The Right Reverend William O. Gregg, Ph.D., CMJ Episcopal Visitor
Bishop Visitor, The Community of the Mother of Jesus
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6.1, 16-20 NRSV)
This text, as you may know, is the Gospel for Ash Wednesday. I have always found it a bit puzzling as just after the sermon, we proceed to do the exact opposite in the ritual of marking folks with ashes. As a theologian Bishop, and individual, I have thought about this a great deal over the last few years. Teaching theology to seminarians has made my thinking deeper and more urgent. Last Ash Wednesday I made a decision about how we were going to observe “Ash” Wednesday: I did away with ashes. Instead, I anointed each person with Chrism and encouraged them to wash their face. I shall do this again this year.
I am not a rebellious person by nature. I think hierarchy is a reasonable and appropriate polity for the church. Hierarchy also corresponds to the formal and informal realities of life and institutions. I think that obedience is a good and necessary thing for the good order of life in general and institutions in particular, including the Church. Good order and obedience do not undermine essential, substantive, responsible, and effective participation in the structures and processes of country or other institutions by all members.
What I do find objectionable in the traditional notion of Ash Wednesday and Lent is the neurotic obsession in the history of the Church with sin that has created a deeply negative theological anthropology that has and continues to do great harm to God’s beloved.
It is a great tragedy that very early on in Christian history, the Church became obsessed with our sinfulness such that we became mired in the darkness of brokenness and isolation that produced a theological understanding of human beings as products of original sin, whose very being and life are riddled with sin such that we are seen as depraved, incapable of even wanting God unless God chooses to give us the desire for God. According to this perspective, sin has rendered dysfunctional the imago Dei at the core of our being. We have been stripped of our free will and moral agency. The purpose of Lent evolved into a lugubrious season of darkness thundering with the roar of somber, slow dirges, accusation of our sinfulness, shouts of, “Repent!”, of warnings of how closely we live to the edge of Hell, how underserving we are of any consideration by God, and therefore, God had to send God’s Son, Jesus, to redeem us who, “are unworthy to offer unto thee any sacrifice.” (BCP 336)
As far back in time as one may wish to go, and certainly well into the ancient world, sackcloth and ashes have been symbols of repentance and confession, often combined with the practice of fasting. In the Judeo-Christian Tradition, sackcloth and ashes are symbols of sinfulness, of having violated covenant with God or in some other way breeched the relationship with God by the inappropriate exercise of our free will over against God. The sin is compounded by the fact that a breeched relationship with God also indicates a broken relationship within ourself and broken relationships with others. Sackcloth and ashes are symbols of the power and reality of sin, not as a theological concept or proposition, but as a real, personal, and existential fact. The truth about human beings is that we do indeed, on a daily basis, “leave undone that which we ought to have and do that which we ought not to have done.” Therefore, as previous Prayer Books said, “and there is no health (= salvation) in us.”
Anointing, on the other hand, is a symbol of blessing and consecration, of healing and renewal. Samuel anointed David as king. In the ancient rite of initiation, now restored in our Prayer Book, the second part of initiation is the chrismation of the newly baptized with the sign of the cross on the forehead and the words, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” (BCP 308) Chrism is an aromatic oil used specifically in Baptism and for consecrating persons or things for special use or ministry.
What Jesus’ words in Luke indicate is that the ground of fasting associated with other special acts of discipline and devotion is our consecration by God for God’s work. Repentance, confession, absolution, and reconciliation are the parts of the process of restoration into the “new life of grace” into which we are raised through Christ in Baptism. Anointing, then, is a ritual of thanksgiving and celebration of reconciliation, a realization of the Prayer of Humble Access that God in truth is the One “whose property is always to have mercy.” (BCP 337) Thus, the Lenten discipline of fasting, is not, properly understood, about wallowing in our misery or sinfulness, or brokenness, or faithlessness, or being signed with ashes on our forehead.
A proper Lenten discipline acknowledges, names, and owns our sin as the fruit of repentance and the desire “with hearty repentance and true faith” to seek God’s forgiveness and that of others as well as our own forgiveness of our self. The purpose of Lent is renewal, restoration, living more and more deeply into the new life of grace in the Spirit through Christ with the Father The Lenten disciplines of prayer, reflection, reading of Scripture, special devotions, and good works are positive, constructive, and creative disciplines of mind, soul, and body as we engage in spiritual, mental, and physical repentance, penance, as well as confession, absolution, and reconciliation with God, self, and others. In these ways, we tell the truth about ourselves with God so that with God’s help, we may grow into the life in the Spirit through Christ with the Father that is God’s will for each of us. We seek, with God’s help, to become more whole and healthy for our sake, the sake of the Church, and the sake of the world. Our Lenten discipline is as act of love and obedience to the One who always comes in love, always comes to renew our life, always comes to empower us to do the work God gives us, the work of love and service in the Names of Jesus.
What has been lost in the tradition is the fact that God in absolute freedom and love chose to come to us as Emmanuel — as Jesus – because God loves us as Creator and Redeemer. It is, therefore, God’s will for us that we have life and not, finally, be overcome by the death that comes from separation from the One who is our source and our end. God effects God’s redeeming will for us in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, God incarnate. The role of anointing calls us to remember that in Lent, the proper focus on our sin and its consequences is to seek God’s help to repair our brokenness individually, corporately as the Church, and in the broader world around us. Anointing, therefore, focuses our souls and minds on both the seriousness of sin and the seriousness of confession, absolution, reconciliation, and renewal.
In this context, the Church invites us into the observance of a holy Lent. This is the season of prayer and reflection that issues in the actions of reconciliation and renewal of ourselves in relationship with God and those around us. It is the season of grace in which we work intentionally to deepen our relationship with God and our service to God in the world around us. It is the season of growth and development in faith and hope. It is the season that prepares us to “offer ourselves, our souls and bodies,” (BCP 336) to God more and more fully. It is the season to remember St. Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn. 2.5) It is the season that brings us once again to the great celebration and proclamation of
ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN!
THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
Peace and Blessings.
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