Bishop Mark Lawrence: Mice in the palace

An Ash Wednesday reflection from Bishop Mark Lawrence:

I read once — but cannot remember where — a children’s story of a king who had an infestation of mice in his palace. He went to his counselors who advised him to hire some cats. Soon the cats cleared the palace of the mice but the cats multiplied. He returned complaining about his infestation of cats. So his wise men counseled him to get some dogs. Well the dogs soon supplanted the cats, sleeping upon the king’s bed and being a general nuisance—howling at night and barking at his guests. So returning again to his counselors to get rid of the dogs they all agreed that lions would scatter the dogs—which of course they did. But before long the lions were lounging on the beds and couches and eating his store of fine meats. “What am I to do now?” he quizzed his wise men? They said, “Get some elephants!” Well the elephants drove out the lions but then they played havoc with his Great Room and hallways, leaving unseemly droppings and crushing furniture. “Now what?” he asked his advisers. “Bring in some mice” said the wise men, “they will scare the elephants away!” Far too often we try to deal with our problems with solutions that only lead to other problems and we end up back with the mice because we never bothered to ask the question, “Why are the mice in the palace in the first place?”

Ash Wednesday is a day set aside by the church to ask the question and deal with the problem of the mice in the palace—or rather, I should say, the problem of sin— sin in the heart. Sin, in Christian teaching, is not primarily what we call wrong doings. These are sins. Sin in the singular refers to the deeper problem of our wrongness—or “bentness”—which is all wrapped up with our wrong relationship with God, which is at the heart of our sins. How we deal with this problem of our sin—which leads to the sins we do, both sins of commission and those things which we don’t do that we ought to do, sins of omission—is really the heart of the matter.

Read the rest at Bishop Lawrence's blog.

Ash Wednesday's ashless collect

It is interesting to note that the collect Thomas Cranmer composed for Ash Wednesday presumes the absence of the practice most often associated with the observance, namely, the imposition of ashes. The English Reformers believed too many superstitious beliefs had grown up around the practice and saw it as too closely connected with attrition, auricular confession, contrition, priestly absolution, and penance -- doctrines they believed to be errant.

Consequently, Archbishop Cranmer composed a new collect which emphasized repentance and forgiveness, rather than fasting and penance.

Almighty and everlasting God, which hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that be penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ.

Additionally, in the Gospel reading assigned in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Jesus explicitly denounces the hypocritical outward expressions of righteousness which the Reformers believed such rituals had become.

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Matthew 6:16-21 ESV)

It was not until the nineteenth century that the imposition of ashes was reintroduced in the churches of the Anglican Communion. It began gaining popularity in many Protestant churches in the United States in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Ash Wednesday: Lenten disciplines as a means of grace

Opening Sentence

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, because we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following the laws which he has set before us. Daniel 9:9, 10

Collect of the Day

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalter: Psalm 95, 32, 143

Lessons: Amos 5:6-15, Hebrews 12:1-14, Luke 18:9-14

The most commonly observed discipline associated with the Lenten season--that of "giving up something"--is but a pale residue of the actual disciplines of fasting and self-denial which are the true emphases of the season. These disciplines are means of grace whereby we, in the words of Hebrews, "lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely" in order that we may "run with perserverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Rather than simply "giving up something" which we will all too eagerly take up again at the end of these forty days, Lent ought to be a time of serious self-examination, a time to look deep within ourselves to see what hinders our walk with Christ and resolve to give up that sinful habit, that wrongful attitude, that errant practice not for forty days, but from this time forward and forever. St. John Chrysostom reminds us of the true purpose of the Lenten fast.

What advantage is it if we have kept the fast, and not improved our conduct? If someone tells you, I have fasted the whole of Lent, let your answer be, I had an enemy and am now reconciled; I had a habit of reviling, and have left it off; I had a custom of swearing, and this evil propensity is checked. It is no use for a merchant to cross the seas, unless the merchant returns home laden with goods, nor is there any use in our fasting, if with the act itself, all further good good ceases. If our fasting has consisted merely in abstaining from meals, when Lent is ended our fast will have passed away. But if our fast consists in abstaining from sin, when the fast has come to an end the benefit will still remain and will lay up for us treasures in the heavens.

Easter is the joy that is set before us. But first we must crucify "the sin which clings so closely" and hinders our growing up into Christ. Lent is the season for confronting all the roadblocks that Satan puts in the way. The joy of the resurrection will be all the more glorious when celebrated with a heart in perfect harmony with the will our heavenly Father.

The Lord my Creator took me as dust from the earth,
and formed me into a living being,
breathing into me the breath of life.
God honored me,
setting me as ruler upon earth over all things visible,
and made me companion of the angels.
But Satan the deceiver,
using the serpent as instrument,
enticed me by food--
parted me from the glory of God,
and gave me over to the earth and to the lowest depths of the earth.
But in compassion, O Savior, call me back again!

Byzantine Vespers

(JAG)

Beyond the Days