Liturgy of Lent: Wilderness
Ash Wednesday
call
Creator God, God of ashes, let the sands of wilderness stick to our skin; let us wonder why.
meditation
“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
reading
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted a by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Mathew 4:1-11
prayer
We walk in the wilderness and we are so hungry and we are covered in your dust and ashes and we wonder if you are there with us. Like Jesus, and like Max, we are lonely and wandering and shuffling through the desert trying to dig out from the quicksand of our own memories, from the hidden, nearly desiccated places in our selves the words of the one who loves us best of all. We feel alone, and we are alone. But only for a time.
Show us the nature of our ashes; transform the desert place into the chaos we need to understand ourselves and our Creator.
God of ashes, you created a good thing from nothing; cover us in your ashes and dust. Remind us of our elements. Walk us through the desert wilderness and let the sand you cut grain by grain settle on our feet, hide under our fingernails, tunnel inside the curve of our ears, and grind in our teeth. Allow us to feel in every grain the grit of your devotion to us.
confession
God of ashes, we avoid going in to the desert. We are so afraid of seeing ourselves exposed, we are so afraid of not having ready answers. We are so afraid of entering into chaos and uncertainty. We confess the ways we avoid the wilderness and the truth we can encounter there. We confess that we sometimes lack the faith to trust that the desert has borders, and that we will be called out of that which we were once called into.
benediction
“And [he] sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot.”
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
Go today, covered in ash and dust, wandering the parched wilderness, wondering why. Go and see that this desert, this place among the wild things is where the magic begins. Go and know that your supper will still be hot when you return.