Ash Wednesday: “Busy”

There’s a Facebook video from an influencer named Josh from England. In it, he talks about an American tendency: “Every single American I’ve encountered, when in a car with them, they will do their best- their utmost, to beat that [GPS] arrival time. And guess what? They will. They will beat it… I promise you.” 

We live in a world that whirrs around us- rushing to and fro, always moving, always doing. As I’ve been thinking about our theme, I’ve noticed some tendencies in myself and I wonder if some of you have experienced them too:

When was the last time you got aggravated because something was taking too long? Your trip should have been 10 minutes, and it took 15 or even 20. The hour meeting ended up being 2 hours. You were on the phone all day with the phone company, Hope Gas, or your internet provider. You are ready to feel 110% after a surgery or illness and this recovery period is taking forever.

Yet the psalm tells us “Be still and know that I am God.”

Jesus regularly took time away to pray. He didn’t rush around doing what everyone else wanted him to do. In his article, “7 Spiritual Consequences of Living a Busy, Hurried Life,” Frank Powell mentioned that Jesus was never rushed. He didn’t worry about what the world wanted from him and try to keep up. He didn’t start his ministry until he was 30. In ministry, he took time, even though he only had a few years. He helped as many as he could, but had no delusions that he was going to heal everyone. Yes, there was urgency to his ministry. But that urgency wasn’t because he needed to perform for the world. He taught, and this evening’s gospel lesson is one of those teachings. Jesus talks about praying in secret instead of out so others can see us- prayer shouldn’t be a performance. God knows our hearts. When you pray, is it time spent without worrying about what else you could be doing? Is it done to truly spend time with God, or is it to get bonus points from God? When you give, where is your heart?

God isn’t wanting us to “perform” as if we need to earn God’s love (or anyone’s love), especially not by being more productive so we’re “worthy." As I said in our assurance of forgiveness, “You can just be you. It’s enough. You don’t have to ‘perform’ for [God], or try to be anybody else except for who [God] created you to be. God does not ask us to live up to the standards of the world’s version of success.”

This Lenten season, let’s be “simply and honestly” present. We can begin by repenting or “turning around” from unrealistic expectations and false beliefs. We don’t have to do a bunch of things at once all the time. We don’t need to have every minute filled.

“Be still, and know that I am God”.

This Lent, take some time to be still. We’re going to fast- and if you have chosen to give something up or to take something on, that’s wonderful. 

“Fasting is an ancient practice for many traditions, and in the Christian tradition it became especially associated with the time of Lent as a way of having a more focused prayer life. Over time, giving something up during Lent gained the notion that we were doing this as some sort of punishment, but if we go back to the deeper sense of the purpose of fasting, it is simply to make more room in our lives for God. And so for this Lent, [if you haven’t already chosen something, or if this speaks to you, let’s] make more room by letting go of the hurry that threatens to suck the joy out of our lives and the kind of worry that is a misguided need to control outcomes, which of course, we cannot do. We’ll have practices of slowing down: you are invited to find a chair at home that can be your ‘Prayer Chair’ and [there are devotion packets that include each week of Lent]. For fasting from worry, we are going to use what’s called a ‘God Box.’” Whenever worries pop up, write your worries on bits of paper and put them in your God Box as a sign that you are letting go of that which you cannot control into the care of God. Replace the time spent worrying in your head with speaking Rienhold Neibhur’s Serenity Prayer.

Before we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table, let’s practice being still and take a moment of silence… it’s OK not to try to find words to fill that silence in your head. And it’s OK if thoughts won’t quiet down. Just find a stillness, perhaps calling your attention to your feet on the floor or your hands in your lap and your breath in and out. There is nothing expected of you now. There is nowhere to go, nowhere to be. This stillness, this being, is enough. 

Silence

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change; the courage to change the things we can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.