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Had we lived in earlier times, the beginning of Lent would have been marked by a service which is headed:
A COMMINATION
or denouncement of God’s anger and judgement
against sinners
You will find this service in the Book of Common Prayer sandwiched between the Churching of Women and the Psalms.
The language of this service leaves us in no doubt that the purpose of Lent is to repent of those sins which cut us off from a loving relationship with God, and so prepare ourselves for the joy of Easter. Being the Book of Common Prayer, however, it does not lose the opportunity to remind us of the dreadful judgement and hell fire that await those who use Lent unwisely and who continue to live ungodly lives. We are warned that God will ‘pour down rain upon the sinners, snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest.’ And those who heed not the warning are told:
‘Go, ye cursed into the fire everlasting, which is prepared for the devil and his angels’
There’s an awful lot of ‘cursing’ throughout the service.
The Commination belongs to that period of the Church’s history when the Judgement of God was taken more seriously than perhaps it is today. It is less fashionable now to believe in the portrayal of hell and judgement it offers and maybe that’s because 20th and 21st century people have lost any fear of God or, to be honest, any real love for Him. Indeed, as we know, most of the population this morning will not be giving God a thought.
That is not true for Christians and it may be that the Commination Service may help us to keep Lent better.
I quote one passage in particular:
“Let us not abuse the goodness of God, who calleth us mercifully to amendment, and of his endless pity promiseth us forgiveness of that which is past, if with a perfect and true heart we return to him.”
We are first reminded of the Goodness of God and how we should not abuse it nor take it for granted. We may be assured of God’s love for us but we need to be remember what that love cost him – which is why the Cross is so central to Lent and to our lives Because we are signed with the same Cross at our baptism, marking us out as servants of the Crucified. The Cross is the ultimate sign of God’s Goodness towards us and as Lent unfolds we are shown the true meaning of that Goodness.
That meaning begins to unfold in the wilderness where Jesus is led (in today’s Gospel) to prepare himself for a life resistant to the forces which afflict us and in order to show us a better way. Tempted by the Devil he resists the lures of the evil one.
For many, Lent is a time to confront the temptations and weaknesses of our own lives and many of us begin Lent with all sorts of resolutions to improve our lives.
Usually we think about ‘giving up’ something – like chocolate (which has more to do with loss rather than gain – weight rather than spiritual growth); or we may resolve the read the Bible more regularly. Some of us construct ambitious programmes of personal growth which are full of noble intentions but as Lent progresses we might slip a bit. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too ambitious. Success in a little thing is better than failure in a mammoth programme of spiritual improvement. What can help us is to keep our vision centred not on ourselves but on God.
Instead of concentrating on our own efforts, we should concentrate on God’s effort to win our hearts. We see this effort most clearly when we place Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion at the heart of Lent. If anyone doubts God’s goodness or are tempted to take it for granted, then a meditation on what it cost God to love us – seen in the Holy Week events – can help us to re-focus.
Secondly, the Commination service urges us to amend our lives. Lent provides a time to have a good look at our lives and to see what’s missing or what’s wrong. What is getting in the way of our relationship with God? The answer is usually that it is something within ourselves. When Jesus went into the wilderness, he confronted the demons but as many who have imitated him have found – the real demons are within.
Now, we may find this scary because it demands a lot from us to recognise and live with our weakness and failings and those things which aren’t quite as nice as we would wish. Maybe that’s why we often avoid silence and stillness because activity and noise crowd out the voices from within. So, turn on the television, or the radio, join lots of clubs, rush around a bit – it all helps to avoid that stillness which is so frightening.
But God can only be met in silence and whilst there are demons to face – things about ourselves we don’t like – there is God to meet too. He is waiting to care for us as he did Jesus. Matthew tells us that “the angels came and waited on him.”
“God calls us mercifully to amendment” says the Commination service. God calls us to not only face those little character failures but to offer them for his grace and healing. He can turn all those negatives into positives.
Maybe he can even teach us what the ancients recognised – that those faults we find are our virtues turned round. Face the fault and you may discover the virtue. Read St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians Chapter 5 verses 16 to the end. The Fruits of the Spirit are directly contrasted with the sins and failings of the flesh.
In the wilderness Jesus countered every negative temptation with a positive response. There is so much negativity in the world today, and in the Church and in many people. Refusing to join in that negativity and insisting on seeing goodness can take us all a long way towards God and towards the amendment of our lives. Not a bad Lenten ideal.
Thirdly – and it follows on from seeking to overcome the wrong in our lives – there is Forgiveness.
“His endless pity promiseth us forgiveness of that which is past, if with a perfect heart we return to him.”
We all have sins we need forgiveness. Sin that is un-dealt with festers and thwarts our growth as human beings. Our purpose is to reflect God and if sin, faults, past hurts, get in the way of that we shall fail to reflect anything but our own self-centred misery. Where’s the joy in that?
So, Lent is offered as a time when we measure our lives against the life of Christ. Does the quality of our lives reflect the quality of his? And, if not, as will be the case,
What can be done to make us more Christ-like?
True repentance is an acknowledgement that we do indeed fail in our human relationships and in our relationship with God. There are failures in the Christian life which damage others and cause us to hide from God but repentance must also be about believing that we can change. If that is not something we believe then there is a denial of what the Cross achieved because it says that no matter what Christ accomplished in his self-offering it actually doesn’t apply to me.
What nonsense!
Christ can overturn our lives and re-turn them back to God. All sin is reversible. All can be forgiven. What’s required is that we actually want to be forgiven. True Sorrow doesn’t lead to guilt – it leads to new life.
Repentance is not negative grovelling but positive affirmation that God can act in our lives. That’s what grace means and it’s bound up with forgiveness. As John Henry Newman once said:
The good God makes more haste to forgive a repentant sinner than a mother to snatch her child from the fire.
This Lent seek God’s forgiveness for what is wrong and whilst that is connected with what sins we have committed it also includes what we haven’t done.
There is a sin called the Sin of Omission and that is about what the Prayer Book confession at Evensong speaks of as “those things which we ought to have done.” Included in this sin is the low expectation we place on ourselves. A bit like that song, ‘Second-hand Rose’ made popular by Barbara Streisand. we can so easily live second-hand lives, accepting a low expectation and prefacing everything with a ‘Can’t possibly do that’ kind of mentality. Yet no one is without gifts. We often lack the confidence to develop them but human life is full of immense potential.
One of the joys of ministry is to see people who thought they couldn’t do something – actually succeed in doing it. Maybe it’s something simple like reading a lesson in public or saying a prayer aloud in a group – small but for the person doing it a huge step. Lent can be a time when we develop our gifts – refuse to accept a low limitation and push the boundary of our life just that bit further.
Of course it takes determination – like the Bumble Bee.
I’m very fond of the story that a Bumble Bee can’t fly - it’s something to do with its body mass in relation to its wing span. It’s all been tested out, using the science of aerodynamics and a wind tunnel. The Bumble Bee is, however, blissfully ignorant of this scientific fact and, possessing considerable determination and refusing to accept a low expectation of its capabilities it not only does fly but it makes a little honey too.
The sins of omission – of neglecting to use the gifts God has given to us are forgiven the moment we use them – and, like the Bumble Bee, we are blessed.
Thinking about the Goodness of God, amending our lives, seeking forgiveness, and being determined to use God’s gifts is a good way of using Lent. The result will be something that the Commination Service assures us of: Jesus will:
“set us on his right hand and give us the gracious benediction of his Father, commanding us to take possession of his glorious kingdom: Unto which he vouchsafe to bring us all, for his infinite mercy.”
That’s what we look for.
GO FOR IT!