Trinity Episcopal Church-March 2008

March 2008

Mt. 4:1-11

Have you ever noticed that it is in difficult times that we grow stronger? This Lenten gospel is about Jesus being tempted in the desert---showing us, in times of testing, His dependence on God.

Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist everything except temptation.”

Mark Twain - There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

Rick Schark--Opportunity knocks once; temptation leans on the doorbell.

Jesus was tested in the Judean desert. I can’t really identify with being in the desert, but I can identify with the wilderness...the wilderness of winter.

When I think of Easter I think of spring; Pentecost is summer. I think Lent is like the season of winter. Some words I associate with winter are: cold, snow, ice, snow shoveling, death, darkness, shoveling more snow, wind chill, buying a snow-blower, chapped lips, thermal underwear, frostbite, gangrene, amputation, TWA, Arizona.

Some people love winter and others hate it ( and that’s why they invented Florida).

There is no mention of winter in the Bible before the Fall in the garden of Eden. In Genesis we read about trees loaded with sun-ripened fruit, bushes with berries, flowing streams, and people who didn’t need clothes. Wherever the Garden of Eden was, it clearly wasn’t in Michigan in February.

Sometimes we go through a kind of spiritual winter: the winter of the soul. Wintry spirituality has little to do with the temperature outside and everything to do with what’s happening inside of you---in February or in July---our situation can be dark; our spirit cold.

Jesus went into the wilderness...alone. It was time for him to do what God wanted him to do, he had to get things straight, so he went to the desert alone, and faced his inner struggle with his own identity and his upcoming ministry.

It may be that sometimes our problems arise because we never try to be alone with God. Sometimes we need to be alone with Him, to get back to the beginning, back to the basics...you and God.

We can’t find what we need in a book, or advice from someone else; there’s nothing we can do---some situations need to be worked out in our heads and hearts by you and God alone.

The winter of the soul can come when we lose a job, or feel a deep sense of sadness, or when we get a positive lab test from the doctor, or when someone you care about dies and you don’t understand why.

In the wilderness, or the winter of the soul, that question comes up often: “Why God?” ---why must I go through these tough times, bear these hard circumstances? Why don’t you prevent them? Why don’t you make them disappear?

A brilliant magician was performing on an ocean liner. But every time he did a trick, a parrot, perched on the Captain's shoulder, would yell, "It's a trick. He's a phony. That's not magic."

Then one evening during a storm, the ship sank while the magician was performing. The parrot and the magician ended up in the same lifeboat. For several days they just glared at each other, neither saying a word. Finally the parrot said, "OK, I give up. What did you do with the ship?"

Sometimes, in life’s tests, it’s like the devil perches on my shoulder, like a mouthy parrot, and says, “OK, you phony, what did you do with God?”

Why didn’t God reach down and stop the car from running into her? Why didn’t God prevent him from getting the disease?

Why didn’t God intervene? Why didn‘t God bend the rules?

The answer is ...we don’t know.

But I do know that standing on this earth we only see a very small part of God’s eternal plan for us. And I do know when Jesus went through the wilderness, and when He agonized in Gethsemane, God didn’t bend the rules for him. And I do know that God loves us, and that God is still in control, and that He can make a way when there is no way. See Exodus 14:13,14---

Moses, in the wilderness, discovered his calling, identity, and purpose, surrounded by an angry pharaoh; trapped, but God provided a way through the sea. For us too.

God sees the big picture; Have you ever had a really hard test? A college sophomore anticipates a difficult final exam in his ornithology class. Having made the ultimate effort, he is stunned when he walks into the classroom and there is no book, no multiple-choice questions, no exam sheet at all---just 25 pictures on the wall. They aren’t photos of beautiful birds in full plume, but 25 pictures of birds’ feet. Just the feet! The test is to identify the birds by their feet.

The student protests, “It can’t be done!”

The professor says, “It must be done!”

The student says, “You’re a nut. I’m walking out!”

“If you walk out you fail!”

“Go ahead and fail me,” the boy says, heading for the door.

“OK, you’ve failed. Tell me your name.” the professor demands.

The boy rolls his pant leg up and kicks off his sandal to reveal his foot, “You tell me!”

In life’s tests, our values, commitments, our character, our beliefs are revealed. We find out what we’re made of. In other words, you don’t know how strong the tea is until you place the bag in hot water!

Some people’s faith is tied to circumstances. When their circumstances are good, their faith is up; when the circumstances are adverse, their faith is down. We don’t have to live that way. Regardless of circumstances, we are in God’s hands and He will get us through.

I believe there are two kinds of faith: One that says if and the other says though. One says “If everything goes well, if I am prosperous, if I’m health with a full head of hair and straight teeth, then I will believe in God.”

The other type of faith says though: “though I am struggling, though I am in the wilderness, though I’m in pain, and it’s dark and cold, and I don’t understand, I will trust the Lord.”

This is who I am! This is how I live my life, by faith!! A tough, hard-edged faith that believes against the odds, that believes through the trials, and trusts in God Who will never leave me or forsake me!

Let me ask you, when is the lake (Huron) most beautiful? To me it’s during a storm; a dramatic, churning powerful mass, painted in grays and blues, with pounding, roaring waves.

George Herbert wrote, “Storms are the triumph of (God’s) art.” Same is true with us. When we are in our own storms, when we persevere in faith we “are the triumph of His art.”

Because of trials, I become aware of everything meaningful in my life; I become dependent on him; I become stronger, wiser; I become the triumph of His art!

When Jesus came to earth, he came in winter. His identity was tested.

When I worked as a chaplain in London Ont. in a large hospital (700 beds) we were given an identification tag to wear around our necks. This was during the SARS problem a few years back and tight precautions were taken to prevent an epidemic.

We walked in the hospital, and several people were there to check your I. D. tag with a little bar code on it. It answered the questions, Who are you? What do you do? Where do you belong in this hospital?

Today you will be given a Lenten cross. It is your Christian I. D. tag. Wear it around your neck. May it remind you of who you are, what you do, and where you belong in this life.

Trinity Episcopal Church

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March 2008