Christ Episcopal Service Schedule:
Sunday March 9th 10am MP
Sunday March 16th 10am MP
Sunday March 23rd 10am MP
Wednesday March 26th 5pm Holy Eucharist with The Rev. David Perkins
Sunday March 30th 10am MP
Memento Mori
Christ Episcopal Church,
Year A, Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
Keep death daily before your eyes. That’s what St. Benedict said when he established his order many generations ago. It is still a good way to practice the Christian life.
You might recall that 2 years ago, I purchased this hourglass to wear as my memento mori, to wear throughout Lents. It is my reminder that we, and everyone, are going to die.
I’m not sure wearing it only during lent is adequate. Although I have had a good life and think I am not afraid to die, nevertheless I have trouble conceiving of the world without me. But of course it will.
Today, we get ashes on our foreheads, but we only do it once a year. I’m not so sure that is enough. Perhaps keeping our own death daily before our eyes—not just during Lent, but all year long—would indeed rearrange our lives, teach us to make better choices about how we spend our time, and our talent and our money.
Keeping our own death daily before our eyes is also a way of healthy and appropriate letting go of those things that are so destructive to living a full and rich life. How much time will we invest in holding onto a grudge, stubbornly refusing to forgive, beating up ourselves with regret… while contemplating our own death? Not much, I hope.
How about awaking us anew to the value of life itself and to the transient beauty that surrounds us? Like trillium, this most beautiful wildflower that blooms for only a few weeks in the early spring. Now! Go see it now, because by the middle of March it will be gone. Without a trace.
The poet E.B. Browning said it like this:
Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God; and only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.
Maybe keeping our own death before us helps us to be joyful, content and attuned to the present, to cherish every moment that we draw breath? To love God for God alone? For no other motive than to love for love’s sake?
Remember, you are going to die.
So consider a Lenten discipline of giving yourself a daily reminder that you are going to die—a memento mori. Make it real. Write about it in a journal, or wear something—maybe a skull pin or pendant, or an hourglass to remind yourself that time is running out.
If you were here Sunday, you heard me say that in writing my sermon, I could not come up with a story about what I’ve done lately to make the world a better place. And I suggested there might be a continuation of that theme today.
I have never been one to “give up” something for Lent. I did grow up attending a Roman Catholic elementary school for a time, and it just never much impressed me that eating fish on Friday and giving up candy did much to transform the behavior of my classmates, much less to make the world a better place.
So I usually try to add a new discipline or spiritual practice to my life during Lent. I can’t do exactly what Jesus did. If I were to go around trying to heal people by spitting in the dirt and making mud, all we’d end up with is people with mud in their eyes!
So we need to look for ways to make the world a better place that in our own time and place and within our capabilities. And this year, I found my thing a couple days ago.
It’s called the 39-Mile Walk Challenge and it is being conducted by the Carter Foundation, which was founded by Jimmy Carter and his wife Roslyn after he left the presidency.
The 39 miles of the challenge comes from the fact that he was our 39th president, but I hasten to add, this is NOT about politics.
It IS about a man who said “faith is an action verb” and he, himself, lived his faith in visible and specific ways. I’m sure you have seen many photos of him building homes through the Habitat for Humanity program well into his 90s.
The Carter Foundation’s motto is, “Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.” It has a record of success and is highly rated as a nonprofit for low overhead costs. Your money goes to the causes the Foundation takes up.
Jesus healed, and so I chose the 39-Mile Challenge Walk as my Lenten discipline this year. I see it as a way for me to follow Jesus and make a difference in the world by raising money for this organization engaged in healing people around the world.
I also chose this challenge because it requires something physical—some action—from me. This Friday is my first scheduled walk. I plan to walk 5 miles out at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. And while I walk, I will pray and reflect and praise God through appreciating the beauty of creation.
Jimmy Carter also said, I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I’m free to choose that something. … My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can.
So that’s what I chose for this Lenten season. You choose what works for you! A million opportunities await.
Today is Ash Wednesday, the day we remind ourselves that we are but dust and to dust we will return. I will close with this reminder from Br. David Vryhof of the Brothers of Saint John the Evangelist:
We receive the mark of ashes on our foreheads, not as a sign of our sanctity but as a sign of our humanness. We kneel in repentance today. The Savior knows the secrets that hide in the hearts of each of us because he created us, redeemed us, and called us by name. It is his love that will make us whole.
In the name of God, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. AMEN.
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