Wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

Wandering into the wilderness. This is what we are supposed to do in Lent. It isn't some nice story we read and analyze about how we are unlike Jesus in temptation, but are we tempted to not enter. I mean who wants to go into the wilderness? We are so connected to technology, our phones, tablets, wordle, how would we survive a minute going into the wilderness?

On Ash Wednesday we filled the baptismal font with sand and put in some rocks. This land scape represents our time in the wilderness. Without water, without our phones, without companionship and it gives us time to take stock of what is important. If we engage in going into the wilderness. Maybe it is in giving up our phone for a day and engaging with a psalm or a prayer or even listening to God. A practiced intention for one day can make a huge difference in our time in the wilderness.

Sometimes it is in the harshest places we find our way. We just watched the Masterpiece remake of Around the World in 80 Days. In it they have to cross the desert. They find more than they bargained for: friendship, a beginning of deeper bonds, a will to survive, and a strength they didn't know to defend one another. All this from a hostile landscape.

We must have an intention to go into the wilderness. It doesn't just come and find us. Sometimes it is present when we are hurt, but we don't see what we've learned there until we're on the other side. This time we are entering it on our own together. Don't be afraid to make a commitment to coming here. Like every story about people who seek the wilderness we will find hard places. Places where we want to stop and not go on. We will find ourselves alone and struggling, yet there is one who comes with us to help.

There are ways to take a step every day into the wilderness. Pay attention to things you don't normally do. Pray for an enemy, wear a mask for a friend, pay for the next person in line, give the gift of your time to someone and really listen. Our world has gotten so busy. Lent invites us to slow down and pay attention to the details. 

Come to the wilderness and find yourself challenged. Come to the wilderness and see what is laid out in front of you. Come to the wilderness and listen to see where God is in your life. Then go and be the disciple you were made to be there.