Lent

[The illustration of Phoebe’s microchip comes from a sermon by Leonard Sweet.
The rest of this sermon was inspired by an article “Thy kingdom come: living the Lord's Prayer” Christian Century, March 12, 1997 by N.T. Wright as well as “Testing That Never Ceases” Christian Century, February 28, 1990, p. 211 by Fred Craddock]

Some of you have met Phoebe, the smallest member of our family. She is a fox terrier with a fierce personality that is sometimes hard to rein in, despite our best intentions. We decided to invest a small amount in her safety in the event that she gets lost. For a once off fee the vet injected a tiny microchip under her skin, which contains Phoebe’s history including our contact details. Most animal rescue facilities including the SPCA have scanners, which will pick up the information contained on the chip and help the staff track us down and return her to us.

Now that Katie (3 years old and human) is a part of our family and I am starting to wonder what happens when in her teenage years she asks to go with her mates to Galaxy… gosh! – wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those chips on her! Or even better, one of those teeny weeny cameras that unobtrusively monitor people or the GPS unit that tracks a car’s movements and even how its being driven…

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to track our children? It borders on the ridiculous the extent to which we are now able to do that, but it is ridiculous. For one thing, what happens to inculcating trust? And for another, each of us knows how ingenious we are at avoiding detection, lying even to ourselves. We know that no surveillance is actually going to prevent someone doing bad things.

“There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.” Mark Twain

Truth is, if you are tempted, good! Not that giving in to temptation is good. But all too often I hear people complaining about being tempted. Temptation in itself is not a bad thing. It implies that the person has risked living life according to a discipline. That takes courage.

And what’s more, temptation is indicative of our power. The story of Jesus’ temptation is not told to demonstrate Jesus’ weakness, but rather his strength; so too with all of us. We are only ever tempted to do that which is in our power to do. So, the extent to which we are tempted is an indication of just how much power we have. How ironic that we often complain of being weak in the face of temptation!

If you are tempted: good!

Anyone who is being tempted is taking the difficult course of self-control which teaches one the intrinsic power each of us has been blessed with. Temptation is a learning experience. It is for this reason Jesus was led into the desert, not by the devil, but by the Spirit.

An engineer built a bridge and then had an engine drag a huge load and park it on the bridge for a day. An apprentice asked the engineer: “Are you trying to break the bridge?” “No,” replied the engineer, “I’m trying to show how strong it is.”

Why do Christians engage in the discipline of Lent? Why is self-control important?

The prayer Jesus taught us, makes the call for God’s Kingdom and Will to be made real on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus made the radical claim that this world can change and become heaven.

Each one of us has very little control over our environment. We cannot change other people’s minds, or prevent them doing whatever they choose. We cannot control the weather or when we will die. But we can control ourselves. We can discipline our own desires and manage our own attitudes and prejudices.

Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Christian spirituality is not meant primarily for individual transformation. That is only the beginning. We believe Jesus was the first infection of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth – an infection that is slowly taking over the world.

Our personal discipline and transformation has the power to change the world.

Maybe this Lent, you might want to consider giving up electricity. Every news bulletin I see these days decries the failure of Eskom and the crisis our blackouts have plunged South Africa into. The usual blame game goes nowhere and solutions seem far away.

Eskom delivers unsustainable energy to a country that increasingly uses electricity without thought for the consequences. This is like any consumptive addiction. It is destructive and blaming one’s pusher doesn’t deal with the problem. We are addicted to thoughtless consumption.

Christians in South Africa could easily give up having the geyser on all day and the lights on in the part of house they aren’t actually using. Seems a small price to pay. The inconvenience of having to be disciplined might teach one to appreciate how important this resource is and why it is so important that we move to renewable forms of energy.

South Africa is the region’s biggest supplier or electricity and our present crisis may well result in these countries no longer having power. For SA the blackouts are an inconvenience – if an expensive one – but for our neighbours they could spell catastrophic disaster. Surely Christians in SA can do more than complain about why Eskom has failed us???

We want all people to have equal access to the power to make life beautiful: clean water, electricity, education and so on. In order to make that happen, we all have to share sustainable resources in ways that ensure our children can also benefit from such life-affirming systems. That ideal begins to be realised in our personal self-discipline.

“Dear God, this little bit of earth which is my body I make available for a little bit of heaven. Teach me to tame my addictions and prejudices that all may come to enjoy what I do.”