Matthew 6:1-16

Ash Wednesday, year A.

Questions

1. How do you feel about Jesus’s emphasis on rewards? What might be the reward that you would hope for in return for prayer, almsgiving, fasting?

2. Is it possible to do good things without any self-regard. What to do with our sense of self-satisfaction? How does not-acknowledging the good we are doing, jar with our sense of self-worth?

3. Self-awareness is a popular trope in contemporary society. Just 50 years ago, self-forgetfulness was the way to be. Which do you aspire to? Which do you approach cautiously? In what ways do you experience each of them as healthy/unhealthy?

4. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving. How do you feel about them? What will your approach be this year?

5. All three of the relationships mentioned are key to our wellbeing. How do they support each other?