality of the Christian life is, after we’ve been knocked down, to pull ourselves up by our own moral bootstraps. In the context of Lent, this is the person who says, “This is what I’m going to give up for Lent” or “This is what I’m going to put on for Lent” and then does it by their own sheer will. This is the person who says, “I’m going to stop committing this sin or that sin.” I’m going to do this. Full stop. We play to this a little bit in the church. For Lent, we suggest giving up something small like chocolate or soda, something that is within your willpower to accomplish. But that is not how Lent works. It is not the goal of Lent for you to demonstrate what you can accomplish through your willpower. Rather, it is the goal of Lent that you create a Law for yourself that you cannot keep, so that when you try, you expose how sinful you truly are, and then turn to God in repentance and faith. Which is to say that I expect you to fail at your Lenten devotion, and if you don’t, then you have truly failed. Lent, like the Law, isn’t about what you can accomplish. Lent is meant to expose what Paul says in verse 18:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Nothing good dwells in me. I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. That thought is the goal of Lent. And if this sounds vaguely familiar, I hope it does, arguably it is the center and heart of Anglican theology.
1662 Catechism
1662 Catechism
In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which is still the official prayerbook of the Church of England and the basis for our 2019 prayerbook, there is a catechism. While other Reformation traditions were writing long, detailed catechisms, the English church did not. Our catechism is very simple. Our catechism begins by asking if the person being instructed understands what happened when he was baptized. Then the catechism turns its attention to the Apostles’ Creed and then to the 10 Commandments and our Lord’s summary of the Law.
Up until this point, the catechist has only been asking questions, but now he speaks more directly. He says:
My good child, know this, that thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the commandments of God and to serve him, without his special grace, which thou must learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer.
That’s it. That’s what Lent is trying to drive you to understand. That’s what the Law is trying to drive you to understand. You do not possess the ability to be the person that God intends you to be, and no matter how long you pull at your own bootstraps and try to live the Christian life in your own willpower, you will ultimately fail because that is not how it was intended to be lived. The answer when we fail isn’t more willpower and self-determination. The answer is prayer. The answer is to ask God that we who we are would be determined more by his Spirit that dwells inside us than by our flesh that so easily corrupts us. And if you need further proof, let me remind you that the Holy Spirit and Prayer are the very next topics Paul discusses in Romans.
So, as we walk with Christ on the way of the cross during this season of Lent, remember, you are not able to walk this path. You are not able to be the person God has called you to be because you are still in the flesh even though you have the Spirit of God, which means that there is a war going on inside you between your flesh and your spirit, between all that is in you that is still of Adam and all that is in you that is of Christ, and your job is not to win and certainly not to win under your own power, as if that was even possible. Rather, your job through the struggles of this life and through the trials of Lent is to learn at all times to call by diligent prayer for God’s special grace so that you can be the person that God intends you to be. We talk about being a church on the way. This is the way. You are not able to do these things on your own, so you must learn to pray diligently for God’s special grace.
Amen.