The First Sunday of Lent, Year A

Making Choices

Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11

In the Old Testament lesson we heard the account Adam and Eve's disobedience and the resulting tragic story of fallen humankind. God begins by giving human creation freedom and limits, leaving us with choices to make: "You may eat freely of every tree of the garden;" God tells Adam and Eve, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat."

The serpent, one of God's creatures, poses a tempting question. "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?'"

The woman explains. "We may eat of any of the trees but the tree of good and evil. If we eat any of its fruit we will die."

The serpent continues, "You will not die; your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God." What a temptation that was. What a choice to have to make! To be like God! In fact, it was so tempting that they began to recognize the state they were in, their nakedness and their sense of shame, and ultimately their sense of brokenness, of broken relationship with God, the alienation that is part and parcel of our human condition.

Our lives are filled with opportunities to make choices. Most are simple. What should I wear today? What would I like to eat? What time should I get up? Most choices do not even require much thought. They are automatic.

But there are choices in our lives that require considerable reflection. Is this the right person with whom to spend the rest of my life? Should I change jobs? Where should I live? These are choices that may affect the very fabric and direction of our lives.

Olympic athletes must make difficult choices. It is not enough to have talent. Competing in a sport sounds glamorous but when you are standing outside ready to begin practice at five o'clock in the morning and your muscles still ache from yesterday's workout there is nothing to hold you there except your goals. To make it to the top, athletes put aside everything else – family, friends, relationships. The final performance at the Olympics may seem effortless but those athletes have chosen to put everything else aside.

In extreme cases, choices can even be a matter of life and death. In one of my favourite Star Trek episodes, Jean Luc Picard, the Captain of the Starship Enterprise once again encounters his nemesis, an immortal being named Q. Picard is dying because of some damage that was done to his heart in a youthful accident. Q takes him back in time to the place where it happened, and forces him to consider whether he chose wisely. He shows him how it would have turned out had he chosen other paths. Picard knows that he would survive if he changed his early choice. But in the end he realizes that the changes would not have been for the better.

Choices, particularly moral choices, are difficult for us to make. Sometimes the distinctions between them are unclear. Society constantly presents us with choices between what the world chooses and what we know as Christians to be right, questions about how to live with integrity in the business world and in society. As Christians in a secular world, we very often fear making unpopular choices. We do not want to be seen as different. Yet this is a society that very much needs us as Christians to take a stand, to be at the forefront of ethical decision making. If we, the church will not take an ethical stand, who will? Yet when we do so, we run the risk of being ignored or branded as fanatical.

In all of this we have a choice. Our choices can be God's choices for us. We can choose not to participate in activities that we know to be detrimental to society. If we were to choose good over evil in each situation, how would our world change?

And so that brings us to Jesus and the choices that he made. In that wilderness place Jesus was confronted by three very human temptations. "You must be hungry,” Satan said to him. “Use your power to turn those stones into bread. Throw yourself down from the temple. You will not be harmed. Angels will protect you. Fall down and worship me. Everything you see will be yours." Jesus is confronted by three temptations that come to all of us; food, religion and politics. What could be the harm in any of them? They are all ways for Jesus to become an influence, to become known to people. Wouldn’t that be a good thing? The problem with such temptations is that they all have powerful meaning in our lives, so they can all be abused. With his deep connection to humankind, Jesus resists the temptations. He lives by that great commandment, “Love God and love your neighbour.”

Times of temptation will occur in our lives. We may have a deep sense of loss because of the death of a loved one. We may lose our job, or go through the pain of a broken relationship. We may suffer through sickness, or depression. We may be tempted by power or by wealth at the cost of integrity. How we allow such times in our lives to bring us into relationship with God and with others is the measure of the temptation.

Each of us has the power through our choices to shape and give meaning to life. Living as a Christian is a response to a deliberate choice. It calls for a decision to place our faith in Christ. It is a call to commitment.

Lent is a wilderness time in the Church year. It is a time of commitment to spiritual growth. It provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and consequences of our choices. Our life is a series of choices. What has shaped your life? What shape would you like it to take? How can it take new shape during this holy season of Lent? It is an opportunity for us to reform ourselves, to allow God's Holy Spirit to re-shape us so that our whole community is re-created. I have heard that forty days is the optimal time in which to re-shape some aspect of one's life. Let us use this time, not primarily as a time to give up something, but as a time to bring ourselves into a closer and more open relationship with our creator. Let it be a holy and life-giving Lent for each of us.

The First Sunday of Lent, Year C

Into the Wilderness

Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13

A friend of mine, a meteorologist, has a phone message at this time of year that gives all the ingredients for the arrival of spring. He explains that the earth prepares itself long before spring actually arrives. Under the snow the earth is warming up, ready to nurture the seeds.

