The Rev. Dan Rondeau
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
Isaiah 58:1-12 | Psalm 103:8-14 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 | Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him.1
You have just heard the Word of the Lord; today it is a word to give pause and to comfort. In a few moments you will be invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”
Between the Word and the Invitation, thinking myself into the Season of Lent, I have been flooded with memories, bits and pieces of things learned and applied and forgotten and relearned, words from hymns, from the Prayer Book, things I’ve read, things I’ve heard, moments and people in my life, and I wonder if this happens to anyone else (I hope so).
I offer this potpourri in the hope that it may spark your own remembering as we begin Lent, that it may jump start the process of “self-examination and repentance,” that it may provide impetus to read and meditate on God’s holy Word.
Stephen R. Covey published a book that is still popular: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.2 Habit 2, presented by Covey, is “Begin with the End in Mind.” Of course, the church has long been aware of this truth and has long tried to develop this habit in the faithful.
In his teaching today Jesus speaks to this habit. “The Father who sees in private will reward….”3 Remember, he says, there will be judgment. In other teaching moments Jesus left us these words to ponder: some of us will hear “come you blessed of my father,”4 and “well done, good and faithful servant,”5 and on the other side of the coin, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”6
Begin with an end in mind, the church bids us throughout the year. Believe and work with an end in mind. Live with an end in mind. The Church is faithful to its Lord and his Apostles as throughout the Church Year, and especially in Lent, it bids us to be clear about the end we have in mind and order our words and actions toward that end.
As a little Roman Catholic boy I grew up with the notorious Baltimore Catechism. The faith was passed on to me, to us, in the form of questions and answers. All these years later, to my amazement, the questions and answers can still be retrieved. And the most vibrant of these involves the end a faithful boy, a faithful man, should have in mind and heart.
Question. Who made you? Answer. God made me.
Question. Why did God make you? Answer (that I remember). God made me to know, love, and serve him in this life, to be happy with Him in the next.7
“To know, love, and serve the Lord in this life” forms the heart of Christian living. Do you recognize it? It is the Baptismal Covenant. Learned by question and answer memorization as a little boy I rediscover this truth every time I renew the Baptismal Covenant with you. The Covenant contains the truth of the Gospels and the Apostles’ teaching.
Will you continue in the Apostles teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers? Will you come to know and love our Lord we ask. Will you nurture and grow that knowledge and love, we ask. Will you give expression (in prayer and worship) to what you know of the Lord, we ask. Will you give expression to (in prayer and worship) to your love of the Lord, we ask.
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will your knowledge and love of the Lord lead you to resist evil, we ask. Will your knowledge of Jesus, who resisted the tempter in the wilderness, lead you to do likewise, we ask. Will your service of the Lord include resisting evil and doing good, we ask. Will your knowledge of Jesus, who forgives all or sins, lead you to ask for forgiveness when necessary, we ask. Will your love of Jesus, a love that trusts the Lord with your very life, send you into his arms to ask forgiveness when necessary, we ask.
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? These three questions round out the Baptismal Covenant. Inspired by knowledge and love of the Lord, these questions each ask in their own way: will you serve the Lord in all that you say and do. No distinctions are made about age or economic resources or educational level or physical ability, each asks simply and directly: will you serve the Lord in this world as you follow the example of the Lord you love.
To know, love, and serve, I hear these words of my youth, of my church, in my heart; to know, love and serve, I hear these words in the hymn “Day by Day.”8 It is such a simple hymn. It is such a powerful hymn. Surely these are words to live into.
“Day by day, dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: to see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly, day by day.”
To begin and work with and end in mind as the Lord and his Church commends I can turn to another favorite hymn: “I want to walk as a child of the light.”9
“I want to walk as a child of the light [day by day], I want to follow Jesus [day by day, moment by moment]…. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus [moment by moment, day by day].”
Another favorite hymn to remind me of the Lord’s teaching to begin and work with an end in mind (this Lenten Season and beyond): “I sing a song of the saints of God.”10
“I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew….and I mean, God helping, to be one too….[after all] the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.” And do you hear how this service, this path is taken up by the saints? The verse reminds us they “lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew,” it is to be our path as well.
Again, two more hymns come to mind as I enter the Lenten Season determined, day by day, to know and love the Lord with all my heart and mind: “Be Thou my vision”11 and “Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life”12
“Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; all else be nought to me, save that thou art—thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light….may I reach heaven’s joy, bright heaven’s Sun! Heart of my heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of all.”
“Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life, such a way as gives us breath: such a truth as ends all strife; such a life as killeth death….Come my Joy, my Love, my Heart: such a joy as none can move; such a love as none can part; such a heart as joys in love.”
Every time I gather with you to celebrate Holy Communion I am keenly aware, as we end, that the knowledge and love of the Lord gained in word, music, prayer, and sacrament is meant to sustain service to the Lord and to all creation. I am reminded of this as we pray together and ask that the Father “Send us out to the do the work [he has] given us to do, to love and serve [him] as faithful witnesses to Christ our Lord.”13
This Lent, take the Word of God seriously, accept the invitation to keep and observe a holy Lent; trust the Spirit to guide you to the memories and the means to observe a Holy Lent.
Amen.
1 Invitatory to Morning Prayer in Lent. BCP, p. 81
2 New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989: 3 Matthew 6:4
4 Matthew 25:34: 5 Matthew 25:21
6 Matthew 25:41:
7 The actual question and answer from the Baltimore Catechism: Question. Why did God make you? Answer: God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
8 Hymn 654, The Hymnal 1982: 9 Hymn 490, The Hymnal 1982
10 Hymn 293, The Hymnal 1982: 11 Hymn 488, The Hymnal 1982
12 Hymn 487, The Hymnal 1982: 13 Prayer after communion, BCP, p. 366
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