The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, February 21, was based on the manuscript below. It was preached as a response to the texts for the First Sunday in Lent, Year B.
Disicpling,
not disciplining.
Spiritual disciplines,
to grow as Jesus’ disciples.
Growing as Jesus’ disciples,
not punishing ourselves
simply because it is Lent.
All of our passages today —
Genesis, 1 Peter, and Mark —
ground us in the reality of the season of Lent.
For many of us,
the reality has been
that we fast from something
just because.
Because it is Lent.
Because we’re
“getting ready”
for Easter.
But what are we getting ready for?
How are we preparing
to celebrate the resurrection?
Disicpling,
not disciplining.
Spiritual disciplines,
to grow as Jesus’ disciples.
Growing as Jesus’ disciples,
not punishing ourselves
simply because it is Lent.
Many of us,
after the last year,
don’t have much else we can give up.
Diana Butler Bass remarked beautifully this week,
“When I say this entire year
has felt like Lent,
I’m not just saying
that I’m tired of being introspective
or don’t want to think about death.
The point is that
for more than a year now,
that’s pretty much all I’ve done —
reflect, pray, and read,
mostly alone,
all while worried that I might die,
someone I love might die,
or I’d unwittingly contribute
(by my own carelessness)
to someone else dying.
Every time I put on a mask,
I think of death and dying.
In a year
of a half-million deaths of other Americans
and millions of people around the world,
the Lenten discipline of contemplating mortality
seems like one more painful day.”[1]
Disicpling,
not disciplining.
Spiritual disciplines,
to grow as Jesus’ disciples.
Growing as Jesus’ disciples,
not punishing ourselves
simply because it is Lent.
This is the reality
that Noah, Peter, and Jesus
all knew first hand.
Noah had spent 40 days on a boat,
with only his wife
and his sons and their wives,
leaving everyone else behind.
We don’t know
if Noah had daughters who were left behind.
We don’t know
if Noah had friends
who were left behind.
Peter, in following Jesus,
gave up his life.
He left his nets and boats
and then saw his best friend die.
As he writes to the church,
he waits for Jesus’ return.
Waiting, and waiting
for Jesus to return.
Jesus today
hears the voice of God
and then is sent to the desert.
For forty days in the desert
he’s tested by the Adversary,
someone sent to put him through his paces
and make sure he’s ready
for his budding public ministry.
As we’ve set out on our Lenten journeys,
I hope this year more than before
we’re ready for disicpling,
not disciplining.
I hope we embrace spiritual disciplines,
to grow as Jesus’ disciples.
In Lent we work on growing as Jesus’ disciples,
not punishing ourselves
Simply because it is Lent.
While our collect bids God
“Come quickly to help
us who are assaulted by many temptations;
and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us,
let each one find you mighty to save”
our texts make abundantly clear
why we’re
“getting ready”
for Easter.
Our texts make it abundantly clear
what we’re getting ready for.
Our Biblical passages show us
how are we preparing
to celebrate the resurrection.
“Christ also suffered for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
in order to bring you to God.
He was put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit…
Baptism, which this prefigured,
now saves you–
not as a removal of dirt from the body,
but as an appeal to God
for a good conscience,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven
and is at the right hand of God.”
Lent isn’t a time
for us to punish our bodies,
because we’ve been bad.
Disicpling,
not disciplining.
Spiritual disciplines,
to grow as Jesus’ disciples.
We’re growing as Jesus’ disciples,
not punishing ourselves.
Nothing we give up
will make Jesus love us
any more or any less.
Keeping our fast for one day
or for all forty
or all forty plus Sundays
will make Jesus love us
and more or any less.
We’ve done nothing
to get God to put God’s bow in the clouds
or send Jesus to be our redeemer
or have Jesus’ baptism
sanctify water
for our own baptisms.
God loves us
despite all the bad we do.
God loves us
knowing that all the good we do,
comes from God to begin with.
As we get ready for Easter,
get ready to proclaim Jesus’ victory
over death and the grave,
we get ready for Nolan’s baptism.
As we’re doing all that preparation,
we’re preparing
for our own baptismal remembrances.
We’ve been contemplating our mortality
for a year.
We’ve worried
about how our failures
could lead to others’ deaths.
This year…
Disicpling,
not disciplining.
Spiritual disciplines,
to grow as Jesus’ disciples.
Growing as Jesus’ disciples,
not punishing ourselves
simply because it is Lent.
[1] https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/just-another-ashy-day