Again & Again, God Meets Us

Growing up as the daughter of two ministers meant that going to church on Sunday was not an option. On occasional Sundays I was sick, but week in and week out, I was at church. I was at the church building first thing Sunday morning and returned Sunday evenings for youth group - even when I was only 5 years old! I remember asking multiple times over the years: “Do we have to go to church AGAIN?”

The phrase “again and again” can have negative connotations. Remember the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day?” Lately, my days have felt very repetitive. Every morning I wake up to a disconcerting deja vu. Do I have to face the endless cycle of getting up, staying home, assisting the children with schoolwork, and cooking another three meals again today?

Again and again and again.

This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.

The season of Lent is a season of 40 days, not counting Sundays, leading to the celebration of Easter. Every Lent, we return “again” to the ministry of Jesus. But there is nothing negative about this particular “again.” Today I am grateful that we get to journey with Jesus “again.”

That’s because God takes our troubling “again and again,” and reminds us of God’s great love through Jesus that returns to us “again and again.” Over and over again, day after day, God meets us, offers us forgiveness, and shows us the way to an abundant life. God’s “again and again” is a wonderful pattern of unearned grace.

Lest we forget, you and I need to hear that message every single week, day in and day out. And in this season of Lent, we will hear about Jesus’ love...again and again! Praise be to God!

Lent always begins with the account of Jesus’ baptism and his temptations in the wilderness that follow. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. When Jesus was dripping with water, God spoke from heaven these words: “You are my Son, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

At the beginning of his ministry, in the midst of his baptism, Jesus heard God say, “You are loved.” It was with this knowledge that he was loved by God that Jesus entered the wilderness. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness—hence, the forty days of Lent. Jesus’ time in the wilderness was intense. This was no relaxing vacation. This wilderness of rocky mountains could be seen from the baptismal waters of the Jordan. The area is devoid of plants and water. No one would choose to live in such stark surroundings.

In this wilderness, Jesus encountered wild animals, including wolves, cobras, and scorpions. Jesus had no food, shelter, or friends. The wilderness was physically and spiritually a place of struggle and a time of testing. Jesus wrestled with the devil. And yet Jesus went into that wilderness with the knowledge that he was beloved by God. Jesus could trust in God’s goodness and love even in the face of great adversity.

In each of our own baptisms, God calls us beloved. God meets us in those waters, and then when we go forth into a difficult world, God goes with us. No matter what we encounter, we are not alone. Our first moments as new Christians can feel light and easy. Our burdens are lifted, and our anxieties may cease. With baptism, we begin a brand new life with Christ.

But ask any seasoned Christian, and they will assure you that following Jesus is anything but easy. One of my favorite theologians, Kate Bowler, says “Life is a chronic condition. There is no cure for being human.” In the days after our baptisms, in the midst of following Jesus, we will find ourselves in the wilderness. Again and again, we are sure to encounter the wild beasts of the twenty-first century: beasts of power, beasts of control, and beasts of all the “isms.” Baptism calls us to resist evil in whatever form it presents itself—in ourselves and in others—in its myriad manifestations: racism, sexism, arrogance, homophobia, xenophobia, greed, anti-Semitism, narcissism, poverty, oppression, abuse of power, abdication of power, apathy, and so on.

And yet, we need not fear following Jesus into the wilderness. In the wilderness, God will give us all the strength and encouragement we need to live as faithful Christians. Think about Jesus. Jesus stood up to his temptations. Angels came and ministered to him.

And so too with us. In each and every wilderness, Jesus is walking with us. God sends angels to care for us when we encounter evil in our daily lives. Jesus, the beloved Son of God, who overcame temptation, who stared down the wild beasts and triumphed, will enable us to triumph, too.

Is there wilderness in your life today? How is God meeting you there?

Does the knowledge that you are beloved change the way you think, act, and love?

This Lent we will journey with Jesus. We will acknowledge that again and again we mess up and fall away; we become complacent and distracted; we grow weary and anxious.

But we will also hear these words: again and again, God meets us and renews us.

Again and again, God declares, “You are my beloved.”

Again and again, God meets us.

Amen.

Art: "I Delight In You" by Lisle Gwynn Garrity (digital painting with collage)

Again & Again Lenten Series