Lenten Reflection

At the beginning of Lent, particularly on the first Sunday in Lent, traditionally is the time when we reflect on the temptations of Jesus. We are told that Jesus went off into the wilderness. We are actually told that the Spirit led him there. The wilderness is a bleak place, a lonely place, and there Jesus struggled as he reflected on the mission and ministry on which he was about to embark. How should it be approached? What were the priorities? When I was in the Holy Land, in December 2011, we drove from Jericho to Jerusalem and stopped on the way to get a brief experience of being in the wilderness. (Thus, the picture.) It was clearly very different from anything Jesus experienced to get off a mini bus and walk a couple of hundred of metres or so into the wilderness, but it was moving to spend that brief time there, and to reflect on the story of the temptations. The wilderness is a significant place. It can be a place of temptation or a place of reflective strengthening or, indeed, both. It is sometimes a struggle to get through it, but that needs to be done to get to the other side. It can be worth spending time in the wilderness, but few want to stay there too long. Interestingly, one of the other things I did in 2011, but earlier, in July, was to spend seven days at a Roman Catholic in centre on silent retreat. I had spent brief periods in silence before, but never more than a matter of hours. And, to be honest, I wondered how I would get on with seven days, my only conversation, twenty minutes or so each day, with a spiritual guide and attendance at a brief service of worship. That was my time of reflection and meditation, very different from Jesus’ wilderness experience, with good food and a comfortable bed apart from anything else, but an opportunity for a focussed time with God. And, by the way, I found it so helpful that it became the first of half a dozen or so such times across the latter years of my ministry, not always for as much as seven days, a couple were just three, though one was eight. Of course, most folk don’t get the opportunity for such an extended period of silence – and many would run a mile if it were offered, as I probably would have earlier in life. It is for us to each find our own way; but if Lent is about anything, it’s about really trying to find, even just a little, special time for God.

Speaking of Sin

I have just finished reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s “Speaking of Sin” and, as always, she has good things to say. Sin, as she recognises, has become an unfashionable theme, but that does not actually render it irrelevant. Part of the problem, though, is to fail to understand what it actually is, and another part is our inability to recognise the positive contribution that can be made when we recognise it in a good and useful way. As Taylor says, “I do not believe that sin is the enemy we often make it out to be, at least not when we recognize it and name it as such. When we see how we have turned away from God, then and only then do we have what we need to begin turning back. Sin is our only hope, the fire alarm that wakes us up to the possibility of true repentance.” She goes on to explore how we can engage with sin positively and how we might see it interacting with salvation. “Jesus might define salvation as recovery from illness or addiction, as forgiveness of debt, as peace between old enemies, as shared food in time of famine, or as justice for the poor. These are all outbreaks of health in a sin-sick world. Jesus saves because he shows us how to multiply such outbreaks, and because he continues to be present in them. Otherwise, we might call them good works or good luck. Instead, we have this sense that they come to us from outside of us. Our full participation is required, but that alone cannot explain the results, which are sometimes so astounding that we can only call them grace.” Perhaps the biggest problem with sin is that we don’t want to deal with it and its consequences in the way that we should. “Some Christians .. like to think of forgiveness as a giant eraser on the blackboard of life. But there is biblical precedent for the lasting effects of sins that have been forgiven. God forgave David for his murderous affair with Bathsheba, but their firstborn child still died. Jesus came to forgive the sins of the whole world, but according to his parable in Matthew 25, he will come again to separate the sheep from the goats. Forgiveness is a starting place, not a stopping place. It is God's gift to those who wish to begin again, but where we go with it gets up to us. … Most of us prefer remorse to repentance. We would rather feel badly about the damage we have done than get estimates on the cost of repair. We'd rather live with guilt than face the hard work of new life.” To quote the book’s title, ‘speaking of sin’ …..