Sermon given on Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018. 

My family motto should be, “Someday.”

Growing up, I was a big fan of the Disney Channel.
Hey ma, can we go to Disney World?
Someday.

I picked this up and started saying the family motto.

Hey Luke, a couple of us get breakfast before school, would you care to join us?
Someday.

There’s this great band in town, want to go see them?
Someday.

I applied this same “Someday” motto to my Lenten practices. Every Ash Wednesday we gathered after the Lenten services in our elementary school rooms and we told everyone what we were giving up for Lent. It was a class assignment and we were graded. Not on keeping with the practice, just making one.

My answers ranged from giving up chocolate to meat to playing video games. None of these lasted very long nor did I see the purpose to this exercise. These plans, no matter how well intentioned, just never seem to work out. Some day I’ll give a sugar-free, vegetarian diet a try. Someday I won’t have so much screen time. I never figured that the screens would be small enough to fit in your pocket. All this seemed fruitless. In 7^th grade when it came my turn, I answered that I was giving up Lent for Lent. I stuck with that one for quite a while.

Someday is my family motto. Yet Lent recognizes that someday never comes. You can check every calendar, paper or digital, there is no day of the week called someday.

Lent forces us to realize that our life will end. We are future dead people. Our time is short. We wither like blades of grass. Yet the good news is that God remembers us and sees us in our mortality. God cares and loves us. Lent says, “Give up what is not bringing you life, and take on disciplines that give life.” Life to you and life to your neighbor.

Someday I will eat better. Lent reminds us that bad diets shorten lives.

Someday, I won’t waste so much food. According to a 2014 EPA study, America throws away more than 38 million tons of food every year. That’s the weight of 104 Empire State Buildings, with a bit to spare. Lent reminds us that 1 in 4 children are food insecure.

Someday I won’t spend so much time in front of the TV. Lent reminds us that no one requests more TV on their deathbeds. They ask to speak to people. To tell stories of life.

Lent is about giving up habits that limit life and taking on disciplines that give more life. For we will one day be ash… but now we are flame. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Don’t let your light dim, but let it burn as bright as you can.

Maybe there’s a practice you can take on to brighten up your life. For me, I will be starting a Facebook live Bible study each Wednesday at noon. I love reading the Bible and writing sermons, but I need others to help and learn along with me. That’s my practice through Lent.

Maybe there’s something you need to give up. Maybe you’ve been called a name that just hangs over you. Maybe something happened. Something in your background that troubles you late at night. Something you have done or something that happened to you. Maybe there’s something that you need to give up. Something that you think that “someday I won’t think about this. Someday I’ll get over it.” Lent reminds us that we need to give that up now.

In the East Room, we have paper. We’ll take a few minutes and write whatever it is we need to give up, and then we’ll burn them. Give it up to God.

Lent is about living simply so that others might live. Lent is about remembering that someday never comes and we better get busy making the world a better place for the hungry, the poor, those in bondage, and our children’s children. Lent is about recognizing that someday never comes unless you work for it.