Sermon: 1st Sunday in Lent (A)
Sunday 26th February 2023
St Anne’s, Wrenthorpe
Well, here we are… the first Sunday in Lent….
Sundays in Lent, eh?….. apparently they don’t count in the whole 40 days thing…
Really? That’s a bonus because I wasn’t doing very well anyway!
I wonder if you are ‘giving something up’ for Lent?
Is it something significant?
Do you plan on fasting….?
Or perhaps your commitment is based on what you are ‘taking up’…
….or some other challenge that will open you to God – to be found, cleansed prepared and made whole.
And what does all of this reveal about you… about faith and of your journey to God?
For Jesus, fasting was a natural and accepted discipline.
I have tried fasting – many times.
Purposefully going without food all day…. Alas, It didn’t bring me closer to God.
Im not being flippant..
It just made me ill – I suffer from migraines quite a lot – and then I end up feeling that I have failed.
Maybe I am doing it wrong.
I don’t need to feel hungry to know the value of food, to know that the truly hungry need to be fed and cared for.
I don’t believe that eating is a distraction from my discipleship and, should I become so careless about what I eat, what I take for granted, then I know also how to care for myself – and what to pray for – how to get help.
Fasting has its place, and its adherents, and during Ramadan for example, Muslims take it very seriously.
For them it is an observance within a faithful life, an act that requires support within the family and community.
Are we any good at supporting each other during Lent?
Mind you, I have heard that the Turnip Diet is becoming a thing…. At least according to government sources!
OK cheap joke of the day, done!
There are other distractions that I can do something about.
There are plenty of behaviour patterns, personality traits and thought processes that I should deal with – the petty judgments and presumptions, and sense of entitlement…. That maybe I mostly hide well…
The voices I “hear” might not encourage me to turn stones to bread or to make the world bow down before me…. Oh no, they are much more trivial, more banal… to me, and more easily seductive.
Much of the time it can be too hard to distinguish between feeling overwhelmed at the world’s ills…. Or turning away because we can’t be bothered….
There’s no point….
You won’t make a difference….
No one cares what you think or say…..
And that’s just while I was writing this!
A self confidence issue, you say?
Am I equating my sense of value to the community with sinful temptations to not bother telling you about the the Gospel?
Hmmm thank you doctor, that’s one for further analysis…!
How many times do you want to say “away with you satan…..clear off!”
Sometimes the temptations are stark and obvious. We know when we are being distracted from being a disciple.
Sometimes not.
The devil often takes on an attractive, seductive persona… one that speaks to our emptiness…and need….
The oh-so-human cries of wanting to be loved and accepted, to have made a difference in this life!
Everyone does this…. Everyone loves to watch this…. Says the telly….
Use this product and you too could be like this attractive celebrity….
Successful people don’t do what you do…. What you are OK with… they do exciting stuff….
Oh need I go on? Is this ringing a bell with you?
How do you deal with such messages of doubt?
Previously, in Matthew….
Jesus is Baptised by John.
God expresses delight in the person of Jesus….. who is now in the Wilderness.
He is led there by the Spirit…. knowingly to be tempted…. Why?
And the devil tries to divert Jesus – point him away from God, away from self-emptying love; away from sacrifice and righteousness.
Maybe the ‘why’ is to help prepare Jesus for times in His forthcoming ministry when He needs no distractions, needs only to focus on what God wants from his people.
To tell them, show them, be them and then walk humbly to the Cross…..
Knowing that this is right – that no amount of satan-speak will divert Him.
“Keep your eyes fixed on Heaven…”
There will be plenty of detractors and tempters later….!
Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days, an echo of the forty years that Israel was in the wilderness.
Perhaps you have had your ‘wilderness moment’?
Perhaps that is a trite expression – a biblical spin on those times in our lives when everything seems barren and empty, without hopefulness or sustenance.
When anything could fill the void, hmm?
When your whole being – the physical and emotional, the spiritual energies are diminished, and you need help.
What if such a wilderness has no ending….
If we don’t realise that God’s angels are waiting up on us…. What then?
