Hop on board the Wilderness express.

 If you were to write a holiday brochure for places in the Bible, I wonder where you would choose. Jerusalem would be an obvious choice. Perhaps Rome might feature too. The wilderness, however, would probably not make the list. It does not sound appealing or comfortable, and yet the wilderness appears again and again in Scripture as a place where God meets His people.

In our Gospel reading (Matt 4.1-11) today, we heard of Jesus going into the wilderness. He went there to prepare for His ministry, and while He was there, He was met by the devil, who tempted Him with promises of an easier and more attractive way. We are not told how long Jesus had already been in the wilderness before these temptations came. He may have been thinking about food or reflecting on how demanding His work would be. We rightly believe that Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully human. I am not sure that I would have coped so well in the wilderness.

To me, the word wilderness suggests emptiness and danger. I picture wild animals, insects, rough ground, and uneven paths—if there is even a path at all. It does not sound like a place that would sell well in a travel brochure. Yet many people in the Bible experienced the wilderness in different ways, and reflecting on their stories may help us to see why the wilderness might deserve a place in a biblical brochure after all.

I want to take us to the wilderness experienced by Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament. God told Abraham to leave his home and travel with Sarah to a new place. They did not know where they were going; they only knew that God had told them to go. As they travelled, they may have been tempted to settle somewhere comfortable. Instead, they continued to listen for God’s guidance. They also lived through the long wilderness of waiting for a child. After many years of disappointment, Sarah was promised a son, even though she and Abraham were far beyond the expected age. Abraham was eighty-six years old when his child was born, twenty years after God’s promise was first made.

Abraham and Sarah had journeyed through an emotional wilderness and came out the other side. They experienced the joy that God had promised them. Their story suggests that the wilderness can be a place where faith grows and hope is renewed.

It is difficult to think about the wilderness without also thinking about the desert. Thinking about Moses helps us here. Moses led the people of Israel through the desert towards the land that God had promised them. Along the way, the people complained, doubted God, and longed for their old lives. I doubt that Moses always enjoyed this journey or trusted that everything would work out in the end. Yet when the people eventually reached the promised land, there was great joy.

One place that might seem certain to appear in a biblical travel brochure is the Garden of Eden. It was beautiful, and everything was as it should be between God and the first humans, Adam and Eve ( Gen 2.15–17; 3.1-7).

However, the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to turn away from God by encouraging them not to listen to Him. Because of this, the garden became a place of warning rather than welcome.

Jesus entered the wilderness without any brochure or promises of comfort. When He was tempted, He did not rely on His own strength alone. Instead, He fell back on the Scriptures He knew so well. 

We also heard from the letter to the Romans (Rom 5.12-19) this morning. Rome might sound like a good destination for a biblical travel brochure, but to understand the passage we heard, we need to remember the story of the Garden of Eden. As the letter explains, just as Adam brought sin into the world, Jesus made everything right again.

As it says in the letter:

“Just as by the one person’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

These words remind us that through Jesus, we all have the opportunity to be made right with God.

Perhaps the wilderness can be included in a biblical travel brochure when we think about Jesus’ time there. It may still sound empty and frightening, but it reflects times in our own lives when things may feel uncertain or overwhelming. The wilderness can be a time when we learn to rely fully on God, just as Abraham and Sarah, and Moses, did before us.

Lent is a time to rely intentionally on God. We know that we should be doing this throughout the year, but it is not always easy. Reflecting on the wilderness can remind us to slow down, listen, and trust God.

In the wilderness, Jesus prayed, and that is an important lesson for us. Lent reminds us to pray more and to think about God more. We may not feel as though we are in a wilderness, and the idea of being tempted by the devil may not feel as dramatic as it was for Jesus. However, temptation is anything that draws us away from God. It can be something small, such as praying less than we used to, or failing to show kindness and patience.

As believers, we are called to be more like Jesus, whom we follow. That means trying to act as He did. When we face difficult times, or when other things seem more appealing than spending time with God, we are encouraged to put things right. Jesus survived temptation by pointing back to God. Every temptation He faced was answered with Scripture that reminded Him of who God is and what God can do.

If we set aside the idea of a biblical travel brochure, we might think of the wilderness as a place where Jesus encountered His Father. He was close to God, relied on Him, and trusted Him completely.

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, and we are reminded not only of Jesus in the wilderness, but also of Jesus making it possible for us to be right with God again.

I am not sure how you are keeping Lent this year, but I would like to suggest one thing. The most important part of Lent is taking time to grow closer to God in prayer. May we make the most of Lent as we spend more time praying and trusting in God’s love, together as believers.

That’s the Glory of Love

 This week we will see the beginning of Lent… the time when we draw closer to God, the time when we spend moments thinking of things that we can change in our lives, and the ways that we want to see the World change and to pray for the World.

It is a very serious time but before lent begins I want to tell you a story about a rabbit.  There is a reason and that is that the story relates to our readings this morning and it is a very good story plus the story talks about spring which cannot come too soon !  The rabbit in the story is called Mr Hopewell.  Hope – well, hop-well ?

Mr Hopewell had been born into a particularly cold environment with a lot of snow.  He was always cold but he heard the other rabbits talking about spring.  Mr Hopewell thought that spring sounded good and he assumed that Spring was a person, a ‘Mr.Spring’. So he asked the other rabbits about when Mr.Spring would arrive and they all laughed at him.

He did not ask any more questions until he saw a daffodil, and he asked the daffodil ‘are you Mr.Spring?’ ‘no’ replied the daffodil ‘but without spring I would not be here’.  Then the daffodil explained that spring was all around Mr.Hopewell and that was why it was warmer.

