Readings:
Sermon:
On this First Sunday of Lent I want to look back at Ash Wednesday and in particular the Collect for Ash Wednesday. The Collects always provide us with a rich feast of Christian teaching and this one is no exception. In that prayer we have the hard hitting reality of what our sinfulness requires of us and which focuses our attention as we embark on our Lenten journey. The prayer asks that we might worthily lament our sins and acknowledge our wretchedness. It isn’t easy to talk about our sinfulness but Lent really makes us spend more time that we are usually comfortable in looking at sin.
The prayer speaks about worthily lamenting our sins. Lament is so much more than sorrow – it is intentional and heart felt, guttural and grieving. It is more of a feeling than a thought.
It is fairly easy to be sorry for our sins. When we have done wrong we usually, though not always, feel the effects of that so badly that we are brought to sorrow. But sorrow is only a step on our journey. We live in a world where people are clamouring for apologies or organisations are quick to make an apology in sorrow for something historically wrong. Such apologies are good and necessary, but they are meaningless unless they are accompanied by actions and changes. Lament allows sorrow to continue its journey to something deeper and meaningful. Lament, because of its intense bodily feeling, that grieving and crying of anguish, leads us to repentance; it leads us to change of mind and heart.
The collect for Ash Wednesday invites us not just to lament but to worthily lament our sins. The insertion of worthily is wonderful. Without it we are called simply to lament which is fine, but by adding worthily, we add worth, we add God at the centre: we add to it the reality that our sins are not simply the cause of the pain of doing something wrong, but they are an affront to God. Worthily lamenting our sins sets our sorrow into the godly loving presence of the one who is sinless. Worthily lamenting our sins takes this act of sorrow away from navel-gazing self-obsession, or self-abasement, to a greater understanding of the love of the God who creates and makes in us new and contrite hearts; the love of the God who hates nothing that he has made, and the love of the God who forgives the sins of all who are penitent.
We should not be frightened about Lent, this season of cleansing and renewal, and neither should we be anxious about lamenting our sins or acknowledging our wretchedness. The season of Lent reminds us of the central truth of our salvation: that we are sinners - utterly dependant on God’s grace, and the good news that God, in Jesus Christ throws the fullness of his love at us to make all things right.
Questions:
- God is all merciful, all loving, and forgives us our sins. How can we deepen our awe of this great love he has for us?
- Who might need to know words of forgiveness, mercy, and love this Lent?