A Different Depth of Field

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? 

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This year I’d like to invite you to adjust the focus of the lens through which you see the season of Lent. We often come to this day zoomed in on ourselves.  What will be our confession? When will I get ashes? What will be my Lenten discipline? That’s not a bad focus and if that’s where you’re called, Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, would advise you to make sure the “WHY” you are doing those things is not to draw attention to yourself but as a means for you to connect more fully with God. 

On the other hand you may feel called to zoom all the way out this Lent.  To take time considering the world as a whole.  It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to see things like Climate Change, the Corona Virus, and the growing hatred for the other as parallels for the plagues of locusts and the darkness of an army gathered on a mountain, talked about by the prophet Joel. That fully zoomed out view is also not a bad focus, but again, Jesus would advise, that if this is to be your Lenten focus, make sure to do it for the right reasons. Do it for the healing of the world, for the lifting up of the sick, for the protection of the oppressed and not to play the part of either the hero coming to the world’s rescue or the martyr dying for it.

Zoomed in on our own personal journey or zoomed out to address the larger needs of the world are both good and faithful options this Lent. But there’s another option… an option with a different depth of field… which to be honest I seem to have missed in all my previous years but it is the option to which I seem to be called this year. It’s depth of field focuses somewhere between the individual and the entirety of creation. It comes out of that last bit of the lesson from Joel. “Call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast.” This different depth of field seems to call for a focus neither on the individual nor on creation as a whole but on the gathered body. My focus this Lent is on our particular assembly of people, old and young, who worship together, cry together, laugh together, and care for one another together.  Our assembly which so very often seems to live into the call to create a corner of kindness and compassion for smallness of single individuals, but right the midst of the enormousness of all of creation. 

Joel saw pulling his congregation together, with the entire range of all of it’s diverse people as a key element needed to address both the brokenness of the individual AND the brokenness of the world around them. The gathered congregation, Joel seems to have believed, had the power to not just make a difference in individual lives, but to make a difference in the larger world as well.  The first step in doing that was simply for EVERYONE to come together. Something I think that I... maybe we... often dismiss as insignificant.  

Perhaps you feel called to the individual disciplines this Lent… prayer, fasting, giving alms, doing acts of service. If that is what you are called to this Lent, may those acts turn you toward God and strengthen your relationship with the Divine. Perhaps this Lent is calling you to address the large existential crises of our day… things like climate change, poverty, racism or fear. If that is what you are called to this Lent, may you do that work in a way that seeks to shift the focus away from yourself and onto those most deeply affected by the plagues of our day.

But, if this Lent you too feel called to something with a different depth of field.  I would invite you reject the notion that our gathering itself is insignificant and instead renew your commitment to being fully present in our purposeful gatherings HERE.  To recommit yourself to being here, not just for what you can receive, and not just because you may in fact BE what someone else needs that day, but because like Joel, you too feel called to connect more deeply with this gathering… in all of our amazing and often laugh-out-loud diversity.  I think Joel was telling his people what is also true for us... that our gathering itself is a thing that God is purposefully crafting and that our gathering itself somehow has the power to work for the healing of individuals, for the healing of our community and somehow even…  for the healing of the world.

Incredible things happen when this congregation gathers. Whether it’s on Sunday, or at beer and hymns, or on the Appalachian Trail, or in those rainbow chairs out front… If you haven’t yet noticed how God works through this congregation when it is gathered together, this Lent might just be the perfect time to re-dedicate yourself to gathering as an essential part of this solemn (and often not so solemn) assembly and really taking deep notice of what God is miraculously doing in and with this holy gathering. Amen.