What are you giving up for Lent? I remember that question from my youth. Although my family did not recognize this liturgical season, many of my childhood friends did. Spinach was a favorite response, as I remember it.

Praying, Fasting, and Giving Alms are the three traditional disciplines of Lent, but what I remember most was giving things up … sacrifice.

Lent is the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, during which Christians prepare themselves for the promise of rebirth that Easter offers.

Lent, which simply means “spring” or specifically “longer days,” is celebrated in most of the Christian confessions. It is marked by fasting and relinquishment, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring temptation by Satan, who has featured in both of my last sermons on the theme of Evil.

Sacrifice seemed central to the preparation called for in this season, at least it seemed that way to me as a child. Sacrifice, however, did not generate much enthusiasm among my friends. Their approach seemed to be to give up something you would rather not have anyway. Make the sacrifice as painless as possible.

Sacrifice is also not a strength of liberal religion. Entitlement is more our preferred practice. This is reflected in our focus on the individual rather than the community. It is mirrored in the culture of scarcity that encourages us to compete for resources, even at First Unitarian. We struggle to believe in and to operate out of a culture of abundance.

Scarcity mentality is another hallmark of the culture of white supremacy. Scarcity demands competition for resources, embraces a win-lose approach to life as a zero sum game.

Abundance asks us to believe that “we have all we need.” Sharing of resources is therefore not a threat, it is a blessing.

In this Lenten season, perhaps what we most need to relinquish is scarcity thinking and the smallness of spirit to which it leads.

Some of you will have read Elizabeth Nguyen’s most recent prayer at the UUA’s Side With Love website. I share it here because its language begins to shift sacrifice toward sharing. Would not the Beloved Community be characterized by the sharing of abundance? Is not spiritual preparation for the coming of that kingdom worthy work for us in this season of budding spring?

 

What We Must Do by Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen

Spirit, help me to look at sacrifice.

I know.

What a heavy, dangerous thing.

We know that it is harm to diminish ourselves.

There is no justice in making ourselves little.

And still we know this to be true: someone sacrificed

For us.

A grandparent went without.

A parent crossed a border.

A sibling let go of a dream.

She worked a second job.

They gave us theirs.

He rarely rested.

They should not have had to. But they did.

Some of us were taught that we can have every

Good thing and not give up anything.

When we fight for each other as family, sometimes

We find a better way.

A sacrifice we choose: A paycheck. An afternoon. A

Year. A year of paychecks.

A gift in the name of life. Freely given.

No martyrs, no saviors.

And, if we have a lot, we may be asked to give it.

Some of us can give more because we have it:

Privacy, rest, mobility, money, time, attention.

Sometimes we give because if we did not,

We would sacrifice something else:

Our Heart.

Our Humanity.

Our Faith.

May we treat one another as family – offering

When we have to give and taking freely when it is

Ours to take.

On our way to creating a world that believes

Abundance is a birthright for every body.

May it be so.

 

Blessings,

 

Bill