What differences do you notice in our worship space today?
(Red cross, pottery chalice, plain candlesticks, candles gone from the windows, changes to our liturgy)
These changes are signs that we have passed out of the season after Epiphany into the season of Lent.
The earth goes through its own transition as it spins through space and the gray weary and bitterly cold days of the winter season somehow warm into longer days that bring with them the bright green growth of spring.
This Lenten season is one of transition, a season in which we travel through our days , starkly aware of our mortality (symbolized by the ashes that we usually receive on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday), traveling at what can seem like lightening speed toward our own earthly endings.
So today, on the first Sunday of Lent, we get Mark’s story of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
In just a few short verses, Jesus goes through several transitions.
First, John baptizes him in the Jordan, and Jesus sees the heavens torn apart and he hears a voice from heaven.
“You are my Son, the Beloved, with You I am well pleased.”
The next transition comes immediately.
Mark tells us that the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness where he stayed for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts and the angels waited on him.”
And then, the next transition occurs.
Jesus goes to Galilee, and begins his ministry, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
In this story we see our own story as Christians.
Our baptisms remind us that we are us beloved children of God, with whom God is well pleased.
The wilderness times in our lives prepare us for our work, which is to share the good news of God out in the world.
So on this first Sunday of this wilderness season of Lent we are going to use the Ash Wednesday Litany of Penance for the Prayers of the People. These prayers spell out the temptations of Satan in our lives. In the face of these temptations, we ask God for mercy, in order that God can accomplish in us the work of salvation, so that we may show forth God’s glory in the world.
As we pray, we are going to leave some silence between the petitions, so that you will have the space to think about how each particular evil plays out in your own life. Which of these things that we will name is the one that holds you most tightly in its grasp, the one that you especially need to offer up to God for help?
This process is the beginning of the observance of a Holy Lent—self-examination and repentance.
In the Invitation to a Holy Lent, the Prayer Book reminds us that our help in dealing with our faults comes in several forms.
Prayer is first.
A common struggle with prayer is the conviction that we don’t have time to pray. And yet, Pope John Paul II, who had to be one of the busiest people on earth, always spent at least an hour at prayer each and every morning before getting busy with each day.
What struggles do you have with prayer?
Lent is a great time to acknowledge these struggles and to spend time in prayer so that God can transform our struggles into strengths.
Fasting. The advantage of fasting is that after going without something for a significant amount of time, you have more perspective about that thing and it has less power over you.
Fasting can take on many forms. Some common forms of Lenten fasting tend to be fasting from things like meat, alcohol, sweets, chocolate.
When I went away on an eight day retreat a few years ago, I practiced a computer fast. I gave up Facebook and checking my email constantly. And I realized how much productive time I had lost by mindlessly spending time on the computer, so I continued to spend less time on the computer when I got home.
So think about what your fast will be this Lent.
Self denial is important because when we are intentional about practicing self denial, we find ourselves in solidarity with those who are in need and with those who are suffering.
At the seminary during Lent, students can choose to eat only soup for lunch one day a week. The company that runs the seminary refectory then donates the money that the full lunches would have cost to help alleviate hunger in the world. In this act of self denial, the students choose solidarity, even if is only for one meal, with hungry people around the world, and they also address, in some small way, the economic imbalances that lead to injustice for those among the least of us.
Reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. God’s word contains all we need to know for our happiness and our salvation—but we can’t know if we don’t read and meditate.
My big struggle with this one is my perceived lack of time to spend more time with scripture than I already do for sermon preparation.
And so this Lent, one of my disciplines is not just to skim through the daily lectionary readings, but also to meditate on them, and to take the time to write down the words, sentences, and ideas that will help me to examine my life more fully in light of God’s word.
The promise of Lent is that when we spend time in self-examination and repentance, prayer, fasting, self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s holy word, we will find that the angels come to wait on us in our wilderness times, and that Jesus himself will be with us.
Amen.