Tag: wilderness

Pastor’s Notes 6/21/2024

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made.
– Romans 1:20

My Grandpa Marshall wasn’t much of a church goer. He believed in God and appreciated the act of worship but sitting on wooden pews, confined indoors for an hour with a preacher “telling him what to believe” didn’t constitute a holy moment for Grandpa. Now, if we would have told him that church is sitting by a stream with a pole in hand while taking a moment to thank God for the glories of creation, he would have been a charter member out fishing every Sunday.

According to the article “Out in the Wilderness” published by the National Council of Churches Ecojustice Program (now Creation Justice Ministries), since the church’s earliest days, Christian theologians have referred to great outdoors as a source of inspiration as the Book of Nature—God’s complement to the Book of Scripture. The Book of Nature can be read anywhere, of course, but its letters can be discerned most clearly in the pristine and undisturbed quality of wilderness.

Wilderness is an essential part of the Biblical story. Wilderness areas have been home to some of the most formative events in the Bible. Moses’ call to leadership, the exodus of the Israelites, David’s character and reputation, Elijah’s prophetic vision, John the Baptist’s preparation to herald Christ, and Jesus’ testing for ministry.

Throughout time, humanity has connected with God in the wilderness. Holy encounters happen in nature. While out in God’s backyard we are not only reminded of our beloved-ness but often deepen our commitment to be in partnership as earth’s caretakers. To truly be in awe of God one simply needs to intentionally go looking for God. And as Paul notes in his letter to the church in Rome, God’s presence will be seen through all that God has made.

Join me in worship on Sunday in the chapel or on our YouTube page as we continue to explore our covenant as carers for creation. We will celebrate our wilderness stories and commit ourselves to seeing God’s handprint in all of creation with the hopes of claiming actions to become faithful stewards. 

Sermon 1/22/2023

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

What a beautiful Baptism experience Jesus had. A dove descended from heaven and landed upon him and God spoke words of favor and blessing… and then…

Jesus is barely dry before Matthew’s gospel places him in the wilderness, where for 40 days of fasting only to be tempted by the devil in his most vulnerable moment. The Spirit lead him them there, and almost as if on purpose. Matthew 4:1-11 is intense, as Jesus is hungry from fasting and the devil is relentless in pursuit of getting Jesus to cave to the temptation.

Jesus endures and all the while proclaims commitment to God with words of instruction for the reader to take to heart. He is tempted by bread for his hunger, safety from danger, and offered all the power he could ever want.

In her essay in Feasting of the Word, Maryetta Anschutz said of Jesus temptation, “Each time Jesus rejects temptation, he sets up for the reader a way to understand the cross to come. Certainly God can save God’s self from death on the cross, and certainly God in Jesus can refuse temptation to sin, but in our humanity we need to see God offer sacrifice and refuse temptation in order to learn the lesson ourselves.”

In this we wrestled deeper with the Church’s ability to learn this lesson of trusting God and ourselves to endure the temptations of the world we face.