EAT well this lent

Lent is a time when we follow a 40 day or 50 day fast or diet restriction depending on the denomination we belong to. For some, lent is a time of renunciation, for others it is reflection and for some it is a reminder. Not everyone fasts and not everyone has a diet control or goes vegetarian, but everyone observes lent. It is a mind to offer ourselves as help to someone, to lend something we have to someone or just trying to relate with who we are and what we are doing. Whatever it is, we are all part of lent. 

Prior to the council of Nicea in the fourth century, it is not sure how lent was observed and whether there was such a lent as we follow now. Some even go on to say that lent was a forty hour fast! But with the inception of an official state backed Christianity, lent became part of the spiritual life of Christians. First as a preparation for baptism and then as a reminder of Christ Jesus’ 40 day fast. The fashion of the lent has also undergone change with time. People fasted completely, they gave up all forms of meat and meat products and sometimes fish too and now people in the West give up chocolate, sugar, carbonated drinks and do a carbon fast during lent. One cannot make a direct connection between a carbon fast during lent and Indian culture. But it is something which is becoming more popular now.

The Catholic Church and the CSI church and before that other churches as well have started giving calls for a green lent or carbon fasting. This is new and different . Nevertheless this is now catching on as one way of undergoing lent. The colour green also reminds us of nature and our connection with the soil. The spring time associated with lent is a season of green when the fallen leaves sprout again. But are we and the people in the church on the same boat when it comes to lent and a green lent with carbon fasting? Einstein was once travelling by train. The ticket collector came and asked him for his ticket and then said “I know you will have it with you.” Einstein nodded his head. The ticket collector came again and Einstein was checking his pockets. The ticket collector said “You are Einstein. You will definitely have the ticket with you. I know for sure.” Einstein nodded his head again. Then the ticket collector went to the next bogie and returned and faced Einstein again. This time Einstein was on his knees and was checking something under his seat. The ticket collector said “You are Einstein. I am sure you will have the ticket with you.” Einstein replied. “I know I am Einstein and that I bought a ticket. But I am trying to find the ticket so that I know where to get down!” Lent in church sometimes becomes like this. We are the ticket collectors and the congregation is in the role of Einstein.

But what should lent or a green lent be for us? We are trying to figure out where we are going and for that understanding a green lent or a carbon fast is helpful. A carbon fast for us is giving up cars and motor bikes and using public transport and cycling and walking to work and other places. This gives us a sense of triumphalism and happiness and we put ourselves on a pedestal saying lent has made us holy. But has it?

What should we do about it and how should we fast/lent and even undertake a green lent? We must look at the 40 day fast of Jesus and figure that out. What if I told you that Jesus tells us to EAT WELL during lent? You will stare at me and say “Why didn’t you say this earlier. We are already ten days into the lent. And you are saying this now?” What I mean by EAT WELL is

E- End

A- All

T- Tyranny

      and

W- Willingly

E- Elect      to

L- Live a life of

L- Love

Let us look at the passage for our meditation. In St. Matthew 4:1-10 Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights. This is when the devil comes to tempt him. It is like that in our lives too. Whenever we do good things we immediately feel more tempted.  The tempter has 3 questions for Jesus. All the questions are with ifs, similar to what happened to Jesus on the cross when those who plotted against him said “If you are the son of God, come down from the cross.” Jesus has to prove something and the person asking him to prove it positions himself as the one who has all the answers. I would like to talk about three things which will help us to EAT WELL.

1. Lent as eating late and eating after everyone else eats.

If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread said the devil to Jesus. Jesus replies “One does not live by bread alone. But by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  A green lent is a time when we can look for alternatives so that everyone in this earth can eat food equally. It is not to hoard food and make money out of it and become the king of food but to make food count. The most important of Jesus’ miracles was thus the feeding of the multitude. According to latest FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) estimates in ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2015” report, 194.6 million people are undernourished in India. By this measure India is home to a quarter of the undernourished population in the world. Also 51% of women between 15 to 59 years of age are anaemic and 44% of children under 5 are underweight. On the other hand, it is estimated that nearly 40 percent of the fruits and vegetables, and 20 percent of the food grains that are produced are lost due to inefficient supply chain management and do not reach the consumer markets.

