“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
~Luke 4:1-1
Recently, I was listening to a sermon by an esteemed colleague who had visited Haiti. He said there were two reasons why he went to Haiti. First, he was concerned he might easily forget the devastation of the nation, and second, he wanted to bring back ideas to help the United Methodist Church meet the future needs of the Haitian people. While I believe it will be hard to forget the destruction in Haiti, I am grateful for those who recognize and act on our long term commitment to the poor and oppressed. “The poor will always be among you,” our good Lord reminds us, and calls us to intentionally be among them.
By the time you read this, the season of Lent will be underway, and I will be traveling in the Dominican Republic with a team of eight Volunteers in Mission. We will be visiting a very poor village called “Paraíso,” which means paradise. Despite severe monetary poverty, there are some elements of paradise in Paraíso. There are beautiful, loving children too young to know of their own destitution. There are struggling mothers and fathers living in faithful obedience to God, offering hospitality and protection, as scripture commands, to visitors who have much more than they will ever acquire. There are beautiful views of a dangerous ocean and sweet breezes that cut through the pounding heat. Paradise can be deceiving.
Why do we go to Paraíso? Why did my colleague go to Haiti? We go for the same reason we put together health kits for Haiti, or collect cans of soup for the food pantry, or donate animals to Heifer International. We go because Christ calls us to do more than watch as others suffer, the Spirit compels us to service, and God prevails upon each of us to offer mercy to God’s struggling children.
At the beginning of Lent, we remember Jesus’ first act after his baptism was to go into the desert. There, he opened himself to temptations he would face his entire time on earth: temptations of the body, of the world, and of the spirit. These are the same deceptive temptations we experience. We hunger and thirst in solidarity with the poor, but only for the Lenten season. We consider our own privileges in the power structures of the world, but dismiss them as necessary evil. We face our spiritual pride, even as it is cloaked in scriptural distortion.
Perhaps you still are asking, why go to Paraíso or Haiti? Why fast? Why explore oppression or pride?
The best answer I can offer is this: when we answer God’s call to serve, to suffer, to pray, or study, we invite God’s transformative power to heal us from our own self deception. Jesus was different when he emerged from the desert. My colleague changed in Haiti, and I will come back from Paraíso changed too. Your children will not be the same when they return from ASP or UMARMY. God invites us into the Lenten Season to mold us, to change us and to use us. It is up to us to accept the Lenten invitation.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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