Lent I - 2.9.25

SERMON, CHURCH OF THE ATONMENT

1 LENT (C)

MARCH 9, 2025

The Rev. Anne Wrider

Maps are very useful things. They show us what the territory looks like. They give us a bird’s eye view of what is out there.  They can show us the hills and valleys, the best roads and the spots to avoid. Before GPS was a standard, I had a glove box filled with them. And now that I have navigation apps, I count on maps to tell me the best routes, the time it will take me to get where I’m going and what the traffic looks like up ahead. Very useful. Couldn’t do without them.

But the map is not the journey. Reading the map isn’t the same as driving through downtown Chicago, seeing the skyscrapers and the lake. It’s not the same as actually going somewhere. The actual journey may be easy or hard. The map doesn’t tell you about the truck that tries to sideswipe you on the Dan Ryan. It doesn’t tell you about the gorgeous sunset. It doesn’t tell you how happy (or not) people at the end of the journey will be to see you. The nice thing about maps is that they are safe. The journey may not be safe, but it is real. 

Jesus took a journey into the wilderness. Now the Judean desert is not a pretty wilderness. It is a rock desert that is so hot and dry that if you don’t have water, you will be dead in a day.  There are scorpions and snakes. It is a truly dangerous place.  And on that journey, Jesus was confronted with very real and compelling temptations.  He faced temptations to satisfy hunger, to wield power, and finally the temptation of safety. Notice that none of those things is evil in itself. We all need to eat, we all need to feel as though we have some control over the world around us. We all need to feel safe. But what Jesus chooses is to renounce satisfaction, power and safety for the love of God. And in that desolate wilderness, he claims the real power that he carries. He accepts the path he will follow. And he models for us what it is to take the journey.

Lent is a time for us to journey into the wilderness. The Church gives us a good map for the journey. Prayer, fasting, study of God’s Word, self-giving, all of these are useful. The disciplines of Lent can help point out the roads of our journeys and give us mile markers and directions.

But the map Is not the journey. Giving up chocolate may be a way to cut down on sugar, but unless it helps us confront our deeper addiction to pleasure , giving up chocolate is only reading the map. If we spend extra time in prayer, but do not spend that time in deep honesty with God , if we do not surrender our hearts, it is only the map. If we volunteer for a charity or donate to them, but do not allow ourselves to feel how injustice and poverty wound our brothers and sisters and do not allow ourselves to feel their pain, we are only reading the map, not taking the journey.

Taking the journey is dangerous. It is frightening to confront our own hungers and appetites. It is difficult to surrender ourselves into God’ hands, letting go of all the little lies we tell and letting God see us exactly as we are.  It is dangerous to allow ourselves to feel the evil and injustice of the world, for when we feel that, we may feel compelled to do something about it. And no one knows where that will lead us.

No one is going to check up on us. We can go through Lent, doing all the expected things, and other people may see us as good Christians. But if we sit safely reading our map, when Easter comes, we will not have taken the journey. and we will be no closer to the Kingdom than we were at the beginning. We will be safe, but we will be where we started.

But the journey is the only way to the heart of God. It is the only way to deep and true compassion. It is the only way to Easter. As WH Auden says, “He is the Way/ Follow him through the land of unlikeness/ You will see rare beasts and have unique adventures.”

I wish you a holy Lent.

Amen.