At the risk of understatement, we live in a self-indulgent culture in the western first world. Ever since the intellectual renaissance of the late 17th century dubbed “The Enlightenment” we have lauded the individual; the power of the human mind; the gift of self-determination. Hegel coined this emerging phenomenon as “the rise of the autonomous self.” We post-modern Americans give praise for the self-made man. Even the church has bought in to this ethos. We speak of salvation as intensely personal. We speak of it as a personal relationship with Jesus… so that “I” might go to heaven after this earthly life. There are speakers and seminars all over the church to help us straighten out our personal prayer life. We describe Lent as a season in the church characterized by interior reflection and self-examination.
I want to say that our cultural predisposition for self-indulgence undermines our spirituality. I want to say that spirituality is just as much about our neighbor, our world, as it is about us. When Jesus exhorts us to keep awake, he is not speaking of mere personal awareness. He is speaking of mindfulness, which encompasses the community in which we live and our contingency to it. In other words, salvation is not solely about the individual. It is about the restoration of community. That is why the gospels are shot through with words like mercy and justice; freedom and dignity. These are words that ramify in community. Salvation is about how we live together with integrity. Jesus did not live and die for me… He lived and died for us. That is a crucial distinction for the post-modern church.
Therefore I would suggest that our Lenten reflections, our paying attention, our keeping awake, include that which may hinder the greater community from gracious and creative living. That means that it is our business to be concerned with the issues that affect our common life. Some say that is “being political.” I say it is being Christian, and dare I say… relevant. Remember, we are baptized into a movement meant to subvert the power of the status quo, so that all people may share in God’s abundant creation.. Our being agents of change and transformation is not simply a hobby practiced by spiritual people. It is our spiritual worship.
The spiritual quest is by no means a solitary enterprise, despite what the culture teaches us. It always implies the wider community, and the wider community, at least according to scripture, includes the voiceless, and the victims of violence, and the unwelcomed immigrant, and the outcast. Our Lenten journey, our life of faith is only self-indulgence if we don’t include them.
God is forever sacrificing God’s interior life for the good of the whole, because God is Love, and that is what Love does. Open your hearts to the world. Reflect on the infinite possibilities of Love; and thereby, keep this Lent Holy.
