For the past three weeks I’ve tried to draw out a few themes from Lent: prayer and fasting, renunciation of material goods, guilt, and waiting.

So this morning I decided to get a bit more upbeat, by talking about death.

This car is lethal.

Fortunately, lent is a great antidote to this tendency. During lent we get to spend time examining and reflecting on the image of our lord here.

Jesus, knelt in prayer, in the garden of Gethsemane, begging for the work of the Crucifixion to be taken from him, all while submitting himself to the will of God.

After the video is over, please feel free to go for coffee.

I figured that after last week’s rather melodramatic musings on how we are all guilty and deserving of death I should probably go with something a little lighter today. So I’m starting with a game – well, with a picture of a game.

It occurs to me that this is probably not a good use of my time.

One of the purposes of Lent is to teach us how to wait well. In liturgical traditions, we usually think of Advent as the time of waiting. We talk about hopeful waiting, holy waiting, waiting with expectation. Advent is definitely about waiting: we are waiting for the glorious arrival of Christ, and the unveiling of God’s new kingdom; we are waiting for the recreation of the universe.

Again and again, the Bible shows us that waiting is an activity comprised of prayer, fasting, and watching. When we’re waiting, we should be engaged in the process of waiting, not obsessing over how things will turn, nor avoiding thinking about it entirely. During the season of Lent, we are waiting for Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter. If we want Lent to be meaningful and to have value, we’d be wise to try engaging in some of this active waiting, by praying, fasting, and watching; keeping ourselves alert so when the big events arrive, we’re not caught playing Solitaire while Jesus hangs on the cross.

Trust or Clarity?

Seeking an answer to his future the ethicist John Kavanaugh once spent a month at ‘The House for the Dying’ in Calcutta. On his first morning he met Mother Theresa who asked ‘What can I do for you?” I asked her to pray for me. “What do you want me to pray for?” “Pray that I have clarity.” Mother Theresa responded firmly. No, I will not do that.” When I asked why? She announced that, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go.” When I commented that she seemed to have the clarity I longed for she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you will trust God.”

I am a follower: the way truth and life of following Jesus Leonard Sweet

Clarity was easier to have when we all believed in the same God, when creation did as we told it to and when there was economic certainty. Is clarity what we should be going for? Is the assumption of living a life of clarity an illusion? Is it even healthy to have the certainty that we believe clarity will give us?

Oh I’m all for clarity and I love those moments when I do see life clearly but I believe we have our priorities confused. We set clarity as our goal with trust a comfortable outcome. When we make clarity our goal it is to reduce or eliminate the risk of falling. Yet as many of us have experienced that is not so. We still fall, and to fall from certainty is traumatic it can ruin lives. It can destroy our faith.

Newtons law of universal gravitation is in fact universal. Falling is certain in physics and spirituality.

If it is inevitable, we need to rethink our priorities and we need to rethink our theology. The pattern of scripture, and the experiences of those Christians whose example we follow is the opposite of common practice and belief. Scripture and the lives of those who live like Christ teach us that trust is the goal, and clarity, it’s an outcome and the more we learn to trust Christ the less important clarity becomes. We are going talk about trust in the context of money. Our issues of faith and trust are often related to money and if money is not an issue in your life you will find other applications.

I appreciate the following quote of Christ for the two certainties it implies: he will catch us when we fall… and we will fall. It also reminds us that poverty has its physical dangers, but the dangers of prosperity are spiritual.

Christ said: “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.“So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. “And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:24-27 NLT

Those near my age are thinking about  slowing down/retirement/freedom to pursue passions other than working to eat. If you are a 20 or 30 something it’s likely clarity regarding career, education, a home or children. Money figures prominently in our futures.

 This is new: Billionaire is the new millionaire There were 230 billionaires worldwide 14 years ago. Now, there are 1,226. Nobody seems too excited about billionaires, likely because a billion is an unimaginable number—a thousand million.

He’s right, I’m not too concerned about billionaires But what he says next does concern me:

There was once a time when being a millionaire meant real wealth, but no more. Most financial planners will say that the average person needs to retire with more than a million dollars socked away to live comfortably in retirement Christian Science Monitor By Douglas French, Guest blogger / March 9, 2012

On that theme: Money does buy happiness, we’ve been told it isn’t true…but it is.

