Finding Courage: Wilderness

Summary Outline:

Can you hear me?

Definition of being is the wilderness might be where you can’t get a cell signal.

Fell alone and we say to God - can you hear me now?

Mark’s story - Driven to the Wilderness

Have you ever been driven to the wilderness - THink with me

Phone call, test results, a relationship changes, an accident occurs- wilderness is never on your google calendar. It happens to us - something in our lives change.

I am in the desert, I am in the wilderness - 

“Can I find the courage in the wilderness”

Wilderness is a part of the biblical narrative:

While not what we want - wilderness is often a place where we are formed and reformed.  

Pastor 20 years - thousands of stories.  People don;t lead with it but every person’s story has a time of wilderness

Israelites fleeing Egypt - go to the wilderness and are formed and reformed in that time.

Jesus coming up from the Jordan, God’s Spirit is upon him and even JEsus is driven to the wilderness.  But why?  Why would Jesus be driven to the wilderness.  

Wilderness is real to all of our lives.

Wilderness is tough.  No one would wish it on another person.  It is real.  It is a part of our lives.  IF this Jesus is going to be our Savior here is my hunch.  

We can trust Jesus because he has been in the wilderness to: MASH, Father Mulcahy….is talking to a wounded soldier.  BUt when the solider finds out that Father Mulcahy has not been in war.  He does not want to talk to him.  Later in that episode Father Mulcahy has to operate on a wounded soldier while shells are going off all around him.  He see that earlier solider and sits down and they begin to talk.  the soldier welcomes the Father after all.  Now they have a common frame of reference, now they can talk.  

When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God coming near.  These are not just some sunny predictions of some starry-eyed optimist.  This was one who had faced advisories, Someone who had experienced the wilderness.

Jesus learns some important lesson in the wilderness.  He learns that he is not alone. Gods Spirit was upon Jesus.  In the wilderness.  And this is the paradox of hte wilderness. It is often where we can hear God most clearly.  After the same Spirit that descended on Jesus at his baptism like a dove, Is the same spirit taht was with him in the wilderness. Reminding him who and whose He is.  

Wilderness Angels:

Mr. Rogers - Look for the helpers.  Sometimes when we are in need of courage.  We look to the helpers.  And often times we can see the angels around us.  Those that listen to our pain, those that bring a casserole, those that care. 

Find courage:  Looking can often mean looking for the wilderness angels… 

Wilderness is a time to make meaning, but it not the whole story:

Some of our greatest growth comes in these wilderness times.

In sharing it we can encourage others

But it not the whole story.  Isaiah 43:1See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness…

How do we find courag in the wilderness:

We remember Christ has experienced it as well.

We remember we are not alone but that God’s Spirit is upon us and wiht us.

We look for wilderness angels.

And we know that the wilderness shapes us but it does not define our story.  For God will help you find a way in the wilderness.  And JEsus left the wildernes, on a mission of redemption.  That is our story. Thanks be to God.

In this season of lent we begin our sermon series entitled,  Finding Courage.  We journey with Christ towards the Cross and in His journey we look to reflect on our own lives and how we might find courage through Him.  Like a train journey, we will have stations where we will pause and reflect.  Those metaphorical stations will be wilderness, Vulnerability, Presence Solidarity, Surrender Obedience And on Easter Morning new life. We pray you will journey with us in this series.  That by journeying with Christ, we might find courage.  Our first station in this journey in Lent  is wilderness.  This was true for Jesus and is often true in our lives. Life can force us into the wilderness.  I wonder, have you ever faced a wilderness season in your life?  

Hear now the word of the Lord from Mark’s very short, brief, mysterious description of the wilderness. Right after Jesus is baptized in the Jordan.  We hear these words From   Mark chapter  1 verses 12-15 And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God

Let us pray….Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you this day.  You are our rock, our refuge,  our redeemer. Amen.

“Can you hear me now?” I know you have said those words. With your cell phone pressed against your ear. Maybe even raising your voice. “Can you hear me now?” Wait hold on…. Than you try and tilt your head in the right direction. Than, you try everything, to be hear.  Hold on…. “Can you hear me now?”

Ugh….frustrated.  You hang up…. And there is silence, and you find yourself alone. What is the modern definition of wilderness? It is probably where you can’t get a cell signal.  Because that is where you feel alone. You don’t know which way to go. And maybe in that metaphorical place we also say to God, “Can you hear me now?  Are you really listening? I am lost and don’t know how to get out?  Do you see me struggling here?”

