There is a cute new advertisement for The Lutheran Course from Augsburg Fortress.  It is a skit with Martin Luther sitting in the front pew of a church.  He is debating some great moral dilemma.  Or maybe a small one.  Anyway over, leaning over one of Luther's shoulders and whispering into his hear is a young kid wearing a "Saint" tee-shirt. Over the other shoulder, whispering into his ear is a kid wearing a "Sinner" tee-shirt.

Oh, if life were so obvious. The problem with moral dilemmas is so much more complicated. First, it is not always obvious which is the saintly idea and which is not.  Second, we don't even always realize we are facing a moral dilemma.

For example, spending our money. (You knew I would bring it around to that didn't you?) We make so many choices on a whim, or at least without any careful consideration of everything.  We don't realize that, just as has been said with our national budget, every budget is a moral document.

Lent is starting, and it is a good time to rethink so many things and to do more deliberately what we would like to do with our time, ourselves and our possessions -- or more appropriately, what God would like us to do with them.

Lent began as a time of preparation for the Christian life and ended with the Baptism at the Easter Vigil.  But we are never perfected in the faith in this life and so it is good to always be preparing to be Christian.

Sit down again with your budget and your calendar.  What is really important in your life?  That is where your time and your money should be going?

If we don't do it, the voices will be whispering from over our shoulder and it will be too hard to tell which is the saint's and which is the sinner's.  At least when we sit down and do it deliberately we can ask the questions that need to be asked and confront those voices.  Living the Christian life is about living a deliberate life.

Lord,  May this time of lent be a time of living into who you would have us be and may your Spirit guide us always.  Amen.