A familiar passage, read on Ash Wednesday (one of the usual Lectionary readings of the day), is from the Book of the prophet, Isaiah, chapter 58, verses 1 through 12. I quote an excerpt from this passage:
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?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard...
Why this passage for the beginning of our Lenten season?
To remind us that, whatever Lenten spiritual discipline we choose as a way of bringing
ourselves closer to God, of deepening our relationship with Christ - we must also be aware that personal prayer, abstinence, or worship is meaningful to God only in the context of how we also live in relationship with others; only in the context of how we care for Christ by caring for others; only in the context of how we liberate the Spirit of God to be made manifest in our lives and in the world by liberating others.
During Lent, we pray about and repent not only for the ways in which we personally have disrupted our relationship with Jesus, or separated ourselves from God's grace, we also pray about and repent for the ways we have not helped heal or repair or restore others to dignity and plenty, and so have left Christ imprisoned and poor.
Let us do the spiritual and practical work necessary during this Lenten season to turn back to God with renewed passion, love, and commitment!
Let us do the spiritual and practical work necessary to loose the bonds of injustice and free the oppressed from what keeps them captive.
If we do this, we will experience our light breaking forth like the dawn, and the light of resurrection and new life in Christ.
May your Lenten season be a time of prayer, spiritual discipline, repentance, and action!
Terry
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