Happiness… gap Why conservatives are (gasp) happier than liberals

People  who volunteer or give money to charity are 43 per cent more likely than non-givers to say they are very happy. Conservatives are more charitable than liberals, which is another reason why they’re happier and the more you give, the happier you get. In other words, money really can buy happiness after all-but only if you give it away.

MARGARET WENTE  mwente@globeandmail.com

I agree with Margaret Wente, and whats more money, trust, generosity  and our relationship with Christ are inter-related, But shifting our focus from getting to giving is a spiritual discipline that does not come easily.

This is what we believe: If you receive spiritual nurturing and community from Urban Bridge and feel that you belong to Urban Bridge, if your passions line up with the passions of this community, then the discipline of  trusting God with money should begin here. You’ll receive a handout that communicates what we believe about giving as well as information on budgeting.

Back to trust

I like the following  quote of the OT character Jeremiah for the same reason I like the quote of Christ again it  assures us the Christ will catch us when we fall…and we will fall

 Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8 NRSV

Trust is expressed two ways in this verse. Blessed are those who place their confidence in Christ, and blessed are those who’s refuge is in Christ when heat and drought  comes and a fall is inevitable.

I am again reminded of Mother Theresa. She had  deep questions and profound doubt regarding her faith. Yet in  her spiritual free fall she found refuge in Christ.

Money, trust and  falling: Will you catch me when I fall? What have your experiences been with placing your trust in God before you have clarity?  How do we learn to trust, in the absence of clarity?

the last supper
by peter rollins

It is evening, and you are gathered together with the other disciples in a small room for passover. All the time you are watching Jesus, while he sits quietly in the shadows listening to the idle chatter, watching over those who sit around him, and, from time to time, telling stories about the Kingdom of God.

As night descends, a meal of bread and wine is brought into the room. It is only at this moment that Jesus sits forward so that the shadows no longer cover his face. He quietly brings the conversation to an end by capturing each one with his intense gaze. Then he begins to speak: “My friends, take this bread, for it is my very body, broken for you.”

Every eye is fixed on the bread that is laid on the table. While these words seem obscure and unintelligible, everyone picks up on their gravity.

Then Jesus carefully pours wine into the cup of each disciple until it overflows onto the table. “Take this wine and drink of it, for it is my very blood, shed for you.”

With these words, an ominous shadow seems to descend upon the room – a chilling darkness that makes everyone shudder uneasily. Jesus continues: “As you do this, remember me.”

Most of the gathered disciples begin to slowly eat the bread and drink the wine, lost in their thoughts. You, however, cannot bring yourself to lift your hand at all, for his words have cut into your soul like a knife.

Jesus does not fail to notice your hesitation and approaches, lifting up your head with his hand so that your eyes are level with his. Your eyes meet for only a moment, but before you are able to turn away, you are caught up in a terrifying revelation.

At that instant, you experience the loneliness, the pain, and sorrow that Jesus is carrying. You see nails being driven through skin and bone; you hear the crowds jeering and the cries of pain as iron cuts against flesh. At that moment you see the sweat that flows from Jesus like blood, and experience the suffocation, madness, and pain that will soon envelop him. More than all of this, however, you feel a trace of the separation he will soon feel in his own being.

In that little room, which occupies no significant space in the universe, you have caught a glimpse of a divine vision that should never have been disclosed. Yet it is indelibly etched into the eyes of Christ for anyone brave enough to look.

You turn to leave – to run from that place. You long for death to wrap around you. But Jesus grips you with his gaze and smiles compassionately. Then he holds you tight in his arms like no one has held you before. He understands that the weight you now carry is so great that it would have been better had you never been born. After a few moments, he releases his embrace and lifts the wine that sits before you, whispering, “Take this wine, my dear friend, and drink it up, for it is my very blood, and it is shed for you.”

All this makes you feel painfully uncomfortable, and so you shift in your chair and fumble in your pocket, all the time distracted by the silver that weighs heavy in your pouch.

The Bible tells us that Judas agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. That doesn’t seem like much, does it? So I’ll ask you each a question: How much did it take to buy you off? The great Revelation of Lent, it’s purpose and aim, is to get each one of us to realize, that we are just as guilty as Judas.

Does that make you uncomfortable?

There are things that we indulge in every day, sins great and small that are just a part of our life. There are even good things, or at least things that aren’t bad, that somehow come to assume enormous importance in our life, and eventually crowd out the Holy Spirit.

