The Journeys of a Christian, Not Just in Lent Revs. Trisha Miller Manarin and Cameron R. Edgar McLean Baptist Church February 25, 2007 Cameron Edgar As a traditional Baptist from Georgia, Lent was about as obscure as shoveling eleven inches of snow in my first month living in Northern Virginia. Lent was something that was viewed as an odd tradition by Catholics and Episcopalians. In Georgia there are not that many that observe Lent. Only when I entered seminary did I even begin to appreciate the rituals of Ash Wednesday. And only when I came here to serve did I fully understand the liturgical meanings. Perhaps Trish has more of a broader view because of the community in which she was raised. Lent is a season that can be perplexing, reflective, and yes even sometimes depressive. Why is it we are only expected to reflect upon Christ s suffering and love for us during these forty days? Why can t we do this each and every day? Why should we be required to give up something during the forty days when Christ gave something for us so that we can live each and every day? You see us now in these robes. To be honest, I am not quite sure why we do this. Do these robes set the four of us apart from you? Are we more holy because of these long flowing black garments? At my previous church in Georgia we wore robes each week in worship, regardless of the Liturgical season. Of course some of those people thought that the only Liturgical season was the college football season. While in Georgia I appreciated the robes because when you weigh over 300 pounds you appreciate a long flowing black robe that covers clothes that don t fit very well. Now, I can wear what I want and not be ashamed. So what is the deal with these robes and this season we call Lent? Trish Miller Manarin Good questions, Cameron, good thoughts. I grew up in a much more Catholic community. Baptists were the obscure, misunderstood ones. Our minister did not wear a robe on a regular basis and certainly not a clergy collar like so many of my friend s ministers or priests. Personally I think robes do set apart the clergy from the laity. Historically a minister would wear a robe to indicate academic credentials. John Calvin began wearing such a robe for he was not ordained and was unable to wear vestments, but did have an academic degree. To be totally honest, as a woman clergy person, wearing robes solves the problem of what I ought to wear on a Sunday morning you men have a choice of a suit, brown, black, or blue, the color shirt, and the tie, but we women are more complicated when it comes to our attire the dress may be too short, or not appropriately colored; slacks might be ok, but also might bring disgrace to a worshiping community. So, for these next few Sundays, I won t mind the robe, 1
but to be honest, as a good Baptist I do struggle a bit with the notion of being set apart from the congregation. I suppose Lent is a good time to be stretched, to consider what it means to be a professional church person in the midst of my personal need of forgiveness and grace. I think its ok for you to not like Lent it s not really meant to be a time to enter into with glee, but to acknowledge our dependence upon the grace and forgiveness offered to us through Jesus Christ. Part of me enjoys the season no, not because I want to beat myself up for not being the faithful follower I ought to be but because I can set aside this special time to renew my walk with Jesus, to acknowledge my sinfulness and my need to repent and believe the Good News which enables me to be in relationship with God through Christ. Historically, Lent has not been a big Baptist thing you ve lived in the land of Baptist a whole lot more than I ever have so you know that; in fact, Lent has not always been a big deal for most Protestants, though that has been changing just as it has changed in our own congregation. As radical reformers, we Baptists have not always looked favorably upon the traditions that are deemed Catholic perhaps because historically we have seen tradition triumph Biblical faith, ritual supersede transformed living, and church hierarchy trump priesthood of the believer. Unfortunately we miss out when we throw out the baby with the bath water. As early as 600 CE those in special need of forgiveness stood barefoot in front of the altar to do penance for their sins; eventually this time of reflection on the meaning of Christ upon one s life was offered to all. Preparation included meditation, repentance and penance, alms giving and of course, fasting. Lent was specifically used for those preparing to be baptized. Eventually the time of Lent grew to include 40 days a significant number in Scripture as Jesus was tempted for 40 days. You probably realize that from this past Wednesday (Ash Wed) to Easter is more than 40 days that s because Sundays are not included in the count because every Sunday is meant to be a celebration of the resurrection of Christ this is reason to truly rejoice, fasting is not observed, so if you ve given up chocolate for Lent, today s the day to eat some! At midnight very early on Easter morning, the baptismal candidates were baptized and welcomed into the church. Something similar still occurs early Easter morning in Orthodox churches as all members process around the church bringing in the resurrection celebration at midnight. Christians around the world, in many languages, on various continents and in a multitude of denominations and decades, have entered into Lent to confess personal and communal sin, and to recommit to the life of faith. Cameron 2
Trish you are right, Lent is not a Baptist thing. And you better understand the perplexeties of this season by being raised in a community with many faiths represented. And I think we want to be respectful of those faiths and respectful of the faiths from which you all have come here today. Walter Shurden, a Baptist historian, says there are four freedoms that Baptists hold dear- bible freedom, religious freedom, church freedom, and soul freedom. Let s talk about soul freedom for a moment and how that can relate to this Lenten season we now find ourselves in the midst of. Shurden says that soul freedom is the historic Baptist affirmation of the inalienable right and responsibility of every person to deal with God without the imposition of creed, the interference of clergy, or the intervention of civil government. By these standards and thoughts we then need to trust each other that we will lead our souls to Jesus each day. We talk with God without the interference of a clergy member, we talk to God in our anger, our pain, our suffering, and in our joys. It is our right as a child of God to have a personal relationship. That does not begin or end in Lent. It is constant. It transcends every action, every thought. It is what makes us people of the birth of the nativity and the glories of the resurrection. As Baptists we are very much Christmas to Easter people. My wife Christy had become an Episcopalian after a Baptist upbringing. Of