Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
First and foremost - Happy Ash Wednesday! The beginning of Lent, a season of the Church which is becoming my favorite - not because I get gifts and can go around town looking at amazing decorative displays, but because it gives me a chance to take an honest look at where my relationships are and what it is I need to do in order to make those relationships stronger.
Lent is a time when we are asked to be introspective about our Christian lives. It's also a time when we are asked to do so without fanfare. The discernment of where you are on your journey with Jesus towards God is meant to be an inward look at you and nobody else. If you're in the middle of a troubled marriage, what can you do to make it better? If you're not liking yourself, what can you do to find that self-respect? If you haven't spoken to a family member in 10, 20, or maybe 50 years, what can you do to reach out and say "I love you"? If you don't believe God is in the world because of disasters, inequity, injustice, genocide, and all of the other things people blame on a Godless world, what can you do to begin believing again?
The most difficult part of Lent is how we are asked as Christians to not, I repeat, not act in an outward, look-at-me-I'm-doing-something-good, way. We are simply called to do. The challenge, then, is to go into the season of Lent as an active observer to look at exactly where we are. I, for one, am up to the challenge.
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