MaryBeth LaMont

Most likely you know the name of comedian, former Saturday Night Live Star, and lead in the various “Vacation” movies, Chevy Chase. Chase first became well-known to a national audience through his Saturday Night Live appearances. In particular, he became somewhat of a household name when he made fun of then President Gerald Ford.

You may be aware of Ford’s infamous slips, trips, errant golf shots, and head bumps while president. As an All-American football player at Michigan, Ford was perhaps the best athlete to inhabit the White House. Yet his various missteps were too often caught on camera.

For Chevy Chase to mimic such stumbling, involved quite a bit of physical comedy on his own. Several times Chase himself became injured and had to take pain-killers to deal with the injuries. After a time, like many others, Chevy Chase became addicted to these pain-killers and needed treatment. Where did he go for such treatment? To the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, of course! Sometimes life seems to have its own twisted sense of humor, doesn’t it?

You may have heard, as have I, many people say they are not part of church or organized religion because of all the hypocrites there. My response generally is along the lines of: “Yes, there are. Come join us.”

It seems to me that perhaps the greatest of hypocrisy is to think one is not a hypocrite. Don’t we all have some thoughts and/or behaviors that go against much of what we profess? Even those with the healthiest of life styles seem to have at least one flaw in eating or some activity. Where are you hypocritical? Space doesn’t allow me to list all my hypocrisies. You most likely are aware of more than a few.

Yes, I work hard to keep from smiling when someone proclaims “church people” or “those religious people” as hypocrites. It seems, as Jesus says, they are missing the log in their own eye. So busy criticizing or making fun of others they miss that very thing in themselves.

I have been writing and preaching about Lent. Lent is a time that says, “Hypocrites Welcome! Come join us!” We are those who are, at least in part, here because we are aware of our hypocrisy and would like to do something about it. Sometimes that something is simply unloading our guilt for doing or saying things that go against us. Sometimes doing something actually helps us rid ourselves of one part of our hypocrisy or, at least, begins us on a journey to do so.

For all hypocrites it is good news to know we are welcome in church. It is good news to think of Lent as an invitation to hypocrites to bring along their hypocrisy and come join the hypocritical throng. When you do, look around. You are in pretty good company. When you do, look around. You are in pretty good company. When you do, come forward at communion the Host is glad you accepted the invitation and even has a gift for you. Given and shed for all hypocrites!

Carl Rogers was a 20th Century American psychologist who pioneered “Client-Centered Therapy”, sometimes cynically called, “Uh Huh” therapy. Having watched a video of one of his counseling sessions while in a grad school class, I understood the label if not the cynicism. He said very little during the session. Mostly he said, “Uh huh” and nodded when the client said something. The client and her issues dominated the session, not Dr. Rogers and his expertise. Yet you could see and hear the relief in the client’s voice and body language after having talked for an hour or so naming so many troubles and getting them out there.

Dr. Rogers also had 2 years of seminary under his belt when he left to pursue a Master’s and PhD in psychology. His seminary training never completely left him, and, in part, helped shape his methods and counseling, particularly in terms of putting the focus on the client.

I came across a Dr. Rogers quote this past week that seems to be spot on for Lent. Rogers said, “The curious paradox is only when I accept myself as I them, then can I change”. I found this quote in a book about the Holocaust, urging all to come to grips with their role in this so that substantive change in Anti-Semitism could truly occur.

It is, however, a great quote to hold in front of us during Lent, a time of self-examination and repentance. It is one thing to acknowledge we are sinners and quite another to many times name those sins, especially those that work to eat away at the world God created.

Lent is much more than sorrow for sin. Lent is repentance, in the original Greek of the New Testament, metanoia, which means “turning around.” Do you and I discover ourselves turning around in Lent or simply saying, “I’m sorry for being a sinner and for my sinning”? Are we merely trying to return to the good favor of God or working, instead, on becoming a different, new, and perhaps better person?

In Jesus Christ we are already reconciled with God. Repentance is not so we get our piece of the action so we might share in such reconciliation. It is demonstrable sorrow wanting to change and turn around. It is wanting to change and turn around because we have this gift granted in Jesus Christ. Most of us cannot do a “180” on who we are. Yet, I am convinced most all of us can do a “180” on something specific in our sin. What might that specific thing be for you this Lent? For me? What is the biggest challenge before us needing change in how we live and act? What steps are needed for such turning around?

I sometimes picture God as responding to our prayers like Dr. Rogers responds to client statements. Uh huh. Our prayers are most often more necessary for us than for God. God already knows. Uh huh. In prayer we get our anxieties, our frustrations, our fears, and concerns off our chest and hand them off to God. Uh huh. We also express them, name them, and get them out there in front of ourselves realizing what work we ourselves might have to do in these prayer concerns. Uh huh.

I wonder if next Sunday I just read the gospel text, then say “Uh huh”. Would that be sermon enough? Nuh ah. Sermons are about proclaiming, not confessing. Perhaps our best work this Lent would be to accept oneself as one truly is, then letting the work of change begin. Uh huh!