Lent is About Discipleship: An Ash Wednesday Reflection - Rev. Juan Huertas

Lent is About Discipleship: An Ash Wednesday Reflection

"Jesus in the French Quarter" © 2012 Todd Rossnagel

This past Sunday I had the great joy of baptizing three month old Jane. It is always an honor to gather people around these important times in their life. As she laid quietly in her mother’s arms I asked her mom to renew her own baptismal promises and to make a covenant to raise Jane into her baptism.

Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior,
put your whole trust in his grace,
and promise to serve him as your Lord,
in union with the Church which Christ has opened
to people of all ages, nations, and races?

(The United Methodist Hymnal, p 34)

Living into these promises takes the community into which we have been initiated and it takes intentionality and a constant rehearsal of what these promises mean. After all renouncing, rejecting, and repenting takes the continued work of the Spirit in us, accepting, resisting and confessing requires the same.

So as I poured water upon her head I wondered if we ourselves recognized the magnitude of what was happening here? As we welcomed another into our community of the baptized, did we see it as an entrance into the community of those who have made covenant to the Lordship of Christ, to the way of sanctification?

Each time I begin ministry with a new congregation I am thankful for the season of Lent. Here in Louisiana it is common for many to give something up, chocolate, cokes, alcohol . . . As I enter these new spaces I remind the community of something that has transformed my own Lenten journey: Lent is not primarily about giving up instead, at its core, is about discipleship, about those who are preparing to make baptismal vows and our renewal of those vows in light of Easter.

This Lenten season I am thinking about Jane, about how we as a community of believers will model for her the meaning of what John Wesley called Christian perfection, our journey towards a fully sanctified life.  How do we help one another open ourselves to the work of God’s Spirit in sanctification? How do we allow our worship, our devotional life, our service to the world shape our souls into reconciling love? How do we grow into justice seeking, forgiveness, and radical hospitality?

So it begins today, with our recognition of our humanity and our need for divine grace. It begins with God’s invitation to change our hearts and life, to turn from sin and death, and believe the good news. It begins with our gathering as God’s people and the mark of our baptism being made visible.

Here we go again Jane, your family is about to begin a journey we’ll take together for the rest of our lives. A journey into the promise of our constant conversion, our perfection in love, our sanctification, the Risen Lord made evident in us, for the life of the world!

Let us observe our Lent thus, giving our sufferings, our bloodshed, our sorrow the same value that Christ gave to his own condition of poverty, oppression, abandonment, and injustice. Let us change all that into the cross of salvation that redeems the world and our people. And with hatred for none, let us be converted and share both joys and material aids, in our poverty, with those who may be even needier.

- Archbishop Oscar Romero

Lenten Journey - Feb. 29

^{1 Samuel 3:1-11}

¹ The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

 ² One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the LORD called Samuel.

   Samuel answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

   But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

 ⁶ Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

   “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

 ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

 ⁸ A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

   Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

 ¹⁰ The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

   Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

 ¹¹ And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

Don't you hate that feeling when you are walking in a crowded place and someone calls your name but you can't find the person? Or how about when your all alone and you hear your name but when you look around no one is there? I hate that feeling. It actually happened to me yesterday as I was walking back to my car from class. Someone called out "hey, Austin" but as I turned to look among the cars I couldn't find anyone. Creepy feeling isn't it?

I imagine Samuel felt the same way when God spoke to him but he couldn't find God. Samuel thought it was Eli but Eli was sleeping. Finally after Samuel woke him up three times Eli realized what was happening. He told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." So, Samuel did as Eli had told him to do and there before him was God speaking to him. 

I know I miss the voice the God all the time. I get caught up in all my STUFF and I fail to hear God speaking over and over again directly to me! Have you ever just stopped and realized how busy you are? When is the last time you sat in complete silence with no outside "noise?" 

