Yes, it s true that Jesus loves each and every one of us personally And yes, each individual has to make a choice

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1 Text: Matthew 6:1-6, Date: ASH WEDNESDAY - February 18, 2015 Title: A World Worth Saving Theme: Embrace the contradictions of this day and let your prayers stir you to action. Prayer Sermon If suppose if I really wanted to make a sacrifice for God, I would give up coffee for Lent. I considered it maybe for 90 seconds. I thought about how much I d miss my morning coffee, my afternoon coffee, my after-dinner coffee... Then I realized I might as well give up breathing. I finally decided it would be easier to give up sweets instead The tradition of giving things up for Lent has a long history. It fits in with the notion of fasting, of depriving oneself of something to pursue a spiritual benefit. Fasting has within it the idea of pushing other things aside to heighten one s focus on God. It reminds us of the first commandment: thou shalt have no other gods before me. And yet, for all its importance in Jewish tradition, during the time of his ministry apart from his 40 days in the desert Jesus does not appear to do much fasting In fact, he and his disciples are challenged on this point a story is told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke about some Pharisees who come wanting to know, Why don t your disciples fast? Jesus answers simply, the wedding party doesn t fast while the groom is with them, do they? 1

2 There are some inherent contradictions to this day even to this season We choose things to fast from, though Jesus didn t do much of it We emphasize the importance of private piety, even though today is perhaps the one day in the year where everyone knows whether or not you ve been to church, based on whether you have ashes on your forehead There is something contradictory about the messages In large part, I think American Christianity has resolved the contradiction by settling upon the idea of faith as a purely private matter We re comfortable with Matthew 6, because it just reinforces what we already know and believe: Keep your prayers between you and your God We ve taken it to an extreme where honestly I think our hypocrisy is more likely to be exactly the opposite of the one Jesus is talking about in Matthew 6 Jesus accuses the Pharisees of making a public show of praying, of giving, of fasting not for the purpose of growing closer to God but instead for the purpose of making an impression on others an impression of piety and holiness I don t think the problem Jesus was talking about is our problem We re perfectly comfortable with Matthew 6 Private prayer, private giving, private devotion Jesus talks about retreating into a closet when it s time to pray Most of us practice a whole faith that s perfectly comfortable staying in the closet - a faith turned inward until it becomes all about me and Jesus 2

3 There are several reasons I can think of for that First, we know faith is polarizing, so we don t want to talk about it We also have plenty of examples of Christian leaders who fell into sin which is a piece of what Jesus was warning us about so we don t want to give anyone room to criticize the way we live We certainly don t want to be that weird and annoying Christian friend who always brings the conversation back to the Bible, even when you re talking about baseball And what s more, the me and Jesus thing is just part of our DNA as Protestants One of the rallying cries of the Reformation was faith alone So we came to believe that Christianity was only about our relationship with Jesus Don t we talk about him as our personal Savior? Yes, it s true that Jesus loves each and every one of us personally And yes, each individual has to make a choice But Christianity is never just about me and Jesus It s always about me, Jesus, and my neighbor Otherwise, it wouldn t make any sense to call him the Savior of the World (1 John 4:14) I know it s hard to look around and see a world worth saving We see the brutality of ISIS in the Middle East We read about killings in Mexico and Central America related to the drug trade We watch the news and hear about shootings in Camden And we find it all very overwhelming This too drives us to collapse faith to me and Jesus - because we just don t know what else to do 3

4 So we give up something for Lent and consider that we ve done our part for holiness. Yay! But is that why Jesus came? Did he die on a cross so I could give up sweets because I know I need to lose a few pounds anyway? It s all part of the contradiction of this day. Anything that we might do feels so insignificant compared to what he s done for us. And yet, somehow I still believe he calls us to participate with him in the salvation of the world. Not because we can add to what he s done. We can t. But because there are still so many who don t have any idea what he s done. What he can do. What he will do. Jesus still believes the world is worth saving. That s why today I want us not only to consider Matthew 6, but also Isaiah 58:6: 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 4

5 The Bible is full of passages that undermine and call into question all of our pretensions of piety Passages that, when we come across them, should cause us to stop and ask ourselves: am I really doing this right? That should be part of the point of every Ash Wednesday: to ask ourselves am I really doing this right? Because if we re really doing this right, shouldn t the world look different because Christians are in it? Part of the seeming contradiction in the day is that we ve set faith up as an either/or Internal OR external Prayer OR action Faith OR works Evangelism OR social justice Separation from the world OR engagement with the world But those either/ors just don t tell the whole story They can t Because the power of this season, in fact, the power of the gospel is in the paradox We wear ashes to remind us of our mortality But we preach victory over death We acknowledge with sorrow tonight just how sinful we really are But we also find joy in meeting Jesus at the table and knowing we are forgiven The Bible warns us not to be in love with this world (1 John 2:15) But it also says, For God so loved the world (John 3:16) 5

6 This Lent, embrace all the contradictions Be about prayer and action Let your prayers move you toward action Because Jesus looked at this world and saw something worth saving It only makes sense that his followers should too Together, let s celebrate a holy Lent. A Lent that makes a difference, not only for us, but for the people around us those Jesus came to save. Amen. by Joe Monahan, Medford UMC, Medford NJ 6