LENT: A Time in Silence with the G-d of Compassion

The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.

Today begins the 40 day period prior to the Easter feast that is called Lent. Historically it has been marked by prayer, penance and acts of contrition. In its more popular forms it has been observed by the giving up of cherished pleasures as a form of discipline for the season. In more serious observances, Lent was a time of focusing on sinfulness, of seeking to root out the presence of evil in our lives.

 

Lent originally arose out of a practice among the early followers of Jesus to show support and solidarity with those who were completing their catechism prior to being baptized at Easter. Over the years it took on a life of its own.

Go Into Your Room, Shut the Door

 Our lectionary today gives us plenty to consider in how we might observe Lent this year. The writer of Matthew reports Jesus offering this advice on how to pray:

[W]henever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 

While a lot of folks hearing this verse focus on aspects of piety and concerns for hypocrisy, I think we might miss something important in this verse when we get sidetracked along those lines. Judgment comes way too easily for most of us. But, listen to what Jesus is saying here “Go into your room and shut the door. Pray to your Father who is in secret.” In other words, spend some time alone, in silence, with G-d. Do more listening than talking. As the prayer from the Psalms we use at Taizé exhorts us, “Be still and know that I am God.” Jesus is telling us that it is time spent alone, in silence with our Creator, that is rewarding, a pattern that reflects his own life.

For some of us, simply remaining in silence is difficult enough in itself. We have become accustomed to lives filled with noise, with 24 hour cable news cycles, with piped in music in waiting rooms. Constant noise has become the norm for us.

The Compassionate G_d We Meet  

Moreover, many of us are not comfortable with our own company, particularly when we know that we are being intentionally vulnerable, unguarded in the presence of the Holy One. Worse yet, many of us tend to think of that god in terms of perfection which makes our own imperfections loom too large to ever be comfortable in the presence of the Holy One. But listen to what the psalmist tells us today:

The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. He will not always accuse us, nor will he keep his anger for ever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.

 

What excellent news. The G-d we seek in our silence, our time alone, is marked by kindness and forbearance. This G_d does not see us as we tend to see ourselves, through the self-conscious lens of our own failings, but rather through the lens of compassion. Little wonder Jesus teaches and models this so often.

A line from the middle of this passage from today’s psalm is one I love to read at the end of every confession I hear: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.” It reminds us that at our most vulnerable moments - the moments we have laid bare our very souls – we encounter a G-d worthy of our trust, a G-d with whom we can bring our whole selves to the table, a G-d who, unlike us, loves every single part of us, including those parts we most hate in ourselves. This is truly “a father [who] cares for his children,” as the psalmist tells us, an infinite Creator who recognizes and understands us in our finitude: “For he himself knows whereof we are made; he remembers that we are but dust.”

 More Than a Focus on Our Imperfections

This Lent you might ponder this: Obsessing over sinfulness is an often unrecognized form of narcissism.  Consider the self-focus in common assertions we make: G_d couldn’t possibly forgive me for the awful things I have done. One wonders how limited a vision of god such statements assume.

That is why Lent is much more than a time for us to simply focus on our imperfections. It is also a time of gratitude for G_d’s unconditional love for us and all the Creation. And, in that light, it is a time to consider our callings to our families of birth, our families of choice and our callings to serve the world.

 There is a reason we hear from the Prophet Isaiah in today’s lectionary as we enter into the Lenten season. He tells us the following:

 

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them?

There is no shortage of injustice in our world. There are fellow children of G-d among us who are being rounded up for deportation like cattle. There are those who live under the yoke of social prejudices whose lives are stunted by the power of fear and loathing. There are hungry people among us, not the least being the folks who come to our food pantry every week, struggling to feed their families. In a country of plenty, the very fact that hunger even exists is a collective sin for which we must repent.

 

So, What is Mine to Do?

The mere scope of the suffering in our world can be overwhelming. And perhaps that is why Lent is an essential observance for people who follow the way of Jesus with its calling to address the suffering of the world. We need time for reflection, becoming aware of the pain that suffering entails. But more importantly, we need to be intentional in recognizing what each of us is called to do in the face of that suffering as it transitions from contemplation to action.

A Unitarian minister, Everett Hale, helps us to frame that reflection process. He said “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” And as Francis of Assisi said as he lay dying, “I have done what is mine to do. May Christ show you what is yours to do.”

Lent is a time to keep silence with a G_d who is full of compassion and mercy. Time to listen to the Holy One, to figure out what is ours to do. Time to reflect upon our own lives, even as we resist the temptation to obsess over our own shortcomings. Time to reflect upon the suffering of the world, and how we are called to respond to it.

 

That’s a lot to engage. Thankfully, we have 40 days we have set apart for this very purpose. And so in the words of our liturgy, “I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.” And I wish you blessings on your Lenten Journeys. AMEN.

 

A sermon preached on Ash Wednesday, March 05, 2025, St. Richard's Episcopal Church, Winter Park, FL. You may listen to the sermon as delivered at this link beginning at 26:30 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh33qgbL4RM4jFL0mAWgW-A

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 Harry Scott Coverston

 Orlando, Florida

  frharry@cfl.rr.com

 hcoverston.orlando@gmail.com

   If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do not come in sound bites.

  Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. – Mahatma Gandhi

  For what does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d?  - Micah 6:8, Hebrew Scriptures

 Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the Jewish Sages (1993)

     © Harry Coverston, 2025

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