WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:03.200 A reading from Isaiah. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:06.719 Shout out, do not hold back. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:09.199 Lift up your voice like a trumpet. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:24.160 Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins, yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:27.120 They ask of me righteous judgments. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.600 They delight to draw near to God. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.719 Why do we fast, but you do not see? 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:36.240 Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice? 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:41.679 Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:47.600 Look, you have fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.240 Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:55.200 Is such the fast that I choose? 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:57.439 A day to humble oneself? 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:03.280 Is it to bow down the head like a bull rush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:07.920 Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:19.359 Is not this the fast that I choose, to lose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:30.560 Is not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house when you see them naked to cover them and not to hide yourself from their own kin? 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:41.519 Then your light shall break forth like the dog, and your healing shall spring up quickly, your vindicator shall go before you, and the glory of God shall be your rearguard. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:44.239 Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.159 You shall cry for help and he will say, Here I am. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:02:06.000 If you remember the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of the devil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noonday. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:19.439 The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parked places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:31.759 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt, you shall raise up the foundations of many generations, you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:33.680 The word of the Lord. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:45.039 We will read Psalm 103 responsively by the half verse. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.680 You are full of compassion and mercy. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:55.280 You will not always accuse us. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.319 Nor will you keep your anger forever. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.680 You have not dealt with us according to our sins. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.280 You will reward us according to our wickedness. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:12.000 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so will your mercy great upon those who fear you. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:23.199 As far as the earth is from the West, as a parent cares for a child. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:29.599 For you yourself know where we are made. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:39.520 A reading from 2 Corinthians. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:44.479 So we are ambassadors for Christ. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:49.439 Since God is making his appeal through us, we entreat you. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:15.680 For our sake, he made him sin, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:23.680 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:34.399 For he says, At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:38.399 See, now is the acceptable time. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.160 See, now is the day of salvation. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:50.319 We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:05:35.920 But as servants of God, we have commended ourselves in every way through great endurance and afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, in honor and in dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:06:04.079 We are treated as impostors and yet are true, as unknown and yet are well known, as dying and see we are alive, as punished and not yet killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:06.879 The word of the Lord. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:08.879 Thanks be to God. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.839 The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Matthew. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:25.279 Jesus said, Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:33.680 So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.480 Truly I tell you, they've received their reward. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:47.199 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:55.680 And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:58.639 Truly I tell you, they have received the reward. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:07.040 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:14.240 Whenever you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:16.959 Truly I tell you, they've received the reward. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:27.920 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:35.120 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:43.360 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither raw moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.720 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.279 The gospel of the Lord. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:15.120 And of course, other people will see it. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:16.959 I hope they do. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:18.240 I'll tell you why. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:45.360 I think Jesus is talking about, frankly, the way we so often and ordinarily practice spiritual disciplines, which is competitively, which is a way of saying, if I really bust my butt and I show God how much suffering I'm willing to do or endure, I will prove to God that I love God and I will earn myself a little bit more grace today. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:56.559 If I take up a really hard, Lenten discipline, I mean, if I give up something I love, like chocolate or wine. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:01.279 If I'm really miserable for the Lord, God will be happy. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:07.519 Boy, I've grown up that way most of my life, and nothing could be further from the truth. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:08.399 Don't you think? 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:14.240 I mean, didn't God create us so that we would have life and have it more fully, not more miserably? 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:19.840 This, I think, is Jesus asking us to consider what our piety looks like. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:32.720 See, the truth is, I think the world has had enough public displays of piety, and I think what the world desperately needs are some public displays of repentance. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:35.039 Repentance. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:38.639 I don't want to bore you, but quick, quick, quick bit here. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.080 Four words in the Bible give us repentance. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:44.399 One is changing direction. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:49.840 You repented when you turned into the parking lot because you changed the direction of your car. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:53.840 Another one is getting a new mind. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:04.399 Like you know, somebody who used to annoy you, and then one day you just found this thing about them, and then, well, it wasn't annoying anymore. