40

“To understand a people, you must live among them for 40 days.” ~Arabic proverb

I’m thinking a lot about the number "40" these days. I’m in my 40s and find this time of life exciting as well as challenging with a lot more transitions than I seem to remember happening during my 30s – kids graduating high school, parents aging, hair changing color, and a recurring, aching need to buy a red sport’s car (just kidding). Of course, "40" isn’t primarily about the beginnings of some mid-life crisis but remains a number anchored deep within the ancient story of God and his people throughout the Old and New Testaments.  Take a look at this brief tour of the number 40 throughout the Bible:

• Rain fell for "forty days and forty nights” during the Flood that covered the earth (Genesis 7)
• Spies explored the land of Israel for “forty days.” (Numbers 13)
• The Hebrew people lived in the Sinai desert for “forty years”. (Exodus 16)
• Moses spent three consecutive periods of “forty days and forty nights” on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 24)
• Goliath challenged the Israelites twice a day for “forty days” before David defeated him. (1 Samuel 17)
• Before he was tempted by the devil, Jesus fasted “forty days and forty nights” in the desert. (Matthew 4; Mark 1; Luke 4)
• “Forty days” was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to his ascension. (Acts 1)

To acknowledge the significance of this story of “40” in Christian practice, many Christians participate in the season of Lent which consists of the 40 days preceding Easter (excluding Sundays from the count). All this discussion of “40” helps the Arabic proverb above take on a new meaning. What would people understand about us if they knew this story of “40”and spent these 40 days of Lent with us as Christians? What would they learn about MCC as a community of faith? 1. First, hopefully, they would discover that we are a community that takes sin seriously, especially our own. We began with Ash Wednesday marking ourselves with ashes to confront our own mortality and confess our own sins before God. This is a time in which we purposefully practice self-examination and repentance, recognizing that our time is short and that we are in desperate need for God’s grace, and that God’s work is not yet done in our lives. It's a time when we acknowledge that whatever we might wish to say about ourselves, “sinners” or “broken” should always be included. 2. A second attitude I hope people would discover about us as a community is that we care deeply for each other and our world. The word “care” derives from an Indo-European word meaning “to cry out,” as in lament. So during Lent we as a community will spend time lamenting the pain of world – hunger, poverty, abuse, estrangement, violence, and all those things that seek to lead us away from God and His love as well as each other. It’s this motivation to care that the Bible highlights as the real reason behind “fasting.” God, through the prophet Isaiah, declared, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of justice, to undo the throngs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor in your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” (Isaiah 58:6-7). According to the Bible, fasting is not primarily about discomfort, or even self-denial, but remains an act of justice by which we seek to care for our neighbors in prayer, through active generosity, and out of our compassionate desire to give. With this in mind, I sometimes encourage people not to give up their standby denials of chocolate, caffeine, or video games, but to take up practices which demonstrate an attitude of compassion, mercy, and justice: volunteering at a nonprofit that works with the poor, writing hand-written letters of “thanks” or of “encouragement” each week to someone, etc. When you focus on caring, I believe, it brings the concept of self-denial into its proper place which is always to enact justice and love for others. It's a giving up "so that" something greater can happen. 3. Finally, a third truth I hope that people would discover about our community is that we are part of a story that is moving toward an amazing end! While Lent might feel stark, even arduous, we know it’s only for a short time. We know it’s leading somewhere. And we know that that somewhere is worth the wait! Why can we confess our sins with abandon? Why can we lament, fast, and deny ourselves pleasures so that others experience justice? We can do so because "40" will give way to eternity- an eternity championed by God himself, through his son Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit, who died and rose again and who will come ultimately to make all things right. We know this, so we wait. We wait for Easter, we wait for the banquet, we wait for loved ones gone, we wait for sick ones healed, we wait for creation restored, we wait, we wait, we wait; because we know that "40" will one day end. Amen.