Thursday after Ash Wednesday -- March 10, 2011
Luke 9:22 - 25
And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?
In the lexicon of despised words used in spiritual contexts, "deny" ranks up there with "discipline," "surrender," and "detachment." I suspect that people respond to these words out of a difficult history with them, as a part of a religious tradition that was harsh, demanding and full of prohibitions. In truth, a great many people in the Christian tradition gauge their religious expression more by what they oppose or deny than by what they allow and encourage. As a group, we've been driven more by guilt and shame than by our love and hungers.
"Deny" is one of those words we often label as "negative" and "harsh" because of the way it has been used to beat us up. There is, however, a legitimate place for "denial" in any life. If we think of denial in terms of fasting, there are things that we need to say "no" to for our own well-being and growth. A life that is so wide open, saying "yes" to everything, takes in both the helpful and the harmful without any discrimination. Fasting is a core spiritual and life practice.
We need to learn to say appropriate "no's" in order to be balanced and whole. I think our forebears got that part right. They hammered the "deny yourself" part of the Luke 9 passage into us. But they neglected the "take up" part.
For every "laying down," there is a corresponding "taking up." We say, "no," to one thing in order to say, "yes," to something else.
In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul used the image of clothing, writing about taking off the old self and putting on the new self. It is a striking image of putting down one thing in order to create space to take on something else.
When Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me," he highlighted saying no (deny self), and saying yes (take up cross) in order to make a journey with him (follow me).
I notice how heavy and burdensome life is when I don't learn to say "no," when I don't regularly engage in disciplines that deny my self-centeredness. I find it nearly impossible to follow well when I am so heavily weighed down. What I am invited to lay down seems so heavy. What I am invited to take up seems light (a yoke that is easy and light).
For my Lenten discipline this year, I'm noticing what I might say "no" to; but, I'm also asking God to show me how to say "yes" to something good. If I'm going to put one possibly-harmful thing down, I want to pick up something else that God might use to my healing and the healing of the world.
And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?
In the lexicon of despised words used in spiritual contexts, "deny" ranks up there with "discipline," "surrender," and "detachment." I suspect that people respond to these words out of a difficult history with them, as a part of a religious tradition that was harsh, demanding and full of prohibitions. In truth, a great many people in the Christian tradition gauge their religious expression more by what they oppose or deny than by what they allow and encourage. As a group, we've been driven more by guilt and shame than by our love and hungers.
"Deny" is one of those words we often label as "negative" and "harsh" because of the way it has been used to beat us up. There is, however, a legitimate place for "denial" in any life. If we think of denial in terms of fasting, there are things that we need to say "no" to for our own well-being and growth. A life that is so wide open, saying "yes" to everything, takes in both the helpful and the harmful without any discrimination. Fasting is a core spiritual and life practice.
We need to learn to say appropriate "no's" in order to be balanced and whole. I think our forebears got that part right. They hammered the "deny yourself" part of the Luke 9 passage into us. But they neglected the "take up" part.
For every "laying down," there is a corresponding "taking up." We say, "no," to one thing in order to say, "yes," to something else.
In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul used the image of clothing, writing about taking off the old self and putting on the new self. It is a striking image of putting down one thing in order to create space to take on something else.
When Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me," he highlighted saying no (deny self), and saying yes (take up cross) in order to make a journey with him (follow me).
I notice how heavy and burdensome life is when I don't learn to say "no," when I don't regularly engage in disciplines that deny my self-centeredness. I find it nearly impossible to follow well when I am so heavily weighed down. What I am invited to lay down seems so heavy. What I am invited to take up seems light (a yoke that is easy and light).
For my Lenten discipline this year, I'm noticing what I might say "no" to; but, I'm also asking God to show me how to say "yes" to something good. If I'm going to put one possibly-harmful thing down, I want to pick up something else that God might use to my healing and the healing of the world.
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