Justin Bair, Associate Director of Worship and Music and co-host of YouTube Show, Methodantics alongside Sid Davis

Isaiah 6:1-5
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Reflection:
Sid Davis repeats with indelible affect, “It’s the church’s job to help us pay attention.”

“Pay attention to what?” is a very fair question.

Just this week, Sid pointed out to me symbols around the church that I hadn’t noticed before, generally enjoying and then immediately and thoughtlessly dismissing them as “ornate.” I put them in a mental box, labeled that box, and put it away. I stopped paying attention. That stone relief is now as common as any other rock, as arbitrary as any neglected stone. It hasn’t changed; only how I see it has changed.

The liturgical calendar exists, because, without it, years would pass as days without so much as a head tilt or an inquisitive pause. There is so much the season of Lent has to offer, if we’ll open our eyes to it. If we pay attention our surroundings point us toward the inner work of Lent. Some highlights:

Fasting – denying ourselves something is not simply about giving something up. It’s about making room for something else. When I choose to put my phone away, I fill that space with gazing into the eyes of my children and beholding the cotton candy clouds of the winter sunset. Give up what you must in order to remember what you’ve forgotten to attend to.

Purple – All the liturgical seasons have color associations, many of which are long forgotten. Our paraments (on the altar, pulpit, and lectern) are purple, which signifies penitence and preparation. How can we fully receive the significance of a crucified and risen Christ if we’ve neglected to stop and consider, in ourselves, why that had to happen at all? The rich purple of Lent, not a wistful lavender or a warming violet, draws our spirits inward, where the pruning must begin.

No Alleluia? – Many churches “bury” their Alleluias (some quite literally in an outdoor ceremony), because there is a time for praise, a time for focusing our gaze upward. Lent is not that. Lent draws us in, forces us to consider our position, our plight or privilege, and to trim that excess without the convenience of pious distraction. Lent is Isaiah’s “Woe is me,” not David’s “Hallelujah!”

Lent is an opportunity to renew our ongoing commitment to the implications of the Resurrection in our own lives, here and now. But that demands both the healing of the soul and the honing of the soul, both penance and faith, both a purging of what is superfluous in our lives and the intensifying of what is meaningful. Lent is not a ritual. It is a time given to think seriously about who Jesus is and renew our faith from the inside out. It’s a set aside time to pay attention to what God is doing in and among us.

Prayer:
Holy God,
Help me to pay attention this season. Show me where I need to make room. Draw my attention to the brokenness and sin in my life so that I might recognize my deep need for a Savior. Amen.