Ash Wednesday, Lent and Holy Week are very important times of connection to the church for me. The services of the season are familiar after a career as a pastor. This year, with the pandemic showing decreases in the infection rate, we have been able to meet face to face and our church had a hybrid service yesterday. It was Ash Wednesday in 2020 when we became aware of the depth of the impact of the pandemic on worship and our ability to meet as a congregation. That service was one of the last opportunities I had as a pastor to physically touch the members of my congregation. Then, last year, in a new church and a new place in our lives, we simply stayed home on Ash Wednesday. So yesterday was a deeply meaningful service for me to be in church, hear the familiar liturgy, and receive ashes on my forehead. The powerful reminder of our mortality is an important part of my faith. None of us will go on forever. We all share the reality that our time on this earth is limited. The season of Lent offers us the distinct opportunity to practice grief.

For me, Ash Wednesday carries the additional layer of memory that it was on Ash Wednesday that my father-in-law, Keith, died. He was a much beloved and very important man in my life and his presence continues to be an important part of my way of seeing the world. The letter to the Corinthians reminds us that love never dies. My sense of the gifts of Keith’s love for his family continuing is a living example of that truth in my life.

There was, however, a strange moment for me in yesterday’s service. I suspect that it was not noticed by most of those who participated in the service. As background, I have often commented on artists who do not trust the power of their art. When I attend a concert or musical performance, I am put off by musicians who feel the need to explain a song before it is presented. I don’t need the commentary. I trust the power of the music itself. The same is true of a dramatic presentation. And it is definitely true of worship. I don’t need an explanation of the prayer, simply pray. I don’t need an introduction to the benediction, simply give the benediction. Many of my colleagues, however, feel a need to constantly explain what they are doing. They announce the hymns before we sing, they narrate the service with their sense of how it flows. I find the practice distracting.

Yesterday, one of our pastors gave a strange apology for the prayer of confession before we shared it. This congregation does not include a prayer of confession in weekly worship. Although I miss it, and feel that a confessional faith is important, I understand that liturgy is a growing and changing element in our lives and not every ritual and tradition of the past needs to be in every service. However, confession and forgiveness are important parts of Lent and I appreciated the presence of a well-crafted prayer of confession in yesterday’s liturgy. But I didn’t understand the reason that the pastor felt the need to explain and even apologize for the call of the liturgy to confession. We are a very affluent congregation with a tendency to exhibit a certain degree of smugness in our faith. A little confession seems in order. We live in a broken world, where our actions bear a direct relationship to the suffering of others. Our wealth is part of the poverty of others. Our consumption affects the entire planet. We need to confess, to be forgiven, and to make changes in our lives. I welcomed the prayer.

I don’t understand why the pastor didn’t trust the prayer to stand on its own, why there was a need to explain and, yes, apologize for having a prayer of confession. I guess it was some form of a pre-confession confession or something. I never felt the need to explain or apologize for the liturgy of the church.

There is a field of theology that is known as Christian apologetics. It is the intellectual defense of the truth of the Christian religion. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are instructed to be prepared to make a defense of our Christian beliefs at all times. I enjoy a good intellectual argument, and am not opposed to speak about my reasons for living my life as a Christian, but apologetics as a discipline has never been my focus. I am comfortable simply living my life of faith without the need to explain or argue with those who do not share that faith. I do occasionally engage in a related field of theology, polemics, in which the beliefs of a particular denomination or church are defended. I am quick to explain how not all Christian congregations are the same and that there is a distinction in the history and traditions of our denomination. There are plenty of people who think that all Christians are judgmental and exhibit fundamentalists beliefs. There has been a false connection between Christianity and the political right wing in our country. I am quick to offer an explanation of the differences of our traditions and perspective in a progressive denomination with a long history of speaking out for justice. When i make such arguments, however, I do not apologize for who we are or what we believe.

The introduction to the prayer of confession in yesterday’s service did not detract from the meaningfulness of the service. The prayer was well crafted and very appropriate for our worship. I know that at least for the season of Lent we will have prayers of confession in our services and I welcome those prayers. Perhaps we might even become used to the prayers so that the pastors feel no need to explain. I think the congregation trusts the prayers. May we demonstrate that trust in such ways that our pastor is able to trust them as well. No explanation is necessary. Let’s just pray.