A sermon by Dr. Nathan Jennings, Assistant Professor of Liturgics and Anglican Studies, given on Ash Wednesday 2008 in Christ Chapel

For our sake the Father made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Will you, O Christian, Will you enroll yourself among the penitents this day?

The bad news sometimes has to come before the good news

The bad news today, is that

God is not interested in “self-esteem”

God is not interested in “self-worth”

God is not interested in “self-help”

God is not interested in “self-actualization”

You have heard that it is said: don’t deny something for Lent, rather, take something on

But Jesus says: If anyone would be my disciple let that one deny herself, take up her cross and follow me

I suppose I understand the spirit of such a statement, as we heard above about taking on rather than denying

But trying to divorce discipleship from self-denial is a mistake of biblical proportions

God is interested in self-denial

Because, although God may not be interested in self-fulfillment, God is interested in sanctification

From now on it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

He must increase, and I, I must decrease

Now for a bit of the good news today

Listen to some of the words of our collect today:

God hates nothing God has made and

Forgives the sins of all who are penitent

Today we ask God to:

Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that

We, worthily lamenting our sins and

Acknowledging our wretchedness

May obtain of God, the God of all mercy,

Perfect remission and forgiveness

Will you, O Christian, Will you enroll yourself among the penitents this day?

So there is this paradox:

The moment that the Christian acknowledges that she has turned away from God, that she habitually turns away from God

Is the very moment that the Spirit has turned her back to the Father in Christ Jesus our Savior

That also, is good news

It is worth stating again

The moment that seems to be the moment of one’s own work, the moment one works oneself back to God through repentance

Is actually the moment the Christian discovers that she has been given the gift of the Spirit

The Spirit that cries out: Abba, Father

And prays to God, prays the prayer of God within the life of the triune God, in groans too deep for words

That is good news

For our sake the Father made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Therefore it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me

Until the day when God is all in all

Will you, O Christian, Will you enroll yourself among the penitents this day?

The world, the flesh and the Devil have plenty of disciplines that seem to involve some kind of self-denial

But really they only promote the self that the world, the flesh, and the Devil would like human beings to have

How do these perennial Demons manifest in our culture, what are some of the kinds of worship they demand in early 21 st Cent. America?

The World: pomp, circumstance, vain-glory: what is this idol?

Acceptance, respect.

What will they think of me? What do they think about me?

And so we punish ourselves trying to promote ourselves

Is this your disciplinarian, O Christian?

Lay it down, take up your cross and enroll yourself among the penitents

The Flesh: now here is a paradox:

Consume, eat and drink to the point of greed and obesity

Then buy a hybrid SUV and go on a diet and workout program

You can have a sexy body!

And you can eat your “comfort food”: you can be comfortable

And so we punish ourselves trying to promote ourselves

Are these your disciplinarians, O Christian?

Lay them down, take up your cross and enroll yourself among the penitents

The Devil:

You don’t have to sell your soul to Mephistopheles to be in Satan’s grasp

You don’t have to be a Satanist to be in Lucifer’s control

The Devil is in control, whenever one thinks he is in control: or whenever he demands to be in control

What is Satan’s lie except to be like God: self-grounding, self-sourced, self-fulfilled?

What is Satan’s lie except that he could run things better than God?

The soul drums with that rhythm when it seeks control, O Christian

Workoholism, over-scheduling, lack of genuine care of the self, body and soul

Worry over power, who is in control? Who is trying to control me? Am I in control? Are things going my way? Why don’t things ever go my way!

And so we punish ourselves trying to promote ourselves

Is this your disciplinarian, O Christian?

Lay it down, take up your cross and enroll yourself among the penitents

Lent, our prayer book reminds us, is also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, have been separated from the body of the faithful, are now reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church.

Thereby the whole congregation is put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of

The need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith

Will you, O Christian, Will you enroll yourself among the penitents this day?

What are those disciplines that Christ our teacher enjoins upon us

Those disciplines by which we fight the World, the Flesh and the Devil

Those disciplines by which the Christian suddenly discovers that it is God at work by with and within one’s own will?

Jesus discusses what his disciples ought to do when they pray, when they fast and when they give alms

He does not say, if you so choose

He says when: he assumes his disciples will follow and continue in this basic devout Jewish practice

Praying: and all that that entails for the liturgical Christian:

The yearly, weekly and daily cycles

Meditation, lectio divina, contemplation, petition, lament

The discipline of prayer: in it the Christian rejects control

And in rejecting control, the Christian discovers the one who is in control

Thy kingdom, come

Thy will be done

In rejecting the need to control, Satan and his designs are confounded and his flaming darts extinguished

As we turn to God in recognition of who is really in control

God, the Father, almighty, omnipotent, pantokrator

And when the Christian prays in the Spirit her needs and concerns, intercessions, thanksgivings, praises and laments

The Christian discovers that she is praying in and as the body of the incarnate Son of God

She discovers that God is her loving Father, and that in her, in all God’s anointed ones, the Father is well-pleased

And so the Christian discovers personhood in God by denying the self

Jesus rejected control, on the night he was handed over to suffering and death

When the Christian rejects control, it is Christ who is at work within her

And so the Christian discovers personhood in God by denying the self

Fasting: abstinence: maybe just giving up chocolate

The discipline of fasting: in it the Christian rejects comfort

And in rejecting fleshly comforts, the Christian is able to turn to and recognize the gift of the Holy Comforter

And in rejecting the flesh the Christian discovers true embodiment: membership in the body of Christ

And so the Christian discovers personhood in God by denying the self

Jesus rejected comfort, a crown of thorns was placed upon his head, nails pierced his hands and feet, a spear pierced his side

When the Christian rejects comfort, it is Christ rejecting comfort within her

And so the Christian discovers personhood in God by denying the self

Almsgiving: that is the traditional word or phrase:

Charitable giving of ourselves to those who are at risk, we might say now

The discipline of almsgiving: in it the Christian rejects acceptance

And accepts the rejected, accepts rejection

And when we do so, we discover that we have accepted the rejected one himself: Jesus, our Lord

And in doing so, we discover that we have become Jesus to someone else, quite despite ourselves

And so the Christian discovers personhood in God by denying the self

Jesus rejected acceptance, he was abandoned by his friends, betrayed by his own chosen disciple, left to die alone

When the Christian rejects acceptance, it is Christ at work within her

And so the Christian discovers personhood in God by denying the self

Soon we’ll hear this from the Church

The church invites you, O Christian, to the observance of a holy Lent by

Self-examination and repentance

Prayer, fasting and self-denial

Reading and meditation on God’s holy Word

Will you, therefore, O Christian, Will you enroll yourself among the penitents this day?