Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the start of the season of Lent which, as I’m sure you all know is one of the two penitential seasons of the Church’s year, the other being Advent. Advent and Lent are times when we’re called to prepare to celebrate a major event in the story of our salvation. In the case of Advent, that’s to prepare for the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the birth of God’s own Son as a human child, and during Lent we’re called to prepare for the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ at Easter. Christmas and Easter are the two main pillars of the Christian faith, in fact, without Christmas and Easter the Christian faith makes no sense and so it’s not surprising that the Church calls us to prepare to celebrate these two great events in a particular way, and that way is through a season of penitence.
So the theme of Lent is penitence, and penitence is to feel, and show, sorrow and regret for sin, for having done wrong. It’s closely related to repentance which means to turn from sin and wrong-doing and together, these two things tell us what Lent is really all about, and what our purpose in Lent should be. During Lent we’re called to be penitent, to feel and show sorrow for our sinful ways and to be repentant and turn from those sinful ways so that we can follow Christ’s teaching and example more closely. But if we’re going to be penitent and repentant then, quite obviously, we need to understand what we have to be sorry for and what we need to turn from. So central to our keeping of Lent in the right way is an awareness of our own sinfulness.
We speak about sin in two different ways in the Church. We talk about sin, which is the state of mind or being that causes us to do wrong, and we talk about sins, which are the actual acts of wrong-doing we commit. So Lent can be seen as a season in which we try to recognise and change our sinful nature so that we commit fewer sins. But if we’re going to do that, I think we have to understand just what it is that we’re doing wrong. In other words, we have to recognise our sins so that we can see ourselves as sinful, because until we recognise our sins and see ourselves as sinful, we won’t be able to show penitence and repentance. So what are the sins we commit?
To put it simply, sins are anything that we do that’s contrary to God’s law and will, and for us, as Christians, that means anything that’s not in keeping with Christ’s teaching and example. But that does leave grey areas at times. Sometimes it’s quite obvious whether something is a sin or not because we’re clearly told in Scripture. But Scripture doesn’t give instruction on every situation we might come across in life, so how do we know whether something is a sin in those cases? One thing we could do is look to the lists of sins that the early Church put together. The one we’re most familiar with is the list of seven deadly sins that that was introduced by Pope Gregory I around the year 590AD. That tells us that the seven deadly sins are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. We don’t actually find these things mentioned directly in Scripture, but they are based on the things which the Book of Proverbs tells us are hated by God and an abomination to him.
In Proverbs 6 we read,
There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
The way this proverb is written, six things and seven, is probably intended to draw attention to the seventh item listed. So there are seven things God hates but the worst offence, the most abhorrent to God is the seventh, in this case, ‘discord among brothers.’ And ultimately isn’t this the root cause and end result of both being sinful and of the sins people commit, that sin stems from our damaged relationships with both God and our neighbour, and sins, those concrete acts of wrong-doing we carry out, further damage our relationships with them?
If we look at the first six things on this list, they all relate to the human body, eyes, tongue, hands, heart, feet, and breath, although in this case perhaps mouth or speech would be a better description. They’re all things that people do which God hates and they all lead to discord, to damaged and broken relationships, which is the most abhorrent thing of all to God. And this is the most abhorrent thing to God because discord and broken relationships reveal a failure to love. Sin is hateful and abhorrent to God because it reveals a failure to love him as we should and a failure to love our neighbour as we should.
Sin, and the sins we commit reveal a failure to love God with all our heart and
soul and mind and strength, and our failure to love our neighbour as ourselves, as he commanded and wills us to. So sin and our sins also reveal our disobedience to God.
Lent is a time for us to be aware of these things so that we can change for the better. It’s a time for us to be aware of the things we can do, and often do, that are hateful to God, and a time for us to be aware of how we can be and do things that are abhorrent to God. But we have to make sure that in keeping Lent in the right way, by identifying our need for penitence and repentance and showing sorrow and regret for sin and making a real effort to turn back to God and to Christ, our sinfulness and sins don’t creep in even to this.
We have to make sure that we don’t keep Lent in a garment rending, showy way. That we don’t adopt a ‘Look at how good I am, look at just what I’ve given up for Lent’ kind of way, nor put on a pained expression to let everyone know just how hard keeping Lent is for us. We need rather to keep Lent in a heart-rending way, with an inner and unseen heartfelt sorrow for sin and heartfelt determination to turn away from sin and to God and his ways. We also need to acknowledge that even our best efforts will leave us short of where we ought to be, and so we need to pray that God, in his mercy, will blot out our offences, our sinfulness and our sins so that we can mend our broken relationships with him and be reconciled to him. And we need to pray for the grace to mend our broken relationships with our neighbours too. And we need to do all this so that we can be ready for the day of salvation. Not just our celebration of that day in a few weeks’ time at Easter, but so that we can be ready for salvation on that day when we’re called to meet the Lord face to face in his kingdom.
Amen.
Propers for Ash Wednesday 22nd February 2023
Entrance Antiphon
Lord, you are merciful to all, and hate nothing you have created.
You overlook the sins of men to bring them to repentance.
You are the Lord our God.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made,
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we,
worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)
Joel 2:12-18
Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
RCL (St Gabriel’s)
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 