Driven or Led

Last Sunday, we had the Gospel reading was the account of Jesus going into the wilderness following his baptism.  This was a time of preparation to begin his public ministry.  For those of us who are Christians, it is also is a summation of what we do in the season of Lent which is modeled after Jesus’ forty days and nights in the wilderness.  There is much which we can explore around this including what does it mean to be in a time of wilderness in our lives or what does it mean to do the traditional exercise of giving up something for Lent which, again is modeled on the forty-day fast that Jesus experienced before he had his encounter with that tempter extraordinaire, Satan.

What I invite you to consider today, whether or not you observe Lent, is the concept of following the spirit in your life.  Jesus was led or was driven – depending on which account in the Gospels your read – into the desert by the Holy Spirit after his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  Do you have a sense that your life is being influenced or guided by what could be considered a spirit or force in your life?  You may not identify this as the Holy Spirit or God by any other name.  It can be considered as something which has guided you in following a path which seems to have been laid out for you at an early stage in your life.

Whatever that influence is, there may be times when it seems to take you to places that you don’t really wan to go.  This was the case, I believe, for Jesus when he was – according to the Gospel of Mark – “driven” by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness rather being “led” according to Matthew and Luke by that same Spirit into that very unwelcoming environment.

There are times when we are led or driven or encouraged to go places by that influence - be it conscience or guilt or whatever – that we don’t really want to go  to do things or go places that we know we should be that are not going in our mind to be all that welcome or welcoming.  It is helpful to reflect on these experiences and try to understand why we are being encourage to go there and what it is that benefit we might receive by following that encouragement.  If we are honest with ourselves, we will probably know in our hearts that this is what we are intended to do. 

I would encourage you to follow that influence and see what happens.  You may find that you are blessed on your journey.

This Is Just To Say

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

I didn’t deliver my sermon on the Baptism of Jesus yesterday as worship was cancelled due to bad weather (Mother Nature should be sent to the naughty stool).  The sermon I prepared is attached—it is described by Lorna as a sermon in search of a congregation so I guess you fit the bill.

Consequently I had some unplanned time.  I was listening to ‘This American Life’ on NPR.  The particular episode was ‘Mistakes Were Made’, broadcast on April 8, 2008, about faux apologies and used the above poem, which is apparently quite well known, as an example.  However, it is not one that I was familiar with.   Does it strike you that the author is really sorry?  As someone on the program said the “Forgive me” is more of a command than a request.  The author doesn’t really seem sorry for his deed.  He seems to be justifying it because, after all, they were delicious; so sweet; so cold.  I guess he just couldn’t help himself.  It could be a variation of “the devil made me do it.” 

The program ended with examples of apologies in the style of the poem.  Some were very amusing; some were revealing; and some were poignant. But all revealed the truth about human nature. One which particularly resonated with me is by David Rackoff:

This is just to say

He was a troublemaker

And wouldn’t shut up.

Still

We wouldn’t have killed him

If we knew

He was The Lord. 

I’m not so sure that “they” would have done anything differently if they had known who he was; but it is nice to think so.  If you want to consider that some more I can refer you to the novel by Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov; specifically the poem in the novel, The Grand Inquisitor.  Here is the plot of the poem from the entry on Wikipedia,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Inquisitor:

The tale is told by Ivan with brief interruptive questions by Alyosha. In the tale, Christ comes back to Earth in Seville at the time of the Inquisition. He performs a number of miracles (echoing miracles from the Gospels). The people recognize him and adore him, but he is arrested by Inquisition leaders and sentenced to be burnt to death the next day. The Grand Inquisitor visits him in his cell to tell him that the Church no longer needs him. The main portion of the text is devoted to the Inquisitor explaining to Jesus why his return would interfere with the mission of the Church.

I invite you to write a poem in the ‘just so you know style and see what it can reveal about human nature.  Blessings,