Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Lent began on Ash Wednesday this past week, and several of us gathered here Wednesday evening to receive ashes and also pray for the world - in particular, to pray for peace in Ukraine, as so many church bodies were doing on Ash Wednesday.
We were joined by some friends from North Long Beach Christian Church, our partner Disciples of Christ church just a few miles north of here.
Now, we begin our journey through the season of Lent for forty days, until we arrive at Holy Week and Easter Sunday.
Lent is kind of a wilderness journey, and on the first Sunday of Lent - every year - the lectionary gives us a story of Jesus in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan.
The wilderness is a powerful image in scripture.
It was in the wilderness that the Hebrews wandered for forty years, while God prepared them to be a new people and a new nation.
It was in the wilderness that Elijah encountered God’s still small voice.
It was in the wilderness that Hagar pleaded with God on behalf of Ishmael; God heard her plea and saw her situation, and intervened; and there, in the wilderness, Hagar became the first person to give God a name: she called God “The God who sees.”
It was in the wilderness that the word of God came to John the Baptist, leading him to preach and baptize.
And in today’s scripture, Jesus is in the wilderness; and Jesus’s time in the wilderness is meant to bring to mind those previous wilderness stories; especially, the Hebrew people wandering in the wilderness for forty years…Jesus is in the wilderness for forty days, and the repeated use of the number forty is no coincidence.
And that’s why Lent lasts for forty days…
I know from my hiking adventures and even from the time I spend at Loch Leven (our camp and retreat center) that the wilderness can be a special place. It’s quiet in the wilderness - sometimes it’s the only place quiet enough to hear that still small voice of God.
It is often beautiful in the wilderness.
And even though a hike in the wilderness may be hard work for the body, it’s a great rest for one’s mind and one’s soul.
The wilderness is a place of renewal.
But the wilderness can also be scary and dangerous. There are no signs pointing the way. It’s easy to get lost!
There is no protection from storms, or wild animals, and help (should you need it) is a long way away.
Today, people escape to the wilderness to get away from the stress of modern life. I wonder if people ever did the same in Jesus’ time…Or, was wilderness always a place to be avoided?
Did they consider wilderness to be a place where one goes to escape one’s problems, or was wilderness the place where problems multiply? Was it a place of rest, or a place of challenge? Did people go there willingly? Or did they only go reluctantly - because they had to?
I ask many of these same questions in reference to the season of Lent. Is Lent a blessing, or a curse? Is it a time of comfort, or a time of challenge? Is it a time of rest, or is it a time for us to work harder, try harder?
Do we enter this season of Lent willingly, eagerly, for the renewal it offers?
Or do we enter it reluctantly?
Jesus went into the wilderness. He was led there by the Spirit. Whether Jesus was looking forward to his time in the wilderness, or dreading it, I cannot say.
In the wilderness, Jesus met Satan. The devil was in the wilderness… which makes me think of the wilderness as a bad place.
…but the Spirit was there, too. The Spirit was in the wilderness. So maybe the wilderness was a good place - a holy place, even.
Jesus went into the wilderness to pray, to get closer to God…
…and to face temptation.
What a mix! What contradictions!
Jesus went into the wilderness to be alone.
But he wasn’t alone. Not only was Satan there; not only was the Spirit there; but, through the scriptures that Jesus carried in his heart, so too were his ancestors. His ancestors were there, they came to him through the words he had memorized, the words he used to fend off the devil’s attacks. These were words his ancestors had spoken, words they had written down; words that gave Jesus the strength he needed.
Which means that Jesus was alone, but at the same time he wasn’t alone at all.
How often do we feel all alone? In the trials we face? How often do we forget that God is with us, the Spirit is with us, and all our ancestors - that great cloud of witnesses - is with us?
The wilderness is a place of challenge, and the wilderness is a place of rest.
We need challenge. We need to work harder. But we also need more rest.
We need to be concerned about the state of the world. We need to let our hearts feel compassion for all the hurting people, for the people of Ukraine especially… but we also need to experience joy and laughter.
I was reminded this week in the Wednesday prayer with our General Minister that rest is a form of resistance. To truly rest, to give yourself permission and enough time to rest, is one of the best things you can do for yourself and for the world. The world needs you at your best, and you won’t be at your best if you don’t get the rest you need.
It’s hard to rest when there’s so much work to be done. It’s hard to laugh when there are so many reasons to cry. How do we do that?
Here’s what I’m focusing on in this season of Lent. Here is what I’m looking for - what I’m keeping my eyes open for - as we begin our journey through the wilderness.
I’m focusing on the grace of God. The grace of God that surrounds me, is with me, even in all my imperfections…. I do what I can, and the grace of God does the rest. God’s grace is sufficient.
I’m not supposed to worry about all that is more than I can handle. I’m supposed to concern myself with what I CAN handle, and do my best at the things I’m capable of doing… and leave the rest to God.
I need to not try so hard to be perfect. I talked about that on Ash Wednesday. I need to not try to hide my imperfections. When I feel that I’m just not good enough, I need to let God’s Spirit minister to me, fill in the gaps, and intercede on my behalf with sighs too deep for words.
There are a lot of challenges in the wilderness. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome. There are temptations and trials.
In some ways, it feels like we’ve been in the wilderness for two years now, ever since this COVID pandemic first interrupted our lives and changed the world as we know it. The path we are on is different. Everything around us is different. We’re in a new, unfamiliar land now, with new challenges.
And this is a wilderness experience.
What’s really strange is that when we intentionally make plans to go to the wilderness, to go spend a weekend at the cabin or day at the beach or a week or more on vacation, we often do so to get away from all our problems.
And maybe Jesus was hoping that he could get away from his problems, at least for a little while, by spending some time in the wilderness.
But the problems were there waiting for him. Satan was there waiting for him.
But, also, the Spirit was there, as I said. And maybe it’s only in the wilderness, where things are quieter, where we feel more alone, that we finally notice the Spirit’s presence.
In the wilderness, we see more clearly the temptations, but we also know more intimately the Spirit’s presence that helps us with those temptations.
I need that. I need to be more aware of the Spirit’s presence in my life. I need to be able to hear that still small voice, so that I can more faithfully follow the path it beckons me to.
So I am thankful for time in the wilderness. I am thankful for Lent. I’m thankful for the challenge it presents, and the rest it presents.
And most of all, I’m thankful that Lent carries with it the promise of new hope and new life. This journey is long, but it ends on Easter Sunday. It ends with resurrection.
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