A celebrated and successful tele-evangelist observed that he had discarded Lent as an observance in his congregation. "It is such a downer," he told his devoted television audience. This liturgical season interfered with the evangelist’s doctrine of "be happy attitudes."

Giving up Lent for Lent is the overt decision of many congregations attuned to popularity polling, the advice of church growth gurus, and the prevailing cultural attitudes. After all, Lent is a real downer. This Wednesday we conducted two somber services in the Providence chapel, placing ashes upon the brow of the faithful. We United Methodists are Anglo-Catholic. Ashe Wednesday is integral to our heritage. We are each reminded annually that we come from dust, and to dust and ashes we shall return. I even met with the children’s choirs in the afternoon, explaining the meaning of the Christian faith in relationship to the fact of our finitude. During Lent we commit two cultural taboos: we talk about death and we refer to sin. On Ash Wednesday we begin the spiritual pilgrimage of forty days, initiated by the remembrance that we too shall die. Our span of time upon God’s earth is brief. Life is brief, but it is a gift of grace to be lived in covenant.

On this first Sunday of Lent we read annually one of the Synoptic accounts of the temptations of Christ. This year we shall focus upon Luke’s story.

The whole process seems almost un-American. Ours is a vibrant culture, always in the pursuit of happiness. Death is an obscenity, hidden by cascades of flowers and relegated to remote burial lawns on the edge of town. We do not invite the Grim Reaper to our dinner parties. Moreover, sin is denied, camouflaged, psychoanalyzed, and repressed—not confessed. We pretend to be a nation of victims. We don’t really sin. We make mistakes of judgment. If a popular politician lies, he or she is only being human. We repeat the aphorism of Alexander Pope: "To err is human/to forgive, divine." Thus, we fail even to recognize temptation when it comes down the pike.

Last week I was moved by the PBS documentary on the lives of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. This secular saint, and most revered of all American presidents, considered the civil war to be a great sin. But the greater offense against the Almighty, in Lincoln’s mind, was the sin of slavery. Thus, he stated in his Second Inaugural address that "if God wills that [this war] continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said: ‘the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether."1

Lincoln believed that there will be no redemption for this nation until our corporate sin is confessed. Lent and Lincoln have now been vaporized by a culture that refuses to face its violent and racist history. To confess our corporate sin is to admit weakness. We disclose our vulnerability. We diminish our self-esteem. Thus, we indeed resemble the American culture, which H. Richard Niebuhr so aptly described two generations ago when he wrote, "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross."2

In reality, the theology of Lent is our only route from the glen of gloom or the desert of despair. Throughout this confessional season of Lent we shall be walking toward the sunrise of resurrection hope. Lent reminds us that Jesus was indeed tempted, but remained without sin. Moreover, none of us possesses the power over temptation, unless we pilgrimage with Jesus. Only Christ provides us with the power to resist temptation and to be restored in righteousness.

Luke’s story reminds us that temptations are subtle. The tempter is most successful when we are riding highest. After all, the tempter comes to us bearing gifts. The tempter promises us "be happy" results. In Luke’s story Jesus was offered the gift of bread in his moment of maximum hunger. He was lured by the power to turn stones into bread. What a Gift indeed! There are no more financial insecurities for the one possessing such power. Hungry men will sell their souls for this bread of security.

A Japanese proverb states "the cat is a saint when there are no mice about." The tempter did not attack Jesus, assault him, or even abuse him. He merely offered him a gift – perpetual security.

The second offer was the gift of power. Jesus was offered the position of Roman emperor. He was told that he could have dominion over all the kingdoms of this world. All that was required was his worshipping the tempter. Think of all the good that Jesus could have done with all that political power! Moreover, we abhor leaders that seem powerless. We adore the Machiavellian prince – the politician who yields great power.

But, in the wilderness of temptation, Jesus unmasked the principalities and powers. He showed us that all political power is spurious. Former President Jimmy Carter possesses far more power for good now than when he was in the White House.

The third temptation was also a gift: the gift of religion. Spiritual showbiz! He was told to leap from the pinnacle of the temple and God’s angels would protect him by a scripture-quoting, evangelical devil.

Judge Reynolds, who conducted the bankruptcy trial of Charlotte evangelist Jim Bakker, was a member of my parish in Greensboro. Once he told me, "That fellow was very religious. He could have accomplished no end of good. But he did not recognize the temptation of greed. He thought his success was God’s blessing. It was, in reality, the devil’s temptation."

We at Providence Church are cautioned by this initial gospel story of Lent. We are a very successful church. But our success must never be a substitute for faithfulness. Much is accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit. Moreover, if we become a popular church by avoiding controversy, we shall deny Christ. If we keep on attracting only lily white, affluent members, we shall not remain faithful to the Christ who showed no partiality. The rich, the poor, the obscure are welcomed here. All who have sinned and need a savior. All who confess their sin and seek a new life in Christ are eagerly received into this fellowship.

Luke’s good news is this: our temptations, as with the temptations of Christ, are relentless. But the tempter does not have a ghost of a chance with us. The tempter will never succeed, when we pilgrimage with Jesus and remain filled by his advocate, the Holy Spirit.

So, kneel here today and take this holy sacrament. Let us earnestly confess our sin. Let us then truly receive God’s grace through the breaking bread and drinking wine. This is the medicine of our redemption. With this medicine, the tempter does no have a ghost of a chance of seducing us with the gift of false security, temporal power, or bogus religion.

1. 1. A Documentary History of the United States edited by Richard D. Heffner (New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., 1956), p. 157.