Sermon text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
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Yesterday was Fat Tuesday. I love Mardi Gras in concept if not in practice: A day and night of feasting before the fast of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras often involves parades and partying. The participants are often masked. It seems to go with the flow of the event. We hide ourselves away so we are free in our revelry. No one will know who or whose we are. Masks unleash mischief. All things are possible in the night with a mask. All the acts of darkness. The sins of the flesh. The lust of the heart. The impurity of the mind. Drunkenness. Revelry. That is Mardi Gras.
Then comes sobriety. The daylight. Ash Wednesday. Black ashes on foreheads. Confession of sin. We are unmasked on Ash Wednesday. No longer are we able to pretend that we alone are different from the masses of humanity. No longer will our excuses grant us reprieve. We are guilty. Caught like a child with his hand in the cookie jar. We weren't supposed to be eating those cookies. We knew better. We didn't follow instructions. We rebelled against our parents. Disappointment. Disillusionment. Disdain.
Lent is about growing in spiritual maturity. Paul said, "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. (1 Corinthians 13:11, NRSV) Lent is about growing into maturity, into adulthood in faith. Lent is about putting away childish things such as the desire to show off how spiritual we are. It seems that some people in their spiritual lives never move beyond the spirit of Mardi Gras to the spirit of Ash Wednesday.
So Jesus says in our text today that our giving to others - however we bless them - should not be done in Mardi Gras crazy look-at-me kind of way but in a sober, serious, Ash Wednesday way. Jesus doesn't want us to make a performance out of what we do for others. We are not to parade around like a Mardi Gras crewe throwing out beads and saying, "Look what I've done. I helped that person. My church is the best one in the city. We do all these things for the poor unfortunates." That is not Jesus way. Whether we are feeding the hungry by giving them food or feeding our own souls by giving ourselves time to pray, we are not to play to the crowd. We are not to seek applause. We are to do it quietly and unobtrusively. After all, that is the way our God, who conceived us in love, working behind the scenes, helps us out. (Matthew 6:4)
So how we do things - the process - is as important as what we do - the product. Jesus says this principle applies also to our giving. Believe it or not, our Reformed faith has a spiritual method for tapping into the flow, the currency, of money. We call it "tithing" or "giving of our tithes and offerings." It means that we give money, cash or check, to support the mission of Christ's church. This too is an ancient spiritual practice that is spoken of in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.
When we convert our assets into cash and use it to support Christ's mission that is a sign whereby we may know that we are growing in spiritual maturity. But the way that we give is not to be ostentatious. We are not to draw attention to ourselves when we give.
In a similar spirit of humility, we are not to draw attention to ourselves when we pray. Instead, Jesus suggests we pray in a quiet, secluded place. Here is how he puts it as translated by The Message:
"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace." (Matthew 6:5-6, MSG)
There are many types of prayer that can be done in secret. When I say in secret I mean even a place like our car when we are driving alone we may pray. But it is important to have a special place where we live and let that be our "quiet place" for prayer. This may be a chair that we sit in each day at a certain time such as perhaps the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night or both. Our prayer in our secret place may be a thought, an inward glimpse, a remembrance of a person in need, or a quiet conversation with God.
Sometimes if we get in a rut in our prayer life we may need to change our quiet place or even our posture. Instead of sitting down we may need to lay down on the floor. Gurdgieff said if you have problems with gratitude, pray laying on your belly. Prostrate yourself on the floor three times a day and say "Thank you" to God three times a day. That will develop in you a spirit of gratitude. From what I have read that works. The physical action helps produce the inward grace that is needed, in this case, gratitude.
Another spiritual disciple you may want to consider this Lent is devoting yourself to the development of a spirit of gratitude. Perhaps in this instance instead of denying yourself something for Lent, you may want to treat yourself in some special way during the season of Lent. For instance, perhaps you want to disciple yourself to get a message once a week each week during Lent in order to relax your body and develop a sense of gratitude by being able to live in a peaceful way in your own body.
You could do something similar without the massage by setting aside a period of time each day to be quiet and alone with God and yourself. Deepak Chopra in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, says "take your stillness with you." He quotes Franz Kafka, the Austrian philosopher and poet who once said, "You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." I love that line. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Another spiritual practice you may want to consider this Lent is fasting. By fasting I mean refraining from food or certain kinds of food for a certain number of days. Fasting is an underutilized spiritual practice. Somehow refraining from food tends to focus our spirit on God. We get lean and clear in our orientation toward God and spiritual things. If you decide to practice fasting, keep in mind Jesus instructions in our text this evening. In particular I like this earthy translation - of what Jesus is getting at - from The Message:
"When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well." (Matthew 6:16-18, MSG)
Jesus practiced the spiritual disciple of fasting. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights in the desert after his baptism. This spiritual disciple has a history that precedes Christianity, was practiced by Christ, and has been utilized by Christians throughout the ages and continues today. Fasting is a cost effective spiritual discipline. There are no books to buy. You even save money you have otherwise spent on food.
Finally, appropriately enough - at the end of our text - Jesus takes us right back to the root of all kinds of evil. We are back to money, once again. Sometimes I get the feeling Jesus knows us all too well. As Bob Dylan puts it, and it is especially true in these days of budget cuts and belt tightening: "Money doesn't talk, it swears." That's a crass way of illustrating the importance our society attaches to money.
We can also take the spiritual view of money. Another word for money is "currency," and that word also reflects the flowing nature of this spiritual energy. The word currency comes from the Latin word "currere" which means "to run" or "to flow." We call moving water in a river a current. We call electricity in a power line a current. A current is energy in motion and so is money. Money is a symbol of where we want to put our energy. Chopra says, "Like a river, money must keep flowing, otherwise it begins to stagnate, to clog, to suffocate and strangle its very own life force. Circulation keeps it alive and vital."
God wants our money is to circulate on down to the River Jordan and then on into the sea of eternity in heaven. Jesus tells us where to keep our treasure: Heaven.
Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. (Matthew 6:19-20, MSG)
So whether we are doing good for others by giving them food or doing good for ourselves by praying or doing good for God's kingdom on earth by giving, HOW WE DO IT is of utmost importance. We are not to draw attention to ourselves. We are to quietly do what God calls us to do. Spiritual maturity means moving from a Mardi Gras kind of party life to an Ash Wednesday sobriety. That does not mean we can't have fun. Of course we can have fun. But more than fun, we can have joy. "The joy of the Lord is my strength," says the Psalmist and joy is not dependent upon circumstances.
We may experience joy even when things are going against us, even when the diagnosis is malignant, even when our loved one is dying. Mardi Gras is about fun in the flesh. Ash Wednesday is about joy in the spirit. Our presence here tonight signifies our intention to move from Mardi Gras living to Ash Wednesday living. Tonight we will go so far as to ritualize repentance through the writing down and burning of our sins. We name them. We claim them. Then we give them to God who destroys them. Thus, our sins are undone and we are washed whiter than snow. Our slates are wiped clean. We get to start over. Thank God for that.
We enter into Lent this evening in an atmosphere of reflection and devotion. The party is over. Now we can get down to the serious business of spiritual growth. This is our chance to move our lives into the gear of joy. Lent is the start of something new inside each of us. Lent is the beginning of something fresh in the life of this congregation as together we enact the mystery of Ash Wednesday.
