Lent 1 C + Whose you are + 3.6.22
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Deuteronomy
26:1-11; Romans 10:8b-13;
Psalm
91:1-2, 9-16; Luke
4:1-13)
“Remember who you are and whose you are.” This is the theme I
sense in this week’s readings as we kick off the Lenten Season. Reconnect with
your heritage. Spiritual and otherwise.
In Deuteronomy, we hear: “When the priest takes the basket
from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your
God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A
wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as
an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and
populous.’” This section is said to those of Jewish descent to help them
remember their past and reconnect with their roots. It forms a part of our spiritual
ancestry via our Judeo-Christian tradition.
And in the gospel passage from Luke today we see Jesus
reconnect with his roots- going to the Wilderness to reconnect with God as the
Israelites did so many years before. Except, as sometimes happens when we truly
seek God- he runs into spiritual obstacles and temptations. The tempter comes
to test him.
In indigenous cultures all around the world, Vision Quests,
sometimes called by different names, form an important part of a young person’s
journey to adulthood. A young person is sent out on their own to experience
nature and in so doing is invited into a process of self-discovery. In some
traditions, the animal who assists the young person in their survival is
interpreted as their adult spirit animal, and usually hardships happen which
the young person must endure in order to mature. Eventually these lessons not
only teach the young adult about themselves, but lead them back to a sense of
belonging in their tribe.
Bishop Steven Charleston, who is an Episcopal bishop who also
is a member of the Choctaw Nation has a book about The Four Vision Quests of
Jesus. He asserts that Jesus has four experiences of Vision Quest that help
guide his journey, the first being at his Baptism leading him to the
wilderness. Then he goes to the mountain, the garden and the cross. In the wilderness,
Jesus has a ground/stone moment, a sky moment and then a moment of his
relationship with all of creation.
The stone moment, Jesus connects with the ground. Charleston
shares how to the Choctaw, stones represent our oldest spiritual relatives as
everything on earth comes from God. He goes on to say:
[Jesus] pays attention to the stones around him in the
desert. And in his hunger, he imagines the stones as loaves of bread on the
desert floor. What did the stones have to teach him? Are they physical
nourishment for him alone or spiritual nourishment of a different kind? (Charleston, Four
Vision Quests)
He will not be lured by the trap of treating the stones as
potential food just for himself, says Charleston. Instead, he is reminded that
he must provide spiritual food for others.
In the second moment of this vision quest, Jesus has a moment
of realignment of his relationship with the sky and the heavens.
As Robert Shore-Goss, reading Charleston, describes it:
The Devil asked him to throw himself off
the edge so that God might save him through the angels, preventing him from
falling down and smashing on the Earth. For Charleston, there is an alignment
of Mother Earth, the human tribe, and God. … Jesus chose balanced alignment.
This alignment is reflected in his prayer “your will be done on earth and
heaven.” Earth reflects the heavens.[1]
And Jesus is brought to a third challenge. This is of his
relationship with all of creation. The tempter would have Jesus claim all the
nations for his own power. But the devil can’t give Jesus what is already his.
This is the final step of truly claiming his selfhood in preparation to lead
others.
As Charleston says:
We are not to insult God by claiming that we can use creation for our own
purposes., much less for profit. We are not the masters of all we see. We
cannot swallow the universe into the stomach of our greed. We do not need more.
The ethic implicit in a culture that understands family as a vast matrix of
kinship is an ethic of sharing. The sky vision shows Jesus the fundamental
value of native life: it Is to be lived in a spirit of stewardship. Human
beings are entrusted with everything that they see. They are responsible for
it. They are to be in awe of it. They are to delight in it.[2]
In claiming all of this, Jesus’ vision quest does not just
call us to be enthralled by Jesus’ fortitude. It is also to help us remember
who we are and whose we are. As Charleston says, we as humans are stewards of
creation and must be in right relationship with the earth. How can we use this
time of Lent to restore our relationship with all of creation? We have made a
small step as a church by ordering recycling and organic waste containers. We
hope to put a lot less trash into the landfill and help heal the earth in this
small way. We will soon separate out our waste by having separate recycling and
organic/food waste containers and invite you all to help us do so as we strive
to care for creation.
Various scriptures today continue to call us back to ourselves as we continue
this Lenten journey. In Romans, we are reminded of the ancient Hebrew
scriptures again, the word is near to us- and because we have proclaimed faith
in Jesus, we are saved. This is who we are.
Psalm 91 reminds us we are safe because we are in God’s
hands. “Because he is bound to me in love, therefore will I deliver him; I will
protect him, because he knows my Name.” We who know God’s name are protected. We
are children of God.
And when we remember who we are and whose we are, we act
accordingly.
Just as Jesus learned in his stone moment, may we remember
not to use power for our own selfish gain and to combat others who would wield
power for selfish purposes.
Just as Jesus did in his sky moment, may we learn not to test
God but instead to trust God. This is so we can be in alignment with God,
creation and other humans.
Just as Jesus did in his creation-connection moment, may we
remember that as stewards we must treat the earth well and not exploit it.
May we walk lightly in this journey of Lent, remembering who
we are and whose we are, and act accordingly.
Amen.
[1]
Robert E. Shore-Goss, http://www.mischievousspiritandtheology.com/jesus-vision-quest-wilderness-challenges-mt-31-11/.
[2]
Steven Charleston, The Four Vision Quests
of Jesus, Church Publishing, 2015.
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