First Sunday in Lent - 21st February 2021
Genesis 9:8–17
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’
1 Peter 3:18–22
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Mark 1: 9–15
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
Reflection:
As we begin our contemplations during the season of Lent: I have to wonder about the human condition and what it has become. For most of us, we try hard to live a good life, we obey the rules, show respect and Christian love as much as possible and most likely think that the problem with the world is something that we observe rather than participate in.
This warm fuzzy imagining on our part in the world however has its failings. Although, we are not participating in ‘major’ wrongs, we have none the less all fallen short of the mark. And this is why God sent his only Son to die for us. Christ became sin so that we and all who turn to him in faith will be forgiven. This is not a maybe, this is the promise that God allows for each of us- when we turn to him. In the Lent Bible study group, Max Lucado suggest that perhaps we should look to Lent being still a part of the Christmas season, as we prepare to receive the greatest gift of all. So we fall on our knees in worship.
The question then arises- how do we come to worship God- with total sincerity, honesty and humility? The Easter Hymn- come let us worship our Redeemer- says ‘we worship on our knees, where wrath and mercy meet and a guilty world is washed by loves pure stream’. Without meaning to make each of us feel lousy- I have to wonder how undeserving am I? How undeserving are we and yet we continue each day in the same way and with the same attitudes, habits and disciplines? At the same time, God continues each and every day to pour out his life as a love offering for you and for me.
This morning I was listening to a daily reflection by Ron, a Priest friend of mine who has just restarted his reflections on face book after sadly losing his wife recently- (I don’t think you need to have face book to listen to his wisdom and I can share the link for you if you are interested.) Ron was talking about giving up for lent- and he pulls no punches- his words were basically that ‘we spend all this time and effort on trivia, giving up chocolate and other things, food and drink- Ron said that this basically all ends in the toilet anyway! And perhaps this token ‘giving up’ makes us feel better- instead of drawing us closer to God. Are we being wise or foolish?
Christianity is not a course that you do to get a certificate at the end, although I suggest we all want to attain the prize that God offers at the end. It is about being wise- Jesus calls us to listen- remember last week- the transfiguration we heard Jesus not only affirmed as God’s Son, as he is again in the gospel today, as well, God said ‘Listen to Him!’ Let’s take some time this Lent, to practice what we know and what we preach as it were. To be wise in the way we live- to hold onto the promises that God gives us and be willing and wanting to share these with all we encounter in our daily lives. My spiritual growth is up to me and no one else. Likewise, your spiritual growth is up to you and no one else. But we are to help and encourage each other along the way.
Go gives us the promise of heaven- but there is also a reality of hell. It is not just a myth and it is not that we need to fear or be afraid because we know that God promises us - ‘John 3: 16. For God so love the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Whoever believes!
I was listening to a pod cast the other day- In 1825, on the banks of the Wabash River in Indiana, an old town called New Harmony was founded. This town was to be the perfect society. Many wonderful things happened there, but within four years, they disbanded. Things fell apart. What went wrong?
The reality is that people…We human beings are flawed…We’re not perfect. We’re not really capable of creating an ideal society. This idea is at the heart of today’s reading from Genesis chapter 9 and I suggest this idea is the basis for the season of Lent. There’s hope in God’s covenant with Noah, there’s hope though Jesus Christ and there’s hope for us.
What is heaven? What is hell? The parable of the Long Spoons explains very well perhaps what heaven and hell truly are.
(Story credit: It’s not known for sure who wrote it, but it’s often attributed to Rabbi Haim of Romshishok).
One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”
God showed the man two doors.
Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of vegetable stew.
It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.
They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.”
Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same.
There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful vegetable stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The man said, “I don’t understand.”
God smiled. It is simple, he said, Love, only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves…
Sometimes, thinking solely of our own personal gratification, we tend to forget our interdependence with everyone and everything around us, so much so that we stop caring about them. I wonder in light of the recent news items about people protesting that this may be pertinant. When we think only of our own gratification we forget that our decisions may affect others around us.
But, as this story makes it clear, by doing so not only do we not help others overcome their suffering, but we’re also unconsciously harming ourselves, since we are all connected on a very deep level.
The waters of grace flow through all the readings before us today: from God’s deliverance of Noah and all animals from the waters of the flood, to the baptism of Jesus in the waters of the Jordan, to our own baptisms that bring us salvation. God made a covenant with all creatures in Genesis. The psalmist reminds us that we are to keep our covenant. And, in Jesus Christ, we find a new covenant of water and spirit. This is the good news: God is faithful, merciful, and full of steadfast love; God remembers creation and the everlasting covenant of forgiveness; God has come in Jesus Christ, Beloved Son and Saviour of the world.
May we and all people, therefore, come back to God, for it is only here that we find true hope, true life, and true joy and the promise of a future.