Last Wednesday night I found myself in the inner depths of the Earth's core. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. Our Mission Team journeyed down into a cave on the Island of Eluethera, The Bahamas exploring an underground cave where stalactites and stalagmites were our general surroundings. We came to this open cavern after trekking half an hour. It was probably 40X40X40...so pretty big. The cavern was filled with huge rocks where if you stood on them it was similar to that scene in the Lion King ...you know what I'm talking about. You were the King of the World!!! After we all calmed down we decided to turn off all the lights and sit in complete silence. It was completely silent with the darkest dark surrounding you that you will ever experience. It was wonderful. Most of the girls didn't like it, though. It was enlightening to me how uncomfortable those moments were. Notice I said moments, because most people simply couldn't handle it, and they broke the silence with laughter, screams or silent sobs! I wish I could have those moments more often. Moments where nothing could interrupt the silence. Maybe then would I start listening for the voice of God and not listening to the "noise" in my life. 

For Lent, I am walking with God through the wilderness of thanksgiving. I want to live in a season where I am honest with myself about all the things I have been blessed with. I want to live in a season where I am humbly seeking God's face and His plan for my life. It's in the moments where I can be completely silent, observing all that is around me, is where I meet God. 

The hardest part is the listening and the silence....

I've been living my life similar to Samuel. I've been focusing on all the wrong things, missing God when he speaks to me. God has been calling my name over and over again, yet I am completely caught up in my own life that I have failed to get caught up in the life God wants me to live. 

Over the past few weeks God has been making Himself known to me over and over again because I am living in a season of expectancy. I don't want to be surprised by God, I want to KNOW that God is speaking to me, will speak to me and has spoken to me. God's hands are at work all around me and I pray that I will take the time to stop, listen, notice and hear the still, small voice of God.

Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening. 

The Season of Lent

Lent is my favorite season of the Church. It is a time where we get to walk 40 days in the wilderness with Jesus. It's a time where we can begin to look inward and devote ourselves to a new life in Christ. It's a time to be content with our "wilderness," walking towards our "Easter(s)."

Although this is my favorite season I get really frustrated with how some people treat this holy time. We all know the routine question during lent: "What are you giving up?" {Routine} <- For me, routine shouldn't be a word associated with Lent. Sadly enough, this has been the case for most. We see lent as a time for giving up something. Over the past few years I haven't given anything up simply because I didn't feel my "thing" I was giving up was very sincere. I had to ask myself, "Why are you giving this up?" Was I being sincere? Was my "thing" I was giving up honest, sincere or honorable to God? Was this really going to be an humble wilderness experience for me?

Saturday as I was riding back from DFW International Airport on our return trip from the Bahamas where we served a week in service to the people of the Island of Eluethera I began to think inwardly about my experience there and my life at home. My heart became heavy. These people live with so little compared to my dazzling life. I have so much STUFF and yet I am never content. These people live modest lives knowing that the next hurricane is just a few months away where devastating winds and rain will simply take more away, yet they live content with what they are blessed with.

Shame on me. Shame on us. I think I'm starting to realize what my wilderness needs to be this Lent.

I want to devote myself to be aware of my surroundings. I want to live in a wilderness of thankfulness everyday for things that come so easy to me. I want to walk with Jesus through my wilderness where I will truly commit myself to living a more holy life.

So, let me ask you:

What will your wilderness be?

Will your wilderness be sincere and honorable to God?

Why are you doing this? What are your motives?

And finally the most important question, What do you want your Easter to look like?

I pray that God find you this season in a spirit of humble submission to the Will of God. I pray that you will be convicted in your daily life to notice the little things. I pray that you are truly looking inward and living in a season of wilderness, walking with the God who calls us to a higher life than than the life we live daily.

Psalm 51

 ¹ Have mercy on me, O God, 

   according to your unfailing love; 

according to your great compassion 

   blot out my transgressions. 

² Wash away all my iniquity 

   and cleanse me from my sin.

 ³ For I know my transgressions, 

   and my sin is always before me. 

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned 

   and done what is evil in your sight; 

so you are right in your verdict 

   and justified when you judge. 

⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth, 

   sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 

⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; 

   you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

 ⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; 

   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; 

   let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 

⁹ Hide your face from my sins 

   and blot out all my iniquity.

 ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, 

   and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence 

   or take your Holy Spirit from me. 

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation 

   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

 ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, 

   so that sinners will turn back to you. 

¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, 

   you who are God my Savior, 

   and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 

¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord, 

   and my mouth will declare your praise. 

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; 

   you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 

¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit; 

   a broken and contrite heart 

   you, God, will not despise.

 ¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion, 

   to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 

¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, 

   in burnt offerings offered whole; 

   then bulls will be offered on your altar.