Year C, Lent 1 - 2010

 

Temptation.  How seemingly easy things would be without it!

Have you ever been on a diet?  Why is it that when you can’t have something, that is the very thing you crave?  Or—how about New Year’s resolutions?  Any luck there?  I have yet to get past week 6 with one.  How many have ever tried to stop smoking?  It’s tough! 

And then, there is that popular phrase, “The devil made me do it.”  You’ve probably seen cartoons with a little red devil with horns on someone’s shoulder on one side and a sweet angel on the other, both whispering in an ear.  Even Eve was tempted, and we all know the outcome of that temptation!  We are constantly bombarded with temptations, and not just at the grocery store.

Paul, in Romans, said, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Rom.  7:18)  I often think of that whenever I rue having done something that was clearly a mistake—those times that I think “Whatever made me do that?”  “What was I thinking?”

One of my favorite books is C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, which many of you may be familiar with.  It‘s a collection of letters from Screwtape, a senior demon in Hell and a mentor to his nephew Wormwood, a devil in training.  Wormwood’s “patient” is a newly converted Christian.  And as often happens, this newly minted Christian is super enthusiastic.  Wormwood’s goal is not to get his patient to commit anything spectacularly evil, saying that “the safest path to hell is the gradual one.”  He sees a demon’s primary goal to befuddle and confuse.  I find that is the hardest “temptation”.  It’s relatively easy to make decisions about what is right or wrong, but most of our decisions are much more subtle. 

 

Jesus said, “One does not live by bread alone.”

“Gee, my son is playing in a tournament, but my boss may give me extra brownie points if I stay late and finish this project tonight.  It’s so close to being completed.  I’ll just stay at work and finish up.”

Remember the Harry Chapin song “Cats in the Cradle”?  Dad was away for all the big events in his son’s life, including his birth and first steps, yet the boy’s refrain was always “I’m gonna be like you, Dad”.  In one verse, when asked to play catch in the back yard dad responded  “Not today son, I got a lot to do.” .  Later, when his son returned from college, and dad wanted to sit with him, the son just wanted to borrow the car keys…”see you later Dad”, he said.….  And at the end, after retiring, he called his son who had moved away and asked to see him.  The son’s response—“I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time.”  His son had grown up just like him.

In my hospital work I have often been called in to sit with someone who is terminal.  Never once has someone regretted not working harder, or being more distant from their family.  Every regret had to do with personal relationships.  “I wish I had spent more time with my kids, helped my dad before he died, seen my daughter’s graduation.” 

“One does not live by bread alone.” 

There are many little daily choices we make.  What is most important to us?  Max Lucado, in his book Mocha with Max, talked about trying to ask himself, whenever something happened or he had a decision to make, if this would really be important 1 year from now.  Is being 5 minutes late for a meeting?  Is not getting something you want?  Think about it.  If you come home and find water in the basement (yes I have), how important is that event one year later?  Yes, it’s angering, frustrating, and another something that needs to be resolved in a busy schedule.  In my case, I look back and think, “Thank you Lord.”  The basement was full of 25 years of stuff I no longer used, and the insurance company paid to have it cleaned and everything hauled away!  That water turned out to be a gift.

Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only HIm.”

How tempting is it to stay at home from church when it’s a nice sunny day…or snowing?  But worshipping God isn’t just in church.  It doesn’t do much good to be here Sunday morning, and forget about Him the rest of the week.  Is God at your center? 

As I was preparing for today, I searched for two books that I planned on mentioning and wanted to make sure the quotes were accurate.  I searched for 2 days.  No luck.  Finally, I do what I do when I’m desperate, I asked for help.  I said, “Lord, if you want me to use these, you’ll have to aim my nose.”  And let it go.  Half an hour later, when I was actually doing something else and had given up finding them, I noticed a stack of jig-saw puzzles on a shelf in the basement.  I had a big urge to move them, and there behind the boxes, was one of the books.  The other, after I had decided not to use it, I found going for the alternate book I had decided on.  They were next to each other on the shelf, but the one I originally wanted had slipped to the back, so I didn’t see it until I pulled the alternate out.  God is with us in the little things, too.

Is God with you when you’re in the midst of life?  All of life.  That’s what He wants.  He doesn’t want to be on the sidelines until we need him.

