Leaning Into Lent: Day 27—Turning It Up

Jesus, God the Father said, is “my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him” (Lk 9.35 ESV). Lenten disciplines are excellent spiritual ear incliners for listening to Jesus.

The night before last I went with my son and some friends to an Ian Fletcher Thornley concert in Calgary. I mentioned it in my earlier Leaning Into Lent: Day 19—Blown Wide Open post. He is a brilliant guitarist and composer. The trouble was, for my old ears anyway, the band’s wall of sound was too much. Even with ear plugs (not hi-tech ones, granted), it was so loud it caused my ears to “break up” like an overloaded speaker. I couldn’t discern individual instruments properly or hear the lyrics. It was muddy and overwhelming.

I was fascinated to hear that it was loud but not too loud for my younger companions. They thought it was a good mix. So the problem was obviously mine—the product of the too loud a volume portion of my mis-spent youth. It was hard listening so I wanted to lean away. Sigh.

Holy Lent listening to God can be hard, too. Up to now in my far from consistent or faithful life of listening to the Lord, I’ve never been blasted like I was at Thornley’s concert the other night or like Isaiah was when the foundations of the thresholds shook and house was filled with smoke (Isa 6.4—that must have been quite a concert). I’ve never needed spiritual ear-plugs. I’ve had the opposite problem. I need things louder. I need the Lord’s sound man to turn it up and do a clean mix for me to hear anything at all and even then, most often God’s word comes to me in something like Elijah’s mere whis of a whisper on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19.12 ESV).

The thing is, if God did decide to let loose with the lights and smoke and all, it would be much, much bigger than any concert and would, no doubt, blow my ears out and me away. In his mercy, God’s audio comes divinely attenuated in a mysterious and minimalist mix which is exactly tuned for my old ears. My job is to lean close and keep listening, whether I think I hear anything or not. God, the Father, said so.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 20—Odd Leanings

Jesus said

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 

in the Evening Prayer reading from John 8 (31-32). That’s what continuing our reading and meditating on the Word of God Lenten spiritual discipline can do for me. Make me free.

As we come to know that truth, it will also make us "odd," wrote author, Flannery O’Connor. The non-believing people around us will see us as having an odd and irrational leaning into religion, superstition and outmoded moral standards.

Or, we might be tempted to lean too far the other way. Thirty years ago I read something Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon wrote in their book, Resident Aliens, which has stuck with me ever since: in their effort to be relevant to the surrounding culture many Christians have leaned so far over that they’ve fallen in.

The fact is, I need to be aware of which way I’m leaning, and why. Is my leaning bringing me closer to Jesus, or taking me further away? Am I fitting into the culture too well, or maintaining some salty oddness—enough to be tasty and different in an intriguing way.

The danger is, just as Ian Fletcher Thornley’s character yesterday “thought” he’d put away the things that could come back and blow him wide open, if I pay too little attention I, too, can “think” the things that could trip me up have been put away and dealt with. Better for me not to just “think” I’ve put things away. A Holy Lent’s spiritual disciplines manage my leanings and help me to be sure.

Today we’re half way home.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 19—Blown Wide Open

A week today, Lord willing, I’m going with Anthony, my son, and some friends to see Ian Fletcher Thornley (lately of the band Big Wreck) in concert in Calgary. I admire his guitar playing. Today I happened across one of his songs on YouTube. It’s called Blown Wide Open on his SECRETS album. I enjoyed it so I looked up the lyrics. Here’s a sample:

So I'm all surrounded

By the things I thought I put away…

And there's a pile in the closet

That's where I threw some yesterday

Maybe under the rug

That's where I swept some the other day

So the mess is drawing forces

Outside I hear them say

Just come out with your hands up

So we can blow you away

And I walk out the door

Get blown wide open

By the things I put away

And I wasn't even warned

Just blown wide open

Now the mess is where I lay

I was fascinated by how closely Thornley’s lyrics align with the sentiments in Morning Prayer’s Psalm 38 today. David describes a very similar state of affairs:  

3 There is no health in my flesh

because of your indignation; 

there is no peace in my bones because of my sin.

4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; 

their weight is a burden too heavy to bear. R

5 My wounds stink and fester 

because of my foolishness.

6 I am utterly bowed down and brought very low.

I go about mourning all the day long. 

7 My loins are filled with searing pain;

There is no health in my flesh. 

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;

I roar aloud because of the disquiet of my heart.

I was also fascinated by how closely the character's dilemma in Thornley's song resembles my, and probably your, struggle with sin. If I allow them to, my sins pile up, not only in my closet and under the rug, but completely over my head! My foolishness and carelessness cause them to stink and fester. I am brought very low, there is searing pain, “the mess” draws forces and gathers dark energy with The Enemy’s help until one day, unless I take action, I’m called out, blown wide open and away.  Not a happy ending. 

The solution? Unlike the character in Thornley's song, I've been warned. So have you. The honest self examination of a Holy Lent which brings everything out of the closet and from under the rug into the light of day so they can be confessed, repented of and any evil or toxic forces “the mess” has drawn are rendered harmless.