Into the Wilderness // Lent 1 (2017.03.05 Sermon)

John Chandler invites us to embrace the wilderness that comes with the season of Lent.

Quotes and resources mentioned:

Lenten penitence engages the dark places in our lives that we may come face to face with them, name them, understand them, and seek forgiveness for them. It is not about guilt. It is about freedom from the control that our fears and insecurities have over us all, about the amendment of life and new beginnings. — Maryetta Anschutz
The tragedy for us, of course, is that we continually forget who we are. We catch a glimpse of our belovedness, but without the gift of the wilderness—those times of silence and solitude when we come face-to-face with ourselves and with God—it doesn’t always stick. So as we re-immerse ourselves in the world of flashing screens, buzzing smartphones, and competing voices, we’re prone to sliding back into doubt, discouragement, and disillusionment. We don’t always hear the voice of the devil as it sounds in the wilderness—disjointed, absurd, obvious, easy to detect against the sparse landscape of solitude. — Jonathan Martin