‘We are in a wilderness’

“In this season of Lent most of us are in a spiritual wilderness.

We are tempted and tried as Jesus was in the wilderness with the Devil.

“Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness so that he could become a fighter against the enemy of the soul, so that he will always be alert with perseverance to take on the enemy.

For us modern Christians we find meaning and a sense of worth, living in the heat of battle, struggling with life’s hazards, involving pain and suffering, therefore temptations are not threats to our existence but incentives and stimulus to life.

Satan will battle the strongest in faith much as he did with Job and Jesus.

Every day is a battle of faith and just as God is good at being God, the enemy of God is very good also so we must always be on guard.

Many people are in the wilderness right where they live –A big city, small town, right inside our homes, one can be in the wilderness.

The wilderness for us can be a symbol of the place where we feel alone and vulnerable.

Perhaps we are searching for direction because we have lost our way.

Perhaps we are hungry for something in our lives. For some the mountain may be too high and the valley too wide but Jesus by his victory in the wilderness gives hope and power, no matter what the enemy of God presents. The Word of God does help us in our lives, but not on our terms.

God calls us to live with an awareness of his presence but the temptation is simply to forget, or worse yet, to ignore God.

Lent is a time to remember, to look at one’s self in the mirror, to seek spiritual introspection and work towards renewal. To make the descent from the head to the heart.

History has constantly proved that every political and economic structure fails at the point where materialism overcomes spirituality When this happens, law and order collapse and although materialism appears to succeed, success is short-lived and the community must start over again.

There is a profound knowledge as well as a divine truth in the statement: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’.

How shall we live if we are not to live by bread alone? The answer is in spiritual discernment. God is always speaking to us individually and as a people. At different times and in many ways, through dreams and visions, prophets and messengers , and in the Anglican tradition- scripture, tradition and reason, nature and events. Discernment is the spiritual practice that accesses and seeks to understand what God is trying to say to us individually and as a people. We have to seek out people who are conduits to God’s wisdom. In a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, with many competing voices it can become complicated. No one religion has a monopoly on God. It is pure religious arrogance for one religion to impose it’s views on a democratic society. However, if we learn to be tolerant of each other and discuss rather than debate one will find common ground for developing a civil society. There must be a conversation on the way forward and today more than ever there is need for prophetic voices coming from religious leaders, in areas that are not divisive.

For example Hinduism and Christianity share some similar views about creation and sustainability, Islam/ Christianity, the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The issues facing us are not about doctrine/creed or confession, that is for the individual faiths and denominations to debate. Our greatest need and items that are crying out for answers, are much deeper than faith loyalties. Questions about decency and civility, seeing the face of God in every human being and seeing every child baptised, or not, as a child of God. There is much work for the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) to do in calling the society for healing without being judgmental.

We must avoid the voices of being judgmental, cynical and fearful.”