But I’ll bet that the majority of us have good intentions. We feel like we need to do something. But then life interferes. We forget about Lent until Ash Wednesday has come and gone. And then the first Sunday is on us and we haven’t even had time to think about what we might do or stop doing. We waffle with the decision, trying to strike a balance between overboard and not-enough, and by then it starts to feel like its too late.

But, of course, its not too late.

So I encourage all of you, if you haven’t thought about what Lent will be for you this year, take the next few minutes to do that. As we did last week, we’re going to take a couple minutes for a brief time of contemplation. After the video has finished, feel free to get up and go for coffee.

Nadia Bolz-Weber, who blogs as The Sarcastic Lutheran, is a pastor and blogger is based out of House for All Sinners and Saints church in Denver, Colorado. I first made contact with her thinking when she blogged about the Worst Parable Ever Told (short summary: I loved it). On that basis, I have decided to get to know and her community better. And in pursuit of that goal, I share with you their awesome list of 40 Ideas for Keeping a Holy Lent.

Anyone know what these are?

They are ashes. Does anyone know what they used to be?

Palm fronds. Did anyone else grow up in a church where every Palm Sunday you’d get one of those little crosses made of palm leaves pinned to your shirt or jacket before the service? In my case they were always attached to me by one of several short, elderly German women with names like Aasse and Walle. They were each about 5 foot nothing, with backbones of iron, and sadly somewhat shaky hands.

These ashes are created by burning those crosses and the palm fronds used the previous year on Palm Sunday. And since I bought these at a Catholic church supply store, I’m gonna go out on a limb and claim that they are actually palm ashes.

I find it very interesting that anyone would go to the trouble of using those palm fronds to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. I have no idea why it’s done that way but it strikes me as profound.

Think of the story of Palm Sunday, which we’ll be hearing more fully soon. Jesus rides triumphally into Jerusalem and the crowds line the street to greet him. They start tossing bundles of palm leaves into the road for his procession to walk on, so that not even the feet of his donkey will touch the dust. It’s like a very impromptu red carpet.

And then, less than five days later, Jesus is hanging from the cross.

What happened to all those palm leaves? What happened to the cheering crowds? The seething masses of enthusiastic supporters? How many of those same people were in the crowd gathered at Pilate’s palace shouting “Crucify Him?”

In the end, those palm fronds represented nothing more than good intentions; they were a failed attempt to honour and glorify the King and ultimately they were trampled underfoot in the rush to Calvary.

Observing the season of Lent is one of the oldest practices of the church, probably dating back to within a few dozen years of Jesus’ death and resurrection and it draws on even older Jewish customs. The idea behind Lent is to take time for reflection, confession, and repentance.

Traditionally, one of the things you’re supposed to do before you take communion is confess your sins, whether privately in prayer, or to a trusted confidant, or to a priest or pastor. Even we have our little shredder there at the back.

The same is true for Easter. Before we can partake in the sheer power of the events of Holy Week: the Triumphal Entry, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection, before we are mentally and spiritually prepared for that, we need to spend some time, some serious time, in reflection, confession, and repentance.

So we have these ashes; the remains of all our good intentions, all our enthusiasm, all our failed attempts, all our half-hearted worship and self-centred prayer. All of that is ground up and burned.

But instead of becoming a shameful waste, it becomes something amazing.

It becomes the cross.

The reality and the sign of the death that we deserve but don’t get.

And we mark that sign visibly on our bodies, to remind us of just how much we need that cross, and the resurrection that it leads to. It’s called the Imposition of Ashes, and I’m hoping that you’ll all join me in that tradition this morning.

During communion Lindsay and I will be at the table, with the ashes, and we will mark anyone who wants with the sign of the cross on their forehead, and speak a very old invocation, from Genesis, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It’s a reminder of the natural order of things, and an encouragement to take the events that we’ll celebrate in a few weeks seriously.

(I will be singing the first song this morning with the band, so you’ll have to wait a couple of minutes for me to get up to the table.

And now, just to get us into the right Lenten frame of mind, I’d like us to take a minute to sit quietly and consider what I’ve just said.

Like many at Urban Bridge Church  I’m following our Lenten series using “the Developing the Spiritual life” devotional. It is all I hoped it would be and more: simple to read, profound to implement. 

