God our creator who goes before us
You draw us forward in faith
Like a pillar of fire across desert wastes
A rock of assurance
As we journey this Lenten time
Speak to us with your words of comfort and wisdom.
Amen.
Prayer and Confession
God of love and forgiveness
Save us by your tenderness
From each deed that is destructive
From each act that grieves you
From each thought that is careless
From each idea that is unloving
From each word that hurts.
Help us to face up to your call on our lives, by creating love and
goodness, community, society where it has been broken. In Jesus Name, Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer in our own language
Song “With all I am”
Reading Mark 1v9-15
Reflection: Dealing with the devil
Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, so Lent is 40 days. It is a time of personal preparation for Easter. Many people throughout the world will be fasting. About 2.18 billion people or one in 3 people, will be doing something for Lent. Many people will give up eating eggs, meat and fish until Easter Sunday.
Deserts reminds us of how small we are in this world. Who has been in a desert?
But we all have experienced times when we are in an alien place that feels like a desert either socially, psychologically. Covid 19 was like a desert for many of us. We felt alone and its was frightening. We encountered angels and beasts.
When Jesus is fasting he encounters the devil. It’s not unusual when we set out to spend time with God for us to experience problems. The Old Testament calls him Satan, the adversary, the slanderer. Satan puts doubt in our minds about who we are, what we are doing and undermines our confidence. Satan attacks us at our weakest points, hunger, wanting someone to notice us, wanting power. Satan is always lying, but he wraps it up in truth to confuse us. He is the inner critic.
You may recognize these forces also in people, who lie about you, doubt you, undermine you and ultimately are an obstacle to what God wants you to be doing. Its not what they say but what they do.
People are also tested just like Jesus. We may feel we have at times entered a desert in our lives. For many of us, there is no choice. But others have lost their homes, their families, they have seen death and destruction, they are very hungry or very ill. They are traumatized. They are in a wilderness. It’s a common experience not just something that happened 2000 years ago.
We ourselves can be angels or beasts. When things go wrong, the loneliness of the wilderness is close to us. We sense beasts. And angels. It is a time of polarization. In the desert, we will experience the devil. Doubt who we are and what we are doing. The powers of darkness will test our faith. But we are not alone. Angels will be with us and the wilderness time will pass. May God help us to be sensitive to those around us, as we go through a wilderness time and be there to help one another through it. Amen
What are you going to give up or take on for Lent?
Do you feel this year you already have had to give up too much?
Are you experiencing angels and beasts?
What sustains you at this time?
Our prayers for our world, others and ourselves.
May God’s hand be upon us, angels protect us and the Holy Spirit work in and around us. Amen
Song “Once again”
Servant Christ help us to follow you
Into that place of quietness,
Where we face beasts and wilderness
But we will know the presence of angels
Even in the desert wastes. Amen.
