On temptation and challenge:
Confronting reality, and hard times for any church.
Lent 1, 4th March, 2001
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from Jesus
until an opportune time. Lk 4: 13.
Today's gospel, the traditional series of the temptations in the wilderness
immediately following on from the grace-filled experience of the baptism of
the Lord by John, highlights the struggle. A battle is engaged. The first
parrying begins. The battle is between that which is utterly and ultimately
good and of God and that which is evil and utterly not of God. Temptations
uncovered here are presented in terms of a potentially attractive abuse of
power, the seductive attractiveness of the superficial and shallow, and the
possibility of attempting to bargain and barter, to impress the gallery
cheaply. They are real and possible temptations. If embraced they would
have brought immediate results. There could have been apparent success.
They would also have had consequences.
One of the problems many have with traditional religious language is that
common usage can shift. Strong words can become weak. Consider the verb
'to tempt'. "Can I tempt you with another slice, Vicar?" is no big
deal. "Can I tempt you to deny that which is true and honourable or right?"
There is a huge difference between the two. The second is in a different league.
In a time when everything is up for grabs, when every institution and
certainly by no means least the Church is shaken to its foundations, the
confronting challenge of the Lenten cycle is all the more necessary. Every
individual Christian has a battle on their hands, to some degree. Every
Christian community faces it too. Nothings flows smoothly. And when it
does there is something waiting just around the corner. That would appear
to be life. It is certainly life in a place like St Peter's Eastern Hill.
In this gospel for the first Sunday in Lent, Luke is quite clearly wanting
to teach and encourage. In having these challenges to the Lord placed right at
the earliest possible moment in his ministry, they stand as examples of how
Christians generally might try to respond. Times of trial, the actuality of
temptations to settle for less than the best are the daily experience of us all.
Being baptised Christians does not remove this. Being the baptised messiah
did not remove this. The challenges remain and are intense and real. The
pressures will return 'at an opportune time'. In the case of the
Lord, the second stage of the battle was engaged on Good Friday. All these
Lenten wilderness temptations were back again then, in strength. But that is
further on. Today is Lent 1.
Jesus of Nazareth and the disciples he gathered around him in that first
generation were unable to resist or deny the fact and the power and the grace
and the love of God. They did not want to. It was compelling and
overwhelming and wonderful. They found themselves doing things they
would not otherwise have done. They found themselves in situations well
away from anything that was pleasantly comfortable. It was because they
believed and trusted in that God who held all things in his care and purpose.
This gifted awareness was transforming. It involved sacrifice and pain as
well as joy and the deepest of satisfaction. It more often than not did not
fit with what was acceptably successful or obviously predictable in their own
wider community. Other people joined them in what was at least then
profoundly counter-cultural and different. It was to do with clear and
opposing or confronting systems of value and belief and human interaction
as well as the clear points of connectedness with God, with the divine.
Two thousand years down the track Christian communities are still
gathering. That's impressive in and of itself. But there is a tiredness about
so much at least of first world Christianity and institutional religion. Some
are so busy defending the frontiers that the life behind the barricades dries
entirely up. A fearful and pinched response to the love of God at work in
our hearts is scarcely attractive or effective, let alone appropriate.
Many groups of gathered people in congregations can be closed shops;
unfriendly and apparently unwelcoming to those who are outside or narrow
and judgmental of those who differ from them, either in behaviour or
attitude. Some others can be very welcoming indeed but seeking a thorough
going process of religious cloning. The individual can sign off on entry.
Some manage to get it pretty right. They are places where growth in faith
is possible and probable, where the individual and the corporate potential
can be acknowledged and developed and realised. These are Christian
communities large and small creatively living together, sparking off and
encouraging each other, supportive and rejoicing in lives that warmly
welcome worship and service; lives that are characterised by prayerful
gentle care, alert to the needs of others. Every Christian community has the
potential to be such a place, such a group. Most in fact would have elements
of both the positive and the negative. There is room to grow.
There is a culture that is religious. Indeed there are many religious
subcultures. A whole team of SBS translators and sub-titlers are probably
necessary for communication to be effective between them. Some of us are
not too interested in getting the translations &emdash; some of the messages are
unwelcome or distasteful and this relates to our own temperament and
predisposition, as well as what we actually might believe, or what might
actually be true.
There are some branches and extensions of the Christian faith that are for
me so confrontingly different or dare I say it wrong, that if that were all
there was on offer I would, as they say, have to consider my position. There
are some parts of the Anglican Communion that would fit into that category, not
that far from here. But that is why I am here and not there. Maybe that is
why you are here and not there. But yet the answer is obviously not to
reduce everything to one particular way or approach, liturgically or
doctrinally.
There is a real question out there now. Why bother? Why bother at all with
this religion business? In another generation it might have been necessary
for employment or even participation in the civil society. Not any more. In
another generation it might have simply been the thing to do without many
other alternatives. Not any more. Social expectations or political
constraints are removed. A tired institution creaks and groans, to a degree
weighed down with the burdens of the centuries, with many of the people who
make it up in this generation apparently unclear or unable to articulate that
which is of first importance, in a way that is life-giving. This does not
help. We ourselves may reflect some of this. Yet we are here.
By definition we are those who have responded to the question "why bother?"
with at least a tentative attempt to acknowledge and indicate that there is
indeed something of importance here, worth bothering about. But it must be
renewed and given new life. Our yearly liturgical cycle affirms this. Above
all this time of Lenten preparation is the time and the opportunity to consider
again. The liturgy itself, the solemn challenge, the traditional external
helps of prayer, fasting and almsgiving seeking to enrich and develop the
spiritual heart of things. The overall discipline of the season is here
again. Its purpose is to help us grow and to grow in areas that are important.
Onto all of this this Lent we have added the dimension of a parish mission.
It is some seven years since this has been done here. We cannot assume that
we are all pulling our weight. We cannot assume that all of us here
understand how much more could be offered and shared here in this place
than now is.
There are some misconceptions abroad. Even those who know us
reasonably well may for instance have it in mind that St Peter's
- has about seven priests on full-time staff
- has a gigantic collection every week
- has huge endowments that enable them to keep all their buildings in tip
top shape with ease
- has a very substantial congregation of regular, active and committed
parishioners, with more than enough skills and talents to achieve any
task or goal.
These are less than true. Our mission will be exploring the challenge that is
before us.
And so does this season of Lent, traditionally the best attended time of the
year here at St Peter's. It is worth the effort. We face some tests, some
which are of God, some which may have other origins. But we are in good
company.
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from Jesus
until an opportune time.
The Lord be with you.
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