Septuagesima - Hard to spell, even harder to preach on the readings!

So here we are in church on the THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT, or Septuagesima.

The word SEPTUAGESIMA isn’t used that often, but the name is still in the lectionary. It’s actually the ninth Sunday before Easter and it traditionally marks the beginning of the preparations for LENT.

Septugesima and the two following Sundays Sexagesima and Quinquagesima were removed from the Roman Catholic Calendar in 1969 although they remain an alternative name for us. We keep them in ORDINARY time though, that’s why we have green today.

SEPTUAGESIMA because it means the 70th in Latin, and today is only 63 days from Easter, and it always will be (because 9 weeks x 7 days=63 days)

However, just as we say 40 days of Lent, when it’s actually 46 between Ash Wednesday and Easter (because we don’t count the Sundays), the early church needed to FAST for 40 DAYS as CHRIST did in the Wilderness. Now there was a problem!

Traditionally, Saturdays and Thursdays were 'fast free' days, so the FASTING needed to start early.

That’s right, today (Septuagesima) was the beginning of the FAST for the Early Church – and they didn’t just give up chocolate. It was refraining from anything considered luxurious. This included ALL dairy products and fish, eggs and meat.

It won’t surprise you to discover that I find it difficult to fast. It comes from my early years as a Christian. When I was confirmed at 19, one of my very first Priests liked to talk a lot about ‘Holy Poverty’ and the commitment some religious orders especially the Franciscans make, when I was 20 or so and working with people in poverty, many of which weren’t particularly holy, I thought that there were many different types of poverty, many different types of fasting and many different types of sacrifice we can make for our faith. I thought that ‘poverty’ in all its’ forms was something that needed to be fought against, and I thought it was unhelpful to use the word ‘poverty’ in two so very different contexts.

Without me really realising, It led me to a point where I found certain things difficult to read in the Bible. The Gospel for today is one of those readings.

Jesus is telling the crowds to ‘turn the other cheek’ and to give your cloak to someone who is wants your coat. Give to everyone who begs and lend anything to those who ask. He goes on to say ‘love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you’. He tells us that this is the way to perfection.

It all seems so counter-intuitive; I thought that would be the wise thing to do, to preach today on the hopelessly high standard set for us, and how we all seem to fail!

I don’t know why, I thought that the readings were so topsy-turvy today I might get a hand from St. Paul (although I never have before) but he endorse my feeling that the wise thing to do might be to realise that we all fall short of the mark.

However, even the reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians gave me little comfort, it tells us that if we think we are ‘wise in this world’ then we should ‘become like fools’ because ‘the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God’.

It seems that the readings for today are a REAL challenge for us, even the Psalm gives the refrain ‘Lord, lead me in the path of your commandments’.

I don’t know! It looks like the bar is set particularly high.

Today is the ‘Brownie, Scouts, Guides and Beaver’s Thinking Day’ in Magor, and after this service, I’m going to lead that. You can imagine, I’ll be struggling for a talk there on the readings about ‘turning the other cheek’ and being ‘foolish’, but I think I’ve got something that’ll work, and it might work for us too.

I’m going to tell them that our community, our nation and even the whole world needs heroes, and it’s a difficult job. Heroes will be people who will help others regardless of the cost. They will;

1. Be the sort of person that will never give up

2. Be willing to do more than people ask for

3. Be able to struggle through, even when things are tough

4. Be wanting to do their best for people wherever they are

I hope the children don’t get scared off!

For us though, when we are thinking about SEPTUAGESIMA and the fact that the chocolate for us doesn’t stop for a few weeks, there is a tougher list of things that Christ is asking us today. It’s hard to write a sermon for, it’s hard to preach, and I suspect that it’s quite hard to listen to. But we are being called to;

1. Be Willing To Get Worse Than You Deserve

2. Be Willing to Give More Than You Are Asked

3. Be Willing to Go Farther Than You Are Required

4. Be Willing To Grant what is Needed…..

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN