February 25, 2009
(Ash Wednesday)
Our Burdens
By The Very Rev. Terry White,
Dean
Joel 2:1-2,12-17 • Psalm 103 or 103:8-14 • 2
Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 • Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
(From
The Lectionary Page)
“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
We know we should not put so much stock in stock and money, and all that what we call a secure financial position brings with it, but still we do. Why I easily fall into this mindset is a question I am personally exploring this Lent. Why does that which moth and rust can consume get so much more of my attention than the health of my soul and my relationship with God and how I can better serve others? At times, and much more often these last several months, this preoccupation feels like a millstone around my neck. Today I want to put this stone down.
The ancient Greeks told the story of Sisyphus, a character that was condemned by the gods to an eternity of rolling a huge rock up the side of a mountain, but the rock never reached the peak and rolled all the way back down. At that point, he would turn and start walking down the hill. As soon as he reached the bottom he would pick up the rock and would begin his upward journey again.
Professor Edmund Sass of Saint Johns’ University wrote these words in reflecting on the myth:
“In my darkest and most cynical moments, I see Sisyphus’ plight as the perfect metaphor for so much of what I do as a college professor… I contemplate the myriad meetings, the mindless administration, the absurd paper work, the futile and meaningless tasks assigned by the bureaucracy and know they will encumber me and slicken my slope.
Yet somehow, the inertia is always overcome. The rock rolls, and, as I inch my way toward the summit, seeking to unravel the mountain’s many mysteries as I go, I lose myself in the journey and discover the slope is neither as steep nor as slippery as it first appeared…I realize the struggle towards the heights is not all that fills my heart. I take comfort from my conviction that, unlike Sisyphus, not all my rocks roll back down the mountain. In fact, I choose to believe that most will remain at the top, and many will eventually move up other mountains…And the realization sinks in: my journey is worthwhile and sustains and renews me…”
We take the first steps of our Lenten journey in this Liturgy. As we kneel before the Lord and sincerely confess our sins and our need of Grace, burdens are taken from us. All the icy weight created by pride, greed, apathy, contempt and hardness of heart, melts before the love of God. As the reality of restoration and recreation fills us as we receive the Holy Eucharist, it becomes clear that our journey to the cross and resurrection begins with an experience of resurrection: Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
This journey, the way of the cross, sustains and renews us. Glimpses of grace are given not only on the mountaintop, but in the hard journeys up and down the hill. Our eternal hope lies at the foot of the Cross, and the promise of that hope is found even in the hardest struggle.
And these struggles have a second blessing: they lead us to bear the burdens of sisters and brothers whose rocks are heavier and whose climbs are steeper.
As Isaiah says: 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,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
On this pilgrimage of Lent we learn again the grace found in loving our neighbors as ourselves.
In a sermon for Yom Kippur, Rabbi Avrahim writes: “Before God every good motion, even the slightest movement you make, to remove yourself from bad and move yourself toward good, is extremely precious…The main thing is for you to have the belief in yourself that you can still make a new start now.”
Tonight let us open our hearts, and exchange our burdens for the light yoke of the Lord. If we open our hearts, Grace will fill us, heal us, and restore us. The struggle up the mountain is neither as steep nor as slippery as we first perceive it to be. The fullness of life is offered us, in being forgiven, and in continuing the journey.
Now writes St. Paul, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
Taste and see how gracious the Lord is.