Lent for us  wrongly becomes a time to prove something. It is like going to a gym and comparing muscles. Who has more? You or me? The one with more, wins the show of muscles. It is sad that we have come to become a culture which compares one with the other. Whose lent is better?, whose fasting is better? We are trying to make the stones into bread so that we can win over Jesus. But we must rather concentrate on the hungry and the malnourished in our country and region. The devil taunts Jesus to make the stones into bread. But Jesus refuses to do so. We are also fasting and lenting so that we get something. Our fasts and lents should lead to food for all. A green fast in this sense is sharing an abundance and shortage of food or more so creating an abundance in an otherwise selfish world.

Perhaps we have to look at our churches and seminaries too. We have the infrastructure and the human resource. But we don’t seem to have the will to help the hungry. By forgoing a few things we can make money and resources for others. Jesus did not hallucinate after 40 days of fasting, rather he became stronger and gave a pointed answer to the devil. In churches we are comfortable with giving food to an orphanage but will never invite the orphanage to church!!

A Baptist moved into a neighborhood largely populated by Catholic families. While on the whole, they got along well, one habit he had was to fire up the grill on Fridays and cook steaks. After several weeks of enduring this torture, the Catholic men got together and decided the only way to end this problem was to convert the offending neighbor. So, they did. At the following Easter Vigil, he was accepted into the Church. The Catholics breathed a sigh of relief as he was baptized "You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic." Fast forward to the following Lent. The message apparently didn't get through, because the new convert fired up his grill and cooked steaks on Friday anyway! The indignant Catholic men rushed over to see what was happening, and they found him pouring water over the meat and chanting, "You were born a buffalo, you were raised a buffalo, but now, you are a fish!" Our fasting should not be to prove something and to make people do what we are doing but to give food to the poor. We are all out to make our church members adhere to one form of fasting but it is not the fasting Jesus did because fasting rather than making him weak, made him stronger.

2. Lent as getting done the possible rather than going behind the impossible.

The devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and tells him to throw himself down so that the angels will come and save him. Jesus replies that you should not put the Lord your God to test. Our lent has become a point of showing our spiritual strength and what we have gained through it whereas Jesus always saw his fast as a preparation to lose something.

The devil knew of the powers of Jesus but Jesus was not there to show off his powers. He had nothing to prove but to feed the hungry and fight those who were keeping the poor hungry. His fight against the state was because of the injustice unleased by the state and religious authorities on the poor. It is only in watching how Jesus lived that we get a sense of what living by the word of God meant for him. His teaching (e.g., the Sermon on the Mount) and his actions disclose his own understanding of that word, what it was calling him to be and do. The kingdom mission constituted a way of healing, of solidarity with the poor, of challenging the oppressive and unjust structures of social control operating in his day, of opposing social and religious conventions that generated exclusion of the weak and the outcast. In the end, this way would lead to the cross, that means of state execution for those deemed a threat to the status quo of political and economic power.

So the test in the wilderness invites Jesus, ever so reasonably, to actualize his power in the service of comfortable self -preservation, and to accept that invitation would inevitably lead him away from the cross. If Jesus, alone in the desert, employed his power to ensure his own personal well-being and personal comfort, if he made use of his privilege and status for the sake of meeting his own needs and wants above all else, then the way to the cross would have been short-circuited.

But we have already seen in Matthew’s account what political power under allegiance to the evil one looks like: Herod the Great orders the slaughter of children as a way of protecting his power from possible threat. And the brutality of the Roman empire, with its use of military violence, mass enslavement, economic exploitation, rampant corruption, etc. was well known. Control of the empire and enjoyment of its wealth would inevitably require the ruthless use of violence, deceit and abusive power. Jesus forgoes this when he negates the question of the devil.

According to an OXFAM report, 1 % of the richest in India own 58% of the wealth. There are 84 billionaires in India with a combined wealth of 284 billion dollars. In India, women form 60 per cent of the lowest paid wage labour, but only 15 per cent of the highest wage-earners. It means that in India women are not only poorly represented in the top bracket of wage-earners, but also experience wide gender pay gap at the bottom.

