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First Sunday of Lent
- Mar 13, 2011 | Dr. Teri Thomas
- Passage: Matthew 4:1-11
From filled to famished in only two verses. Jesus is in the river, declared the son of God,
I am so pleased with you, blessed, special, holy, amazing one moment...
and then two verses later he is in the wilderness famished, alone, wandering, wondering.
In the river God says this is who you are- the Son of God.
In the dessert the devil says- If you are the son of God...
From filled to famished in two verses.
Jesus is beyond hungry. He has gone 40 days and 40 nights without food. Ok, it is more than mere coincidence that the Israelites were 40 years in the wilderness, that Moses was 40 days on Mount Sinai and Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days. It means a very long time.
Forty days and forty nights of fasting leave Jesus utterly depleted. He is famished. All he has left is scripture, the Word of God. All he has is what he knows by heart—all he has is a promise given him in his baptism that he is somebody; he is God's beloved, no matter what. All Jesus has in the wilderness, is who he is.
But the tempter doesn't ask- who are you. He asks- What can you do?
If you are the son of God can you turn these stones to bread?
If you are can you jump off this pinnacle?
If you are can you rule the world by worshipping me?
When we are famished, when we are stressed, when we are struggling in the wilderness, the thing we forget most quickly is who we are. And the Tempter knows how vulnerable that makes us. If you are so beloved, then prove it. Do something. Throw yourself down. Show me a miracle. Use your power. If you ARE God's beloved, then do something, because I won't believe who you are until you prove it to me.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent was originally a time for learning. New believers studied the faith during these 40 days so that on Easter they could be baptized and join the community. Later the season of Lent became a time of rededication. Those who had fallen away from the faith. Lent was a time of repentance' a time of re-focus, a time to re-examine their lives and their faith.
So for many Christians Lent has become a time to do something. A time to give up vices.
Stop drinking. Give up the chocolate. End the daily Starbucks' habit. For some Lent has become a time to take on a spiritual discipline. Pray more. Give more. Sacrifice more. For many of us
Lent has become a time to prove that we are indeed God's beloved children. Deny yourself what you want in order to show that you are strong! Do more on top of all that you are doing just to prove your faithfulness. We hear the tempter's voice...Go on. If you really are who you say you are, prove it. Do something.
The waters of baptism are so warm and soft, and we don't get to stay in them very long.
The biggest temptation is to forget the Jordan when we are in the wilderness.
The biggest temptation is to let go of what we know by heart.
And with the Tempter's help, that unconditional promise—
You are my beloved—gets replaced with a conditional sentence:
If you are beloved, then prove it. Earn it. Show you deserve it.
This is the sin that haunts us:
to let the Tempter convince us that love is conditional, not unconditional.
To let the Tempter convince us that beloved is something you prove,
rather than something you are.
Lent comes every year to call us back to our baptism. Lent invites us to know who we are and to live with God at the center of who we are and what we mean. Lent is a season that brings us back to the work of being. Getting to know God as the meaning of our lives. God is at the core of our being. Lent is a time for candor, when we recognize for ourselves and share with God our deepest fears and twisted suspicions, our timid hopes and wildest dreams. To be who God calls us to be.
The issues facing Jesus in the wilderness are the same issues facing all of God's children through all times and places. Faithless choices. Unholy distractions. Misdirection. Possibilities of doubt.
To wrestle with these questions God took Jesus into the wilderness.
God took Jesus into what we might call a thin place, a place where we abandon ourselves to God
and forget ourselves. A place where God is obvious, a place where this world and God's world meet. A thin place is a place where it doesn't so much matter what we can do, but it matters who we are. A place where we are God's beloved, we are God's children.
Thomas Merton, a 12th century Trappist monk wrote-
Life is simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything- in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It's impossible. The only thing is that we don't see it.
But Jesus saw it in the dessert.
We see it in thin places.
Places where our hearts are opened.
It is not what you do- it is who you are.
An open heart is alive to wonder-
it pushes aside tiredness
busyness
worry
grumpiness
pre-occupation with self.
The open heart is yearning
wondering
stretching
dreaming.
And the place where our hearts are opened...that is a thin place.
Jesus was in a thin place in the wilderness.
He found God in the scripture.
He remembered who he was from his baptism.
He claimed his power as a child of God and stood up to the tempter.
This Lent remember who you are
a child of God
a member of this community of faith
a seeker
Open your heart to the power of God's word.
Trust in the God who called you by name at your baptism.
Believe, listen, follow.
Know that you are a child of God. You are beloved by God. Be loved.
Thanks be to God. Amen
Resource: Preaching the Lesson, by Anna Carter Florence in Lectionary Homiletics, March 2008.
