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The Lent spiritual health check
SERMON – 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 1st March 2009 (9am service)
Revd. Canon David Pickering
Mark 1.12
I recently went for a Health Check Up.
As I sat in the reception area filling in my details there was a slight feeling trepidation in my mind as to what they might find.
Thankfully the outcome was all very good and positive.
Those of us who own cars have to keep a check on our mileage so that it gets serviced at regular intervals.
Computers need to be regularly scanned to make sure they are free of viruses and other defects.
Machines need regular services and check ups.
We all need health checks of one kind or another from time to time, and that should include a check on our spiritual health.
This is what Lent is all about.
We may approach a health check up and the season of Lent with the same foreboding, but they are both good for us and can have healthy results.
Physical and spiritual health are not totally unrelated.
If we are healthy in mind and body we are usually well in spirit and temperament.
But we will probably find that spiritual health can make a greater contribution to our physical and mental health than the other way round. As we go through life we know that we have to keep our minds and bodies in trim with a healthy diet, appropriate exercise and regular check ups.
Our souls and spiritual life need the same.
The trouble is our spiritual diet can so often go stale.
We all have high spiritual moments from time to time but they can all go very flat. We can so easily lose the vision. Our prayers become mere words and no longer a real conversation with God. Worship lapses into something of a reluctant duty rather than an enthusiastic celebration of what God does for us. The receiving of Holy Communion slips into a mere ritual, and loses the real sense of being an inspirational and wonderful experience. And we have no time for real bible reading, which is almost like giving up an essential meal of the day.
Not only do we fall into an unhealthy spiritual diet, what happens about healthy spiritual exercise?
Our moral values of goodness, honesty and justice are not always what they might be.
Our conversations become negative, especially about other people, instead of being affirming and encouraging.
Generosity and kindness has to be dragged out of us. We are too lazy to be concerned with the affairs of the world.
The season of Lent is the time to check up on our spiritual health. It gives us the opportunity to reassess our spiritual diet. We might give up sweets, cakes and biscuits for Lent. These may make us physically more healthy, but probably wont do a lot for our spiritual growth.
It's probably better to give than to give up something for Lent; to give more time to pray and worship; to put God back at the centre of our lives.
At the core of our spiritual life must be prayer and worship. And leading on from that is the exercise of our lifestyle.
If our spiritual life is grounded in a healthy relationship with God through prayer and worship it can make a whole difference to the rest of our lives.
If we are something like right with God, then being right with the world will not be far behind.
Being in tune with God means we can be in tune with his will and purpose in the world. We will have better relationships with those around us, the environment. Going with God leads to being aware of the social needs around us, and gives us the encouragement to do something about them.
Lent is a journey; a journey with God. Its destination is Easter and the celebration of the risen Lord.
But that is not the end.
Lent is about re-establishing our journey with God so that we can rise to a new life at Easter.
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