The Start of Lent
The Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams
Saint George’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Virginia
February 18th, 2024
Jesus..was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. And the Spirt immediately drove him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness 40 days tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came ..saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” Mark 1: 9-15
Today is the First Sunday in Lent and things look and feel pretty different around here. Lent is a penitential season and everything in the liturgy and in our sacred space reflects that. The liturgical color is purple and it symbolizes our need for self-reflection and the call to deepen our connection to God. It also reminds us of the color of the robe that was put on Jesus as he was mocked and scorned before he was condemned to death. So purple points us to where the season is headed, to Jesus’ death and to his resurrection. We also have firepots on the altar instead of silver candlesticks. The fire evokes a sense of the wilderness and God’s provision within it. The liturgy is also more somber during Lent.
For those of you who are new to Saint George’s, you may have wondered what was happening when you heard the Great Litany at the beginning of the service and witnessed the procession going round and round the nave. We chant the Great Litany on the First Sunday in Lent every year. It goes on for a while and outlines the many ways that we are tempted, tried and spiritually assaulted in this life. We ask God to deliver us from all these things because we cannot save ourselves. Even though the litany originated in 5th century Rome, and was translated into English by Thomas Cramner in 1544, the nature of the tribulations we experience, really hasn’t changed in the last 16 centuries. Life is still fragile and our spiritual health is often at risk because of the reality of sin and suffering. Lent reminds us that we need God and that we can’t fix ourselves.
Today’s Gospel teaches us that we are not alone in all of our wilderness struggles. It is the same Gospel that we hear every year on the First Sunday in Lent. It reminds us that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, and yet did not succumb, and because of that, he is our friend, advocate and example as we navigate rough terrain. The order of events in Mark’s telling of the story is very significant. First, Jesus is baptized and he hears God’s voice affirming and delighting in him. It is a moment of absolute clarity for Jesus about who he is and what he is called to do, a huge spiritual high. He knows that he is one with God and God has very important work for him to do. And immediately after this beautiful, ecstatic experience, God’s Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness to be tried and threatened by all of the evil forces that we pray to be delivered from in the Great Litany. He doesn’t get to stay in that glorious transcendent state but is immediately subjected to all of the things that we are subjected to in this life. Mark doesn’t tell us the specifics of the temptations, and that leaves room for us to picture all of the things that try to lure us away from God.
When Jesus is led into the desert, his resolve to do what God was calling him to do is tested. And it requires courage and perseverance and reliance on that same voice that spoke to him at his baptism, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.’ Jesus comes out of this time of extreme suffering, absolutely clear about his marching orders to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom.
Lent is a season that began in Christian tradition shortly after the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. and it is a period of penitence and self-examination, in addition to emulating Jesus’ experience in the wilderness. It sounds really old school because it is, but it is ancient wisdom that has stood the test of time. We all need seasons of preparation and taking stock of our lives. Lent is really about doing a spiritual inventory, reflecting on the ways that God is delighting in us and the ways that we are falling short of God’s glory. It is a time to think about the difference between our true, authentic self, the person God created us to be and the false self, the self that we develop to accommodate to who the world says we need to be. And Lent is a time to embark upon spiritual practices that will help us to listen to God’s voice so that we can distinguish between the things that will help us be our authentic, unpretentious self and those things which tempt us to becoming somebody else. And as I have said many times before, God meets us wherever we are. If you haven’t been coming to church regularly, do that. Come to church every Sunday between now and Easter. If you haven’t come to Holy Week services before, do that. If you don’t pray every day, start thanking God for your blessings and asking God to help you with your struggles. If you haven’t been serving others as Jesus calls us to do, volunteer for our food pantry at lunchtime on Mondays, Wednesdays or Friday. If you want to serve in another way, just email Father Paddy or myself and we can make suggestions. We love to get those emails. If you are estranged from someone in your life, pray about it every day, asking God to guide you, and wait for an answer to your prayer. All of these things are so simple in concept- coming to church, praying and serving, but it takes a lot of daily discipline to actually do them, especially with all of the competing forces in our lives.
Lent is about personal reflection, but not just for our own spiritual benefit. It is about the spiritual benefit to us in community. None of us in meant to operate in our own private Idaho. Salvation is communal. God commissioned Jesus for service to his community and for the life of the world. We ask God to help us to progress in our spiritual lives so that we can serve others. It’s not just about us individually. That’s why we can’t just stay home and pray or meditate by ourselves instead of coming to church. God works on us as a faith community gathered for worship so that we can go back out to be an agent for God’s healing of this broken and hurting world.
Jesus..was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. And the Spirt immediately drove him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness 40 days tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came ..saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” Mark 1: 9-15