Well I wanted to have a little visit with you today, and talk about Easter.
But even more important - spend a little time talking about Lent.
Easter has been called a return every single year to baptism.
But Lent is the preparation for that return.
So often we in the calendar year pass by Easter all too fast because we haven't prepared for
Easter.
And you know, Easter is the most important event on the entire Christian calendar - when
we celebrate the death, the burial, the resurrection of our Lord.
You know, Paul said if Christ has not risen from the dead, then our hope is simply vain.
We're still dead in our sins.
So we don't want to pass by the Easter celebration all too fast.
it is the pinnacle of the passion of our Christ.
He is risen, he is risen indeed.
And while there are differences in the Eastern and the Western Lenten calendars, as an example
- an unfortunate example - of disunity within the body of Christ.
You know, the Eastern Church using the Julian Calendar, the Western Church using the Gregorian
Calendar.
There is an undeniable unity, and we can't forget that.
An undeniable unity when it comes to the utmost importance of the ressurection of Jesus Christ.
If you want to find out more about that, read, mediate on 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Because without resurrection, there's no Christianity.
So whether you begin with Lent on Ash Wednesday in the West or Clean Monday in the East, I
encourage you to participate in the pilgrimage down the road of resurrection by participating
in the Lenten practice.
Lent, or Great Lent - it's a 40-day period of fasting, and prayer, and penance preceding
the Paschal celebration.
By the way, if you don't know what "Paschal" means, look it up.
Check it out.
It has to do with Passover.
It goes all the way back to the Old Testament.
There's a derivation of the word.
Become familiar with it.
As the resurrection of Christ is the seminal event in history, preparation for the paschal
celebration - it's the event in the calendar year that is of transcendent importance.
Lent is of course 40 days.
It is a 40-day period practiced by Christians all around the world.
It is a time of washing - washing away of habits that are displeasing to the Lord.
While this is a penitent practice, it is not merely a period of repentance.
It's a process.
It's a process in which we are called to come ever closer to our Christ.
You can come closer to Christ through ascetic practices.
You know asceticism has a bad connotation but there's a positive connotation of ascetic
practices that remind us of the purpose of the passion that our sin separates us from
God, who demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Check it out in Romans chapter 5.
Some Christians abstain from something during Lent
and that is to remind them of the sacrifice of Christ.
And while some churches encourage members to commit to a sacrifice that can benefit
the less fortunate, remember you do that - you do that so you can do something for someone
else. It's not just what you're doing for yourself.
You can take the funds - the funds that you would have ordinarily have spent on eating
out, and you can donate those funds - those unused resources - to people that are in need.
So Lent is a time-- it's a time of humility, where the 40 days correspond to things that
you've read about in the Scripture.
The periods of 40 days in the Scriptures like, well, the Jews wandering in the wilderness,
or the 40 days that the Ninevites took to repent, or the 40 days during which the Lord
Jesus Christ himself experienced temptations in the desert.
Lent of course culminates in holy week.
Holy week begins the day after Palm Sunday and I will tell you, Palm Sunday has transcendent
significance to me.
During Palm Sunday, we memorialize Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem but for me,
it is also remembrance of my own chrismation.
These 40 days are the most important time in the Christian calendar regardless of what
they bring to your mind.
They reach their climax in the commemoration of the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the
cross - we celebrate that Good Friday - his resurrection from the dead the following Sunday.
So let us faithfully this year do something.
Let us practice the Lenten period as we journey down the road of resurrection, where we can
proudly proclaim that "it is finished!"
That "He has risen!"
That "He has risen indeed."
I finish a lot of my letters with the salutation "Christ is risen."
And there's an affirmation: Christ is risen indeed.
You know if you don't know anything about Lent, get a little primer on Lent.
One of my favorites, "Great Lent: Journey to Pascha."
It's written by Alexander Schmemann, and it-- in this book, I was reminded of the Lenten
Prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, of all the Lenten hymns and prayers.
One short prayer can be called the "Lenten prayer."
Let me share it with you.
Again, this is one of the great teachers of spiritual life, St. Ephrem the Syrian, and
he said this: "Oh Lord and Master of my life, take from me this period of sloth, of faintheartedness,
of lust for power, even idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to thy servant.
Yea, o Lord and King, grant me to see my own error, and not to judge my brother.
For thou art blessed unto the ages of ages.
Amen."
If Lent is just a word, take this opportunity to translate the word into a practice - a
practice that you can engage in from this day until the day-- maybe I should say this
year-- until the day you go home to be with the Lord.
The Lenten period is a period of transformation.
It is a preparation.
It is a time which can become the apex of your year just as Christ and his resurrection
is the apex of life.