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“Love, Life and Lent”
An old man is sitting at a bus stop. It is a cold winter evening. He has on a big coat and a big suitcase is at his feet.
A young girl approaches the bus stop.
Old Man: Hi.
Young girl: Hello. Where are you going?
Old man: I've already been there.
Young girl: You mean, you've been on a long journey.
Old man: Well, yes. I guess so. First I was a boy. Then I became a man. Sometimes I was a student and sometimes I was a teacher.
Young girl: I don't understand. What do you mean?
Old man: It wasn't always easy. Sometimes I was very sad. Sometimes I didn't know what to do. But there were times when I was so happy!
Young girl: I don't want to go there, well, wherever it is. It doesn't sound like much fun.
Old man: I was never alone. He was always there.
Young girl: Who?
Old man: Jesus.
Young girl: Are you some kind of religious nut?
Old man: I guess so.
Young girl: Well, where are you going now?
Old man: I'm going home.
Young girl: I hope you'll be ok. I mean, will you get there all right?
Old man: Sure. I hope you have a good journey too.
Life’s journey is never easy. Often things that we can’t control take place such as the illness or loss of a loved one, the inability to find work, or the problem of not being able to afford enough food for our family to eat. But good things happen too. Maybe you fall in love and find a life partner. Perhaps you win an award or are accepted to graduate school. Maybe you experience a joyful moment with your grandchild, or you go on a camping trip beside a lake and you can hike in the woods or just sit and enjoy the beauties of nature. Whatever happens, God is there.
In Ruth’s story, she experiences famine and the loss of her husband. Even though she is from another culture, she decides to go with her mother-in-law to a new country, and she finds love and happiness again. This story reminds me of the many immigrants that come to Canada to escape war, famine or other challenging situations. They leave everything familiar behind. They learn a new language but still try to keep their own traditions alive. For some, the transition is smooth, but for others it is fraught with despair as things don’t work out as they have hoped. But God is always there.
Jesus journeyed into the wilderness. He is in his late twenties. For all of his life he has worked with his dad – learned his carpentry trade and helped with the family income. Then he announces that he is going off into the wilderness and beginning his ministry. Imagine the shock in his family when this happens. Although he regrets causing his family pain, he is determined to do what he was chosen to do. His family probably loved him enough to allow him to make his own choices.
So when Jesus is in the wilderness, he is tempted. I don’t imagine his decisions were as easy as it appears in the story. While he knew his destiny, he needed the strength of God’s love and support to help him make the right choices when he was tempted. . Imagine being in the wilderness alone for forty days! Have you ever been so alone? That is a long time to go without human contact – but God was there with Jesus.
From the beginning, God has loved us. God has created a world of beauty and balance. Humans were created to enjoy God’s world. And…even when humans made mistakes, God’s love was shown to them. We have a record of God’s love in the bible. Sometimes we tend to think that we don’t have a tradition of story-telling like some other cultures, but we do. I remember that my mom used to read me bible stories written in language that children could understand. Once a week, many of those stories are read to us in church. They all remind us of God’s love.
- Abraham loved God so much that he was willing to sacrifice his son, but God didn’t expect him to do that.
- Noah was saved from the flood, as were many creatures.
- Ruth was from another culture, but she went with Naomi to a strange land because the love of God was working through her.
- Esther had the courage to save her people from a corrupt government official.
- David was a person with many faults but God loved him.
- Mary and Joseph, just ordinary citizens, were chosen as the parents of God’s son.
All these stories show us examples of God’s love. Most of the people we read about in the bible were not perfect people. Many of them made serious errors in their lives. But God still loved them. Paul, the foremost of the apostles was the last person one would have expected to be singled out for God’s love, but he was.
So what does this mean to us? All of those stories and many more remind us of God’s love for us. We are forgiven when we make mistakes as long as we are sorry about what we did, and as long as we are trying to live the way God would have us live.
This morning, we have heard some stories about God’s love for different people, and in many of the letters written by the apostles, God is described as being like a loving parent.
This image works well for those of us who have had loving parents, and those of us who are parents can understand the love God has for us because of the love that we have for our children. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5 it says that “God destined us for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ.” Verse 4 says, in fact, that God chose us to be God’s children before the foundation of the world. That is very powerful.
In 1 John Chapter 4, some of the language written to describe God’s love is: “Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God everyone who loves is born of God”. “God is love”. Verse 12 says that “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
What do those words mean to you? Think of the phrases: God is love; love one another; etc. It’s like a chain reaction. God loves us. Because of that, we love God, and we show God’s love to others. And one of the ways we show God’s love is by following Jesus Christ who loved us so much that he died on a cross. But as we all know, that was not the end of the story.
Lent is usually a season when people give up something to show their ability to make sacrifices. It can also be a time of repentance. I prefer to think of this season leading up to the events of Holy Week as a time when we reflect on God’s love for us and to think about how we can show God’s love by what we do.
God isn’t just some heavenly being that is out of reach and separate from us. If nothing can separate us from the love of God, we, his children, can allow God’s love to flow through us to others in whatever ways suit us. Everyone has a different ministry. All are valued equally. Everyone has gifts that can be used to make our world a better place – but the greatest of our gifts is love. amen.