St. Paul’s United
Church
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Lent
1
Desert
Discernment – Rev. David Mundy
Genesis
2:15-17; 3:1-7 Matthew 4:1-11
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Have you ever spent time in the
desert? We don’t usually think of deserts in Canada unless you consider the
frozen tundra of the North or pockets in the hot interior of British Columbia.
We usually don’t go to deserts for our vacations although a fair number of the
people in this congregation have been to the desert wilderness of Israel. We
learn when we go there that those desert places are not what we might imagine
with endless sand dunes. Instead it is rugged terrain with plenty of rock and
pockets of vegetation holding on for dear life. Of course tourists in Israel
usually don’t spend time in the desert in any real sense. We get whisked to a
spot in an air-conditioned coach and step out into the blast of heat and the
glare of the sun for a matter of minutes before scurrying back into the cool
shelter.
The only time I have
experienced anything close to extended desert time was a few months ago when I
flew to New Mexico and the Presbyterian conference centre called Ghost Ranch.
It is a huge place as so many in the States are, with accommodation for
hundreds of guests in the summer. Ghost Ranch was a working ranch until it was
given to the church and it is in what is called the high desert at 6500 feet,
well above the level of Banff Alberta. I was there with others in November but
even then there weren’t many people around.
My true desert experience came
when the others in my course left, and I stayed on to spend a couple of days in
the lovely little retreat house called Casa Del Sol in Spanish, or House of the
Sun in English. It was several kilometres from the main compound and because of
the time of year I was the only person staying there. No television, no email, no cell
phone, not even a radio. Just quiet in the dry, starkly beautiful desert
landscape. At night darkness so total that it was a little unnerving, unable to
see my hand in front of my face.
Stars above more brilliant than
anything I have ever experienced.
Stillness,
listening to the sounds of the day and night and perhaps to the voice of God.
While the “aloneness” took some
getting used to, it was also a wonderful opportunity for prayer and seeking
clarity in my life as I was in conversation with God. I have discovered through the years that this
conversation is not always comfortable because it requires openness, but it is
necessary in that most important of all relationships.
This is the first Sunday of the
season in the church year called Lent in English. In other languages the name
for Lent has to do with “forty” which is the number of days in the season. Lent
is an old English word which means to lengthen and refers to the lengthening
days which lead toward both Spring and Easter.
In both of our passages for the
day we heard about temptation and the struggle to listen and to obey God when
other voices counsel us. I have mentioned before that the word obedience, which
isn’t very popular anymore, actually means to listen while the word “absurd”
means to be deaf. So Adam and Eve choose the absurdity of listening to the
serpent while ignoring the counsel of their Creator. And as we read and heard
in the gospel, Jesus chose to do the opposite.
Before Jesus entered into what
must have been an often exhausting ministry which involved constant demands
from those who were frantically needy,
he spent time in what we assume was the harsh desert of Judea which is
not far to the south of Jerusalem.
In these few verses we
generally focus on the temptations put before Jesus and his ability to counter
each one with a verse from scripture. There is the feeling of a
well-choreographed fencing match, like something from a vintage swashbuckler
movie. Of course Jesus parries and thrusts and defeats the enemy. We could miss
the “forty days” part during which Jesus fasts and pays attention to God and
readies himself for the years of challenging choices.
As he spends time in the loneliness of his wilderness cave, he is laying the
groundwork for his passion and crucifixion.
Desert
discernment. What is that supposed to look like for the
majority how live in the din of a busy world without much opportunity to truly
listen? Discernment is one of those words which gets
thrown around in the Christian world, often without explanation. It is about
making the best possible choices, the Spirit-directed choices, in the midst of
so much of life’s noise.
Sometimes we are well aware of
the things we should avoid, although there is no guarantee that we will follow
our best instincts and instruction. This past week on Ash Wednesday I decided
to venture out in the miserable weather to visit some of our seniors in one of
the institutions. As I walked to the door, I saw one of our folk sitting
outside in her wheelchair, smoking a cigarette. When she realized it was I the
look on her face was like that of a seven-year-old caught raiding the cookie
jar. She had given up smoking several
years ago but a raft of health problems have been
depressing for her, so she thought she would steal a smoke when no one was
around – and suddenly the minister was there in front of her! She knows
perfectly well that resuming an addiction she had broken is a terrible choice.
And we know one another well enough that I could joke that I was a big, scary-looking
angel sent to warn her away from a bad habit.
But there is the challenge for
us. Other aspects of our lives are not so clear, and discerning the right path
is not straightforward. If we take the
promotion in our work which will allow us to be better provider, what will it
mean to the amount of time we have with our family?
Should we give our children the
opportunities to be involved in sports even though it will mean they can’t get
to Sunday School during certain seasons?
Some choices are agonizing.
Should we make arrangements for our loved one to go into a nursing home as
health deteriorates, both for their sake and for ours? Should we stay in a
relationship which may not be abusive but has long ceased to be loving and
life-giving?
I give you these examples
because they are all situations where you have sought me out for guidance. In
virtually every circumstance I share my limited wisdom, then
encourage prayer because there isn’t a minister’s answer book which has a
definitive response to each specific situation – not even the bible makes that
claim.
We learn that living faithfully
from both the heart and head is not as simple as a few “thou shalt nots” which we can easily
follow. There is a big red stop sign at an intersection in Bowmanville
which drivers tend to treat as a suggestion rather than a command. One of my
daughters tells me that her friends call this one “stoptional”
because hardly anyone comes to a full stop. Much of life seems to be “stoptional,” filled with rationalizations, and knowing
winks, and apparent contradictions.
Someone has pointed out that
there are surprisingly few lists of instructions in our Christian gospels but
many stories of people which can be mirrors for own experience. Almost none of them come across as perfect,
but in their imperfection they made the space to listen for God’s voice.
So, in the great stories of
scripture we are invited to trust that God will be with us. We discover that
even in the desert and even in the darkness there is life. I became aware of
this one evening while I was in New Mexico as dusk was moving into the darkness
of night. I walked along the edge of a
field and heard rustling and, straining to see into the darkness, I realized
that walking parallel to me were several deer – or I was walking parallel to
them. The light was so low that I could barely make them out, but suddenly I
was aware that I wasn’t alone.
And during the day there were
birds in the shelter of the trees. From time to time small flocks of bluebirds
would whistle past and while they are called Mountain Bluebirds I’m quite sure
that they were the bluebirds of happiness. In the psalm for the beginning on
this solemn season of Lent we find:
Happy are
those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to
whom the Lord imputes no iniquity . . . You are a hiding place for me; you
preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance . .
. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O
righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Psalm 32
What a happy promise that even
when we stumble or fall flat on our faces in the desert dust there will be
strong and loving hands which pick us up again and set us on our way. The Good
News of Christ is that joy and renewed hearts are always possibilities when we
are obedient. Whenever Lent begins in the year, it is always followed by
Easter.
We’ll close with a prayer that
is part of one of the wedding ceremonies for our United Church, a prayer which
fits the theme of desert discernment.
O God you are
the creator of all things;
you
made us, and you sustain us;
we
depend on you.
For the gift
of life, we praise you.
For being able
to think about life’s meaning and purpose,
we
thank you.
In the world
without and in our lives within,
there is
much that is confusing and contradictory.
Many voices
counsel us;
many
forces pressure us;
many
things tempt us.
We need your
light to lead us,
your
hand to hold us,
and
your love to complete us.
In Jesus’ name
we ask for your blessing now. Amen!