Bishop Laurie begins the season of Lent with a video for Ash Wednesday, "Leave Your Pot on the Fire." It is available as a video or audio file to download and share with your church. The Iowa Annual Conference's Appointive Cabinet will be also be writing weekly Devotions that will be sent to you in an email. If you would like to receive the Lent 2022 emails, please subscribe below.
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Introduction: "The ashes of Ash Wednesday not only symbolize sorrow over our personal sin, but they are also a sign of protest over the presence of evil in our world - individual evil, corporate evil, and systemic evil. In the same way, when you and I pursue spiritual disciplines during Lent, the sacrifices that we make are not done just for us, they are done for the sake of others, those who are oppressed and downtrodden, hopeless and helpless, and those who are living in distress and despair," said Bishop Laurie Haller
Video: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/675570857
Audio: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/48662072/download.mp3
Transcript:
And in the Old Testament book of Esther, chapter 4, we read that Haman, the top official of King Ahasuerus, issued a decree that all Jews were to be destroyed, killed on a certain day. Mordecai, the cousin of Queen Esther, both of whom were Jews, was distraught and angry when he heard about Haman’s decree. Chapter 4, verse one, says, “When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry.” ... “In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.” In this case, the Jews wore ashes in protest of a systemic evil about to be inflicted upon an entire group of people.
The ashes of Ash Wednesday not only symbolize sorrow over our personal sin, but they are also a sign of protest over the presence of evil in our world - individual evil, corporate evil, and systemic evil. In the same way, when you and I pursue spiritual disciplines during Lent, the sacrifices that we make are not done just for us, they are done for the sake of others, those who are oppressed and downtrodden, hopeless and helpless, and those who are living in distress and despair.
Both personal penance and protest against the evils of our world are disciplines for the season of Lent. We sacrifice in order to express solidarity with those in our world who do not have to give up something for Lent in order to know the meaning of sacrifice. Giving up chocolate or meat or ice cream may seem superficial in the face of COVID, rape, drive-by shootings, and terrorist attacks, but it is a way to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world.
The spiritual disciplines we pursue are ones we freely choose as a sign of God’s kingdom in our midst. We choose them as signs of hope for those who live in places where war, poverty, and oppression are sacrifices that are not chosen.
One time one of the desert fathers in Egypt said to a fellow brother, “Give me a word.” The brother said to him, “As long as the pot is on the fire, no fly nor any other animal can get near it, but as soon as it is cold, these creatures get inside. So it is for the monk: as long as he lives in spiritual activities, the enemy cannot find a means of overthrowing him.”
During this season of Lent, I invite you to leave your pot on the fire, to live in spiritual activities, to keep centered in God, and keep out darkness, despair, and hopelessness. Through these ashes, may we reclaim for ourselves the penance side of our spiritual discipline and the protest aspect of our faithful discipleship? Receive these ashes as a sign of mortality and transformation. Receive these ashes as a sign of sacrifice and solidarity. Receive these ashes as a sign of penance and protest. And don’t forget to leave your pot on the fire. Amen.