Transformation

Transformation

On Ash Wednesday I preached about Truth Telling, Mindfulness, and Transformation. My point was that the practices of speaking the truth about ourselves to ourselves coupled with mindfulness lead us toward transformation. These are actually year round practices, but the penitential season of Lent is an especially fruitful time for these efforts. See, lent is a journey. We start with Ash Wednesday where we confess/remember how far we are from God, what keeps us separated from communion with God and community with each other. Then we journey through prayer and fasting toward Holy Week. On palm sunday we march like Jesus into Jerusalem, and then with the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil) we identify with Christ by liturgically reenacting his last days. Then we are unified in the Resurrection through the first Eucharist of Easter at the Great Vigil. The purpose of lent is transformation, from separation to unity with God.

During the Ash Wednesday liturgy the Gospel reading is Jesus warning his disciples not to disfigure their faces when they pray. It it beyond hipster level irony that we use this Gospel on the same day we mark each other with ashes. Nonetheless, the readings warn us against practices of piety just for show. It should be overtly clear to us that what we take on in lent should aid our transformation.

This lent, for my lenten discipline I have been composing Anglican Chants to the psalms. This process of sitting with the each psalm, beginning with number 1 with psalm 40 as the goal, and then creatively responding to it has been both prayerful and transforming for me. Truth be told, I have been in a pretty dark place for over a year now. I have been blessed to have a supportive wife, a great therapist, and a patient congregation as I have worked through this. I have seen more progress however in these first couple of weeks of lent then I have in the last year. I believe it is from sitting with these psalms. The emotions are so raw, and yet the psalms are essentially ancient, very ancient prayers. I have heard the book of psalms called Jesus’ prayer book. Sitting with the wrought emotions of the psalms has begun to transform some my wrought emotion into a better head space. Many of the material and actual problems still remain to be solved, but my mindset is changing. I can now address the external issues with a healthier mind and with faith.

Lent is about transformation from the darkness of separation and sin into the light of communion with God. Disciplines such as telling the truth and mindfulness are righteous if and only if they lead us toward transformation, toward deeper communion with God. Otherwise they are just self serving and not life giving.

Mindfulness

I am enjoying the #lentunedited hash tag because it is simply true that we are all a mess.  No matter how much we might give the impression of having our “stuff” together, no matter how anal-retentive, organized, or fastidious we might be, we simply are a mess.  In some way, shape, or form we are cluttered: materially, emotionally, or spiritually.  The #lentunedited hash tag is giving us a chance to practice telling the truth. 

Speaking the truth about ourselves to ourselves is a key practice of lent.  The Ash Wednesday liturgy is so thoroughly clear about just how broken we are the truth becomes unavoidable.  It is a beautiful thing because the truth sets of free as it invites us to mindfulness.

It is so easy to go through the day on auto-pilot.  It is excessively simple to make the motions of contemporary life with never a thought.  Indeed the "powers that be" prefer us to be mindless.  It makes it easier for the fallen spiritual forces of this world to control us and maintain the status quo if we simply get out of bed, go to work, come home, "veg out" in front of the TV, go sleep, and repeat.  

On the other hand, when we are mindful; when we are aware of what we are doing; when we pay attention to our actions, we can then ask why we are acting and we can wonder if there are better ways to act, individually and communally.  

So how do you become mindful?  How do you wake up to the present moment?  The first step is to tell your self the truth.  You are a mess, and pretending to be otherwise is a lie.  However, you do not have to stay messed up.  Internal tidiness is possible.  Start by paying attention to your breathing.  If you think about it, breathing is the most mindless act you ever do.  It is reflexive, but it doesn't have to be.  When you pay attention to your breath, you become aware of your most mindless act.  Your awareness allows you to become more aware of your other less mindless acts.  It opens the door to being fully present in the moment. 

To become aware of your breath, simply breathe in through your nose for a slow count of four, then exhale through your mouth for a slow count of four.  Do this for three to five minutes.  At first your mind will run in 90 directions each one begging for your full attention.  That's okay, let it happen and keep returning to counting your breath.  Soon your thoughts will settle like those fake flakes in a snow globe and you'll be able to just breathe.  Mindfulness follows, then creativity, and then transformation. 

Telling the Truth and Getting Away With It.

Truth

Lent began this week on Ash Wednesday.  I have to confess...Lent is my favorite season of the church year.  First and foremost, it is my favorite because it just not going to be commercialized nor co-opted by the powers.  I mean could you imagine the powers that be promoting a season that calls us to remember our mortality?  Budweiser isn't going to turn lent into a memorable commercial for the super bowl.  Costco isn't going to promote self denial and restraint.  Gold's Gym will never adopt the slogan "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  Which leads me to my next reason for loving Lent...

During Lent we get to tell the truth about ourselves.  We are not God. We are mortal.  We are wrong. We are broken.  We get to tell the truth that drinking the right beer, even ones chosen from this blog, will not make us better looking, younger, or more attractive.  Nor will it cause dogs to form special bonds with horses for that matter.  Shopping at the right stores will not make us better people, and no matter how much we work out, no matter how much we torture ourselves, we will not live for ever.  It's the simple truth, we are dust and to dust we shall return.  In Lent this truth is our starting place.  We start with ashes to remind us that we are not God, to remind us just how far from God we are.  

Now, before you think I have turned into a puritan, please keep reading.  This truth is our starting place, our beginning not our end.  This truth will set us free because once we admit where we are we can begin the journey of transformation toward being a resurrected people. Admitting the truth immediately orients us toward God.  We can only begin to journey in God’s direction once we are steadfastly pointed in that direction.  I'll be writing about steps to take along that journey over the weeks of Lent.  Right now, however, let's sit with the truth: no matter what a financial advisor, a doctor, a government, or a car company tells us, we are mortal.  We are far from God, and it is time to turn on the truth and head back toward God.