Lent and the Art of Lawnmower Maintenance
The season of Lent is approaching. I’m working on sharpening. Practice on an old cross-cut saw, plus kitchen knives, grafting knife, and lawn mower blade. Sharpening is necessary if you want to slice vegetables, cut wood, or prune in the garden with care and ease. Sharpening itself is something of an art.
This week I pulled the blade on the lawnmower. Last week I finally drained the oil, ready to replace it, and then clean the gas tank and carburetor, when the weather permits working outside with good ventilation. So, I work down the overdue maintenance checklist. I’ve never been a real lawn enthusiast, but have done my share of mowing grass and hay, mostly with enthusiasm. But I have not taken very good care of the lawnmower. The blade is showing some hard use.
In Lent St. Benedict counsels in ch.49 of his Rule that the monks,
wash away during these holy days all the negligences of other times
through prayer, reading, appropriate compunction, a few tears, and remedial steps.
Benedict also says to only undertake Lenten disciplines in conversation with a trusted elder, and with a certain amount of energy, even spiritual joy, that will enable you to follow through on what you realistically propose.
Benedict’s counsel might also guide us, living out in the wider world.
I’m getting ready to throw some sparks. A Holy Lent to you, and happy sharpening!
Below is the text of my sermon given at St John’s Episcopal Church, Olympia WA (link to worship) on The Last Sunday in Epiphany, 2/14/21.
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Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Ps. 50: 1-2
God shines forth. God shines forth. Not only this, but according to Psalm 50, God speaks, God summons, summons the earth, and all its creatures, including humankind. God summons, God speaks, and God shines forth.
Well, where?
God shines forth out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. God shines forth in places of beauty. Places built and crafted, like sanctuaries for prayer and dwelling, stone houses and birds nests. Beautiful places, places that exceed their place in some quietly life changing way. Places that illuminate the heart. God shines forth in people, between people. God shines for in people who invite us, encourage us, correct and guide us on this spiritual journey we all can and must walk. God shone forth in Jesus to his disciples as they arrived at the top of the mountain.(Mark 9:2-9) And having seen God shine forth there, they walked and talked ther way down, here, on earth, the earth that God summons. God shines forth to Elisha as he follows Elijah.(2 Kings 2:1-12) Elijah is going where others can’t follow him, at least not yet. Maybe he desires to spare Elisha a too painful separation and farewell. Who knows, maybe he even desires to spare himself a too painful farewell. However that may have been in Elijah’s heart, Elisha persists, desiring to stay with him, like Ruth stayed with Naomi. They walk and walk and walk together. They walk dwon from Gilgal to the Jordan, the way that their ancestors had once walked down with God. They walk in the same place, even the same time as their ancestors, toward the God who shines forth. They walk and talk. And without warning, a new reality arrives, and Elijah is taken from Elisha’s sight. God shines forth in fire, in horses and chariots of fire, and Elisha glimpses these taking Elijah away.
God shines forth in places, in people along the way, and God shines forth in the heart. The Apostle Paul puts it this way:
“For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6)
The place where feeling, deep thinking, where nutrient enriched, oxygenated blood pumps, where dreams, healing, imagination and intuition arrive, the place where we grieve. This is where the shining forth, the illumination will catch us. It appears in the place where we grieve, and we grieve even as we receive the life to which God summons each of us, along with all the earth and her creatures. Elisha and Elijah are grieving as they walk and talk. They have the kind of conversation you hope to get to have before a goodbye, when you inherit a mantle, when you become the elder generation. ‘What can I give to you before I say farewell?’ ‘Give me a double portion of your spirit.’ ‘What you ask is a difficult thing but if you see me as I am taken from you, it is yours.’ A double portion is the right of the first born son according to Deuteronomy. Elisha asks not for money or fame, but like Solomon asked God, for a double portion of Elijah’s wisdom, his spirit, his interior fire. A difficult thing. The kind of thing we receive through a vision of the fiery chariot. The kind of thing that shines forth while walking and talking honestly with those we love, who love us in deepening ways, ways that summon us.
God shines forth, God speaks, God summons. As this season of Lent begins, what must you grieve as part of your listening for how God beautiful light is summoning you now? A loss of a person? a relationship? A place? A job? A sense of security, control, or affection? A loss of health? A loss of your familiar sense of strength, or purpose, or purity of motive? Within such losses, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ desires to shine forth. You might re-orient a familiar lenten discipline, like taking on a devotion or study and abstaining from some creature comfort, to this very need to grieve and listen for the light. A daily act of listening, of devotion, of reading, of going without, can help you have the conversation of farewell that opens you to what God is giving you now. Talk with a trusted spiritual friend or elder about how you might do that. The way of grieving can illuminate with the knowledge of the healing powers of God’s love in you. And I pray that as you walk and talk and listen thru Lent, what you need and want will shine forth.