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Sermons by The Reverend Grayhame Bowcott
“Lent in the Slipstream of God”
Ash Wednesday – March 1st, 2017
St. George’s, The Anglican Parish of the Blue Mountains
Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21
Concerning Almsgiving
6‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Concerning Prayer
5‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Concerning Fasting
16‘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. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so 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.
Concerning Treasures
19‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Let us pray:
Into your presence we come, Lord
a few moments of quietness in a busy world
that is constantly stealing us away from you.
Comfort us with your presence,
draw us back to you when we stray.
For you are our hope, our light and our salvation. And in Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
I remember struggling with my understanding of Lent as a young child.
In the many churches that my family attended over the years,
I don’t ever remember anyone explaining to me why, at Lent, the services suddenly became extra boring, with less music and longer more “serious” sermons,
nor did anyone take the time to explain to me what it means to “be penitent.”
Lent is the season in which we need to “be penitent” I remember one Sunday school teacher telling me.
“How do I be penitent?” I remember asking.
“You need to give something up,” was her answer.
Ah. Okay. That I could understand. I had experience there.
So Lent was like when I got in trouble at home and my parents took away the Nintendo. Right?
“Do you really like Nintendo?” I remember being asked.
“Of course,” I said.
“Good,” said my Sunday school teacher. “Then give up Nintendo for Lent.”
To this day I have no idea what Nintendo had to do with Jesus Christ.
Nor do I understand why Jesus would care if I played video games or not.
And maybe, with this illustration, you can begin to understand why I am starting to question Lenten observances as being absurd Christian practices when people approach them from the childish perspective of simply “giving up something for Lent.”
What does giving up chocolate, or lotto tickets, or red meat or Tim Horton’s coffee have to do with piety or penitence? What have they got to do with Jesus?
In our scriptures read today we hear Jesus taking a stand on piety.
In one of his teaching moments with the disciples he covers a number of topics very thoroughly.
He talks about almsgiving, fasting, prayer and accumulating treasure or wealth.
In his first three sermonettes Jesus challenges the norms regarding why people generally do many of the things that we do.
Why give alms? Why fast? Why pray?
And Jesus answers by saying that many people give alms, fast and pray, not because they truly believe in these acts of piety, but because they want others to think that they care about these things.
Jesus calls these people hypocrites because they practice piety in order to preserve their own self image, not to bring them into a closer relationship with God.
There is a single phrase that is repeated in each of Jesus’ sermonettes on piety. That phrase is: “and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
There are two parts to this repeated phrase:
the one-on-one relationship with God – your Father who sees in secret,
and a sense of approval from God found in the form of a reward.
Why is it that people are always seeking to be rewarded by God?
We like to be rewarded, preferable financially or failing that, we’ll take rewards of increased status, or beauty or health.
In fact, there are people who live their entire lives driven by a series of rewards.
“I need to obtain this, I need to have a better that!”
This is what Jesus is talking about when he concludes his sermonettes by talking about treasures. Why are we always seeking to get something out of the deal?
Perhaps, a closer relationship with God is all the reward or treasure that we need.
So, what does giving up chocolate or lotto tickets or red meat or Tim Horton’s coffee have to do with piety?
This is where I’ve started to believe that some of our Lenten practices are out of touch with the teachings of Christ.
If chocolate or lotto tickets or read meat or Tim Horton’s coffee or any other thing is a roadblock that prevents us from having a closer relationship with God,
then yes, these would be noble sacrifices for us to give up during Lent.
But giving up something isn’t the same thing as repentance.
To repent of something, to walk away from something that gets in the way of our relationship with God doesn’t mean that we just “give up something” for Lent.
To repent means to stop doing something forever.
To never go back.
So, let’s use chocolate as an example.
If we were to give up chocolate for Lent because in some strange way chocolate was preventing us from having a good prayer life or from going to church or something,
then what does it mean when we “make it to Easter” and then start buying chocolate eggs?
Do you know how many times I’ve had someone at Easter say,
I’m so glad I can have coffee again.
That was a really difficult Lent.
I’m thinking, you know what, you probably should have just been drinking your coffee anyways because at least then you would have been staying awake and paying attention in church!
The entire practice of giving up something only for Lent makes Christians into the very thing that Jesus was warning against.
It’s make us hypocrites for two reasons:
one, it’s usually for our own benefit when we give something up, ie. “I’m not going to drink anymore,” and two, we usually stop giving up things at the End of Lent, “it’s Easter I can have red wine again.”
How then, can we best observe Lenten practices of penitence and piety?
If giving up Timmies coffee isn’t the answer, what is?
Here I am going to draw on an analogy that I heard at the recent Vital Church Planting Conference in Toronto, an analogy introduced to us by the Rev’d Dave Male from Cambridge in England.
Dave talked about living life in the “slip stream” of God.
Does everyone know what a slip stream is?
Dave used the example of the Tour de France, the famous cyclist competition.
Living in the Slipstream of God
A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to the moving object.
In the case of cycling, the region or the space immediately behind the head cyclist is moving faster than normal air.
For a second cyclist following behind the lead, the going is easier, as the lead cyclist is bearing the brunt of the resistance.
Dave Male introduced the idea of us living “in the slipstream of God.”
Here’s how this applies to us at Lent.
Instead of giving up the things that get in the way of our relationship with God.
Living in the slipstream of God would imply that we need to move ourselves even closer to him.
I’m reminded of the age old wisdom of a church’s read-a-graph sign that said:
“Does God feel distant to you? Step closer.”
I invite you to enter into God’s slipstream this Lent.
But you are probably thinking…….how?
And, while I may not have a complete answer for you, I have a starting place.
Start by going to where God is most present for you.
Maybe you feel God’s presence at church, if so, make sure you commit to church.
Maybe you find God in the bible – then devote time each day to scripture study.
Maybe you are close to God in prayer – then set apart prayer time each day.
Whatever brings you into a closer relationship with God – work on that this Lent.
And this will lead us to my final question of the day: Why?
Why should we live in the slipstream of God?
And I think that the answer to this is found in Jesus’ repeated phrase:
“your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
When we live our lives in God’s slipstream,
we are, first and foremost, rewarded in our relationship with our heavenly Father.
God is the source of all blessings. Our God is a God of love, hope and grace.
The closer we are to God, the more we are blessed by his love.
But also, in the same way that the second cyclist finds an easier path in the slipstream,
so too do we find our burdens and worries lifted from us when we live our lives in God’s wake.
In God’s slipstream we will find strength and courage and hope and peace.
Living in the slipstream isn’t about getting recognition for our actions.
In fact, it seems that those who are closest to God rarely care what other people think about them.
Let me close by leaving you with this final thought.
We are all welcome to continue the traditional practice of giving up something for Lent.
Or maybe this year we can try something different.
Maybe this Lent we can commit ourselves to living in the slipstream.
Where do you find God closest to you in your life?
Go and join him there.
Let him shoulder the resistance of your burdens and worries,
let him fill you with strength and courage and hope and peace.
And, trust me, I’m pretty sure doing without chocolate for 40 days simply won’t compare to the reward of having a closer relationship with your God.
Let us pray:
God of love and grace,
guide each of us into a closer relationship with you this Lent.
Help us to seek your presence,
and live our lives in your slipstream.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.