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First Sunday of Lent
- Feb 21, 2010 | Dr. Teri Thomas
- Passage: Luke 4:1-13
I understand there is a new theme park in Orlando, Fl called “The Holy Land Experience”. You can see Jesus crucified, watch the disciples dance and sing, and check out a model of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. For just $31 per adult and $16 per child, you get to experience everything you read about in the Bible without any of the hassles of international travel, tours, wars, or other inconveniences. You can buy a Shofar, or a scroll or a DVD of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Kids can walk through Noah’s ark or knock down the wall of Jericho. If you get hungry you can grab a Goliath burger at the Oasis Palm Café, or get a coffee and a pastry at the Sycamore Tree.
What there isn’t at the theme park is anything really resembling a wilderness.
I guess wilderness is not a big draw for families on vacation. The Israelites wandered through it for forty years. Jesus spent 40 days in it. But we really would rather avoid it. There is also no mention of Satan, or the tempter, or evil, or whatever you want to call the power Jesus encountered in his wilderness experience. Probably not a big draw either. Can you imagine-
“Where are you going for spring break this year. We are going to see the devil in Orlando?”
Whatever you want to call that power outside of the theme parks, we know it exists.
Not sure?
Think about your own life. You know that person who is so trying? And every day you say you are going to be nicer, more patient, more loving and just how many times have you failed to keep that good thought? What about those things you swear you are going to stop doing? Or the ones you are set on starting? And yet we can’t seem to make the change. There is another power in our lives. Call it temptation, or evil or Satan, it is there.
And then there is the wilderness- the place where we often meet this power. Maybe you are going through a moral challenge, trying desperately to determine the better path. Maybe it is a fear- a fear of tomorrow- a fear of change or a fear of death. Maybe you are just discouraged and worn out.
We all experience these wilderness times. They may be different for each of us but there are some things they all have in common.
• The wilderness is always a lonely place. Even when we know others have walked this way we feel alone with our feelings and our fears.
• The wilderness is not a place we would choose to go. We usually find ourselves there against our will and despite our attempts to avoid it.
• The wilderness is a place where we feel out of control. That other power is present and we feel inadequate to stand up to it.
Jesus could have been distracted by the things offered to him. He could have turned toward them
because he was hungry after fasting for 40 days. Who wouldn’t do almost anything for food after that? He could satisfy his hunger and feed all the hungry people. And who would not want dignity, power, respect, empowerment, safety and security or any of the other things the tempter offered?
But, Jesus doesn’t get tempted or distracted by these offers. Instead, he remembers where he came from, a child of God, claimed by God in baptism, and called by God into this ministry.
He remembers what sustains him. He can turn down the bread because he is still full to the brim with the Spirit of God and that is ultimately what gives him nourishment and strength.
He remembers what he has been called to do. Jesus refuses the power, security that could keep him temporarily satisfied while deterring him from his real purpose in life.
In order to do stand against the tempter Jesus had to know where he came from, what would sustain him, and what his true purpose really was.
The same questions confront each of us every single day.
Who are you? A child of God? The top salesperson in the company? A teacher or a learner?
A master or a servant? A doer or a lover?
What sustains you? Money? Adventure? A new house or bigger car? Love? Power? Faith?
What is our purpose here on earth? Success? Wealth? Comfort? Fame? Service?
These choices face each of us as individuals. They also face all of us together. As a congregation we have to ask-
Who are we? What will sustain us? What are we really called to do?
Northminster went through a time when we were known as the largest church in Indiana.
Then we went through the time when we were the church where the tragedy happened.
Then we became the church with the crazy woman pastor. Now we could be the church with that beautiful new building that was just finished, or the church that hosts Blue Grass Bands.
We can be tempted to rest on what others see in us or we can resist the temptation and struggle to be what God is calling us to be.
This is what our mission statement says about us-
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we celebrate God's love and follow Christ's teachings to seek, serve and embrace.
Seeking God’s spirit is part of our daily lives. We study together, pray together, sing together,
worship together, watch movies and read books together. Then we talk and question and wonder
in an effort to know who we really are.
Serving God and our world in a variety of ways is how we nourish our growing faith. Working with School 55, teaching in a small church in Cancun, feeding lunch to school children in Kenya
while providing food for people in Indianapolis, and supporting the mission of our denomination
locally and globally are just some of the ways we feed our faith and strengthen our life together.
Embracing friends and strangers is central to our life as a community. We share one another’s joys and sorrows in worship and in fellowship. Burdens and joys are carried and celebrated together through our deacons and our Stephen Ministers. We all embrace the lonely, the outcast, the child, the family and the person who has given up on church. Because that is what God calls us to do.
If we possess clarity about our mission, we will not be distracted or tempted to look elsewhere. We will know our identity and purpose, and live into it. It is not about the building, it is not about the pastor, it is not about the size.
It is remembering we are children of God- loved and claimed.
It is being confident in the sustenance that comes only from God.
It is knowing we are here to seek, to serve and to embrace others.
Who are you? What gives you life? What is God asking you to do?
These are the questions of Lent.
The answers will determine our life.
Amen.
