"Treasure What Matters"

Yesterday was Super Tuesday. Most people know that as the papers and e-media haven’t stopped analyzing the primary results from one of the most response-generating presidential campaigns in recent history. Yesterday was also Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, a day not widely celebrated outside of New Orleans when the faithful are to eat up the bacon and sausages and other fats in the house to prepare for the simpler fare of Lent.

While the presidential campaigns continue to unfold in history-making ways, our life together begins today a more intentionally quiet focus. The Alleluias are tucked away. The metallic purple, green, and gold of yesterday's Mardi Gras celebrations has morphed into the somber purple hues of Lent. This Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are beholden to God for our very life -- we are simply a bit of dust God has breathed life into for a time, and to dust we will one day return. In between, God longs for us to treasure this gift by repenting personally and corporately, by turning from death-dealing habits like those Isaiah names -- finger pointing and evil speaking -- to living out the justice God desires in our personal relationships, in relationships among nations, and in our relationship to the earth. Such justice living will always require attentiveness to the brokenness in our own lives, attentiveness to the needs of others, and attentiveness to the power of God's Spirit alive in the world.

We travel the forty-day journey of Lent in both time and spirit from the dryness of ashes toward the refreshing baptismal waters of Easter; we journey looking honestly at our personal and communal brokenness open to seeing with new eyes our own bondage and how our choices and behaviors bind others. To symbolize the ongoing power of this journey our font is filled with sand. This sand is like a sentinel for us, reminding us that we are bound together by the waters of Baptism as well as the brokenness of our common humanity; bound together in the power of the Spirit we thirst for forgiveness, for the treasure that truly matters; as become more aware of the grit of mistakes and jealousy, secrecy and anger that parch our throats our thirst for a right relationship with God and others heightens. This is the life-changing journey of Lent.

One of the traditions of Lent has been to "give up something" -- fast food, chocolate, coffee and the like. In Matthew Jesus reminds his listeners that special monetary contributions, prayers, even fasting from certain foods are all good disciplines and important for the well-being of the faithful, but not when they're done for show. We engage in these disciplines, Jesus says, to strengthen our faith. So then we shouldn’t get ash crosses on our heads, right? Wouldn’t that be doing exactly what Jesus warned against? Well, yes, if you are getting the mark of ashes just for show that is precisely the wrong reason. But to receive the mark this day as one committed to being open to God’s Spirit at work in your life, to leave here forgetting its there until you catch sight of yourself in the mirror or someone else’s mark, or a stranger asks you about it – ah! There is precisely the power of the discipline: it changes you in secret and through your living it changes the world. Whether we give something up or take something on, the intentional disciplines of Lent help us re-center our lives on the treasure that matters -- a relationship with God that reframes every other relationship in the world.

I invite you to engage in an intentional spiritual discipline for this season. Use the word PRAY as an acronym to guide your journey.

PRAY: pray, read, abandon, yoke.

v Pray daily in an intentional way. You might use the Prayer Ventures daily prayer leaflet that is available by the Welcome Center, daily lifting up prayers for the wider church. Another prayer discipline is to pray intentionally for your enemies -- those who challenge you; those you fear; those nations with whom our nation is engaged in battle with weapons, words or economic sanctions. Pray in silence at the same time every day, or pray aloud with family or a prayer partner. Practice naming aloud those who carry on your heart during the prayers of the church on Sunday morning. We believe prayer changes things -- prayer can be a life-changing discipline for Lent.

v Read the Scriptures every day. Perhaps read through the Psalms, or reflect each day on a lesson shared in worship on Sunday or at midweek worship. Open the Bible to a book you haven't read in a while, or focus intentionally on Matthew, the Gospel emphasis for this church year. Sunday School youth will be memorizing a Bible verse each week during Lent -- you are welcome to do the same.

v Abandon some habit or pleasure that occupies your days. Abandon it to make room for the Spirit to fill you in new ways. Start with something manageable. I am still in awe of the powerful impact giving up fast food has had on me. During Lent some fifteen years ago I gave up my near daily routine of stopping at fast food chains not to lose weight or save money, just to stop the drive through habit I discovered had become almost compulsive for me. From hunger issues to matters of ecological health, the “unlearning” of that habit continues to this day to help me understand the choices I make, our own culture’s consumerism, and in my travels overseas the impact our nation's habits have on the world. Abandon something you "do" to make room for becoming centered in what really matters.

v Yoke your life with others in some tangible way. Commit to supporting world hunger or a local hunger cause with a financial gift, or a gift of time. Commit to becoming more "green" at home or work. We use ashes today from Madagascar – make time to learn more about our companion synods there and how our community can become more strongly yoked with them. Commit to learning about a global human rights campaign and sharing your resources of time and skills to make a difference. Don't do it alone -- join with a friend or family members, pull together a small group here, and experience community in anew way as well.

However you decide to journey through Lent, the simple act of intentionally committing to something new will open you to the Spirit in ways you cannot begin to imagine. It's a God thing, and it is priceless treasure.

In his Lutheran Advocacy Day address to those who work at the Roundhouse during the NM legislative session, Bishop Bjornberg called for honesty from our elected representatives: "We can work with you on anything if you are honest with us." God uses the symbol of ashes and this font of sand to guide us through Lent with a similar call and a priceless promise: "Return to me, child, be honest with me, and you'll be amazed at the Light I can shine in your life." As you make the sign of the cross, on your body or in the sand of the font, remember that you are yoked to Christ and that in Christ we are yoked to one another. In its harsh and deep Lenten reality the shadow of the cross reminds us that we are yoked not to death but to the mystery of life, and to the treasure that is Christ the Light of the world.

Amen.