Love – it’s been a theme this week, hasn’t it? Love is at the heart of Lent.
Throughout human history, God has been trying to get us to understand that we are called to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds AND to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus Christ reminded us of this Summary of the Law and gave us a New Commandment: to love one another as he loves us.
That’s it – that’s all. Love God. Love one another. Love ourselves.
Throughout human history, our selfishness, or sinfulness, has prevented us from fully loving God, loving one another and loving ourselves.
We human beings make excuses. We make things complicated. We indulge our own desires. We care too much about what other human beings think of us, instead of what God thinks of us. We reject actions that are too messy, require too much change or might make us look foolish as being “too impractical” or “too political.” “That’s just not the world we live in.”
No, it is not the world we live in. But it is the Reign of God that we hope for – a Reign of God that the Church is called to embody as we strive to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ, as we pray and worship, proclaim the Gospel and promote justice, peace and love.
Isaiah 58 is, unsurprisingly for those who know me, one of my favorite passages in Scripture. In it, the Prophet called out the hypocrisy of human beings who think that their fasts – their worship in and of itself – were sufficient. God proclaims that worship requires love – lavish, impractical, communal love. Worshiping God requires loving one’s neighbors, one’s fellow human beings, and addressing the causes of injustice in human society, undoing the sin and selfishness that separate us from God and one another.
“If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
It’s tricky, though, God doesn’t want us doing these acts of love and sharing just because we feel obligated to do them. Or because we want to receive praise from other people here on earth for doing things to help others. No, God wants us to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.
In Matthew 6, Jesus warned his followers:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness (not piety) before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
As Jesus’ followers, we are to act righteously because we love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to act righteously because we are to love one another as Christ loves us. We are not to act righteously to receive praise from other people.
So, as we enter this time of Lent, I invite you to be motivated by Love. Think about your motivation for any Lenten discipline. Will it draw you closer to loving God, loving your neighbors and loving yourself?
If you choose to take on something additional during Lent – a new prayer practice, for example – may this practice expand your love for God, your neighbors and yourself.
If you forgo some particular treat or pleasure during Lent – may this fast give you more space and time to expand your love for God, your neighbors and yourself.
As my friend, the Rev. Elizabeth Grasham, has written in a yearly reminder for Christians:
“Fasting during Lent is not about losing weight. If you already have a disordered relationship with food, you should definitely explore other means and modes of fasting – like fasting from purchasing new clothes; fasting from alcohol; fasting from negative self-talk; or fasting from social media. The point of the fast is to have a constant and consistent reminder to look towards God and to be changed by God’s love for you. Fasting shouldn’t be a means by which you do harm to yourself.”
If you choose to fast, may it be a constant and consistent reminder to look towards God and to be changed by God’s love for you.
Throughout human history, God has been trying to get us to understand that we are called to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds AND to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus Christ reminded us of this Summary of the Law and gave us a New Commandment: to love one another as he loves us.
That’s it – that’s all. Love God. Love one another. Love ourselves.
May we all be drawn closer to God’s love, through Christ, in this Holy Season. Amen.
In Christ’s peace and love,
Pastor Teresa