Inner Landscape
Ash Wednesday
Daily Reading: Matthew 6:1 – 6
Focus Passage:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matt. 6:5 – 6)
Jesus recognized our tendency to perform religious acts in order to receive a reward.
It is easy enough to attend worship, engage in prayer, serve at the shelter, or give time in our favorite ministry, hoping someone will notice. Or we may hope secretly to receive some blessing because of our spiritual practice. In Jesus’ teaching, the “trumpets” and “street corners” symbolize spiritual practice which we undertake for external reward.
Who among us is not concerned with how we look before others? We guard our reputations and fret over what people think about us. We go to great lengths to watch over the opinion others have of us, and over time grow adept at subtly manipulating it.
Spiritually speaking, this kind of external focus is counter-productive. Here on the first day of Lent, a season of honest reflection and interior cleansing, we name this outward-looking orientation what it is: a shaky foundation. A life spent seeking outside validation promises only frustration. An external focus is exhausting and not weighty enough to hold you up in the storms of life.
Instead, Jesus encourages an inward focus. He uses a term for this interior realm where the heart is developed and the soul is exercised: the “secret room” or the “hidden room.” This was Jesus’ language for the inner landscape of a person, the more soulful interiority which is at our core.
He invites us to grapple with the nuances of life inwardly, going into our “room and closing the door,” in order to offer a healing, freeing presence in the outer world. God is closer to us than our next breath. We’ll have difficulty noticing God in the outer world if we’ve never found God alive and stirring in our inner world.
On Ash Wednesday we receive ashes crossed onto our foreheads and hear these words: “Remember, from dust you have come and to dust you shall return.”
We remember the “inner room,” so we don’t need to blow “trumpets” on “street corners.”
We remember that we are more than what we do and the things we accomplish.
We remember who we are so that the traps of busyness and distraction do not hijack our lives.
We remember that we are not our image. We are not our successes or our failures.
We remember the One who shapes and gives life.
We remember that our existence on earth is not forever; thus, in our limited time we had best live fully the one wild and precious life that we have.
Ash Wednesday shapes the rest of Lent. It gives perspective and provides framework for the days ahead. We are invited today – and then throughout Lent – to give attention to our inner room. We are invited to remember who we are and then live fully into our identity.
For Reflection:
What does it mean for you to go into your “inner room” today? Spend some time in silence and solitude, giving attention to your inner room, the place within you where you are most deeply and intimately connected to God.
Daily Reading: Matthew 6:1 – 6
Focus Passage:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matt. 6:5 – 6)
Jesus recognized our tendency to perform religious acts in order to receive a reward.
It is easy enough to attend worship, engage in prayer, serve at the shelter, or give time in our favorite ministry, hoping someone will notice. Or we may hope secretly to receive some blessing because of our spiritual practice. In Jesus’ teaching, the “trumpets” and “street corners” symbolize spiritual practice which we undertake for external reward.
Who among us is not concerned with how we look before others? We guard our reputations and fret over what people think about us. We go to great lengths to watch over the opinion others have of us, and over time grow adept at subtly manipulating it.
Spiritually speaking, this kind of external focus is counter-productive. Here on the first day of Lent, a season of honest reflection and interior cleansing, we name this outward-looking orientation what it is: a shaky foundation. A life spent seeking outside validation promises only frustration. An external focus is exhausting and not weighty enough to hold you up in the storms of life.
Instead, Jesus encourages an inward focus. He uses a term for this interior realm where the heart is developed and the soul is exercised: the “secret room” or the “hidden room.” This was Jesus’ language for the inner landscape of a person, the more soulful interiority which is at our core.
He invites us to grapple with the nuances of life inwardly, going into our “room and closing the door,” in order to offer a healing, freeing presence in the outer world. God is closer to us than our next breath. We’ll have difficulty noticing God in the outer world if we’ve never found God alive and stirring in our inner world.
On Ash Wednesday we receive ashes crossed onto our foreheads and hear these words: “Remember, from dust you have come and to dust you shall return.”
We remember the “inner room,” so we don’t need to blow “trumpets” on “street corners.”
We remember that we are more than what we do and the things we accomplish.
We remember who we are so that the traps of busyness and distraction do not hijack our lives.
We remember that we are not our image. We are not our successes or our failures.
We remember the One who shapes and gives life.
We remember that our existence on earth is not forever; thus, in our limited time we had best live fully the one wild and precious life that we have.
Ash Wednesday shapes the rest of Lent. It gives perspective and provides framework for the days ahead. We are invited today – and then throughout Lent – to give attention to our inner room. We are invited to remember who we are and then live fully into our identity.
For Reflection:
What does it mean for you to go into your “inner room” today? Spend some time in silence and solitude, giving attention to your inner room, the place within you where you are most deeply and intimately connected to God.
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