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.120 It was endearing. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:18.240 Then there's this other word that means making right what you did wrong. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:24.000 Of course, the fourth word is the fact that we can't always do that. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.120 If I hit you, I've hit you. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:29.519 How do I undo that? 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:35.519 So it's mourning the fact that some of the things we do are undoable. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:40.399 When the words come out, the genie is out of the bottle. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:45.600 And of course, what we have to do is try to regain the trust that we've lost. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:47.360 Repentance is about that. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:11:01.679 Repentance is about us changing the course, changing the way we look at other people so that their lives and ours can be bigger. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:11.200 This whole Linton journey is not about making life smaller for anybody. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:16.559 It's about making life bigger for everybody. 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:29.840 I want you to know one of the neat things about talking to kids about this, because we have this fantastic day school here, and I was talking to the fourth and fifth graders yesterday about what they might consider, what's something that they could do. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.720 We talked about how Lent is really not about a fad diet. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:39.679 It's not about how 40 days I'm gonna lose 10 pounds and back to my old habits. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:46.799 Frankly, the way this is supposed to work is we say, I know my life would be bigger if I did blank. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:48.559 And I'm gonna do that. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:50.559 I'm not gonna do that for 40 days. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:52.960 I'm gonna do that for 40 years. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:57.919 If you pick something for Lynn, I would challenge you to pick something for the rest of your life. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.879 And if you don't want to do it the rest of your life, don't pick it. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:02.639 What did our kids say? 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:09.919 They said, you know, one of the things we think we could think about doing is giving up jokes at other people's expense. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:13.120 That was from 10-year-olds. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.200 Listen, I don't know if they're gonna make it. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:21.039 I struggle to think if I could do that for 40 minutes. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:24.399 You see, that's work. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.720 That's work, but that's not being miserable. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.200 That's about having bigger life. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:35.679 Boy, what if we put that on public display? 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:47.120 I don't know if people would think we were cool, but I sure think people would realize there's larger life when we choose to live that way. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:52.320 Surely to God, Lent is about that. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:56.480 Something that takes our time. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:03.759 I got two kids, and listen, I rarely do the right thing, but sometimes I say the right thing. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:09.840 And my standing line with one of my kids has been it is never too late. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.559 It just gets harder. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.240 It's never too late to turn in that missing work. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.360 Your score just gets lower. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:25.120 It's never too late to go out for freshman soccer, even when you're a senior. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:26.799 It just gets harder. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:41.440 It gets harder because we're so used to just being stationary, or we think, oh my gosh, people are gonna think I'm too old to be enjoying Sonic the Hedgehog comic books, or whatever it is we do. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.639 But see, Lent is about saying, you know, it is never too late. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:51.600 And even though it gets harder, well, gee golly, isn't that the point we come to church anyway? 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.120 So we don't live normal lives, we live extraordinary ones. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:03.360 Isn't that why we come here every Sunday, you know, and have the same old food every Sunday, they're gonna need surprise. 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.159 That food we say, God is ordinary stuff that's got calories and feeds our body. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:14.879 Please give us something extraordinary from it. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.919 Energy to be bigger people. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:31.120 Not so that we can earn your love, but because we've already got it, so we can live into it, so we can live the bigger lives you've dreamed for us before we were born. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:45.120 See, I think Lent starts really from this phrase: I continue to say and struggle to live into that there is nothing we can do to make God love us anymore, and nothing we can do to make God love us any less. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:49.200 We start there and we say, okay, what's the point then? 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:53.039 The point is to enjoy what God dreams for us more. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:04.080 So I don't know what you need to fast from this length. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:10.480 I don't know what you need to give up on so that you can have something bigger. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:21.039 Maybe you need to give up on Lent this year because you've been doing in a way that was damaging to your spiritual health the last 75 years or 17. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:26.000 If that's what you need, put it in God's hands, it'll be fine. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:28.559 You don't give up anything, guess what? 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.120 God's not gonna love you any less. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.879 You give up eating meat and wine and give up driving and listening to music, guess what? 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:38.799 God ain't gonna love you anymore. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:41.279 No, we don't do this to please God. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.399 We do this because God is already pleased. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:49.919 And how can we live into God's pleasure more this year? 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.080 In some ways, I hate that the principal service is at 6 p.m. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:06.960 Because frankly, this is this one day when we get to walk around with this weird thing in our head and hope somebody asks us, what does that mean? 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:18.799 And I hope we're able to say something like this God has more in mind for me than I'm living right now, and this year I intend to do something about it. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:20.399 Amen.