Mark’s story of the wilderness of Jesus, is the shortest of all the gospel stories.  Our passage is brief, spare, lean, and mysterious. And it begins with these words… “Driven to the wilderness and he was tested.” 

Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt driven to the wilderness? An unexpected test result comes back. A phone call interrupts your day. A relationship changes. A downturn in the market and a job change. Entering the wilderness is never on anyone’s Google calendar, In fact, what you plan is how to avoid it. And another truth of the wilderness is that you don’t know when you will exit it.  It is not up to your control.  That wilderness time is is usually a time filled with disorientation and confusion about what to do or where to go. It is never something you plan. In the wilderness, we are unable to keep up the public image of effortless perfection that plagues us. It is a time when we confess the messy reality of our lives. We name that we live among the wild beasts - of advisories that seek to break us down.  Beasts like cance, alzheimers, ALS… Beasts like addiction… In the wilderness, you wonder do I have the resources to move forward and maybe just fundamentally - survive.  All the comfort and conveniences feel absent. And you can feel alone.  Isolated.  Can you hear me now, Oh God.  Where are you? I am on a desert, in a wilderness.  

And you wonder in that moment, “how can I find courage in the wilderness?” I have been in ministry 20 years. And I have listened to thousands of people’s stories. And if they are really honest.  Really vulnerable. There is always some time of wilderness.

I find it fascinating that early on, Jesus is driven to the wilderness.  Being in the wilderness is a common theme in scripture.

It is noteworthy, then, that in biblical tradition God again and again calls God’s people to the wilderness to be formed and reformed. 1).  Exodus 13:17 suggests that when God called the people out of slavery, God did not lead them on the more direct route to the promised land (which might have led them into war with the Philistines), but through the wilderness, tested over a whole generation.

2).   So, too, when Jesus is baptized, he does not head for the nearest city to start his ministry. Instead the Spirit drives him out (Mark 1:12) into the wilderness to be tested as Israel had been. 

But why? Why would Jesus be driven to the wilderness? Wilderness - is real.  Wilderness is real.  It is tough.  It is a place of change, threat, disorientation. And here is my hunch. We can trust Jesus because he has been in the wilderness to: Many years ago on the TV series M*A*S*H the unit’s priest, Fr. Mulcahy, tried to talk with a wounded soldier who had been severely traumatized by what he witnessed on the front lines of the war.  But when this soldier discovers that the good Father had never been anywhere close to where the fighting of the war was taking place, he concludes they just cannot talk.  The soldier had no interest in hearing the pious platitudes of one who had no idea what he was talking about.  Later in the episode, after Mulcahy does come under enemy fire and is forced to perform an emergency medical procedure on a soldier even as shells are exploding all around him, the soldier welcomes the Father after all.  Now they have a common frame of reference, now they can talk.  Now Mulcahy gets it. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God coming near.  There were not some sunny predictions of some starry-eyed but finally unrealistic optimist.  This was one who had faced advisories, Someone who had experienced the wilderness. And yet int this wilderness Jesus learns some important lessons.  He learns that he is not alone. Gods Spirit was upon Jesus.  In the wilderness.  And this is the paradox of hte wilderness. It is often where we can hear God most clearly.  After the same Spirit that descended on Jesus at his baptism like a dove, Is the same spirit taht was with him in the wilderness. Reminding him who and whose He is. 

And there are also wilderness angels.  angels, "who ministered to him."

To remember, as Mark remembered, those angels that show up when we're tired, thirsty and surrounded by wild beasts--just as they did for Jesus. Maybe one of your angels is a colleague who had your back during a rough time at work or a friend who listened to your fears and grief after a relationship ended. Sometimes our wilderness angels are the people who accept our apologies when we've hurt them or others, the people who remind us through that acceptance that, 

And sometimes our wilderness angels are simply the people who are willing to walk with us into the wilderness and deserts of our own lives. 

Story of Mr. Rogers who said in terrible times what to tell children.  Look for the helpers.  And so if you are in that wilderness time.  Look for the angels.  The helpers The people who care. And in them we can see God. Find courage:  Looking can often mean looking for the wilderness angels…

Wilderness is a part of our lives.  Our story. And here is the mystery.  We don;’t have ot like it but if we can make meaning out of it.  IF we can learn from it.  There is a profound healing that comes. And what might come is that your wilderness story - provides healing and courage someone else.  Wilderness times are a way God can reshape us, reform us…. For what is ahead… There is a beautiful passage in Isaiah 43…. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness…. My wilderness time - I hated it. Would not want it for anyone.  But in my healing I can see. It helped me to have more empathy. It helped me to feel.  It helped me to be more grateful. It helped me to draw closer to God. It helped me to see my own limits. It helped me to trust God.  

