Three Dimensions of Life
People call themselves “spiritual” who don’t follow any particular religion and sometimes don’t even believe in God. It is a good thing to be spiritual and to know oneself as spiritual. People who say they are spiritual but not religious are true to themselves. We also should be true to ourselves and say we are religious and spiritual; they are not mutually exclusive. So let’s be true to ourselves. And let’s see what Lent can tell us about being spiritual. We may find it easier to relate with those of our friends and family members who consider themselves as spiritual but not religious.
For too many Orthodox Christians the spirituality of Lent is all about fasting; and it ends with fasting. Micah 6:8 tells us what we lack: He has told you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? It seems to me that we can’t talk spirituality or Lent without giving Micah a hearing.
The life of humility, justice and kindness is not limited to the season of Lent. Fasting is seasonal, but the life guided by humility and maked by kindness, mercy, justice is not seasonal. It is the spirituality of a Jesus believer.
It’s sad to admit that religion most often becomes an attempt at commodity exchange. But God does not deal with commodities. The commodification of religion is the one sin that is common to ALL religions, including our own. It was a constant temptation for Jews of ancient times, and that is why the prophets spared no words speaking against it. And it is the temptation for all Christians as well.
Have we moved much beyond the golden calf that greeted Moses when he came down from the mountain (Exodus 32)? Does it not greet everyone who comes to Wall Street? And don’t we do it in religious terms all the time, by bargaining with God, making promises if God would only fulfill our desires? Don’t people in Greece, for example, make tamata all the time? You see them hanging in front of icons in almost every church in that country, often covering completely the icon in front of which they are placed. Have you ever seen the miracle-working icon of the Theotokos at Tinos in Greece? Guess what, no one else can see it either. It’s completely covered by jewels and gold and silver offerings!
What would Isaiah or Amos or Micah say about such a sight? It isn’t hard to imagine.
If you’re still reading, you may be wondering what this has to do with you. There is nothing trivial about this. It has to do with how you view God. It has to do with how you read the Bible. It has to do with how you pray. It has to do with how you view people, especially those who are not like you. It has to do with how you view life and health and death. It has to do with whether you live in the present or in some future never-land. It has to do with whether you see life as a commodity to be traded to the highest bidder. Lent is an annual invitation to cleanse our backlog of mixed loyalties and false understandings. And yes, fasting does help – but not by itself.
In Greece, Lent begins on what is called Clean Monday. What do people do on Clean Monday? They might clean their kitchen or refrigerator. They might air out the house – it’s the beginning of spring after all. But then they go out and fly kites and picnic in the open air.
It may sound trivial and unspiritual, but who wouldn’t want to go out to picnic and fly a kite? Flying a kite can become a meaningful entrance into Lent if we see it as an invitation to let our spirits soar free in the coming forty days. Then we would see fasting as a bodily discipline that helps the spirit soar more freely, less encumbered by physical limitations and temptations. But not if we do it with a legalistic mindset. Legalistic fasting is simply a commodity exchange. “Here, God, I’m fasting, I hope you’re taking note.” God does take note, but not the way the legalist expects:
“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.”
(Isaiah 58:5-10)
God spoke through the prophet and God speaks those words today. Who among us is not tempted to ignore or even judge the poor, the hungry, the homeless? Who among us does not gossip and point the finger at others? Who among us is truly humble before God? It is no accident that the Orthodox Church has chosen to prescribe readings from Isaiah throughout the 40 days of Lent. If you look at your wall calendar at the daily readings for March and the first ten days of April, you will see readings every weekday from Isaiah, Genesis and Proverbs – three books of what we call the Old Testament; three books that have much wisdom to convey to us in our “modern” times. You will notice that the passage I quoted above is the reading for April 8th this year.
It seems to me that by choosing these three Old Testament books for Lenten reading the Church is telling us something profound. Our lives as Christians are at the intersection of three dimensions: the historical, the prophetic and the practical.
Genesis provides the historical framework. We read there the actions of God that formed a people. We see there the cosmic creation narrowed down to focus on one nation. We also are part of cosmic history, narrowed down to the history of our own ancestors or nation. Understanding the cosmic perspective keeps us – or should keep us – from narrow nationalism. And as the world becomes more divided and conflicted, that is one valuable spiritual lesson for all of us.
Isaiah gives us the prophetic dimension of our lives. No matter how proud we are of our heritage, no matter how good our lives are, there is one judge and one judge alone – and that is God. The prophets give us God’s view of our lives and our history. Through the prophets God shakes the nations and the lives of people. And we all need shaking – more often than any of us would like to admit.
Proverbs is about practical advice, daily wisdom. Much of the book of Proverbs can seem antiquated and even sexist. We don’t have to accept every precept in Proverbs as suitable to life in today’s world; but the overall message is just as profound as any we read in the prophets. The book of Proverbs tells us that the practical wisdom and advice by which we guide our lives is connected to the wisdom of the universe and has consequences for the earth and all life on earth. Wisdom speaks (Proverbs 8:22-36):
“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth….
When he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
Happy is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the Lord;
but those who miss me injure themselves;
all who hate me love death.”
Does it all sound too high-flown and too high-flying? Let me bring it down to earth. The message of Genesis, Isaiah and Proverbs is simple. Our lives are part of a history much greater than any of us individually. And our lives have consequences today and for tomorrow and the future beyond tomorrow. We are not alone. We live for each other and as parts of a beautiful whole, God’s magnificent design. We are woven into reality. Lent tells us to get real with ourselves and see that we belong. Let this Lent be about more than fasting. Let it be about seeing God more clearly in our lives!
Fr. Constantine Sarantidis
A slightly different version of this article, appears in our current newsletter. To view the newsletter, click here.