In Bondage to Sin: Ashes to Ashes... Lent

According to Matthew 4:2, Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. THEN, famished and weak, he met ALL EVIL face-to-face. It came in a condition of weakness, not strength.

Moses went up to the mountain 40 days w/o food, only the presence of God. Elijah went into the wilderness and lived on the strength of his last meal for 40 days. They both knew the legend of Noah and his family and the onslaught of being tossed about after 40 days of rain (and nights).

In Reformation times, the practice of doing penance went seriously out of whack. The Basilica of St. Peter in Rome was essentially built on the fundraising efforts of paying a monetary sum as a demonstration of true contrition. But the church detoured from being discipling agent to dispensing agent.

Along the way, a very important and beneficial practice got lost or disarmed. The step back to consider the seriousness of one's sins and doing something different in life as a reminder, that got turned into the purchase of forgiveness--with advance ticket sales offered for a nice price.

No coach I know would consider scrapping the entire practice of taking a time-out. The team needs it. He/she needs it. And so do we. It's more than our little foibles, the unkind word here and there, the lustful thought, the alms not given, the prayer not said, that constitutes our sin.

It is our whole condition. Our whole broken relationship with God and with each other. As my church says in corporate confession, "We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves..." This rift is not repairable by self-help, a six-week diet, or a makeover at the spa. It is by the grace of God. Grace is a very dramatic story. It never hurts to take a time-out. Any discipline or ritual that serves as a mnemonic device for that time-out time is helpful. It can open the heart and mind just like prayer.

And I think sometimes the best prayers we can ever pray are not the ones that ask for what we don't have. They may be those that for once do an honest job of saying who we are, what we are, what is--without a pre-fab answer in mind.

We all need time for that.

R.