Now Mr.Hopewell was a very clever rabbit and he became a man.  Not only did he become a man but he kept hearing people talking about life being better with God.  So Mr Hopewell hunted for someone to ask who Mr. God was and where he might be found as Mr Hopewell wished to meet him… 

Then all of a sudden he found himself on a mountain and saw the most beautiful sight he had ever seen and someone came up to him and said “wow, that’s the glory of God”.  Mr Hopewell asked “where ?” and the man answered ‘the glory of God is everywhere’. The man went on, ‘God made you and His glory is with you, and is wrapped all around the world’.

The readings today have spoken about glory, the glory of God.  Moses met with God in the Old Testament reading (Exodus 24:12-end) and was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights as he was overcome with the glory of God. 

Then in the reading from the second letter to Peter  (2 Peter 1:16-21) we were reminded of the power, majesty and glory of God that follow Him. 

In the Gospel reading (Matthew 17:1-9) we were reminded of the transfiguration, the moment when Jesus dazzled the disciples with Him as He met with Moses and Elijah.

Moses and Elijah were very important figures, Moses had brought the law of God to the people of Israel, and Elijah had taught them how to continue their relationship with God.  Both of them had shown to the people of Israel the glory of God in His law, and in His teaching.  Jesus showed the glory of God in a different way.

His way was not a way that ignored the law, but His was better because His glory was the glory of love.  A love for us that was so great that He would die for our sins, that he would die for us.

As we worship God we are worshipping One who doesn’t just love but is love.  He is also the God of glory and to Him belongs our worship and our praise.

I am not sure about you but there have been times in my life when I have been particularly aware of the presence of God and have seen the glory of God all around me. These are those times when you just want to stay in the place you are, so that you do not lose that feeling.  

One such time for me was the first time that we went to the Holy Land, I have to admit that I was a little nervous about practical things such as being a fussy eater ! I found crowds a lot to deal with as they seemed to get in the way of my reflection time. I was so wrong as one day we went to the beach where Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection and you can almost imagine that the disciples were desperate to ask Jesus questions and all He said was,’lets eat breakfast.’ To be in that place was incredible and I could have stayed there for hours looking at the sea of Galilee and thinking of the love of God. 

However, reality meant that there was more to see and more to do- which to be honest was definitely worthwhile. 

In the gospel reading Peter knew that something incredible had happened, and was happening and somehow, he wanted to catch that moment and to hold onto it forever. 

I can understand that feeling, it is what you might call a mountain top experience, that is those times in life when it seems that things cannot get any better.

Reality can often be different to those wonderful mountain top experiences that we can have.  The reality is that somehow we have to take something of those wonderful experiences into our everyday lives.  It is as if God gives us something good to re-energize us to go and do His work.  As we prepare to enter Lent, a solemn time, a time where we don’t say the Gloria, we enter with the reminder we have had of God’s glory this morning. It is almost a picture memory to get us ready for the next time we celebrate God’s glory as we celebrate Resurrection. 

God is a God of glory, He is not just the God of love.., He actually is love; following Him and trying to be more like Him we cannot help but face reality with the love that He gives, because the more time we spend trying to be like God, is the more time we spend becoming like a mirror through which the glory of God can shine in the world and into the pain of those around us dispelling fear.

May we approach Lent ready to transform our lives to become more like God and thereby to transform the lives of all those around us with His love and His glory. 

Clouds, Lilies, and the Creator’s Joy - A REFLECTION

The Old Testament reading for this week is a long one (Genesis 1:1–2:3). It’s the account of creation, and it always sets my mind wandering back to how I understood creation and the weather as a little girl. I believed thunder wasn’t scary because it was simply the clouds bumping into each other. Snow fell because it got cold in heaven. The wind was God letting out a big breath, and the rain… well, I was convinced that even God needed to go to the toilet sometimes.

People hold many different views about how creation happened and how it all works, but for me the most important thing is this: God was behind it all.

Thinking that way allows my imagination to run wild. I love picturing God looking at the world He was forming and thinking, “Not bad—I did that.” I can imagine Him like an artist seeking perfection, almost playful in His creativity. “Let’s see what happens if I separate the waters,” I imagine Him saying. “Let’s see what else I can make.”

When God created, He also created us—and this is where things became less perfect, as humans began to drift away from Him. Creation lost some of its original beauty because sin had entered the world.

The reading from Romans (8:18–25) helps me connect with the concerns of those who recognised that the world was no longer as God intended. When I look at suffering and at wars, it would be easy to become discouraged. But, like the people who first received Paul’s letter, I wait with the assurance that God is in control. All the suffering I see now is nothing compared with the glory that will be revealed when I see God face to face.

And yet, it’s the gospel reading (Matthew 6:25–34) that helps me most as I think about creation today. I find myself imagining the scene: the disciples sitting and listening as Jesus told them not to worry. He didn’t leave them with just the instruction—He pointed to creation to explain why.

This is where I’m helped again, because I imagine Jesus speaking with joy and wonder as He looked at the world around Him. He noticed the birds—free, unworried, provided for. He saw the lilies—growing beautifully without fear or striving.

Jesus used creation itself to show the joy God felt in making it. That should encourage me not to worry. I know that trusting God can be difficult in hard times, but these readings remind me of God’s delight in creating and His love for me. That should be a source of hope.

Worry won’t disappear completely, but it becomes easier to bear when I remember that the God who created with such joy wants me to experience that joy too. As I turn to Him and become more like Him, He protects me, loves me, and invites me into the freedom He intended from the beginning.