And our responses to the wilderness….
How long can we remain strong and resolute; is ‘giving in’ actually a sign of failure….?
Questions – we have so many questions – many that we don’t ask and most we have no answers for, during our own times of trial…..
And I don’t have answers for these questions.
We might hope to find them together, in prayer and Sacrament….supporting one another….
We live in a world filled with the echoes of such questions – why, Lord… why…. Why?
I don’t know about you, but in such times of preparation, – such as Lent and Advent – I try to know myself a bit better.
I know where temptation has got the better of me, and where my journey to God has taken a foolhardy diversion.
It can be vital to know the things that tempt our soul – demolishing our self-confidence….
That attack our resolve and rob us of our energy… that seek to tear down our faith that is such a struggle to build up sometimes!
Having such self-knowledge and awareness will help when our resistance is diminished, when we are struggling….
Maybe next time, we too might be a bot more prepared.
As some of you may know, I work as a chaplain at Fieldhead, amongst those with quite serious mental ill-health.
A question I am too often asked: – “is the devil real…like, a real person?”
Good question – the asking of which is contextual – relative to the one asking… but a real question nonetheless.
Is the devil real?
I try to ensure my responses are considered and measured…. Pushing back a little – “what do you think?”
Regardless, I am being asked to describe the forms that evil takes….and that requires me to have some idea about that, and about myself.
I can say that yes – evil can and does appear in human form, but not always….sometimes it is in the form of pretend beauty or shallow wholesomeness, or near-impossible good fortune!
Oh, hang on…. That all sounds very human too, doesn’t it?
The devil might appear to me in some wonderful ideas that seem so right, so perfect for everyone around me!
If I win big on the lottery…. Wow I can help so many people in need…. I will have the means to make a difference…. once I have sorted my own needs, of course… and then….maybe with whatever I have left, maybe….. I will have the power to change lives….then they’l be grateful for what I do around here….!
Wait…. The what? The “power”? Gratitude?
How does compassionate altruism change through philanthropy to selfish pride – in the blink of an eye?
Easy! It’s what the devil was trying to con Jesus with!
If you are so amazing to God… then…. Show me. Let’s see what you can do… then do it for me, eh?
The devil is pathetic. Powerful as a concept, yes…. But pathetic, shallow, needy, nasty.
It’s a shame that, historically, the Christian church has made so much currency out of the devil…. There are usually good reasons why the mentally ill become obsessed with such things…. Often religion has placed the devil front and centre in their lives. Other people and experiences have given flesh to the idea and then this all becomes too real.
The reality of evil is found in how it diverts you away from truth, hope, love…. God.
And whilst I was writing this, the spell-checker seemed very keen for me to capitalise the word ‘satan’… but I thought, nah… I don think so.
So, Sundays in Lent to one side…. Moving on….
If you are of a mind to fasting this Lent, then may the Spirit be with you, and please be careful.
If you are endeavouring to give up or take up – and you struggle… then, so be it… step back, pray and know that you are not alone.
And yes, try to support one another! Life can be lonely enough as it is!
Angels came to minister to Jesus….
They come to lift you up too…
And in the processing of all this, on your journey through Lent, consider your time in the wilderness….
What are you shown of yourself? What do you learn? How will you be ready next time?
Turn failure and pain into hope, if you can….
Make your knowing of temptation, and its power, into self-knowledge – of the shadow self – the parts of you that might seem awful and shameful, yet are already known to God – often hid by ourselves, from ourselves – but never from God.
This is a time of revealing….. becoming more known to yourself… when you might be surprised at what you see.
And if motivation is your thing: why should I bother, why can’t I do this, why does anyone care about my sins, blah blah….
As Paul says to the Romans….. Grace and Righteousness will be given… a free gift…. In Jesus Christ.
Knowing we are loved by God – and finding ways to acknowledge that – can often be the hardest part of being a Christian Disciple – in Lent or at any other time of the year….
Oh, and…
The other question I am often asked at work? “Is God real?”
I say yes – look around you… and, if you can, look in the mirror.