Lent One - A time of Wilderness

Lent always begins this way - with us accompanying Jesus into the wilderness. We come to witness his journey towards Jerusalem and the cross for us. And we come to learn how and where we too must travel through life and death into new life.

Sentence:

“Therefore just as one person’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one person’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” Romans 5:18

Collect:

Compassionate God,

We step out on the path your Beloved Son trod.

We pray for the faith and trust to be present to his suffering and the suffering of this world;

We pray for the courage to be emptied out, trusting in your good and loving purposes for us and all your creation;

We pray for the desire to be refined and remade by the journey;

And we give ourselves to entering into the fullness of life that comes out of death. Amen.

Reflection:

On the First Sunday of Lent we always go into the wilderness with Jesus. We accompany him to bear witness to his process, his actions, his journey for us. We also listen, imagine, participate in order to enter into the story, the process which will unravel us and remake us as we step onto the path of Lent, the journey from life, through death, to new life.

You may like to read what I wrote in 2020.

Into the Wilderness

Or you may like to read what I wrote in 2023.

The Wilderness Experience

In Year A, this year, we hear from Genesis the story sometimes known as The Fall and Matthew’s account of the temptations in the wilderness. And we hear Paul’s explanation of how these two experiences belong together – for just as one person’s failure (Adam) leads to condemnation for all, so one person’s righteousness (Jesus) leads to life for all.

Many of us were taught that this pairing was about punishment for sin or spiritual crime being paid for by sacrifice. There are other more nuanced ways of also understanding this potent claim. One of which is that there is a mirroring aspect between these two stories - our relationship with God and knowledge about or from the divine. In the fall, Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent’s assurance that they would come into the knowledge of good and evil by eating what was not for them and in doing so would become wise like God – surely an irresistible temptation! In the wilderness Jesus is tempted to listen to and believe the evil one’s interpretation of Scripture and to gain power for himself by doing so, even the power to do good such as feed the hungry with bread made from stones. And he resists.

For Jesus does not succumb to the temptation to desire power and knowledge for his own sake but works through the issues to come to right relationship within himself and his understanding of God and of his purpose in life. In doing so he finds himself in right relationship with God, his Father, his Source. And this is the foundation which enables him to turn towards Jerusalem and all that awaits him there. It is the rightness of his relationship with the Holy One and his own nature that means he can reconcile, hold together within himself, the failures and struggles of all humanity.

And we who are children of the children of the fall, and followers of Jesus the fully human and divine one, this too is our task. Not to simply know more about God or anything in particular but to know rightly our relationship with the Divine and one another – to know or participate in the heart and mind of Christ. And this is our life’s journey to be stripped bare until we can participate in the heart and mind of Christ and become fully human and fully aware of our divine spark in each of us and in each other.

Lent is such an invitation. So is love. So is suffering. So is service. So is a cloistered life. So is an adventurous life. So is an ordinary life.

Intercessions:

Creator God,

beginning and ending of all journeys,

Bless every new beginning, every season of reckoning,

every search for knowledge;

Bless every migration and journey, especially those that are chosen out of fear or famine.

We particularly pray for the lost and hungry, the dislocated and the trafficked, all who are treated as commodities or inconveniences …

Bless, we pray all sacred journeys that hearts may turn to you.

Creator God,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus our Redeemer,

Reconciler of all that is fractured and all that is filled with the divine;

Gather, bless and renew your weary ones;

Give us hearts of service that we may bind the wounds of others even as we ourselves are wounded;

We particularly pray for those who are unseen or wounded by the church …

For those wearied by too much responsibility and those diminished by too little opportunity to give …

Jesus our Redeemer,

Hear our prayer.

Spirit that sustains even in the wilderness,

Come find us in silent places and in the roar of rolling waters.

Help us find and create oasies of peace and safety that we may seek you;

Grant us discerning spirits that we may know you;

And help us to recognise your presence in all the moments of life.

We particularly pray for those who struggle to hear your voice above the shouting of the world and our own unsettled minds …

Of those weighed down by pain and fear …

For those wearied by the journey so far …

And we remember our loved ones who now dwell in your presence in peace.

Spirit that sustains,

Hear our prayer.

Living God,

Creator, Redeemer of all, Spirit that Sustains,

We pray in the name of your Beloved Son, the Christ, who came among us and called us to follow – even into the wilderness. Amen.

 This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.