"Lord help us to hear any word You have to say to us and may we respond in humility to Your way and Your love."
"The wilderness and the dry ground shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom." Is. 35 verse 1.
The wilderness features large in Bible writings and experiences. I suppose the pictures we see on the TV of Afghanistan's rugged terrain gives us a good idea of the sort of barren landscape, some of us who have been to Israel and Jordan have also experienced. Isaiah was writing about the areas the children of Israel condemned themselves to wander in for 40 years, the place in Jordan where Jesus and John the Baptist were led by the spirit to hear God's word for them about their mission and perhaps their future.
The wilderness experience in the Bible is often used as a means of learning dependancy on God, a place where God can challenge pre-conceptions if one is willing to listen with open hearts and minds. But it's not a comfortable place to be physically or spiritually. John the Baptist had come out of his time in the wilderness ready to fulfil his vocation as the forerunner to Christ.
It's unclear, I think how long he preached but his words had great impact. Everyone said, "What shall we do?" "Wherein shall we repent?" And the message was different for everyone. I always have a little smile that the soldiers where told to be content with their wages and then John was put into another sort of wilderness and his disciples began to follow Jesus - John was put in prison. From the world's point of view his moment of glory was over and in isolation I think he must have felt bereft, forgotten, unimportant, and wondering if it was all worth it? Hence the question to Jesus.
Whether we are beleivers or not we have wilderness experiences in our lives. I think we can say that the whole Qinetiq situation is one such for Malvern - for those who stay they face an uncertain future, for those who leave they all lose colleagues and years of work and research seemingly abandoned.
In church life we can feel the same, perhaps having been in the limelight and then other people, other actvities take over, of course nothing is done as well as we used to do it! Retirement, losing a loved one, so many things can leave us feeling bereft and unloved and actually unimportant.
As an aside the people I really admire in the Priory are those who week after week, year after year do the thankless tasks that no-one knows about and perhaps no-one misses until they're not done! These are people who visit other forgotten people or seemingly unimportant people. I can mention the altar linen because Sheila Nottingham is'nt here! I was told off last time, but no-one knew that Sheila had done the altar line for 50 years carting it up and down, taking hours. No wonder she has gone to New Zealand! Who's doing it now? You have to ask the questions to find out, but nevertheless these people may not seek a position, but they too have their own wilderness time.
So what do we do when we find ourselves in a spiritual wilderness or even just feeling solitary or let down? "In acceptance lies peace" is an anonymous quote which should be in the Bible and I can assure you it isn't. I looked for it for years and when I was in college I found it written in a book: "This quote ought to be in the Bible and it isn't". If we're really anxious to accept God's way for us and it's a big if, we can say: "Help me to remember when I am feeling in the wilderness that I am the apple of Your eye because You have said so". Can we also say "You are the most important person in my life?"
If we are determined to grow in the knowledge and love of God then we will humbly accept with His grace whatever situation we are in whether it is one of our own making or one that has been thrust upon us by the outside. If we are believers in the good news of Jesus Christ that is what supercedes our own personal desires. Isaiah's prophecy and God's promises were written when the Israelites were in the wilderness, in a wilderness of their own making. It's as we watch natural history programmes we see amazing new life and growth in desert places. "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?" the psalmist asks. Isaiah says it is a place of joy and feasting and living water, it is a place of life and growth giving glory to God.
It is for those in wilderness situations to know and to remember that feasting and growth are made possible for us through a baby born in a Bethlehem wilderness. But we have to come to that table that has been spread for us - bringing our needs, bringing our desires, as perhaps we may do so when we come this holy table in a few minutes.
Just on a personal note. Sometimes after a sermon people have said: "That sounded as though you were getting at me" and sometimes they say: "That was just for me". Well that's fine, that's between you and God if that's so and praise the Lord for that. Actually that was God's message to me because I have been in a wilderness place as shown by my being crotchety and critical! I'm usually crotchety and critical but sometimes more than others and so God had to speak to me through that message and I leave it with you.
Amen
Marje
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