Beloved of God,

The griping happened without fail whenever we loaded the car for the hour-plus drive to our grandparents’ homes in Northfield: How long before we get there? So-and-so’s bothering me! I’m hungry!  I have to go to the bathroom! No sooner did we pull out of the driveway than the same old litany would begin. In response to this, a family rule was instituted in my family of origin: NO TALKING UNTIL WE REACH OWATONNA. Since Owatonna was 35 miles up the road, this rule guaranteed a half hour of relative quiet. No small feat in a station wagon with 10 people!

Of course, there were those times when an unresolved issue escalated to the point where traveling rules were violated, and it was at times like those we’d here Dad’s voice cut through the din: DO I NEED TO STOP THIS CAR?! Truth be told, I can’t remember Dad ever actually stopping the car; the mere threat of it was enough to make offenders repent—and quickly. The truth was, we didn’t know what would happen if Dad ever stopped the car, but we knew it wouldn’t be pretty.

So I can identify with the whole situation that unfolded for God’s people as they wandered in the wilderness year after year, losing heart and losing faith. How did they cope? They griped. WHY DID YOU BRING US OUT OF EGYPT IN THE FIRST PLACE? WE’RE GOING TO DIE HERE! THERE’S NO FOOD, NO WATER; THIS TRIP IS ALL ONE BIG MISERABLE MESS! (Deut 12:4f)

Of course, this was a case of selective amnesia. They had conveniently forgotten their experience as slaves in Egypt, and the fact that the food they loathed was the miraculous manna their lives had been sustained with.  Their lack of trust found them, once again, heading down a dead-end street. It was then that God stopped the car. Sure enough, the scene wasn’t a pretty one. Out came the snakes, and people start dying left and right.

Snakes are symbolic creatures whose presence suggests double meanings. On the one hand, they are stealthy and have a bite that kills. On the other hand, they are symbols of healing and transformation. By the end of this story, the snakes’ death-dealing nature has been transformed by God into a life-giving nature; a source of healing for the people of Israel.

The gospel during these weeks of Lent is all about God’s core values. Jesus expresses them so powerfully and clearly:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Lent is about returning to core values…God’s. By God’s mercy, the serpent was transformed from a symbol of death into an instrument of healing. By God’s grace, Jesus, who suffered death for our sake, became the Way to eternal, resurrected life.

On this Lenten wilderness journey we gather beneath the cross of Jesus because we believe that there is something here for us and for our broken world that nothing and no one else can provide. Beneath this cross of Jesus we meet a God rich in mercy whose core values teach us that there is no obstacle too great for God to overcome. Oh! What good news!

God’s core values are clear. God transforms dead-ends into new beginnings, closed books into open subjects, contentious conflicts into opportunities for growth, cruel death into joyful resurrection. Our vocation as God’s people is to show and to share these core values with neighbors, family, friends, coworkers, and a world in desperate need of them.  This, my friends, is our privileged calling.

With you, on the Way,

Pastor Erik