First United Methodist Church
February 18, 2024
Rev. Lauren Hall
Lent 1: Come Up
A few weeks ago, I stopped at a Speedway to get some gas. After I filled my tank, I decided to go inside to buy a lottery ticket. Just kidding. Actually, it was almost lunch time, and I had a number of errands to run before I would be at home, so I went inside to get some coffee and a snack. I’m unfamiliar with the layout of Speedway, so I had the opportunity to walk through the entire store before I found the coffee. I have to admit, I was somewhat astonished at the selection of products available. There was plenty of soda and candy, chips and sweet things, beer and other forms of alcohol, cigarettes, and, of course, lottery tickets.
I thought, “What would happen to this place if we all lived a life of self-denial?”
Point: If we are successful in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, then someday we are going to put all the convenience store owners out of business. Let’s pray…
When Hostess declared bankruptcy in 2012, my life didn’t really change, at first. I had stopped eating Twinkies years before, so I watched as the inventory rapidly disappeared from the stores and occasionally wondered who would step forward to replace everyone’s favorite snack cake (Little Debbie, Entenmann’s, Drake’s). As Hostess laid off its employees and sold its bakeries, I soon discovered that my life was about to change, however, because one day I went to the bread section of the store and prepared to purchase my favorite brand of bread, and it was no longer available either. I knew that Hostess owned Wonder Bread, but I didn’t realize they baked my healthy bread also. With a little research I soon discovered that there were a lot of products that disappeared when Hostess went out of business. It’s interesting, though, that we often don’t realize how much influence one company can have in our world until it stops producing or goes out of business.
Of course, Hostess didn’t remain closed for long. A new investor purchased the company and restructured the manufacturing plants, and we now have our snack cakes again. But we don’t just have Twinkies, we have chocolate Twinkies, and Twinkies with peanut butter in them, and white fudge Ding Dongs and so much more. The new Hostess Company reinvented itself. The new owners knew that they wouldn’t remain in business for long if they continued to operate in the same way they did before facing bankruptcy.
And that’s what we have to think about as Christians. Jesus calls us to a new life, which means that we can’t keep operating in the same way that we always have. The day after we commit our lives to Christ, we wake up in the same house, with the same family, with the same job and the same problems. So, what’s new about our life?
Well, according to our Scriptures, identity comes before mission. In the Mark passage for the first Sunday of Lent, we encounter Jesus just starting his ministry in Galilee. His very first action is to be baptized by John the Baptist.
It’s hard to do much of anything lasting or significant – and sometimes it’s hard to do anything at all – without a sense of who you are. And so Jesus hears the voice of God naming and claiming him and, coming to know who he is in relation to whose he is, he is ready to begin his mission.
Notice, however, that before he embarks on his mission, the same Spirit who descended on him in the shape of a dove is now the one who drives him into the wilderness. Identity not only leads to mission – it often separates and isolates us for a short period of time.
It’s the same with us. Once you discover, or come to know, or even fall into, a strong sense of your identity as a child of God, it’s hard to sit tight, content with the ways of the world. You start to notice things about your life that perhaps you didn’t see before.
Being claimed by God is inherently connected to being commissioned into the work and ministry of God. Once you are drawn into a sense of just how much God has and offers and wants for God’s beloved world, it’s hard not to commit yourself to that very vision, to helping those in need, to befriending those who are alone, to whispering words of encouragement to those discouraged. It’s just hard not to.
Which of course is where isolation and temptation come in. This new life may be different or difficult for a new believer because prior to being claimed by God, a person is claimed by the world, and therefore subject to all of its self-seeking whims and temptations. A person may desire to serve others, but may not know where to begin. Quite frankly, it’s just plain easier to sit back, to savor a sense of blessedness, to rest content with our newfound identity and hope others find the same.
I remember one youth who shared her story years ago. She made a decision her junior year in high school to only hang out with other Christians. This decision drove her into the wilderness for a while, and she felt very isolated. As she became an observer to the actions and behaviors of her “old” friends, she began to notice how self-seeking a lot of those behaviors were. But then one by one she began to encounter other Christian youth in her high school – kids who had always been there, but she hadn’t been looking for them. Perhaps what it took for her was to step back from her frenzied, peer pressure driven life for a while and slow down enough to notice the temptations, so that she could finally see the places where God wanted her to be.
We live in a world of distractions. And those distractions can numb us to where we are hurting. They can weaken our ability to withstand pain or the witness of others’ pain. These distractions can lead us to ignore how God calls us beloved or, worse, lead us to believe we don’t need to hear that kind of message.
We need to “come up” out of all of the things, pleasant OR painful, that are distracting us from the truth that God loves us, and that we need God’s love; distracting us from the truth that God is calling us, and that God’s call will send us to places that will be more uncomfortable than the pleasant things we so wish to be distracted by.
When we allow ourselves to face our fear of what practices God may be calling us into, we may discover that not only are we “up to” the task, but we are also buoyed by it.
What happened after Jesus’ baptism illustrates this well. Right after Jesus “came up” out of baptism, he was sent into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts with only angels to wait on him.
Mark shares that the angels ministered to him. While it’s tempting to imagine the angels as divine waiters, bringing Jesus’ food and drink, I think that it’s more likely that they are doing just what their name suggests – delivering a message, reminding Jesus of his identity, purpose, and mission. Considered that way, there are many angels available to us during our periods of temptation as well, if we just look for them.
The Psalmist cries out, “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” Our act of “coming up” is also an offering to God. It is the first part of how we give ourselves to the one who loves us, and who created us.
Just like Jesus, we need to “come up” out of where we are stuck, or distracted, or delayed — because God loves us. And because God has some challenging places to send us.
But those challenging places are also where miracles occur. Let us pray:
Prayer:
Dear God, lead us not into temptation by reminding us of who we are – your children – and why we are here – to extend your love and care to all we meet. We long to be known by you at our best, O Lord. We long to hear the words, “You are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased.” Yet we remember the times when our words or our actions have hurt your heart or hearts of others. For these acts, forgive us. We remember, too, when we have caused harm by failing to act or by failing to speak. For these inactions, forgive us.
We call upon you, O God, to give us the strength and courage to be up to something good for the sake of The Good. In this moment — in our mind’s eye — we imagine and offer our commitment to one small thing this week that will lift someone up, elevate and affirm the good when we see it, and bring a bit more calm or joy where we are. And if we find we are not up to it, we pray we can accept the goodness of others and feel your encouraging love. Renew us and restore us in loving-kindness. And help us sense the angels you have sent to encourage us along the way. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
