St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
March 6, 2022
Year C: The First Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
Marked As Christ’s Own For Ever
For several reasons, my first Ash Wednesday here at St. Thomas’ was one of the most meaningful of my life.
First, as you can see, members of the Altar Guild did an amazing job getting the church ready for Lent.
I don’t know how you feel about it, but I love the simplicity and starkness, which match the season perfectly.
And at our noon service on Ash Wednesday, Wanda and Jim provided us with such beautiful music. And at the evening service they were joined by Tess, making the music even more evocative.
And, all three of our services were well attended.
I’m not sure why so many people turned up - maybe because it’s been a couple of years since we had a normal Ash Wednesday service.
And, I’m sure we all feel the need to pray even more fervently than usual, as we watch the horrifying and completely unnecessary tragedy unfold in Ukraine, and wonder how will it end, worry about what is yet to come.
Over the years, I have made an ashen cross on many foreheads. I have told a lot of people that someday they would return to dust.
And, somehow this strange little ritual never loses its power or its discomfort, especially when the people who come forward are old or sick, or when they are very young.
This year a mom came up with her little girl, who looked at me with hesitancy and uncertainty, and maybe a little fear. And her mom whispered, it’s her first time.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
This year, when I “imposed” ashes on many of you – members of this amazing community that I have come to love so much – I was reminded of another time when I get to make the sign of the cross on foreheads.
Near the end of the Baptism service, after the brand new Christian has died and risen with Christ, they are anointed with oil and told:
“You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”
The seal of the Holy Spirit is impermeable and eternal, sustaining us in good times and bad, bonding us to God even when it doesn’t feel that way, giving us hope even when all that seems to remain is dust.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
“You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”
As we do each year on the First Sunday in Lent, today we heard the story of Jesus’ forty days and nights in the wilderness, this time of testing and temptation.
It’s a story told by Mark, Matthew, and Luke, and it’s important to remember that all three of these evangelists place this story of wilderness temptations immediately following the story of Jesus’ Baptism.
In his Baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus.
And the voice from heaven told him, or reminded him, of who he was: God’s beloved Son.
Like us, in Baptism, Jesus receives all that he needs to sustain him in good times and bad, especially the very bad, like the forty days and nights in the wilderness - and the worst of all, later, when just about everyone turns against him or abandons him, leaving Jesus to a bloody and humiliating death on the cross, when all hope sure seemed to be lost.
In the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness, the devil is not what we usually think he is: the embodiment of evil.
No, true to Jewish tradition, here the devil is simply the tempter, offering options that, if you stop and think about it, actually aren’t so bad.
What’s so bad about a starving Jesus miraculously making bread to sustain himself?
What’s so bad about Jesus ruling the whole world?
What’s so bad about Jesus leaping off the Temple, putting his whole trust in God?
Well, the problem was that the devil tempted Jesus to use not so good means to achieve good ends – a temptation that maybe some of us are familiar with, too.
Jesus, of course, withstands the Devil’s temptations.
But, Luke concludes on an ominous note.
Yes, the devil was finished tempting Jesus, but only for now. The devil would return at “an opportune time.”
It’s clear that we are living in one of those opportune times right now.
A cascading series of crises – environmental degradation, political division, plague, economic upheavals, and now war in Europe – plus all of our own worries and challenges – all of it tempts us – tempts us to give into despair.
Despair is the great temptation of our time.
With God’s help, despair is a temptation we can resist by being here together in this holy place with our sisters and brothers.
And, with God’s help, we can resist the temptation of despair by looking for God at work in the midst of the mess, looking for signs of hope among the rubble of our broken world.
On Thursday morning, when I was still buzzing from Ash Wednesday, I found a most powerful sign of hope, a way to resist the temptation of despair.
Betsy Wilmerding and I went to visit someplace I’ve been eager to see since even before I arrived here: Viva House in South West Baltimore.
In 1968, inspired by the Gospel and the example of Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, the husband-and-wife team of Brendan Walsh and Willa Bickham opened Viva House in a classic Baltimore row house.
And for more than 50 years they have chosen to give much more than their first fruits to God.
Obeying Jesus’ most challenging and radical teachings, they have chosen poverty and radical hospitality, living among the poor, giving away their lives in service to the forgotten and the despised.
For more than fifty years, they’ve opened the doors of Viva House, which is also their home: feeding and clothing people, offering after school programs, free legal assistance, and much more.
Like all of us, during the pandemic they had to adjust – no more sit-down meals in the narrow dining room. But the generosity has continued, with hundreds of take-out dinners continuing to go out the door.
As Betsy and I sat with Willa and Brendan, in a room decorated with beautiful religious art, much of it created by Willa herself, they spoke frankly and sadly about how, despite all their good work, their neighborhood has tragically declined since 1968.
It’s a familiar story – as industry closed up shop, most anyone who could moved out, leaving behind people doing their best to survive amidst vacant row houses, trash-strewn lots, and crime.
The nearly empty elementary school right across the street from Viva House is scheduled to close, another sign of neighborhood life about to be extinguished.
Hearing and seeing all of this woe, I was going to ask Brendan and Willa how they could possibly keep going even into old age – what sustains them – how do they resist the temptation to despair?
But, sitting in the presence of such obvious holiness and persistent joy, I already knew the answer:
“You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”
So, yes, the devil has found yet another opportune time to tempt us – to tempt us to give in to fear and despair.
But, just like Jesus, in Baptism we have been given all that we need to resist and defeat temptation.
Just like my new friends Willa and Brendan, with God’s help, we can keep going, keep giving, keep loving, knowing that the seal of the Holy Spirit is impermeable and eternal, sustaining us in good times and bad, bonding us to God even when it doesn’t feel that way, giving us hope, giving us confidence that, out of the dust, love and life will ultimately triumph.
Amen.
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