A word from Father Jared for this Lenten Season:
Leftover Pizza & Lent
It’s nice to get invitations, don’t you think? I mean even if you’re not wanting to go - or able to
go…it’s nice to be invited.
Many years ago when we were in seminary in Austin we received an invitation. A young-ish
family around our age invited us to dinner at their house. They said, “You guys come over
tonight for dinner - it’s leftover pizza night.” Sounded fun!
Left over pizza! I love leftover pizza!
Take all that left over pizza, pop it in the oven for a reheat, and voila!
So, we take the kids and walk down to their little seminary home, we’re all excited for leftover
pizza night! BUT…we found out that their idea of leftover pizza night and our idea of leftover
pizza night were very different. Because what they did for “leftover pizza night” is take the
leftovers of the week from the refrigerator and use that as the toppings for their homemade pizza.
I don’t know if y'all have ever had a broccoli, asparagus, and salmon pizza on a gluten free crust.
But, it doesn’t hit the same as Dominoes. Simon was only about 5 years old, but he looked at us
with eyes that said, “What kind of fresh hell did you bring me to?”
It’s nice to get invited…but sometimes….you don’t really know, right?
The Church invites people all the time. That’s one of the things we are, we should be…an
inviting community. We invite to Christmas Eve, and Easter, we invite to special services with
the kids and young people, we invite when we’re having a concert, or a pageant, or a special
program for the family. We invite. And for generations and generations…the Church
has extended an invitation on Ash Wednesday. In fact, in just a few moments you’re going to
hear me explicitly say, “I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a
holy Lent….”
But here’s what I think can happen…the Church invites - especially on days like today - and
people show up hungry, and curious, and hopeful….and then they leave like the event fell far
short of the invitation. Because we hear words like prayer, and fasting, and repentance, and
mortal nature…we hear these words and because of how the Church has abused them and what
the culture has projected on to them - these words…they go down…well, they go down like…the
wrong kind of leftover pizza.
We can walk out of here, saying to ourselves “How drab. How gloomy. How depressing.” And
Lent just becomes this burdensome, sorrowful thing we wear the next forty days like an itchy
shirt, that doesn’t quite fit…or we just give it up all together.
I want to invite you to something else in regard to Lent.
I want to invite you to consider another word. I invite you to joy.
This can be a joyful season.
Because giving up something we thought we needed to find the thing our hearts desire - there’s
joy in that. Learning to embrace a new ritual of study or service can be a joyful endeavor. Slowly
letting go of some unhealthy pattern in our lives that keeps us stuck, is hard - but what waits on
the other side of that is joy. Giving some of our time to pray or just sit in silence, growing in the
awareness of a sacred presence that fills our short, transient life…can fill our hearts with joy.
I actually think that’s one of the things Jesus was calling his followers to practice in all their
praying, fasting, and giving… “Be joyful! Don’t be like the hypocrites. Who use their gloomy
faces and somberness to virtue-signal and show-off.”
And I can’t help but wonder if that kind of gloomy somberness - at its core - is our inability to
embrace grace and trust the mercy of God.
I love the words of Karoline Lewis, “(Lent) can be something that gives you joy, that nurtures you. It’s okay to have joy during Lent.
It’s okay to think about how you will take care of yourself during Lent…Your starting point for
Lent matters. You can suffer through Lent. Or, you can choose to move through Lent from a
place of wonder and gratitude: wondering where God might show up…”
Some of you might be saying… “Come on! Come on! How can you talk about joy…don’t you
see what’s going on in the world? What?? Am I just supposed to ignore reality?!?”
No…of course not. I’m not talking about wearing rose-colored-glasses…Joy is one of the fruits
of the Spirit. Joy is resilient. Joy is a scrapper. Joy doesn’t tremble in the wake of hate. Joy is
revolutionary. So, maybe we can do the work (in here) and (out there) but with joy.
Friends, we are invited to the observance of Lent.
I wonder what kind of Lent you will choose?
A bad leftover pizza? Or…something joyful?
Amen.
Comments