Drenched in the wilderness

He was in the wilderness 40 days. Mark 1:13
For the Israelites traveled 40 years in the wilderness. Joshua 5:6

 It was not my intention this week. But, I can’t help contemplating the effect of Covid19 in the midst of the Lenten season. Like the wilderness in which Israel wandered and the wilderness in which Jesus prayed, this is a wilderness of its own. 40 days ~ the approximate time to mitigate the risk of viral contamination. How shall we use it? What tempts our community…fear, division over self-rightness more than seeking righteousness, thirst for power? How can we use this time to come to ourselves that in so doing, we come together? 

 It is a time of uncertainty for sure. But also a time to approach with intention –      

          to withdraw from our routines; 

            to resist the temptation of what we would like to do for undertaking what is best;   

            to pray and come to ourselves in realization that we do not live unto ourselves. 

 Alone at home, I heard the gently falling rain whisper for me to come play. The drops fell softly enough to linger on my hair a moment before slowly trickling down over my scalp, soothing and cool. I stood with my face to the sky for the simple joy of feeling the rain.

I could have stayed protected by my raincoat of defensiveness and judgmental umbrella. But I would have missed an opportunity – to stand in the rain experiencing the love of God hovering and waiting to drench me. Washing away that which keeps me separate, that which keeps me from experiencing the simple joy of who I am and who you are. Because once we are both soaked by the rain, with our defenses washed away, we are not so different you and me. 

Soaking wet and vulnerable, at our center is relationship with God and community. We have come to life by no doing of our own. Where we are today is because those before us forged the way. How we live today is interdependent on entire systems (of people!) in order to have food, shelter, gas in our car, work to do. 

In this time of wilderness, may we be soaked to our soul where maybe we can remember, maybe we can begin to realize, we are in this together…

Amy Moore