Lent - Water Wilderness, Witness

This last Sunday, we ventured into Lent, a season of journeying to the cross and remembering who we are in the midst of what Christ went through for us. On Sunday, we looked at Mark 1:9-15, reflecting on Jesus' first actions in Mark as an adult: his baptism and temptation in the desert.

Before we moved into communion, Pastor Ed talked about our wilderness experiences. We all have these experiences at one time in our life, when life is hard and we just feel like we are stuck in a wilderness. This passage is a great reminder that we serve a God who knows our experiences and can suffer with us, because he was tempted and struggled like we did.

The sermon pushed me to remember a passage from the book of Hebrews...

""Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Hebrews 4:16-18

I find this passage beautiful, because it directs us to think of our High Priest as something more than distant and far away, but intimate and close...Jesus knew our walk.

As we think about how close Jesus is, we think about why we take communion together. The body and blood of Jesus, taken in remembrance through the cup and the bread. It's so simple. Just some bread and some juice. But it so powerful. Each time that we partake in the cup and chalice, we enter into something powerful.

We commune, entering into relationship...extended our heart into God's heart, breaking down the barriers, opening ourselves up and being present with God.

There is just something about that cup and that bread and that God who works in the middle of it all.

And so, as we move forward in our journey to the cross over Lent, I hope that the body and blood of Jesus sustains us all and that we, whether in our wandering wilderness or in the best moment of our life, are fulfilled and nurtured into something deeper with the God who loves us so much.

Grace and Peace,

Micah