Returning To Jesus: Practicing Lent In Our Time
Discerning The Times
Every year during Lent, followers of Jesus remember the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness resisting the temptations of Satan to turn him away from God and towards human desires of worldly wealth, power, and domination.
This year we celebrate Lent amidst a growing crisis in America, driven by the political accumulation of wealth, power, and control. This crisis already threatens the rule of law and the checks and balances of our constitutional democracy. In the deluge and whirlwind of this administration’s initial actions we see the brutal abandonment and targeting of the people Jesus commands his followers to serve and protect. Defending the vulnerable and opposing unjust decisions are faith-rooted commitments we must examine during Lent.
During Holy Week, we will center our hearts and minds on the cross and resurrection, which reminds us to place our faith in God, who saves and redeems, rather than in the power of the rulers of this world. Christian reflection during this Lenten season should include repentance for our own temptations to worldly power and a renewed commitment to return to Jesus’ call to love of our neighbors, especially those whom Jesus commands us to protect. Through the traditional spiritual practices of fasting, prayer, repentance, sacrifice, and service we hope to strengthen our relationship to Christ and become more steadfast in our resolve to address this expanding crisis.
Defending The Vulnerable
To better defend the vulnerable, we must return to Jesus by focusing on his final teaching before he went to Jerusalem, named in the Bible as the “judgement of the nations.” The focus of Christians of all political persuasions must be on Jesus' final teaching in the 25th chapter of Matthew.
“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.”
Jesus makes clear what our focus must always be– but especially so in times of political crisis and chaos– to serve and protect the poor and vulnerable.
“As you have done to the least of these, you have done to me,” he says. Jesus' identification with those on the edges and margins of society requires our solidarity too at this crucial time.
In this moment, we see the hurting of those who Jesus calls us to serve. Those experiencing poverty (the hungry, the thirsty, the naked) both in our country and the world’s poorest countries are in great danger of being cut off from aid and support. People in need of lifesaving medical treatments (the sick) are having their care suspended– already resulting in deaths. Reform of government programs is always necessary, but the results for those in most jeopardy must be our primary concern.
Our country’s great need for a lawful, humane, and effective immigration system is urgent; but millions of people without needed legal documentation,but who have no criminal records, (the stranger) are now being threatened with mass deportations and are being detained and separated from their families and communities.
While thousands of people convicted of violent assault, trespassing, theft, and even seditious conspiracy were pardoned in a blatant act of political corruption, there are millions of Americans (the imprisoned) who remain incarcerated by a broken, unjust, and racialized criminal justice system in this country.
We can be informed by Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.”
Action
This season of Lent provides an urgent opportunity to wrestle with key spiritual and moral questions, including: what additional sacrifice is needed in this time as we give up things that are detrimental to our spiritual and personal health and that cause us to focus less on our interests and more on the interests of others (Philippians 2:2-3)? How do we offer our increased service in every way by volunteering our time, resources, and energy to those most in need? And how can we bravely lift up our voices for the sake of those in most danger at this moment?
The massive cutting of foreign aid to those most in need, and from many faith-based organizations supplying it is a gospel issue for us that we must speak to, despite dishonest, personal, and unprecedented government attacks now coming against faith-based service providers. We must defend lifesaving international aid and humanitarian assistance that prevents hungry people from starving, keeps those in ill health from dying, and defends children and families lives from being destroyed.
As Christians on both sides of the political aisle, we must call on our local, state, and federal elected officials to oppose massive cuts in funding to programs like Medicaid that provide vital healthcare to the poor, and like SNAP, WIC, and other efforts to sustain food for the hungry.
For followers of Jesus, budgets are moral documents. Any necessary deficit reduction should never be at the expense of low-income families, while benefits are disproportionately given to the wealthy. This moral tradeoff is unacceptable. Our Scriptures are clear that we will be judged by how we treat the poor.
As a diverse and reconciling body of Christ in America we must strongly oppose racial discrimination including the disproportionate impact of budget cuts on Black and Brown families, and the end of federal anti-discrimination federal policies and protections by executive orders.
In this critical moment of dehumanization toward the stranger, we affirm our commitment to immigrants and refugees. In particular, we support protections of “sensitive locations”-- including the “sacred spaces” of our worshiping congregations. Such actions are consistent with both our religious freedoms granted in the Constitution and our Biblical imperatives.
Liturgical Faithful Obedience
As we anticipate this sacred season, and Holy Week to follow, let us recall the humble procession of our Lord on a donkey, confronting the imperial, autocratic power of the Roman Empire, with its domestic religious collaborators. In that conflict, the manipulated crowd cried out “We have no King but Caesar.” Let us be clear in proclaiming that in this hour, our ultimate loyalty is to Jesus Christ, who saves, redeems, and heals– transcending any partisan agendas.
Faith communities can be lights shining in the darkness, and truth-tellers to power, based on our proximity and relationship to the most vulnerable children of God who we are especially called to love. Let us fast, pray, repent, sacrifice, serve, and lift our voices as we return to Jesus Christ in this Lenten season. In history, every moment of crisis can spark the opportunity for revival, renewal, and revitalizing our obedience to Jesus–which is always the way offered to us by God’s grace.
