Ash Wed. 2010

         I have a bone to pick with God.  He isn’t holding up to His end of the bargain.  I mean what gives?  I come to church every Sunday (OK, OK, I’m supposed to come every Sunday.  After all, I am the preacher.)  But still shouldn’t I get reward points for good behavior?  What’s the deal?  By now I should be rolling in dough, have a happy family with 2.5 children and be as beautiful as Cheryl Tieg.  And I’m not. 

         In case you haven’t noticed, that whole prosperity thing isn’t working out so well.   That’s what the ancient Jews were complaining about in the scripture I just read you.   They had been attending synagogue, rebuilding the temple, and fasting on all the right religious holidays. 

They felt a lot like Little Jackie Horner, sitting in a corner eating his Christmas pie.  He stuck in his thumb, pulled out a plumb and said what a good boy am I!  Except there was no plumb on the end of their thumb and they weren’t getting any reward for all their self-righteousness. 

You see, God didn’t have the same high opinion of what they were doing as they did.  All He saw was a wide gap between their worship and their lives.  What He knew was that they were saying one thing and doing another. 

They said they loved His law and that the ten commandments should be posted on every courthouse lawn, but please, don’t ask them to obey them.  Don’t even ask them to recite them. 

They said they loved their neighbor but why should they have to feed the hungry and keep a food pantry going?  Couldn’t those people just get decent jobs?  Shouldn’t they get decent jobs?   What was wrong with them anyway?

They said God’s justice should be the law of the land, but they weren’t about to pay an honest wage for a hard day’s labor.  That was asking too much --- after all there is such a thing as a profit margin and they had a certain standard of living to maintain.  And besides, they were willing to give up chocolate and cooked carrots and even brussel sprouts for Lent or whatever their holy day was.  They were willing to sacrifice.  What else could God expect?

They wanted a God with no demands --- a religious righteousness with no strings attached.  Like too many of us, all they wanted was a feel good religion.  As far as they were concerned, every Sabbath should be just one more emotional religious high.  They’d do their part and put on a really good show but then God should hold up His end of the bargain and bless them well.

And God said No.  He wasn’t --- and isn’t --- in the feel good business.  He has no use for empty words and empty worship.  He wants the real thing or nothing.

Hear His voice as He tells us --- yes, us --- “Don’t come here and pretend that an hour of singing and praying makes up for six days of pettiness and selfishness.  If there’s no change in the way you live when you leave this place, then you might as well not show up at all. 

You don’t come here to worship Me.  You come here to play let’s make a deal.  You think as long as you show up in church, I’ll overlook the way you live your lives --- that I won’t even notice what you’re really doing.  But I am not deaf or blind. 

I know that you do whatever you want when you leave this place.  I know you still hold bitterness and hatred in your heart.  I can see that there are people all around you who are starving for love or who hunger for just one good meal while you do nothing. 

Do you think I’m blind?  No.  I see and hear what happens not just within these walls but I see and hear what goes on out there.  And I have called you to be my people out there. 

Your worship must be followed by your lives.

You must work to set the people free:  free from their bondage to drugs, to alcohol, to violence, and to hate.  You must work to break the cycle of poverty.  You must feed the hungry whether they hunger for food or for words of love.  You must clothe those who have lost all hope with your belief in them and their possibilities.  You must step out of your own comfort zone and make a real sacrifice.  You must change your own lives, instead of just asking for someone else to change theirs. 

The word of the Lord tells us to take a leap of faith into a life of faith.” 

“You want to know what I long for,” says God, “what kind of fast I demand?  Then listen to these words by Father Aruthr Lichtenberg:

This Lent

Fast from criticism, and feast on praise.

Fast from self-pity and feast on joy.

Fast from ill-temper, and feast on peace.

Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment.

Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.

Fast from pride, and feast on humility.

Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.

Fast from fear, and feast on faith.

That’s the fast I want.  That’s the fast you need.  Do this throughout these forty days and you will find all the riches and all the happiness you dream of each and every day.  Do this and you will live.