For Jesus a fast or a lent means questioning this widening disparity so a fast rather than weakening us must strengthen us to the core. The real measure of our wealth is how much we are worth when we lose everything. A lent and a green lent teaches us to lose so that we can see what we are worth. This is what Jesus did. He gave up everything by his fast. Jesus’ work starts after his fast. But for us, we are tired and famished after the fast. This is where a green fast helps. It is not going behind the impossible but very much the possible. We are fixated on what kind of food we can eat and can’t eat. That becomes a problem for us. So most of the time church members see each other in a restaurant, they look at each others plate and not face! Jesus fought injustice up till the cross but he was practical about it. The devil wanted him to bring his Godly powers to test. We should also observe lent to be practical like Jesus and help others. We should not follow the devil and his quest for immortality.

3. Lent is joining God’s kingdom and saying no to other kingdoms.

A green lent is a reminder that we can pull it back. There are several people in church who want to live a life which is worthy of their calling. But they have too many EMI’s to pay. The priest wants to live a life true to his or her calling but there are too many leaders to obey. The churches want to live a life which is true to their calling but there are too many offering bowls to take care of. The tempter is at work through our lent and a green lent is an opportunity to say no like Jesus. We are saying no to bigger vehicles, trying to save fuel by driving differently and walking and cycling to show that we can live a different life for the benefit of others. We are also eating less and moderately so that others get to eat. Jesus says no to the devil and his offer of endless splendor. Instead Jesus declares his faith and says “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” The fast strengthens him to say no to all other norms and to focus on God.

We are tempted by endless things these days. In our church, young priests have their eyes set on a two wheeler, followed by a four wheeler, followed by a house and then jewellery and other things. We preach poverty but live in luxury. This is because we have ignored God and God’s kingdom and are holding on to other kingdoms. A priest who is rich is also seen as blessed by God. My mother always tells me “That priest built a house, this priest bought a car, the other priest got so much dowry. Didn’t you teach most of them?  Here we have a priest. He talks about the poor and feeding the poor. What will you live from?” I reply “I don’t know. I guess God has it figured out because honestly I haven’t.”

A green lent is an opportunity to say “I can manage because God is with me.” I can manage because God’s love is with me. End All Tyranny and Willingly Elect to Live a life of Love means that we must put a stop to all injustice in the world. But for that we must stop doing injustice ourselves. The Lenten season is not just a time to preach to others but to preach and reform ourselves.  Jesus sees everything and then says no. There are a lot of people in India working for free for the sake of those who do not have. We can try in our own creative ways to be available for others. All of us cannot be on the streets. But we can look at how we can help. The scope of a green lent is to not just reduce our carbon foot print but to see how we in small ways can be who Jesus was. It is not to be holier than others but to reach out to others and work for God’s kingdom. So, eat well. End all Tyranny and Willingly Elect to Live a life of Love. Lent is eating late and eating after everyone else eats, lent is doing the possible rather than going behind the impossible and lent is joining God’s kingdom and saying no to other kingdoms.

(Preached tonight for the evening Lenten meditation in the UTC chapel, Bengaluru.)

Lent is a great time to resolve the pressure of exams

It is exam time and starting from small classes to bigger classes with board exams to exams for professional courses and even assessments in the office, it is an exam season. You are either writing, or teaching to write or praying that the teacher and the student are on the same page while writing.  The most important prayer for any Christian in the form of the Lord’s prayer which mentions “Lead us not into temptation” can also be seen as lead us not into examinations! All said and done many families can’t handle the pressure of a lent and an exam together.

The Lenten season is a great time to write exams, finish a paper and be assessed by someone. It is because one should seize the opportunity of making it a time when one is relaxed, focused and praying more that God takes control of our lives. But unfortunately that is not the case in many homes. Some diet control apart, parents and children are tensed about writing exams and about doing better than the boy or girl next door. This should never be the case during lent as lent is a time to relax and just be what God wants us to be, and that is, very relaxed people.

Suicide rates in the age group of 15-29 are one of the highest in India. Each year, between 30 and 40 people per 100,000 Indians aged between 15 and 29 kill themselves. This accounts for about a third of all suicides in the country. “A common cause for concern is the pressure from parents to do well in the national board examinations, especially for Class XII, before finishing school. As scores in these exams often determine college admissions and subsequent employment opportunities, students aged 16-18 are often subjected to undue pressure at home to succeed. When they don't, suicide becomes a way out. In 2013 alone, 2,471 suicides were attributed to "failure in examination".”

