Rector's Notes: A Bright Sadness

This month's Rector's Notes are an abridged and re-edited version of a sermon that was preached two years ago, on the Last Sunday of Epiphany in 2010. The manuscript for the full original sermon can be found by clicking here.  (There is also an audio version of that sermon on our webpage as well, which can be found here.)

Alexander Schmemman was the Dean of St. Vladimir's Seminary in Crestwood, New York and one of the leading liturgical scholars in Orthodox Christianity in the twentieth century. It has become my practice in recent years to return at this time of the year to his book, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha, which is about Orthodox Lenten practices.

In Western Christianity (by which I mean Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Protestants) we move through the season of Epiphany from the arrival of the magi to the Jordan River (Jesus' Baptism) and then various little epiphanies along the way, such as the miracle at Cana in Galilee and the many healing stories that reveal who Jesus is as the Christ. That journey concludes on the Mount of the Transfiguration, the greatest "epiphany" of all, where the post-Easter Jesus is glimpsed in all his glory. And then we come down from that mountain to Ash Wednesday, three days later, to join Jesus and the disciples in "setting our face toward Jerusalem." It's a powerful metaphor that suggests that once we grasp that Jesus truly is the Son of God, we must resist the temptation to build booths for him on the mountaintop. The Voice that speaks there (as at the Jordan) tells us to listen to him, and he says, "follow me." And not just follow me anywhere, but follow me to the Cross.

Among Orthodox Christians, Epiphany is an even bigger deal than it is in the west. But the days leading up to Lent are different. Before the Lenten Journey begins, the Orthodox prepare by focusing on five themes: Desire for God (the story of Zacchaeus), Humility (the Publican and the Pharisee), Return from Exile (the parable of the Prodigal Son), Last Judgment, and then finally, Forgiveness Sunday. It is the last of these that I want to focus on here: Forgiveness Sunday. The liturgy for this day involves an elaborate dance as each person in worship says to every other person gathered there: "Forgive me, for I have sinned."

Now most of us know how hard it can be for us to forgive someone who has hurt us very badly. And the chances are good that among family and friends and neighbors in a congregation like ours there will be, at any given time, someone in the congregation who has hurt us. Perhaps even hurt us very badly. But at the very least, even when we aren't yet able to forgive someone, we can remember that God forgives all who confess their sins and are truly penitent.

So the liturgical response to the one who says, "Forgive me for I have sinned" is not "I forgive you." Because, to be honest, that might not yet be true; even if we are working on it. Rather, the liturgical response is: "God has forgiven you." Even as this dance is unfolding, Schmemman suggests that the choir sing Easter hymns to remind the gathered community that Lent is not an end in itself, but the pathway to the empty tomb. It is the journey to Pascha.

The theological point is clear and it holds true whether one is shaped by eastern or western Christianity: Lent gives us forty days to work on forgiveness and reconciliation. (I think Shrove Tuesday is meant to function in a way similar to Forgiveness Sunday; the difference is that the former focuses on private confession and the priest pronounces God's absolution, while the latter makes this the work of all of God's people in public worship.) Both east and west agree, however, that when it comes to forgiveness, God gets there before we do. This may be especially true when we are trying to forgive ourselves. We must remember that God is already waiting with open arms, like the father of that prodigal son. For all Christians, the Season of Lent becomes a time for us to try to live more fully into God's reality, which is what the journey toward Easter is about.

From east to west, Lent is about forgiveness and new beginnings, not guilt and shame. There is an atmosphere created in Lent, Schmemman says, a state of mind that our worship creates. The spirit of Lent, he says, is meant to help us to experience a "bright sadness" that he says is the message and the gift of Lent. We are invited to enter this season of "bright sadness" in order to experience that mysterious liberation, a liberation that makes us "light and peaceful" by illuminating an inner beauty. Schmemman compares this season to "an early ray of the sun which, while it is still dark in the valley, begins to lighten up the top of the mountain."

Maybe this image gives us our connection between east and west! Maybe that is where the Mount of the Transfiguration converges with Forgiveness Sunday: in those places where an early ray of morning sun illumines the top of the mountain. Or whenever one sinner says to another: Forgive me, for I am a sinner and then hears the words we all long to hear: God forgives you, be at peace. May this simple prayer lead us through the bright sadness of a Holy Lent to the dawn of Easter morning where we embrace the liberating new life that is ours as a forgiven and reconciled people, called to live at peace with God and our neighbors.

Yours in Christ,

Rich