Last week we explored how important traveling lightly is when on pilgrimage. The old saying, “You can’t take it with you,” is all the truer when you’re journeying, especially on foot. And on this spiritual pilgrimage we are making, we consider other, non-tangible things, we should leave behind. Hebrews counsels us:
…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The Lenten season is traditionally a time of fasting, of leaving behind, of giving up something desirable. We do this, I think, in hopes that God will look upon our sacrifice as an act of good conscience. So we give up treats and booze and extra servings of boudin, or we drop off of social media and the 24-hour-news cycle for a mental cleanse. Good as that it, we should admit that these are things that aren’t all that great for us to begin with. So we ask again: What is the fast that the Lord desires? What is it that we can leave behind that will get God’s attention?
There is a powerful chapter in the book of Isaiah in which the prophet offers a scathing rebuke of self-deprecating worship soaked in religiosity. In Isaiah 58, the prophet looks around at all the empty piousness: people fasting from food, dressing glumly, moping around. God shrugs his shoulders at all this religious non-sense; God is not impressed by any of it. Then God declares:
This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ (Isaiah 58:6-9 - The Message)
Remember that small rock or stone I asked you to find last week? If it’s nearby place it in the palm of your hand. Feel its weight. As you lift your hand, feel it pushing back down. Now consider what symbolic value you might place upon it. How does it symbolize those things that weigh you down? What is it that God would have you jettison, that you might walk freely in God’s light? From time to time, I invite you to reflect on what that stone will symbolize for you when you leave it behind; during Holy Week we will leave that stone behind as a symbol of our release of the deeper sin that entangles us.
Buen Camino!
Rev. Dr. David Chisham
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