One understands the pressure parents go through. The pressure to copulate and create off springs, the pressure to give them everything under the sun to make up for the lost time at home, the pressure to not just make them like us but to make them do everything we could not do which includes scoring more marks than us, the pressure to use them as one more trophy for social status, the pressure to say that they have a particular degree and that they studied in a particular school or college. The pressure is endless. Lent is a time to rethink about all these pressures. Don’t have children for someone else but if that is what you want. Don’t give children everything under the sun, rather give them all the love you have. Don’t make them do everything you could not do rather let them do what they want to do. You can always have a say in this process by asking the right questions and giving a fair chance for your child/children to make the correct decision. Your child is not a trophy to show off but your flesh and blood which God has given you. Don’ show them off rather keep them close to your heart till they are ready to fly off. Don’t look for the best schools and colleges, rather look for the best education of which you are an integral part. Your child cannot be someone you do not know or can no more relate with. The best education is received at home. Don’t give up the teacher in you and trade that for the teacher in school or college. They are there to bring out the best in your child, not to replace you.

As a parent, whatever happens in school, you (we) should be there for your child and help them to do their best and not to perform or show someone else. Our children are our reflection. They need not out perform us every time. They need not be as smart as us. They will flourish in their own time. For every suicide that has happened in another house, we are responsible as well, because we have contributed to the pressure felt by children. Lent should be a time we use to understand and encourage our children and sacrifice our time and resources for them just like Christ Jesus did for us. James 1:3-8 says “because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;  and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.  If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.  But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;  for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” Don’t doubt in the grace of God which is available to all of us. Teach this to our children and they will be on their way to becoming good human beings never wanting in and for anything.

An examination should be seen as an experience and not a rat race. The life of our child/children is not worth any exam. Their life and living should be more valuable to us instead of exam results. During lent let us take time to be with them and give them all that they need to prepare for and write their exams. At no point of time should there be a talk of marks and comparisons with others because God has given you more things sometimes than others. If you or I accepted that without seeing or questioning why our neighbor did not get it, why are we now looking at comparisons? James 1:12-13 says that we are beyond trials and temptations. “Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.” Let this lent be a time to let our children flourish and become who God wants them to be and not who we want them to be. Let us love them this lent and love them so much that we allow them to relax and do as well as they can. Let the comparison be with themselves and no one else. Amen.

Don’t hide your face from God this lent

St. Luke 5:12-16

The passage of Jesus healing the man with leprosy kicks off a multitude of miracles committed by Jesus. But it will be revealing for us to check the first part of St. Luke 5 and then read verses 12 to 16 to understand an interesting contrast which will help us observe lent in a better way. This contrast between good and bad and accepted and unaccepted makes us question certain usages.

Jesus speaks to a crowd and he has his future disciples with him. They fish but are unsuccessful in their attempt. Jesus advises them to let down the nets. They get a big catch of fish. Simon is overwhelmed with shame that he kneels and tells Jesus to move away as Simon Peter considers himself a sinner. Jesus though still offers him hope. Our lent many a time is like Simon catching fish. We are confident that our lent is making us pure and strong whereas without Jesus there is no lent! Simon then realizes his inadequacy and hides his face from Jesus by kneeling down. Our lent is a hiding from God as we kneel and take part in the lent but never offers ourselves to God to be moulded according to God’s plan.

The leper on the other hand is our model for lent. He is the outcast. Like all lepers he would have faced the humiliation of informing people that he, a leper was coming and that they should not defile themselves because of him. It blinded the society so much that the word leper because synonymous with sinner. This is the man who talks to Jesus. But unlike Simon, he feels no shame of inadequacy. He has nothing to lose because he has not gained anything. The leper then kneels like Simon but unlike him, tells Jesus “If you wish (choose), make me clean.” In the process of touching and healing the leper, Jesus is healing us and our shame which we try to hide by observing lent.

But unlike Simon who was the accomplished fisher man, we can benefit well if we look at the leper, who was in turn the man looked down upon. While Simon gives up and asks Jesus to leave, the leper finds strength in his condition and invites God into his heart and life. The lent of Simon is the lent we unwittingly observe. We are lenting but we are pushing God away. The lent of the leper is what we should observe. It sounds and looks disgusting, but it is the lent to follow because we are asking God “Lord if you wish (choose), make me clean.”

