If we are approaching maturity, we know that it’s hard to be Christian but it’s dull to be anything else.                                 — William Sloane Coffin, 1982

When reading a William Sloane Coffin sermon I expect to be challenged by the radical social demands of the Gospel of Christ.  I expect prophetic social disturbance.  I expect to squirm uncomfortably as Coffin confronts me with the giant social issues of our day — such as poverty, racism, war, or hunger.

Not always.  Sometimes Coffin disrupts the quiet, private world of my personal piety.  He seems to do this when Lent is approaching.  Which makes sense.  Lent is the season of honest self-examination, the season when the fragility of our mortality whispers the reminder that we are from dust, and to dust we will return.

If you are not-so-churchy, here’s the background on Lent, short for Lenten, a term borrowed from the Old English “lencten” meaning “springtime.”  The Church uses the term to describe the period of 40 days — not counting Sundays –before the Thursday of Holy Week (i.e., 4 days before Easter).  By most accounts, the 40-day season is derived from the biblical story of Jesus’ 40-day experience in the wilderness before the launch of his public ministry.  

Lent And Honest Self-Examination

In the wilderness Jesus fasted, and having grown quite hungry, presumably he was acutely aware of  the limits of the part of him that was human.  While vulnerable Jesus is seduced by the devil to consider shedding the divine side of his nature in exchange for gaining the worldly benefits of human power.  Lent for us, then, is supposed to provide the opportunity to honestly self-examine the limits of our own human nature, including the fragility of our human power.

So, it makes sense that Coffin would turn inward at a time like this.  For example, on the first Sunday of Lent in 1982, Coffin climbed the steps into the pulpit at Riverside Church in New York City to deliver Insidious Realism. [1]   That morning, like most first Sundays in Lent, the lectionary selection is the story of Jesus’ 40-day wilderness test.  Instead of his usual fare, though, Coffin invites us to experience an adventure inward.  Still, Coffin wastes no time.  

Inward And Private, But Still Disruptive

Despite the personal, private nature of the topic, Coffin remains characteristically disruptive granting no one the grace to brace carefully for the truth.  He begins (…no kidding, the first sentence): ”You are young only once, but you can be immature indefinitely.”  So he’s gonna’ talk about maturity, mine I suppose.  Great.  The prophet’s words do not always point to social issues, but they always point.

Yet, also characteristic of Coffin is his insatiable yearning for hope — even during the dark days of Lent!  “None of us grows up,” he says, “but there are promising signs along the way.”  Phew. 

I am startled by Coffin’s first example, though.  ”We are approaching maturity when we no longer need to be lied to about anything.”  During Lent I expect to be chastised about my lying, but Coffin points differently by urging me to become someone to whom my friends and family sense no need to lie.  What kind of person is this, with whom others sense enough trust and safety that total honesty becomes comfortable and frequent?  I think I want to become such a person — safe, approachable, gracious, forgiving — so that no one, ever feels the need to lie to me.  There is hope.

Continuing inward, three years later on the Sunday before Lent (he must have sensed it’s imminence), Coffin preaches Vengeance and Violence.  Using the famous story of the prodigal son, Coffin highlights the older brother’s resistance to celebrating the prodigal’s return.  Recalling the “power of the ancient grudge,” Coffin suggests that the older brother’s grudge oozed from that dark place found within all of us where the fragile sense of feeling inferior is hidden.  Perhaps, the envy of the older brother had a long history, that in early years he had resented his little brother’s easy good looks and confident spirit.  After all, who has the chutzpah to grab his inheritance before dad dies and run off to the unfettered life of party and play?  (“…and why didn’t he take me with him..?”)    The older brother watched his father welcome his little brother, without a word about how hard he had been working and behaving.  Naturally, the older brother, “feeling himself to be inferior, decided that the father’s love for him must also be inferior.”  

Love In, Love Out

The results are crippling, for the older brother and for me.  Hampered by perceived inferiority, I consider myself  unworthy of God’s love or anyone’s love, choking off my willingness and ability to love others.  Funny how that works.  The less I accept and enjoy God’s abundant love for me, the less I am able — and willing — to love others.  The more I accept God’s love, the more I give away.

Welcome to Lent — a bit early, i suppose.  And welcome to the journey inward.  This year I think I need a few extra days to brace myself for the truth about me.          

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2012)

1. All of Coffin’s quotes are taken from Coffin, William Sloane (2008).  The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin: The Riverside Years, Volumes I & II.  Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press.

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