I wonder where you are in this wilderness of Lent. From ashes marked on our foreheads weeks ago on Ash Wednesday to our entrance into the wilderness and the story of the journey of Nicodemus, who travels at night, to visit Jesus – Lent is not exactly a quiet ride. Add to this season, the unfolding drama of the coronavirus and the up and down of the stock market and well, perhaps you are considering just staying home in hopes that the wilderness will calm down and then you can venture out once again.

The reality for most of us is that we cannot simply barricade ourselves inside our homes waiting and praying for the world to calm down. In fact, our call from Jesus is to “be in the world but not of the world.” In Matthew 10, Jesus shares these words, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” The world around us can often feel like a wilderness we are forced to navigate instead of a paradise to be enjoyed. In truth, I live with both ideas of approach. The wilderness can bring great challenge but also provide excitement, adventure, and new understanding. When I find myself in the wilderness, I know that I will be expected to reexamine my ideas and renew my understanding of how the world works or at least how I think the world works.

On March 8, we celebrated a new thing at Ascension. We hosted a new mission outreach ministry – a Winter Farmer’s Market in the midst of all the other excitement that a Sunday morning at Ascension offers. We could have put lots of rules and confines around the farmer’s market experience – it can only happen between this time and that time; it can only be in these spaces. Instead, as the planning unfolded, we simply tended the details that arrived at our doorstep and did our best to approach each new wrinkle as an opportunity to be welcomed not a problem to be solved. The Farmer’s Market was a huge success. After all was said and done, the Food, Faith, and Farming Network’s 8th and final farmer’s market of the winter season was its second-best sales totals for the season. I am grateful to Lynn Parkhurst who championed this first Winter Farmer’s Market. I am grateful still more for the countless individuals who stepped out of their comfort zones to help cook, set-up, serve, clean-up, host and greet. As with any venture into the wilderness, we will have some adjustments to make before next year – but for a first experience – Ascension was a wonderful partner for the Food, Faith, and Farming Network.

It turns out that I seem to always expect the wilderness to be a place of struggle. What I often find is that the wilderness is much less about the struggle and far more about learning new ways of walking with others. What more would Jesus ask of us in the wilderness of this Lenten season?
I wonder if I have asked for too much time walking with others. Well not with all of you but with my wife, my children, my dog. Already I have entered into a new wilderness with my family inside the ever-shrinking walls of our house. It is a new experience to have so much togetherness on this journey of Lent. Usually, I long for more of you to gather for worship, for soup, for ministry. Yet, in this moment, I could use a little bit of space and some really long walks to provide space for all of our family members in the wilderness this year. Social distancing at its finest – I think. Our house has never been so clean. Our basement has been purged. The laundry room/mud room is organized. And soon the garage. But then what? Holy Week will be upon us and we will walk the road from the gates of Jerusalem to the upper room to Calvary to an empty tomb – all of that walking happening in solitary and silent moments. The crowds that gathered to welcome Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday are silent – yet still Jesus comes. The disciples who gathered with Jesus in the upper room are absent – yet still Jesus prays. The people who gathered at the foot of the cross will be far more distant this year – yet still Jesus remembers us. And come Easter dawn – there will be no visitors at the tomb – yet still Jesus rises.

We now know that we will not gather together in worship until the beginning of May at the earliest. A long time to be apart. Our plan, when we are allowed to gather once again, is to mark our first Sunday back together as our “homecoming Sunday.” A chance to engage, connect, celebrate, weep, and rejoice for the long night that will be over. And then hold on! The following Sunday – will bring us together for the great celebration of Easter and the joy of the resurrection. No longer apart and alone. Now all together as we praise our God. Thanks be to God!

Until I see you in church.
Pastor Chris

(Reprinted from the April 2020 newsletter.)