Ash Wednesday

February 2007

A Tithe of Days 

     I don’t think I would be going out on a limb if I made the assumption that many of us feel that our lives are out of control.  Hurried and hectic, frantic and frenzied-this is how most of us would describe our daily lives.  One woman told me recently, “I never thought my life would be this complicated. I’m forty years old and I really thought I’d have my life together by now.  But everything seems chaotic and out of control.”

Sometimes we look to modern technology to provide our salvation.  But often, the very technology we depend on to simplify life does just the opposite.  The cell phone meant to give us freedom instead ties us to the office like an unseen umbilical cord. A lap top computer designed to allow us to work wherever we are often means we work wherever we are.  Even email has its problems.

     But at other times, the chaos of life is of our own making, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. We want a nicer home, a bigger yard with greener grass. With it comes more maintenance. We want our children to be well rounded and so we sign them up for music lessons, and hockey, and dance, and what we lose is the dinner hour as we wolf down our food in order to make practice on time.  No wonder that woman speaks for many of us when she says in frustration, “This is not how I intended to live my life.”

The Christian faith offers us a remedy for the craziness of life, and the season of Lent lies at the heart of it.  Lent is the forty day season of the church year that extends from today to the Saturday just before Easter (not counting Sundays.)  Lent is patterned after the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness at the start of his public ministry.  As such, Lent is a time to ponder the profound issues of life and faith, to look into the very depths of our own souls, to examine our priorities and commitments, to come to terms with our own mortality, to get in touch with the chaotic wilderness of our own lives, and then resolve to do things differently.

    It is interesting to note that the forty days of Lent correspond to approximately one tenth of each year’s days.  In some churches, it is traditional for members to set aside one tenth of their income for the church.  This is known as a tithe.  Well think of Lent as a tithe of days.  Lent invites us to intentionally set aside one tenth of the days of the year to spend them on God and on God’s work in the world. 

     The ashes in today’s service remind us of the importance of this.  They are signs of our own mortality.  Over the casket or urn at each burial or committal,  I say these words, “Ashes to ashes dust to dust.” We are all going to die.  A profound question then is “If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?”

Lent, the tithe of days invites us to frame that question over forty days. Given my own mortality is this really how God wants me to live my life?

     The gospel reading from Matthew offers a model for Lenten devotion by suggesting several specific faith practices; giving to the poor, prayer, fasting and evaluating financial priorities.  In other words Jesus suggests several specific things to do to enhance our devotion.

    However if truth be known, most of us don’t need anything more to do.  Our plate is already full.  It’s true we want to grow in faith, but not if it means more work.  We want a deep and abiding experience of the living God, but we want it the easy way with little or no effort or discipline.

   Well friends it simply doesn’t work that way. As in all things, practice leads to improvement in all areas of life, including the religious life. Lent invites us to practice our faith, even if only for a tenth of the year.

You will notice that my emphasis is not on “giving up” something for Lent, a form of self denial that undoubtedly has much good in it.  Rather the emphasis is on “taking up” something for Lent. You each have a slip of paper in your bulletin.  I invite you to think about what you will commit yourself to take up during this Lenten period.  What is going to be your tithe of days?  Later in the service we will bring these forward and offer them to God as our Lenten sacrifice.

    Some of these things may include, breaking a habit that has a grip on us, praying regularly, the use of a devotional guide including the bible as daily reading, regular church attendance, or service to others, including both witnessing and acts of charity and love.

    Think about this Lenten season as a tithe of days, you will be surprised how real God can become to you, more real than you ever imagined.

    Some years ago Dan Wakefield wrote a spiritual memoir called Returning.  In the preference of the book, he describes the changes that came over some of those who attended a class on the spiritual life, “I watched as some of my fellow seekers grow and change, and in deep and quiet ways experience the power of healing simply through becoming closer to the spiritual element in their lives.”

    “In deep and quiet ways.”  What a wonderful phrase.  In deep and quiet ways your lives as well as mine, can be changed from chaos to calm and from stress to serenity by the grace and power of God. 

Take some time in silence and write your tithe of days on the paper provided.