^{This is a core part of week one. We customized our spiritual lives, so why are many of us still discontent?} 

^{From the book:}

^{“The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” Luke 15:12}

^{At first, the son has lots of people called friends eager to show him a good time and enjoy the lavish company. The money runs out. So do the good times. Even the memories strike a harsh chord. He is left alone with only the irksome, but reliable fellowship of his own poverty for a companion.}

^{This is not merely a story of courtship with the world, it is the spiritual tale of many Christians today whose brand of faith and experience has fallen far short of what they expected. Many of us are feeling rather friendless these days, and wondering where we took the wrong turn.}

^{It’s as if we too left home at a young age, inheritance in hand. We too, on feet that ached from long, hard days of fruitless labour, went to the Father. We too asked for what belonged to us. As still-confessing believers we simply went – elsewhere, with personal spiritual resources in tow. With the assurance of salvation tucked safely in our back pocket, we set out.} 

^{We continued to pray, in our own way. We carved out spiritual niches. We joined alternative places of worship and Christian practice. We decided which teachings to accept, or reject. Which pastors pleased us and which congregations no longer suited us. In some cases, we started our own church, or gathering, or thing. In a word, we customized our spiritual lives. So, why are many of us still discontent?} 

^{Centered: thoughts on evangelical spiritual formation volume 1 Issue 2Developing the Spiritual life, Six Sessions for individuals and groups By Len Thompson and Dana Mazzuca}

^{I’ve been reflecting on how I have customized my spiritual: A lot of my customization is expressed in behaviour. Simply put I don’t always behave as one who follows Christ. Its as though I have exempted certain behaviours from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit.} 

^{What about you, how have you customized your spirituality?}

This Sunday we conclude our Soil and Spirit series with Josh. It has been good, really good. Feb 26  Josh invites Dr Mike Ferber Director of Environmental Studies Assistant Professor of Geography at Kings University  (http://www.kingsu.ca/academic-departments/geography/faculty_michael-ferber.html) to  join him. Should be a barn burner!

I’d like to say I am excited for Lent, but that  misses the point, however I do look forward to a formative and somber engagement of Christ in my life.

Lent begins Wednesday, February 22 and will continue for 46 days until Saturday, the 7th of April. Christians observe Lent as a 40-day period excluding Sundays because each Sunday represents a “mini-Easter”, a celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Lent recalls Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, leading up to the celebration on Easter Sunday, and to parallel the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert in self-denial, being tested in preparation for his ministry. Like Christ’s experience in the desert, self-denial during Lent encourages spiritual discipline, therefore our “Developing the Spiritual life” Lenten Series. It can also be a time of personal evaluation and repentance. Originally the observation of Lent focused on fasting from food and fun. Today the practice of Lent has expanded to giving up something we value or taking on something worthwhile.  My personal observance of lent includes participating in our Lenten Study series, giving up novels and limiting social media interaction to even days.

Cheryl and I are on our way to our PAOC Church business conference. I’m  taking Bleeding Heart Art Space literature to share with some of my colleagues. I find the cover letter inspiring, I expect you will too, after all you are the source of the inspiration:
Our vision is to Bridge Christ and Urban Culture, embracing a philosophy we call urban mission. Urban mission is to go to a people rather than asking them to come to us. It is going with the intent of being Christ in their context working with the Holy Spirit to permeate and redeem their culture and their lives into the image Christ has of them.
Much of the focus of our urban mission centers on Alberta Avenue. It has the highest concentration of artists in Edmonton and we are passionate about engaging the arts. Many of our church community have moved to Alberta Ave intentionally to be part of God’s redemptive work, others of us are Alberta Avenue volunteers.
For the past three years, “I Love Artists” a ministry of Urban Bridge led by Dave Von Bieker has been living our vision and values as he touches artist’s lives. Now Dave and Josh Culling who both live in this neighbourhood with their families have a dream to increase our presence on Alberta Ave through a curated art gallery called the “The Bleeding Heart Art Space”. We estimate it will cost 36,000 to launch and run Bleeding Heart for one year and we have raised almost $23,000.00.
This is a project that will take faith and finances. We have faith and much of the finances but we want those who believe that beauty, the arts and those who create beauty through the arts are important to Christ and to support us with finances, having faith in our vision to bridge Christ and the arts on Alberta Ave. The attached information communicates this vision. Please read it and consider supporting the Bleeding Heart Art Space on Alberta Avenue.
We would love to talk to you. Please contact Darrell Muth darrell@urbanbridgechurch.com, 780-932-972, Dave Von Bieker dave@vonbieker.com, 780-462-7099 or Josh Culling j.e.culling@gmail.com,780-604-9089

What will a  cover letter to your colleagues look like?