A Lesser No, A Greater Yes

In this first full week of Lent, I find myself drawn back to a song by Audrey Assad called “You Speak.” In the chorus she sings these words,

“In the silence of the heart You speak 

In the silence of the heart You speak 

And it is there that I will know You 

And You will know me 

In the silence of the heart 

You speak, You speak.”

 What strikes me about these simple words is that they point to an important truth about spiritual disciplines. That God speaks into the silence of our hearts is what makes silence good. In other words, the good of silence is not necessarily silence itself, but that in silence we might hear God speak.

It is crucial for us to remember this truth in Lent. Spiritual disciplines are meant to foster an encounter with God. Fasting, prayer, almsgiving–all the classic disciplines of Lent–are not ends in themselves, so they are not meant to be practiced for their own sake. Rather they are practiced for the sake of encountering God.

To pray is not to say a set of words so that I might appear spiritual to myself and others. No, to pray is to commune with God. To fast is not to see either how heroic or how weak I might might be in relation to my appetites. No, to fast is to say no to one appetite, in order to say yes to our appetite for God. To give alms is not to lord my means and my resources over someone who has less. No, to give alms is to love my neighbor and to seek the face of God in the faces of the needy.

Think again of our gospel passage from last Sunday–Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. As Jesus fasted he was certainly saying no to his very real and very human appetite for food, but in saying no to that appetite he was also saying yes to God. So when Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”, he says in effect that when we say no to something lesser, we can say yes to something even greater.

On March 27th we will be hosting a concert with Audrey Assad and Page CXVI. You can get your tickets here.

Also, ever wonder why we say the Ten Commandments together in Lent? To learn why and more about the Ten Commandments join us for Public Theology on Monday, March 23. We will be discussing Peter Leithart’s Ten Commandments: A Guide to the Perfect Law of Liberty

Chris+

As we behold the face of God in the face of Christ, we are transformed into his image. This is what it means to be fully human—to become like Jesus, the truly human one, and to grow more and more in the freedom of the children of God.