On the first Sunday in Lent, we skip back to where we were the first Sunday in Epiphany, back to that Jordan River where Jesus is baptized, anointed by the Holy Spirit and affirmed by the voice of God proclaiming, “This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit in that moment, but he doesn’t get to dwell in the water or the delight of his heavenly father for long. No, the Spirit who fills him hurries him on to the next step in beginning his ministry: a period of trial.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. (This week's passage is here.)
It so often seems that really fruitful, beautiful times in our lives are followed by dry periods, times of trial and testing. Is this a pattern of God’s design? Are there things we can only learn in the wilderness times? Certainly the dry times aren’t as joy-filled as those seasons when we feel ourselves to be in the flow of the Living Water flowing from the throne of God. But maybe they’re as important.
Later this week we will enter the season of Lent, a season when we often voluntarily choose desert over river, seeking to strip away some of the clutter and chatter that fill our lives and can keep us from learning to depend wholly on God. It would be nice to be led by the Spirit into our wilderness rather than selecting it on our own.
I have given my congregants a menu of options for spiritual practices to take on during Lent this year, their “Spiritual Fitness Work-out Plan.” (Feel free to download one here.) So now I’m adding this instruction: pray before you fill it out. Ask the Holy Spirit, “Where are you leading me this Lent? What comfort zones or avoidance activities are you leading me away from? What practices and patterns are you leading me into?” And then listen before checking off the boxes.
Of course, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness (or drove him, as Mark has it…) for a specific purpose, to be tested and tried and tempted and strengthened for the mission ahead. I can’t be sure where the Spirit would have us go, but I do believe he wants us ready for action. So let’s be open to how the Spirit will prepare us for our part in God’s great mission of wholeness and reconciliation.
The river is lovely, and we'll get to come back. Now maybe it's wilderness time.
No comments:
Post a Comment