Lent I - Year C

Angela and I were in the middle of our trip to Germany. We had left Hamburg the day before and found ourselves in the city of Wurtzburg, where we planned to begin driving the Romantische Strasse to the German Alps. Many a tour book had told us of the glories of this romantic back-road through the German countryside, noting that the road was well-marked and hard to miss. As we started out that cool January morning, we hopped in our car and started to drive knowing that our next stop would be the walled medieval city of Rothenburg. After Rothenburg, we would follow the road towards Bavaria, spending the night in Munich. We had the next three days planned out, knowing different castles, museums, and roads that we would see. Our plan was full of foresight, at least we thought so… There was only one problem, we hadn’t started our plan at the beginning of our trip. As we drove the curvy streets of Wurtzburg we couldn’t find the supposedly well marked Romantische Strasse anywhere. On top of that, we didn’t even have the slightest idea how to get out of Wurtzburg. As we drove around the concentric streets of the city for more than an hour, looking for small brown signs to lead us on to our goal, the fact that we needed to begin our trip at the beginning rather than at the end became painfully obvious. 

As we gather together on this first Sunday in Lent we too need to begin our journey at the beginning. Everything about this service is calling to us to realize that we are in a new place where we need to refocus our eyes and begin our spiritual journey afresh. Think for a moment about our service; the very shape of our worshipping together has been transformed. We started our service with a long litany that helped us to pray for nearly every conceivable thing. Our liturgy is filled with penitential language, and what’s more the word “Alleluia”, which is part and parcel of our worshipping life the rest of the year, has been removed from our vocabulary. Lent is upon us, a season that is markedly different from the joy and cheer of Christmastide or the light and excitement of Epiphany. Lent is here and it calls for us to begin at the beginning of our faith, to refocus our eyes on the very essence of our life and faith in Christ through a season of penitence. 

In the same way that our liturgy calls us to refocus, to begin at the beginning, so too do our readings. In the Epistle to the Romans Paul calls the Church to refocus her eyes on the very basics of the faith. In place of the rich but dense verbiage of the past nine chapters of Romans Paul states in clear and concise phrases the core of the Christian faith. In this passage Paul reminds the Church that as Christians our faith, our very life, is founded on what God has done to reconcile the world to Godself through Jesus Christ. Our being as a Church, our being as people of God finds its foundation, begins with, Jesus Christ and his resurrection. It is through this great event, the coming of God to earth, God’s loving us, teaching us, suffering for us, dying and rising again that we are made a new people. It is through this saving action that we are allowed to begin a new life, a life raised in the power and hope of Christ, a life filled with forgiveness, a life marked by radical community, a life that will never die. But to take part in this risen life, Paul reminds us that we must begin at the beginning of faith. Before we delve into the rich and intricate realities of faith we must first refocus our eyes on Christ.  

How might it be that we are called to refocus our eyes on Christ this Lent? 

Similarly, the story of Jesus’ fasting and temptation in the wilderness calls us to refocus our eyes and begin at the beginning. Just before the Gospel passage today John the Baptist baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended on him and Jesus began his public ministry as the Messiah of God. After these incredible events Jesus did NOT run ahead to perform his countless miracles, he did not rush forward to walk on water and awe his disciples, he did not immediately head up to Jerusalem and to his passion, death and resurrection. No, the start of Jesus’ ministry involved beginning at the beginning. With his eyes set on God and facing the demons, devils, and desires that called him away from his Divine purpose, Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness was a time where he refocused, through prayer, through fasting, through Scripture, and through conversation (albeit with the Devil) on the very core of his messianic mission. Jesus’ wilderness experience was the foundation upon which the rest of his ministry and saving life depended. It was from this time of beginning at the beginning that Jesus was able to go forth to teach and preach the Good News that God had come to the world.  

How might it be that we are called to begin our ministries at their proper beginning this Lent? 

Lent is a time when we are given the radically valuable opportunity to refocus our eyes on our Cornerstone who is Christ. Lent, this time of introspection and spiritual discipline, is our opportunity to begin at the beginning, not at the middle, not at the end of our lives of faith. Today we are called to cast aside all that may hinder or hold us back, to take on all the tools that we may need in the road that lies ahead. This Lent is an opportunity for us to prepare, refocus, and be spiritually nourished for the work we have to do as the Resurrection people of God. 

How might it be that God is calling you to refocus during this season? What is it that you are being called to leave behind and what are you being called to take up this Lent? How is it that God is calling for you and me to begin at the beginning? 

Maybe God calls you to give up anger at a co-worker or resentment at an estranged friend or family member. Maybe God calls you to take up a daily devotional practice, such as reading the Bible or using tools such as the Lenten devotional materials here at this church. Maybe God is calling you to a time of quite and solitude, maybe God is calling you to reengage with this parish community through service, teaching, outreach, giving and ministry. How you are to observe Lent is something between you and God. But no matter who you are, no matter where you find yourself, each one of us is called to refocus our eyes on God during this season of Lent. May we have the courage to begin at the beginning, to focus our eyes on Christ and journey forward in faith throughout these 40 days of Lent.