Finding courage can often mean finding meaning in our wilderness times. Jesus learns these lessons in the wilderness that will serve him his whole journey. And give him teh courage to keep moving. And we might learn these same lessons. That God’s Spirit is upon Him and us in the wilderness. That even in the wilderness, there are even “angels” to support him. That Jesus is formed and reformed in this wilderness time.  But that ultimately…. Jesus goes through the hell of hte wilderness on a path towards life.

In the wilderness, Can you hear me now? I hope you might find courage.

Remembering that God can hear you. God knows what the wilderness feels like. You are are not alone, There are wilderness angels around you, And yes, you will be changed by the wilderness, but God is leading you to life.

Amen.

Notes/Ideas:

Wilderness School

Story of Courage:

Dear Brownson Church, The barn’s burned down. Now I can see the moon. Sometimes out of adversity, comes peace and happiness through God’s Grace and protection. On August 8, 2003 just shy of 31 years together, my marriage suffered a catastrophic betrayal that there was no coming back from. I was gutted, heartbroken, hurt, embarrassed, humiliated, angry and bitter. That’s just a start. However I never lost my faith. While I didn’t know what God’s plan was, I knew there was a plan. I knew that however bad it got, His hand would be firmly on my back guiding me through the rough times. 

I prayed a lot, I cried a lot and I sat staring into space just thinking for hours. I couldn’t concentrate enough to read and listening to music was out of the question. Too many songs brought back memories or made me sad. I kept busy with my  friends from charitable organizations, garden club and church. My church family fed my soul and cared for me spiritually. I took a year long Bible Study. My friends kept me busy making sure we went out for lunch, dinner or a night at DPAC. 

After two years of a stressful settlement agreement which involved a court trial and four more years of making my own way, my life changed drastically. 

One day early in February of 2009 my daughter called me to say she had found the perfect house for me in Southern Pines. She and her husband, my mother and my father were all here for various reasons as well as my best friend. I had some knowledge of Southern Pines from High School days in Fayetteville when I would drive over here to purchase my horse tack. I loved it here then and I love it still! This was in the middle of the great housing slump. However, I decided the time was right for a major life change. It was a scary thought but I put my Durham house on the market, bought the Southern Pines house and began what would be a seven month rehab of the 1909 house. 

Things moved quickly. The renovations went well, the Durham house sold, and my daughter and her husband were expecting their first child. I moved to Southern Pines in September leaving a town I’d lived in since I was 18. My entire adult life to that point, decades long friendships and familiarity with my surroundings were all left behind. Then in October my granddaughter was born while her father was in Iraq. I was meant to be here. The plan was becoming clearer. 

I eventually joined Brownson and got involved with more and more activities and meeting more and more wonderful people. I traded one church family for another one that has become very precious to me. 

God’s plan all made sense. It all fit into place. God didn’t change events but safely led me through them. 

Peace and Grace to all, especially those whose barn has burned down. I pray that with God’s guidance you will soon see the moon. 

Member and Elder, Bev Pellom 

Notes:

“sooner or later they [Christians] found themselves in the grips of what the writer Barbara Bradley Hagerty calls “mid-faith ennui.” “If you have striven to know God for a decade or more,” she writes, “you are almost certain to cross a spiritual wasteland, which ranges from dryness and boredom to agony and abandonment.” Anyone who has read the classics of the Christian spiritual life recognizes this wilderness as a predictable stop on the journey into God. Augustine’s Confessions, Teresa of Ávila’s Interior Castle, and John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul all talk about it. As variously as people describe it, they all discover that if you are determined to walk the way of Jesus, there comes a time when you must leave the lower altitudes for the heights. This will involve lightening your pack and heading into parts unknown. You will have to leave your bags of spiritual sweets behind, along with the heavy devotional books you use to take your mind off how bad your feet hurt. Sooner or later you will have to leave all your soothing props behind, entrusting yourself to the God who cares more about your transformation than your comfort.”

— Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor

Interesting that wilderness might be “a predictable stop on the journey”... and transformation at the expense of comfort.

Solidarity:

“If you want to go somewhere fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” 

-African Proverb