Take my lips and speak through them. Take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.
Have you noticed that everyone is in the wilderness these days? That seems to be the big Metaphor of the day. It’s applied to just about every situation we can’t seem to control or fix. Whether it’s the economy, the Anglican Communion, the Massachusetts republican party – it’s all in the wilderness right now. It implies we’re lost, or searching aimlessly, or without hope.
In other words, the wilderness is not a good place to be.
Christ Church is of course not immune to all of this fear and anxiety. We’re feeling the economic downturn. We worry about the deep divisions that threaten our Communion. We worry about declining attendance in our church and many others. In another hour, the Vestry will present you with a budget for the next year. Our income is down, our fixed expenses are up. We’ve had to slash funding to some time-honored programs and outreach efforts to make it all balance.
You’ll also see that no one -- in a church of over 300 active members and families – no one has stepped forward to take two critical leadership positions: Warden and Parish Clerk. For deeply personal reasons – and I am grateful to all of you for respecting my need to keep them personal – I can’t seek another term as your senior warden.
The good news is you have Julia, and a full vestry slate with highly qualified people. Please keep them in your prayers, and give them the extra support they will need.
But it’s all pretty sobering, and has led me in recent weeks to wonder, Are we – Christ Church, our congregation – are we in the wilderness? And how do we get out?
Our Gospel reading helps us, but you have to dig a little deeper. You have to read the part they left out. That’s always my husband John’s favorite part of the Psalm – the verses they leave out. He says that’s where all the gore and wrath happens.
In this morning’s reading, we join Jesus on the road after John’s been arrested. Jesus has just arrived in Galilee. What we left out is where he had been just before that. Two weeks ago, you’ll recall, we read about his baptism by John, and how God was pleased. We skipped the part in between: right after God says, “Well Done, Son”, the Holy Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days to hang out with wild beasts, be tempted by Satan and waited on by angels.
Reflecting on my original question, are we in the wilderness, it occurs to me that for God, the wilderness is not such a scary place. It’s not where you find yourself because you screwed up or because everything is going horribly wrong. The wilderness is always part of the biblical journey, so it’s part of our journey, though maybe we don’t choose to go there. I believe we often find ourselves there, it’s not a one-time thing. And like Jesus, we are led there by the Holy Spirit. We can’t stay there forever – you can’t survive that long – but the story of Jesus’ time in the wilderness is enlightening as to how that time is spent, and where it gets us.
Matthew’s Gospel gives us a lot more detail about Jesus’ time in the wilderness than Mark does. Matthew tells us that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights (as usual – that’s what gives it that biblical flair) and that he was famished. In other words, he did without the food and water necessary for survival. He might be desperate, subject to : TEMPTATION. Enter Satan.
Yet each time Jesus is faced with temptation, an easy way out, what does he do? he quotes the scriptures. He quotes scripture.
When the Devil taunts Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus answers with a quote from scripture: “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
When the Devil asks Jesus to test the loyalty of the angels by throwing himself off of a cliff, he responds with another quote: “Do not put the Lord your God to the Test.”
And finally when the Devil shows Jesus what riches he can have if he turns from God and worships Satan, Jesus casts him out with a final quote: “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”
In other words, Jesus keeps going back to the Rule Book. It’s like following the Scout Manual. He stays true to God, and faces temptation head-on. He doesn’t have to invent something on his own, come up with some clever new path. it’s all right there, in the manual. Despite outward appearances, he’s not alone. The angels show up, tend to his needs. And what does he do next? He comes out, and saves the world.
Temptations – those little compromises to our faith that represent the easy way out -- are inevitable. Not only in our own lives but in our lives as a congregation as well. But God has already given us everything we need to face the temptations, everything we need to survive the lean times in the wilderness: We have the love of God; we have the Light of Christ; we have the guidance of the scriptures; we have the fire of the Holy Spirit; and we have the support of one another.
Now I don’t pretend to know if this is the wilderness, where we are now. Some days it feels that way. In the end, it doesn’t matter what we call it. We do and we will face many challenges to our congregation. Label them what you will.
As a congregation, we may be tempted in the weeks, months, even years ahead, to withdraw into ourselves as our funds decline or our membership stagnates. We may be tempted to stop serving those outside our community who so desperately need us, to stop sharing what we do have.
We may be tempted to hold onto traditions that have lost their relevance, or to latch onto meaningless trends. We may be tempted to seek growth in numbers, but neglect to grow in spirit. We may be tempted to seek new sources of revenue that threaten our integrity or our mission. We may be tempted to defer maintenance of our building, squandering this important asset and gathering space. We may get lost in the divisive struggles of our national church or even our own home-grown squabbles.
We may be tempted, in the face of increased demands for our time and talent, to say no to a request for help. We may be tempted to stop listening to each other altogether, or worse, to stop listening to God.
“Follow me,” Jesus says in today’s gospel.
This is not the time to withdraw inward, nor is it the time to give up. If we do that, we’ll surely never get out. And we must get out. We cannot survive otherwise. This is the time to keep walking -- to keep Following the light -- to keep living out our faith as Jesus commanded us: Loving God, loving our neighbor. Together, in community.
Worshiping together, caring for our resources and one another together, Feeding the hungry together, sheltering the homeless together, clothing the poor together, healing the sick together, saving our environment together and fighting injustice together.
In the end, maybe we’re in the wilderness most of the time. We don’t have all the answers, and it’s never easy. Maybe we’re always wandering in and out. What’s most important is not where we are, but where we’re going.
That’s why today’s actual gospel reading, not my expanded reading, is especially relevant. Even when we’re feeling hungry, tired, lost, or busy, busy, busy -- we must always keep our mind open to God’s call. After all, if we are in the wilderness, especially if we’re lost, that’s the only way out.
We never know when Jesus is going to tap us on the shoulder, wake us from our slumber or jar us out of our routine, and say, “Follow me.”
“Follow me.”
It has been my experience here at Christ Church that God is always working through us, calling us to serve His kingdom of justice and peace. Now I recognize that as individuals God can call us any time, anywhere – not just in church – and that call can take us down paths. But where is he calling us as a community of faith, together? Are we listening and will we be ready?
That tap on the shoulder may well come from one of your fellow parishioners or one of your parish leaders -- a call to service, to leadership, to fellowship, to worship. I hope in the days ahead we will all open our hearts and minds to the very real possibility that that call is Jesus -- leading us out of our wilderness, and into the light.
Amen.
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