In the wilderness

 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. [Jesus] was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. (Mark 1:12-13)

It’s been nearly year now that we have wandered in this COVID wilderness, little knowing when or how this will all end. I am not going to suggest that the Spirit of God has led us into this place, but the Spirit has a purpose for us in every wilderness whether we heed it or not.

Biblically, the wilderness was the desert, a barren, waterless waste beyond human control where God shaped the souls of those intended for great and holy purpose. They were driven out there—Moses, Elijah, Jesus—as if they had no real choice in the matter, to be stripped bare and learn the meaning of faith.

The wilderness was a place where faith and despair, service and selfishness battled for their souls. And it’s still true. Our souls, the tenor of our hearts is in play, every day and perhaps especially so in the age of COVID and political turmoil.

Our wilderness confronts us with our need to live in greater harmony with the wild beast of nature. It strips us of the illusion of independence, revealing that we are dependent on angels of mercy who appear in God’s time to nurture and save life from destruction.

Spiritually, the wildernesses confronts us with the question of whether we have any faith that there is an ultimate goodness and grace at work in our existence or whether we all must go it alone.

In the wilderness, we learn to live with patience and trust or we go mad with worry and greed trying to secure our lives against a world deemed dangerous and uncaring. We learn to love and embrace life in all its inscrutable unpredictability, or we become prisoners to fears of whatever is hidden in the shadows we cannot see.

Even without COVID, life can seem a wilderness where the sheer uncertainties of existence test our hearts, tempting us to anger or despair or greed or cynicism or futile attempts to secure ourselves at others expense.

But if the wilderness threatens, it is also the best place, the very best place one can learn to love and to trust there is a Love who inhabits every wilderness.

That’s what Jesus and all those others discovered out there, and it’s still true.

Pr. David L. Miller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are his home

 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:14-15).

Your dearest desire has come true. Look no further; the ultimate need of your heart is standing before you, and his name is Jesus.

The kingdom has come. It is found wherever you find him, wherever human souls gather around him, pray to him, love him, hope to know him and feel his presence in the mystery of their souls. The kingdom comes every time you turn to him in pray and hold his image in your heart.

For he is the kingdom, and his every word, act, correction, glance and touch reveals what the long centuries of human suffering and ruination have hoped to see but thought impossible if not also absurd.  

In him, God’s kingdom—the love and mercy God is—appears, and now all that matters is knowing him; being with him so long and so closely that the love you feel within is no longer you but his presence within you.

But this the very thing post-modern attitudes reject and imagine cannot possibly be true. We do not believe fulfillment of our hearts is possible, and beneath this is the lack of faith that God is ... and is looking for a home where the Holy One can abide and speak the Love for which our aching hearts long.

We are his home, but the home within us is crowded with noise and distraction and all we vainly imagine will fill us if only ... we do just a little more, accomplish something further, grab the next great thing or achieve one last goal.

But it’s never enough; emptiness remains for we are made for more. We are made for an infinite love, for the radiance of divine presence aglow within the mystery of our own depths. And this, this great and holy gift is given the moment we simply admit our emptiness and ask Jesus to give us the mystery of whatever is in him.

So repent; believe the good news. You don’t need to work so hard as if the fulfillment and peace of your soul depends on you. It doesn’t. Jesus stands there, his love aching to pour into you. Home.

Pr. David L. Miller