March 1, 2009
(First Sunday in Lent)

We Have a Problem

The Rt. Rev. Barry Howe, Bishop of West Missouri By The Rt. Rev. Barry Howe, Bishop of West Missouri

Genesis 9:8-17  •  Psalm 25:1-9  •  1 Peter 3:18-22  •  Mark 1:9-15
(From The Lectionary Page)

It is always a joy to be with you here at the Cathedral.  While I am here for many occasions in the life of the Diocese, I treasure this time spent with you as a Cathedral parish.  As I have share before, sixteen of my thirty-one years in parish ministry were in Cathedral parishes.

I have some understanding of the unique aspect of Cathedral life – especially the expectation that you be the faith community that is a model for the rest of the congregations in the Diocese.  And as the Bishop, this is also my expectation of you.

When I was ordained as a Deacon, one of the responsibilities given to me in the parish where I was serving was the oversight of the large Sunday church school program.  There were about 150 children and youth who were a part of that program each Sunday.  The Senior High class was blessed with two young couples who were the teachers and leaders of that class.  They planned well and worked very well together.  The youth really loved the presence of these faithful adults with them.

One day I received a phone call from one of these couples, sharing with me that they were about to move to another locale, following an opportunity presented to them for a promotion in the company where the man worked.  They seemed genuinely sorry to tell me this, as they indicated that they would sincerely miss their interactions with the youth each Sunday.  I called the other couple to tell them about this change, wondering whether they would continue to be in the classroom with the youth.  The man answered the phone, and I began to share with him by telling him we had a problem.  There was a brief silence, and then he asked me to continue.  I told him what I had just learned from his teaching colleagues – who I also knew were good friends.  When I finished explaining the situation, adding that we would need to find another couple to teach with them, he said this to me:  “Barry, this is not a problem.  This is a challenge given to us.  You need to look at this situation in that way.  Do not consider such circumstances as a problem.” 

After concluding my conversation with him, I pondered what he had just said to me.  He was obviously suggesting that the way one looks at a situation presented to one has a lot to do with working through that situation.  Seeing the situation as a problem suggests a very negative attitude in working toward a resolution.  But seeing the situation as a challenge suggests that the energy and the positive attitude in working toward a resolution will make the effort one of meaning and growth - an effort that will help one learn new ways to respond to other challenges.  So I and the remaining couple went about the search for a new teaching couple with that attitude and that expected outcome.

Such a distinction is like the old proverbial question:  “Is the glass half empty, or is the glass half full?”  One’s response makes all the difference in how that glass is used!

I have continued to use this distinction throughout my ministry.  And I have found that such counsel long ago is much more than just a matter of attitude and approach to a situation.  I have found that what that young adult said to me that say is a profound spiritual discipline that defines our relationship and interaction with God.

In the Gospel lesson this morning, we hear of our Lord’s baptism at the hands of John the Baptizer in the River Jordan.  As he was coming out of the water, Jesus saw the heavens torn apart and the spirit of God descending upon him like a dove.  He then heard a voice proclaim, “You are my son – the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Here is the great promise that God made to Jesus – the promise that God loves him in such a way that Jesus pleases God; Jesus delights God; Jesus is the one whose relationship with God brings God great joy.  But then – with a great sense of urgency – the spirit of God drives the Lord at once into the wilderness.  The verb used here to describe this forceful driving is the same verb that is used in scripture for the expulsion of demons.  There is a sense here of irresistible power.  The wilderness is the place where the people of Israel had been driven as they fled the tyranny of the ancient Egyptians.

It was there in the wilderness where Israel first had a special relationship with God.  But it was also in the wilderness where Israel then repeatedly rebelled against God.  And by the time of the appearance of Jesus, the wilderness had become a hostile place to be feared – a place which wild animals and demonic powers lived.  The spirit of God thrust Jesus into this very hostile environment to deal with whatever situations confronted him.  It was God who initiated this action upon the one who pleased him; the one who delighted him.

Why did God immediately following the Lord’s baptism use his great power to literally push Jesus into the place where wild animals and demonic powers lived?  On one level – it would be very presumptuous to try and answer this question, thinking we can know the reasons for God’s decisions and actions.  But on another level – we can look at what transpired in the wilderness, and then at what followed that experience as the Lord carried out his ministry among God’s people.  One of the most significant aspects of God’s love for the Lord – God’s love for you and me – is the freedom God gives him and to us to make decisions about who we are and how we relate to God and to others.  In classical theological language, this is the recognition that we have free will.

When God announced his relationship with Jesus at his baptism, and proclaimed his unequivocal love for him, he then placed him in an environment where Jesus has to choose for himself how he would respond to this new life he was given.  In that difficult environment, and environment filled with darkness and not light; an environment where it was very hard to find the presence of God’s love; in that environment Jesus had to respond to the obstacles placed before him.  These obstacles could be seen as problems to try to work through, or they can be seen as challenges to overcome.

It seems pretty clear that Jesus approached them as challenges to be overcome.  Challenges that emboldened him not to play games with the powers that confronted him, but to denounce them and thrust them aside with the greater power given to him in his baptism – that power of God’s spirit that was now very present with him.

Overcoming those challenges before him was not a piece of cake.  Those powers were very strong and very luring.  The few brief verses of today’s Gospel lesson surely do not give a suggestion of that tremendous struggle in the wilderness.  But what emerged from that struggle was one who responded to God’s blessing upon him and God’s promise to him as a faithful and obedient bearer of the power of love given to him.

The Gospel lesson never states that Jesus emerged from the wilderness.  He did indeed move to a different place as he began his ministry in Galilee.  But the demonic powers and forces he encountered in the prescribed wilderness continued to emerge wherever he went.

God sent Jesus into our world – and our world is as the wilderness, filled with powers and forces that seek to draw us away from the awareness of God’s unequivocal love for us; powers and forces that seek to turn our hearts away from responding to that love as faithful and obedient bearers of that love.  How we respond to God’s promise to us – his declaration to us that we delight him; we elate him; how we respond to the freedom given to us is what forms and shapes who we are.  Are we the bearers of God’s love as Jesus was as we count on the power of God’s spirit to guide us and to lead us and to enable us to overcome the challenges that are always besetting us?  Or are we coping with problems that befall us, allowing powers and forces to turn our backs on the presence of God with us?  These are questions that are very pertinent for us to seriously consider during this Lenten time.

There is a truth in this Gospel lesson that must not be ignored!  It is the truth that is precisely in the moments of trial and testing that the triumph of faith appears; that new life emerges from who we were before; that transformation of body – mind – and spirit is very real as we bear God’s love in our words and deeds.

The love of God that is manifested in Jesus Christ is a love that carries us victoriously through all of life’s challenges.  Jesus emerged from these initial challenges placed before him and, despite hearing immediately of John the Baptizer’s arrest, he proclaimed that “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Good News.”  It is precisely in and through these challenges that Jesus saw most clearly the reality of God and his kingdom.

This is the meaning of the cross that lies at the center of Christian discipleship.  Perhaps we need to know this truth and understand this truth and internalize this truth now as we face the present challenges of economic meltdown; of moral decay; of unending war; of anxieties that grasp at the demonic strings of power and control.  Perhaps this Lenten season will truly be a time of soul searching for us; a time of hearing once more the unequivocal promises of God, calling us his beloved children; assuring us of his presence with us.  Perhaps we shall see the demonic powers as challenges to transcend with the power of the love which God bestows upon us.  Perhaps we shall repent and believe in the Good News that when we are the bearers of God’s love in word and deed, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!

May this be truly a Holy Lent where the challenges that confront us become the victories that transform us as faithful and obedient servants of God!