Isaiah 58: 1-12                                                                                                             Rev. Dr. Galen E. Russell III

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21                                                                                                                        March 5, 2025

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others.”

        Prayer: Lord Jesus, as we begin our Lenten season, as we climb different mountains on our faith journeys, may we turn to you always, because you see us, and know us, and take care of our needs. Amen.

When I was growing up, I used to look forward to Wednesday night Lenten worship services at my dad’s church in Illinois primarily because those worship services used to feature something different. Like one year they did a movie series for the church. Another year they had musicians come in and do concerts. And, then afterwards, there was always milk and cookies for refreshments. Of course, those reasons for looking forward to Lent have all changed.

But, you know, it’s funny how my perceptions of why Lent is important have changed over the years. It used to be that you were supposed to give up something. Now, I’m at the place on my faith journey of realizing that Lent is a truth-telling season. That speaks truth more plainly than we may want to hear. That our faith is not all about “rah-rah,” boost up your confidence, feel the energy of the Spirit, come to worship to be uplifted.

Yeah, there may be some of that during the year, but Lent invites something different. Lent is a season to be genuinely honest with ourselves and with God. To be honest about our frailties. To speak truthfully about our sometimes-unhealthy attitudes that buzz annoyingly around our consciences. About the “ashes” that we’ve created along the way. About the mountains we might face that require some spiritual work.

So, for this year’s Lenten season, all of our worship experiences leading up to Easter, are designed to help us explore some of these mountains. So, I’m inviting all of us to do some Faith Mountain Climbing as our focus during Lent.

        And starting us off tonight is the mountain of self-serving interest. And I don’t have to tell you… we all know people who do certain things or act certain ways for self-serving purposes. Because it makes them look good in the eyes of others. Because they want attention. They’re the grand-standers. The show-offs. The loudmouths. The ones who always wants the limelight.

And in religious circles, it’s the person who comes across as having artificial piety. Who shows up faithfully in church and loves what people are saying, about that, but doesn’t put faith into practice outside of church. When at work. Or at home. Or when making decisions about the issues in our culture. What goes on in church stays in church kind of thing.

 Isaiah yelled that the people came to synagogue, fasting faithfully. But it was only to serve their own interest. Because after fasting, they still were unscrupulous in their business practices. They still treated people unfairly. They didn’t bother following God’s ways at all. And yet they want God to act righteously toward them. And Isaiah says, “You call that acceptable?” It is not.

Jesus is concerned about the same thing. He’s calls out the so-called “religious” people who make effort to look good in the eyes of others. To look devout and faithful. To practice religion in order to be seen. To give offerings to impress others. To pray loudly to show how prayerful you are. To fast to show others how much you have to sacrifice. You call that acceptable?

Jesus says that yeah, you’ll get rewarded when other people praise you. You’ll get the good feelings. But that’s all you’ll get. And those feelings are fleeting. They won’t last, and they won’t provide you deep spiritual reward.

That’s God’s department. But God does not reward phony religious practice.

  God calls us to get over ourselves and do some faith mountain climbing. Get over the mountain of self-serving interest of how others see you and zero in on how God sees you. Do in private what would likely be seen as self-serving in public.

For giving? Jesus says to give to God in secret—there’s no one to reward you there except God. I remember the last church I served, Chapel Hill UCC, had a policy that no names could be put on plaques, or on wall hangings or on stained glass windows when gifts were given to the church. Because it’s too easy to slide down the slope of saying “Look at how much I gave.”

For prayer? Jesus says to pray to God in the solitude of your own room—there’s no one to recognize your inner life other than God. And God who is in secret will reward you.

For rituals and spiritual practices? Like fasting? Do your spiritual practices in such a way that doesn’t call attention to the fact that you’ve done it.

Then practice living life that resembles what your faith practice is in private is all about.

That is what is acceptable to God.

And the good news is that God sees us totally. We don’t need to pretend in God’s presence. We can say to God, “Please see me. I am here. Please help me climb and get over the mountain of self-serving interest so that my conscience may be stirred to know what you call me to be and do.”

And God rewards. God is there. I think God is more than delighted to guide us continually. To satisfy our needs in parched places. To make us strong and healthy spiritually. To make us like a well-watered garden. To rebuild us where we may be broken.

We have a God who will strengthen us on our faith journeys, each day, when we continually seek out the one who gives us new life on our journeys.



And there are more mountains to climb. May God bless you. Amen.