What a beautiful lent this can be when we follow the foot steps of the leper, even though we are not sure how it is. The leper is confident and hopeful. On the other hand steps taken by the accepted may not take us to God because God is being asked to leave by the dominant. Let this be a lent when we leave society’s accusations and labels with them and kneel before God and say “If you wish, make me clean.” We can qualify that and say “If you wish make me a clean father/mother, if you wish Lord make me a clean son/daughter, if you wish Lord make me a clean sibling, if you wish Lord make me a clean person, if you wish Lord make me a clean friend and so on. Lent is not a time to live on our assurance and skill rather it is a time to live on the assurance of God.

A young child was told by her parents to observe lent. She asked questions about lent and tried to understand what it was. Her parents finally told her that lent meant sacrificing something we like so much. After some thought she said “I am going to have a study lent. I love studying, so I will stop doing that this Lenten season!” There is much wisdom in what the girl said because she noticed what the elders were doing. Let us stop hiding from God this lent, telling God that we are sinners and asking God to leave. Instead, let us leave that to Christ Jesus. Let him decide who we are and what we mean to him. In the course of this lent rejoice if others reject you because that means you will be accepted by God. Amen.   

A social media fast could be detrimental to lent

Many people and sometimes even church traditions encourage other forms of lent and fasting. They include carbon fasting, alcohol fasting, sweets fasting, carbonated drinks fasting, movie fasting, T.V. fasting and social media fasting which includes popular platforms like facebook and whats app, to name a few. I have seen many social media status messages that someone won’t be on facebook for the next 50 or 40 days. Is this a good way of fasting?

There is nothing wrong when people select their modes of fasting. One should not judge anyone as everyone has a right to feel the essence of lent in their own way. But what is problematic about a social media fast? It largely depends on how one uses social media. If social media is used for spying on the lives of others, reading forwards and jokes which are hurtful and racist and forwarding messages without checking the authenticity and veracity of such messages, then taking a break from them is definitely something we should do. That is because our usage of social media is hurting us and others.

On the other hand if we use social media to communicate with people, then going on a social media fast denies humanity and communication to others in this fast paced world. This will make us construct separate huts of fasting which don’t communicate with each other and which are not there for one another. Matthew 25:34-40 says “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;  for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” Now it is definitely good to go in person and feed someone, to give something to drink, to welcome a stranger, to clothe someone, to take care of someone and visit someone in prison. There is no doubt about that.

But in today’s world everyone is caught up with work which lasts long and is unending. The time to physically be present for someone is becoming lesser and lesser in today’s context. So we must make do with other forms of communication and reaching out to people. These are mainly to reach out to people and the actual act may be done physically and in person. For instance, after lent started, I reached out to a destitute home and asked them what was their weekly and monthly need for food was and then informed my church women’s fellowship who had enquired with me about the need, I got in touch with another organization and asked them to furnish details of their organization so that a company could help them as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), another church group was informed about a need for blankets and clothes for an orphanage, a follow up was done for an old lady who was visited in the hospital by asking her daughter how she was and when a visit could be done next, spoke with elderly people who were far off and who could not be visited in person, and wrote and shared Lenten thoughts to people who could not attend church or read a bible study where they were working. Most of these things were initiated by others in the form of requests through social media.

The point is that social media has become an extended arm of communication. If it is used for the purpose of reaching out to people, connecting people, informing people and inspiring people, then having a social media fast will not serve the purpose of a meaningful lent. Instead what we should try for is a lent when we make more effort to reach out to others. Colossians 3:8 says “But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.” If social media makes us do this by the means of reading and forwarding irresponsible and hurtful messages, then we should indeed be off it. But it would be preferable to learn how to use social media during lent. Psalm 37:30 offers more wisdom in saying “The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak justice.” We can responsibly use social media to reach out and help many.

To conclude, it is not technology and social media which is the culprit leading everyone into sin. Rather, it is the use of technology and especially social media by humans which is the problem. Lent is a good time to learn how to use social media for the benefit of the poor and needy. Abstinence will only lead to non-usage followed by a rush in inappropriate usage. Instead of that, lent should reform our way of using social media. 

We can take a social media lenten pledge that we won't laugh at others, won't make racial slurs, won't send insulting messages to others, won't be rude online, won't watch inappropriate content, won't forward anything that we receive without checking the authenticity of it and won't use the social media to troll, insult and hurt others.  Amen.