Signed by,
Bishop Claude Alexander, The Park Church
Rev. Dr. Gregory Arthur, Ideos Institute
Rev. Dr. Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College
Dr. Paul Baxley, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Sr. Bridget Bearss, RSCJ, Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Rev. Dr. David Beckmann, Circle of Protection
Dr. Christy Berghoef, Holland United Church of Christ
Rev. Dr. Timothy Tee Boddie, Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Farnham, VA
Rev. Thomas Bowen, EngageFaith
Dr. Diana Butler Bass, Author and historian
Chaplain Faith Bynoe, Baptist Fellowship Northeast
Rev. Caleb Campbell, Disarming Leviathan Ministries
Mr. Patrick Carolan, Catholics Vote Common Good
Dr. Rick Chamiec-Case, Sojourners
Pastor Raymond Chang, Asian American Christian Collaborative
Rev. Hope Christensen, Faith Leaders for Ending Gun Violence
Mr. Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians
Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland Tune, National Council of Churches USA
Mr. Avery Davis Lamb, Creation Justice Ministries
Ms. Marie Dennis, Pax Christi International's Catholic Institute for Nonviolence
Rev. Julian DeShazier, University Church
Dr. Michele Dunne, OFS, Franciscan Action Network
Dr. Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker , AME CHURCH - SOCIAL ACTION COMMISSION
Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, Providence Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Bob Ekblad, Tierra Nueva
Rev. Sharon Felton , CBF
Ms. Michelle Ferrigno Warren, Virago Strategies
Mrs. Christina Foor , CCDA
Dr. Brian Foreman, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global
Rev. Glen Foster, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship West
Rev. Robert Fox, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Kentucky
Rev. Dr. Robert Franklin, Candler School of Theology
Mrs. Ana Garcia-Ashley, Gamaliel
Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary Emeritus, Reformed Church in America
Rev. Neichelle R. Guidry, Ph.D. , Spelman College
Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale, Ray of Hope Christian Church (DOC)
Rev. Dr. Andy Hale, CBF North Carolina
Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft, Middle Church
Rev. Adam Hamilton, Author, The Message of Jesus
Rev. Sekinah Hamlin, Disciples Overseas Ministries
Canon Leonard L Hamlin Sr, Washington National Cathedral
Rev. Dr. Richard Hamm, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. Fred Harrell, Cultivate Pastors and Churches, Inc.
Rev. Dr. Tom Harrington, University Baptist Church
Rev. Moya Harris, Sojourners
Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, Presbyterian Church
Rev. Jennifer Hawks, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF)
Rev. Dr. Peter Heltzel, Park Avenue Christian Church
Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the US and Canada
Rev. Deth Im, Faith in Action
Rev. Dr. Amy Jacober, Harbor Church
Rev. Dennis Jacobsen, Gamaliel
Aura Kanegis, American Friends Service Committee
Rev. Dr. Jim Lawrence, Swedenborgian Church of North America
Rev. Wanda London, Baltimore Annual Conference of the AME Church
Ms. Elizabeth Madeira, Southern Christian Coalition
Rev. Carlos L Malave, Latino Christian National Network
Rev. Michael A. Mata, Los Angeles First Church of the Nazarene
Dr. Walter McCray, National Black Evangelical Association
Bishop Vashti McKenzie, NCC
Mr. Ken Medema, Brier Patch Music
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Trinity United Church of Christ
Ms. Joan Neal, NETWORK Advocates for Catholic Social Justice
Rev. Nancy Neal, Bread for the World
Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst, INFEMIT
Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, Fuller Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall, Good Faith Media
Senior Bishop Lawrence Reddick, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Rios, Passion2Plant Network
Bishop Raymond Rivera , Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC)
Rev. Bethany Rivera Molinar, Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach
Rev. Sean Roberds, Mid-Atlantic CBF
Rev. Dr. Robert Chao Romero, UCLA
Bishop Dwayne Royster, Faith in Action
Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra, Centro Latino, Fuller Theological Seminary
Mr. Richard Santos, Church World Service
Dr. Monica Schaap Pierce, Christian Churches Together
Dr. Stephen Schneck, Catholics for the Future
Dr. Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, Leadership LINKS, Inc.
Mr. Rich Stearns
General Secretary David Steele, Church of the Brethren
Dr. Maria Stephan, Scholar of civil resistance
Rev. Ron Stief, National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Rev. Adam Taylor, Sojourners
Rev. Heather Taylor, Bread for the World
Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, United Church of Christ
Rev. Dr. Marlon Tilghman, BRIDGE Maryland, Inc.
Ms. Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Christians for Social Action
Rev. Harold Dean Trulear, Healing Communities USA
Rev. Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes, Columbia Theological Seminary
Ms. Karli Wallace Thompson, Faithful America
Rev. Jim Wallis, Center on Faith and Justice
Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, Retired, Disciples of Christ
Dr. Colin Watson, Christian Reformed Church in North America
Mr. Tim Whitaker, The New Evangelicals
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Skinner Leadership Institute
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, Children’s Defense Fund
Minister Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, St Johns Missionary Baptist Church
Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center
Sr. Carol Zinn, SSJ, Leadership Conference of Women Religious