Newsletter March 2011

Our churches teach that those rites should be observed which can be observed without sin and which contribute to peace and good order in the church. Such are certain holy days, festivals, and the like.”
Augsburg Confession Article 15

March 9 is Ash Wednesday which begins the forty days of Lent. This year Ash Wednesday is one day short of the latest it can possibly be. The last time it was later than this was 1943; the next time will be 2038. Chances are that I will never see an Ash Wednesday that falls on a date later than this one.

Both Ash Wednesday and the entire forty days of Lent are among those “certain holy days, festivals, and the like” which the Augsburg Confession says should be observed by Christians. There were those in the 16th century who said that the Lutheran reformers were abolishing all the traditions and rites of the church when, in fact, they were attempting to reform them and not abolish them. What Luther and the other reformers wanted to make abundantly clear is that the observance of such rites and holy days have been instituted by human beings to encourage people to greater devotion and dedication to Jesus Christ. They adamantly argued that the observance of such rites and holy days does not bring grace or God’s favor upon a person. Faith alone apprehends grace. But it never hurt anyone to have a Christmas celebration which focuses on the gift of Christ, or a meatless Friday which reminds a person of the sacrifice of Christ, or a somber Ash Wednesday which calls human sins to mind.

While the church as a whole follows a calendar that calls for somber reflection and joyous celebrating on this or that day each year, the Lutheran reformers also taught that the observance of such things was to be a choice made freely by the individual Christian. As Acts 10 makes clear in the encounter between Peter and Cornelius, there are absolutely no prohibited foods in the Christian church. So enjoy that pork chop or sushi or whatever you like. And in Romans 14:3 it says “Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed all.” While Paul was talking about food offered to idols in pagan temples here, the same principle applies to fasting or feasting on certain days and to the observance of holy days such as Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday, or the whole of Lent. Enjoy that Christmas turkey or Easter ham or Mardi Gras pancakes, but don’t worry if someone else won’t join you.

And so we come to Lent. Lent, for me personally and not only as a pastor, has always been very meaningful. Over the years I have tried a variety of Lenten disciplines, most often without telling anyone because of the statement of Jesus in Matthew 6:1, in the gospel for Ash Wednesday, to “beware of practicing your piety before men to be seen by them.” But then again, it has been harder to hold to these practices the full forty days when no one but the Lord himself knows how it went.

What makes Lent most meaningful for me is the focus on the sacrifice Christ made for us and not what I have given up for Lent. It has become the fashion in the last few years to use Lent to preach on subjects like the Ten Commandments, or the Lord’s Prayer, or the “I Am” sayings of Jesus and save the Passion of the Christ for Holy Week (Palm Sunday – Easter Sunday). Part of the rationale is that Luther himself often did a sermon series on these subjects in Lent. When Luther wrote the Small Catechism he had years of Lenten preaching on these subjects behind him. But I cannot stop thinking that Lent is a time to meditate on the passion of Our Lord throughout all the forty days. That is, to see “at [what] great cost he has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and innocent suffering and death.” (Luther’s Small Catechism - explanation of the 2nd article of the creed).

In any case, I encourage each one of you to mark these forty days in one way or another. Our churches will be decked out in purple paraments, and each will have a crown of thorns on the cross from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday to remind everyone that while salvation is a free gift of God given to us, it was not free. It was purchased by the blood of Christ on the cross.