2/14/24

“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” (Groucho Marx)

Someone (I think it was Scot McKnight, but I’m not sure) wrote, “A good church is an honest church and an honest church is made up of honest people. A good church is where the truth is told. It starts in the pulpit, but a truly truthful church begins in the hearts of its members, when they are completely honest with themselves.” 

The season of Lent is a call to honesty. Honesty to ourselves and honesty to God. Lent is the time when we open our hearts, take them out, examine them.

You might say that Lent is a time to do some “heart-work.”

In biblical times, when people grieved, whether it was a national disaster or over their own sinfulness, as a sign of their grief,  they tore their clothes. But like anything else, tearing their clothes can become an empty gesture if there’s no real grief behind it. 

In a scripture read in every Ash Wednesday service, the prophet Joel called out to the people, “rend your hearts and not your garments.” We’ve all seen politicians, religious leaders and other public figures who’ve had their hands caught in the cookie jar and who make public apologies – often tearful – without an ounce of sincerity. 

Ripping your clothes is fine but there better be some heart-ripping to back it up. 

The tradition I was raised in didn’t practice Lent. I think we were poorer for it. I used to think people who observed Lent were too self-absorbed . . . too focused on their own flaws, never lifting their eyes to the power of God’s Spirit to move them on and grow them up in their faith. They were like a one-legged duck, just swimming around and around in circles – never getting anywhere.

While that can be true, and while I do believe some Christian traditions are too self-absorbed, honest self-examination is important in every area of life. It has to be if we’re to make any real progress. 

As a piano teacher, I worked hard to get students to the point where they would play a piece of music and I could say, “Ok, YOU tell me how you did.” That always freaked them out to begin with, but it was a sign of their maturing as musicians if they were able to identify what they played well and what didn’t work. It is important for a pianist to listen to themselves and be able to honestly critique their own playing – and not just in the lesson, but also in their daily practice. 

If you've been around me much at all, you’ve heard me say that the old saying, “Practice makes perfect” is a lie! Practice makes permanent. If you play something wrong over and over and over, you’re going to ingrain that error in your mind and in your muscles. 

Perfect practice makes perfect. Play it right the first time, and chances are you’ll play it right the second time . . .  too many students will play it one way one time and a different way the second time and wonder why they’re not making progress. Perfect practice makes perfect – and that’s only possible when we really listen and carefully critique our playing.  

I played for 9 years before a teacher told me I wasn’t listening to my own playing. I remember flaring up at him saying, “What do you mean I’m not listening!? I’m sitting right here playing the piano. I can’t NOT listen.” 

I thought he was nuts. 

What he meant was I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing.  I didn’t realize that, although I was making sound, I was not making music. I didn’t know how to listen critically, and therefore, I didn’t truly know how to make music. 

I could reproduce what was on the page. That’s pretty much typing, not making music.

It’s the same with our lives. Most of us will never be involved in outright “sin” (and I’m talking about the juicy, capital “S” sins), but all of us can drift through life without thinking about the lives we live. Bad attitudes can creep in. We find ourselves “crafting” the truth to make ourselves look better.  Our list of people we won’t forgive (notice I didn’t say can’t forgive) gets a little longer teacher year. 

John Wesley said the reason most people don’t live lives pleasing to God is that they don’t want to. 

It’s not failing  . . . it’s refusing. 

Lent invites us to “listen” to the music of our lives. Lent invites us to take honest stock of our hearts and deal with what’s lurking in their deepest recesses. Lent calls is to be honest – honest to ourselves and honest to God. 

And a good place to begin is tonight’s Ash Wednesday service.  I hope you’ll join us tonight at 6:00 PM for a little “heart-work.”