course after we were married and I entered the ministry she became a Baptist again. This week we have had several discussions about Lent. These conversations extended to some e-mails and she said, But essentially what I feel is that in the Episcopal Church, there is so much time built in each and every week to contemplation of our shortcomings and failings. I think that in the Baptist Church we spend a great deal of time congratulating ourselves and very little time examining ourselves and dealing with the reality of our own flaws. I don t think that as Baptists we should forget the suffering of Christ and ignore the plight. But what it does mean is that we need to understand that Christ has suffered for us in so many ways so that we can live a life in His glory. Sure we will have suffering, pain, and discomfort. But the glory of Christ is that when we accept Him in our lives then the pain and suffering will give way to a final victory. We celebrate community as part of our tradition. We worship together, pray together, serve together, and fellowship together. We make decisions about our church together. The two ordinances that we participate in, the Lord s Supper and Baptism, may seem to be individualistic in nature but they are very much celebrated and shared together as a community. We don t seek creeds and confessions because they generally don t celebrate community. We seek litanies in which we all participate, we pass the offering and communion plates to each other, we take the communion elements together, we sing congregational hymns, we pray for the concerns of our church in worship, and we join together in the reading of the Scripture. Loyd Allen, one of my seminary professors, stated in one of his books, Baptists, who have glimpsed freedom in their 3
ancestral origins and known attenuation of that freedom in their present circumstances. Surely such a people have a stake in earnestly seeking discernment, together. If we did not want to see community thrive, grow, and respond we would have sent 55 individuals to Pearlington, Mississippi on their own. Instead we send them as a community to help a community. Trish Would we spend countless hours preparing and offering opportunities for children, youth, men and women to develop a deeper relationship with God through education, worship, mission and ministry? I m with you, we are a communal people and for this very reason I think walking in the richness of the church calendar Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost and so on, allows us to participate in an even greater sense of the community we frequently refer to as the family of God, not just Baptists and dare I say not just Protestants, but all Christians Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican as well. We still worship on Sunday mornings, even this allows us to be in community. It draws all of us who call Jesus Lord to repent, to remember who we are in light of the Cross, and to depend upon the One who offers forgiveness and hope. Sometimes facing each day can be difficult. Taking that step can be harsh. The roughness of the bark cloth, the darkness of the black material, the heaviness of the crucifixes and the emptiness of the crosses, the dirt of the ashes are all on the table to serve as reminders, to serve as helps, to serve as solidarity forming images inviting us to journey to the cross, to journey to the hope of the resurrection. Cameron But you also see on the table hints of Easter lilies because at the very foundation we are an Easter people. Christ lived and died for us. We celebrate the glories of the resurrection every day because this is how we exist. It is how we journey on in the difficult days. We traverse life s difficulties and challenges because Christ died for us all. We want to talk with Jesus, walk with Jesus, and pray with Jesus. In my time here at this church and in Northern Virginia I have come to appreciate those of all faiths and backgrounds. This is of course advanced by working for a man who teaches world religions and is very open to all faiths. Trish, I don t reject the notions of the liturgical calendar. I find Holy Week to be one of the greatest experiences for me. What I do crave is the idea that we worship together while offering our own personal sacrifices and repentances to God. I don t think that as ministers we have the right to tell a congregant what to say, act, or feel. In the Luke passage we read that Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He suffered 4
because he did not eat, he was tempted and given demands by the devil in which Jesus rebuked. After all the temptations Jesus simply said, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Jesus did this for us. Jesus was tempted, starved himself, and suffered for us. Though God will present us with challenges in life we know we will venture on because Jesus already was put to the test. Because of Jesus love and grace we can walk with him today in all the glories of Easter. We can take joy that he took the nails for us. Both the Luke and Deuteronomy passages end in hope and promise. They end with the people living in lands of milk and honey. We live in these lands because we have Jesus. We live in hope because Jesus died for us. While yes, it is important to reflect on the nature of Jesus suffering, it is also important to remember the Christ who went to the wilderness to be tempted, who went to the upper room to celebrate the supper with his disciples, who went to the garden to be betrayed, and then went to the hills of Calvary. It is on those hills that God s plan was realized and hope for all future generations was revealed. Trish Those hills are so very significant. I had a seminary professor, Tom McDaniel, who continually reminded us young theologians of the need to view all of Scripture through the lens of the cross. We are Easter people and for that reason, we rejoice and for that reason we are drawn to humble ourselves, confess our sins, journey with those faithful and not-so-faithful followers of the LORD into the land of milk and honey, and walk with Jesus, even to the hills of Calvary; empowering us to hold onto the hope, to the promise of the resurrection for indeed we enter into Lent, a time of introspection, reflection, confession with the presence of the living Christ by our side. For this reason we are able with a good theological foundation to intertwine the crucifix and ash with the lilies and dogwoods, to detest our sinfulness and revel in our salvation that sounds like being a good Baptist don t you think so? And so we can place the basket full of our first fruits, full of our sins, our troubles, our discontent, our lack of zeal or hope, our joys and our dreams and bring them before the altar of the Lord and bow down before him. Even in this season called Lent, we can rejoice in the good the Lord our God has given to us and to our household for indeed we are a sinful people filled with the knowledge of an empty tomb and a risen Lord! We are Easter People! 5