Quiet
Dear Southport Congregational Church,
I have found that in quiet moments you can find answers in your unfettered mind to those issues which your heart has been wrestling.
A novel concept, let alone an actuality in these times of media, international turmoil, cell phones, and even loved responsibilities. So I made the conscious choice on a plane ride home from CA recently, to do nothing (no phone, no movies, no music, no reading) but to keep my pen and pad at the ready and see what appeared in my wilderness of a mind…
Luke 4:1 KJV And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and afterwards immediately leaves for the desert, the wilderness. With his baptism, Jesus’ Spirit is awakened to his purpose and his first action is to leave for the wilderness.
I make a distinction between desert and wilderness here because to my reasoning all of Judea and Galilee are a desert wilderness. Finding, sensing and collecting small details of life, take up a large portion of my brain as I move through the day. Coming from New England it is almost impossible for me to immediately acclimate to Jesus’ environment that is mostly the same color tan, mostly the same texture wind honed sand with blue sky and if lucky blue water at the edges. But Jesus went into the wilderness – the untamed desert. And so I trust that Jesus’ and my definitions of the wilderness are the same even if the physical journey through them may look and feel different.
Our Lenten journey to date has seen us pass through the first Sunday of Lent – which focuses on the Temptation of the Wilderness. Then the second Sunday of Lent – Transfiguration. Now we prepare for the third Sunday of Lent when we speak of repentance, patience, mercy and God’s generous love.
Jesus’ showed us that he is divine (Transfiguration). He then spent the next years teaching his disciples. While they understood Jesus’ actions showed us God’s love, they were wary to believe that their actions could also reflect God’s love. Then, Jesus’ shocking outburst that clears and cleanses the Temple is the transition of focus from physical acts to inner (personal) spiritual repentance. In the shocking calm, quiet moment that follows Jesus’ outburst, his disciples, we, must realize that our spirits are also divine and that all good works come from this place.
So my fellow travelers, I wish you to take a wilderness moment this week and are awakened to your Spirit, and embrace that most beautiful version of yourself.
Peace
Betsy Gillespie (Deacon)