"Springtime for the Soul"

If someone were to ask you about your spiritual life or journey in faith what would you say?  Can you think back through your life and describe your own experiences and development in the context of faith?  Our Scripture readings today are about memory and commitment, and they are taken from the stories of ancient Israel, of Jesus, and of the early Christians. 

In the Book of Deuteronomy we heard, "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien...[The] Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us.... We cried to the God of our ancestors; God heard our voice, saw our affliction…and brought us out of Egypt … into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  So now I bring the first fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me."

Israel's faith is the experience of God's saving power in the moment of anguish and need.  The Israelites were nomads or farmers.  They had gone to Egypt probably to escape famine, and their subsequent threatening presence to the Egyptians was a social and political reality.  In their crisis for survival they recognized the true source of power and blessing and gave thanks with the first fruits of the harvest, an offering of gratitude to God. 

A key element in Israel's faith was the powerful force of the community.  In whatever time we live, our ancestor is always Israel, the wandering Aramean.  Every succeeding generation must receive God's gift as a new reality, vowing to live by faith and returning to the covenant God made with the Israelites. 

Christian faith begins with Jesus.  Following his baptism, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, ...was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.… When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time."

At the time of his temptations Jesus was just beginning to sow the seeds of his message.  The reality of his faith was in the tradition of ancient Israel.  Just as his ancestors had gone into the wilderness so Jesus was let by the Spirit into the wilderness, and like Moses, fasted.  Just as the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea, so Jesus waded through the Jordan River and then headed into the wilderness.  There he was tempted three times by the devil.  He was tempted to seek power, to be distracted by physical needs and wants, and to seek a private, personal salvation through a false form of trust.

In commenting on the lessons from Deuteronomy and Luke, the Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann says, “These texts constitute a meditation on a primal human question: ‘Who will make us safe?’ The answer, in biblical context, is not a surprise.  The only security is trust in God.”

The passage from Deuteronomy provides “a classic affirmation concerning the God who saves, provides, and protects. … God is powerfully and totally committed to God’s treasured people.”

The narrative of Luke offers a challenge.  “The tempter seeks to talk Jesus out of his security and his vocation by offering other fake modes of well-being…. But Jesus refuses the offer.”

Walter Brueggemann then tells us, “Lent is a time…  to embrace the only reliable gift of well-being.  Imagine choosing the Lord of the gospel rather than money, control, and power—the usual seductions in our society.”

Another writer, Barbara Brown Taylor, in an article in the Christian Century Magazine several years ago, (February 18, 1998), writes that the “season of Lent, [is] from the old English word lenten, meaning "spring" [It is] not only a reference to the season before Easter, but also an invitation to a springtime for the soul.  Forty days to cleanse the system and open the eyes to what remains when all comfort is gone.  Forty days to remember what it is like to live by the grace of God alone and not by what we can supply for ourselves.”

When we live by the grace of God alone, it is “the holy of holies inside of us, the uncluttered throne room of the Lord our God.  Nothing on earth can fill it, but that does not stop us from trying. … Read Luke’s story again. Then tell the devil to get lost and decide what you will do for Lent…. Worship the Lord your God and serve no one else.  Expect great things, from God and from yourself.  Believe that everything is possible.  Why should any of us settle for less?”

May all of us, good friends, during this season of Lent recall the faith of our ancestors and the temptations and trials that Jesus endured.  Then may we reach into the solitude of our souls to renew our faith, to worship and give thanks and praise to God from whom all blessings flow.  Amen.