Although we do not usually think of it in those terms, Lent is the springtime of the church year. It is a time of spiritual renewal and preparedness. It is a wilderness time in our lives when we look for direction. Too often we think of it as a rather grim time when we should feel guilty about the things that are wrong in our lives. We think of it in terms of giving up. It is not simply about guilt for our sinfulness or giving up, although those are important things for us to consider in our spiritual journey. Rather it is about the barrenness of winter giving way to the promise of spring. Such wilderness times in our lives can be times of danger as we search for the right direction, but they are also times of growth as God makes a path through the wilderness, a path leading us home.

Following his baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus entered a Lenten time in his life. It was a time of preparation for leadership. It was common practice for people to go to a desert place to prepare themselves spiritually. It was a reminder of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and of their hope for liberation. So Jesus went out into the wilderness. It was a time to prepare for what lay ahead, a journey that would ultimately lead him to the cross.

There in that wilderness place he grappled with the devil. “If you are the Son of God,” the devil said to him, “make bread!” What could be the harm? After all, God provided manna for the people of Israel when they were going hungry in the wilderness. It was a subtle temptation, for Jesus often thought about how to feed the hungry. It would have brought him instant popularity amongst the poor. Jesus, however, was interested in another kind of hunger. He knew that it would take more than bread to satisfy the deep needs of humanity.

“If you are the Son of God, be a political leader!” the devil continued. Many in Israel were hoping that the Messiah would be a conqueror who would deliver them from the power of Rome. They lived in an oppressive regime; they wanted freedom. Would not Jesus have made a great king? Power can be a real temptation. Jesus knew whom he served. He knew what kind of a king he was called to be. He knew that his throne would be a cross.

“If you are the Son of God,” the devil continued, “pull a spectacular stunt. Get noticed!” What harm could there be? Would it not be for the better good? Would it not accomplish far more in the whole scheme of things?

The time in the wilderness is a defining moment in Jesus’ ministry. It defines his potential. If you are the Son of God, you do not need to prove it. You simply need to be all you are meant to be, all that God calls you to be. These are temptations which define who Jesus is and who he is not. What kind of liberator is Jesus? What kind of miracle worker? What kind of king? For he is not a liberator, a miracle worker or a king in the way of the world.

Temptations are defining moments. At least, the way we respond to them defines us. What kind of people are we? Are we all that God is calling us to be? Or do we allow ourselves to be lured away onto easier paths, in worldly directions. Our purpose is to be all that God wants us to be. The Lenten Season offers us the opportunity to explore who we are meant to be. This Lent more than any other I am aware that we need to seize the opportunity, not only as individuals, but perhaps even especially as a congregation. This Lenten season offers us opportunities, but it also offers challenges.

During Lent we embark on a journey that takes us into wilderness places. The Old Testament reading is a wilderness story. The wilderness experience for the Israelites was a fruitful one in many ways. In the wilderness they served God without being diverted by society. It was a time of closeness to God, of intimacy. So now as they enter a time of wealth and prosperity, the people are called to remember the oppression that they suffered in Egypt. They are called to remember God's deliverance. They are called to remember the experiences of wandering in the desert and of the joy of knowing that they could depend on God to meet their needs.

It is something of which I am very much aware as I prepare for our Vestry meeting this afternoon. In fact, sometimes as I look back on the past five years I am aware that we have been wandering in some rather difficult wilderness places already. These have been challenging years as we got our operating deficit under control. They have been challenging years as we considered how best to deal with the problems that arise out of our unique arrangements in the Church Centre. They have been challenging years as it became more and more obvious that the Lutherans were not able to carry their fair share of the expenses. It has become more and more challenging as we found ourselves blamed for the difficulties our partner in ministry has been going through.

Those of us who manage this congregation, our wardens, our boards, and myself, know that the wilderness journey in many ways has just begun. Over the next few months many important decisions will need to be made by this Vestry.

There will be temptations along the way. We all know from our own experience that many things tempt us as humans. There is the temptation to use God to meet our own needs and wants rather than what God has in mind for us. We may be tempted to see the testing in our lives as a sign of abandonment or failure. We can forget that it can be a sign that God's grace can enable us to accomplish whatever God has in store for us. What we may not realize is that there are also many things that tempt churches. Churches can become places for entertainment, or social empowerment, or middle class compromise. We can forget the ministry to which we are called.

As we meet for Vestry we will be asked to reflect on just that. Where is God calling our congregation? How best can we accomplish the ministry to which God is calling us? We will take our time to explore all of the options. We will study. We will pray. We will dream. We will remember God's many blessings on us in the past and of how God has sustained us through many difficult periods of transition. We will listen to one another patiently and with compassion. We will listen to where God is leading us. Most of all we will remember that our true call is to follow the way of the cross. There at the cross the power of sin and death are defeated. All too often when we are wandering through wilderness places we see the testing and not the faith. Testing is the sign that God's grace will enable us to meet whatever is in store for us. Let us remember that we move ahead in faith and that we do not do so alone. Amen.