We have all called on God in the middle of a crisis.  That’s pretty easy to do.  But, as has been said, He is not a pinch hitter.  Nor does he want to be sidelined when we are having a good time.  Anyone who would change water into wine at a party is someone who enjoys seeing people happy! 

Do we thank him throughout the day?  He wants to be with us in everything—our joys and sorrows, our disasters and triumphs.  As St. Paul said in the letter to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  …In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Ph. 3:4-5) He means in everything – and with thanks, because we know we won’t be left alone.

I once read an article about a rabbinical saying that one should thank God 100 times a day—in the good and in the bad.  The author decided to try it, and told about his experience.  I decided to try it.  To be honest, I never did get to 100 – I don’t think.  I soon lost count, and as with resolutions, after a few weeks it soon faded.  But I’ve not forgotten the experience for it made me aware of how close God is in my life.  Whenever I begin to feel distanced from God, I return to that exercise.

In consecration prayer C there is a wonderful prayer that says “open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us.”  (It’s on page 372 of the prayer book if you would later like to look at it.)  Thanking God continuously did just that.  It put God at the center, and made me realize that I couldn’t take little things for granted. 

Thank you for the refrigerator that kept my milk cold as I poured it on my cereal.  Thank you that the bulb over the table burned out.  Thank you that my car started this morning (there were times that it didn’t).  Lord, watch over me as a drive to work.  Thank you for getting me to work safely.  Thank you that I was with faithful loving people to help when I collapsed last Sun. Thank you that I wasn’t driving home at the time.  There are so many things that we simply take for granted.  God is with you.  ALWAYS.

When I was in seminary, I was going through a rough patch, and then in one week some unexpected and incredibly unusual events occurred that made me realize God’s hand was in them.  I called my New Testament professor with whom I had become close, and after hearing my story, she said, “Marge, God is always with you.  We’re the ones who don’t see.”

Anne Lamott, in her book Traveling Mercies says “Here are the two best prayers I know:  ‘Help me, help me, help me,’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’”  Worshipping God is not just a Sunday morning event.

 

 “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Jesus was offered the world, if only he worshipped the devil.  He was offered food to overcome his hunger, political power, spiritual authority.  All these were tests, and the devil lost because Jesus was sure of who he was and who the source of his being was.  He was tempted, but He didn’t get sidetracked.

How often do we “tempt fate?”  Or “tempt the Devil” as it were. 

As Screwtape taught, it’s in the little things that we go astray.  And it’s little things that can put us on the right path.  I’m a sailor, and there is a command to “trim the tab”.  Large vessels have a very large rudder, but in it is also a smaller one, called the “tab”.  When only a small correction in direction needs to be made, only the “tab” is “trimmed”.  It isn’t necessary to move a huge rudder.  If you are going many miles, a small miscalculation of 1 degree can make the difference between getting to port, and totally missing an island.

So it is in life.  We are at the beginning of 40 days in which we can trim our tabs.  Lent is actually my favorite part of the church calendar, because it forces me to sit back and take stock.  It doesn’t take much.  Trying to make major changes generally doesn’t work, but a little something will.  Bob, in the movie What About Bob, was constantly muttering to himself “Little baby steps.  Little baby steps…”  as he struggled to make changes in his life.

I once read that it takes 14 days to change a habit.  In other words, those things that we do we do without thinking much about them.  I would have to consciously think about NOT brushing my teeth in the morning.  I tested this theory once.  Making my bed is not a chore I like, so I decided to make my bed as soon as I got up.  14 days later I was surprised when I discovered it worked!  I wasn’t even awake as I was making that bed.

Find something that will bring you closer to God.  This is a great opportunity to work on it.  Magazine covers tout “In 2 weeks lose 10 pounds!”  Here we should print “In 40 days get closer to God!”  And at the end is the glorious reward of Easter.

Even Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was tempted by the devil—for 40 days.  We now have slightly less than 40 days to work on getting ourselves back on track with our relationship with God. 

God wants desperately to be in a relationship with us.  I’m reminded of Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.  God is reaching down to Adam, straining, being held by cherubs so he doesn’t fall off the cloud.  Adam is reclining lazily, kind of reaching up to God.  There isn’t quite a connection.  The gap is inches wide.  All Adam has to do is lift his hand, and the connection will be made. 

We don’t have to do a lot, because God is there.  It is in our power to make that final connection to God.  It’s up to us.  God is with us.  Waiting.

 

The Rev. Margaret Forsythe, Deacon

February 21, 2010