Readings: Job 38.1-7, 25-29, 36-41, 42.1-6; Revelation 22.1-5; and Matthew 4.11-17, 24. 1-3
Around the mid-point of his life, my father switched careers from community work to retrain as a landscape gardener. We moved from the city of Oxford to a village in Somerset and, although the change was to some extent forced on him and caused financial difficulties for us as a family, he came to greatly appreciate the enhanced sense of being in nature and of living closer to the natural rhythms of the seasons and the circle of life.
However, while our awareness of nature is undoubtedly enhanced by times in the countryside, we don’t need to live in a rural area in order to aware of and affected by the natural world. Those who live here in Britain are, for example, well known for being obsessed with talking about the weather. According to research, 94% of British respondents admit to having conversed about the weather in the past six hours, while 38% say they have in the past 60 minutes. Kate Fox, who performed the studies in 2010 for an update of her book Watching the English, says “This means at almost any moment in this country, at least a third of the population is either talking about the weather, has already done so or is about to do so.” This is because there are several features of this country’s geography that make our weather the way it is: mild, changeable, and famously unpredictable. For many the changing seasons and weather affect our mood and can, for some, cause depression with Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), for example, being a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern possibly linked to reduced exposure to sunlight during the shorter autumn and winter days.
Our theme for today, based on your Lent project, is relationship with the natural world, thinking especially of the environments in the Lenten stories. Our readings illustrate key aspects of that relationship – challenge, awe, mission, healing. In fact, these readings can be ordered to suggest a journey through the environments of Lent and life, involving environments of remove, ruin, renewal, and recuperation.
The readings from the Book of Job are about the expansive nature of the universe in which we find ourselves; both the breadth and depth of creation in macro and micro dimensions. We move through a series of questions that range from the earth’s foundations in creation through the patterns of the weather to the hunting practices of predators. Job is asked whether he was present at creation, how creation occurred, whether he understands the workings of the natural world, and whether he can provide for the creatures of the world. The answer to all these questions is clearly ‘No, he does not’ and that realisation brings him to his knees with a sense of awe towards the God who can answer such questions and a sense of humility through a realisation of his place within a world that is immense and teeming with myriad forms of life.
Job has an experience of the vastness of the universe and the awesome nature of the God who created; a God who is removed from us because we have no means of comprehending the length and breadth, height, depth or diversity of his nature, activity and potential. All Job can do in the environment of remoteness is to stand in awe and wonder, aware of his insignificance in the face of such expanse.
I wonder whether you have had such an experience; maybe lying on a hill contemplating the night sky or at the peak of a high mountain on a cloudless day seeing what seems to be the whole earth laid out beneath you or in the depths of a wood or forest surrounded by an amazing array of flora, fauna and creatures. That same sense of immensity can also be found in the micro as well as the macro if we learn to look with attention; the beauty of a snowflake or the intricacies of a cobweb, the patterns of a leaf or the hues of a petal. I wonder whether you can find an environment – literal or virtual – in which you can experience a sense of remove bringing awe and humility. I wonder too whether you can capture something of that sense of remove in a photo, poem, painting or other creative work for your Lenten project, exhibition and film.
In Matthew 24 we hear Jesus conjure up an environment of ruin for his disciples. His disciples came to point out to him the magnificence of the buildings of the temple and he assured them that, in the near future, not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down. All human environments are subject to decay yet the natural impermanence and temporality of our constructions and creations was not the point that Jesus was making here. His statement was a prophecy regarding events that would occur within the lifetime of his disciples – the fall of Jerusalem in AD70 – which would be a confirmation to those disciples of the truth of Jesus’ words and a vindication of him as a true prophet. His words were also a warning preparing his disciples for a time of trauma and trial when their lives would be at risk and their faith tested.
The environment of ruin – whether physical, emotional, spiritual or all three – is a place of real trauma which can nevertheless become the place where God becomes more real to us than ever was the case in times of prosperity. That was the experience of the Israelites in exile as Babylon was the place where their scriptures were written down and compiled. For Christ, the letting go of life through the agony of the cross was inextricably united to the astonishing renewal of resurrection. For the first disciples, the destruction of the Temple and the perils of persecution were the crucible in which the Early Church was fashioned.
This lockdown Lent it may be that the pandemic has formed an environment of ruin for us and for our world as economies have contracted, jobs have been lost, restrictions enforced, and millions have died. As we survey the devastation that has been caused, can we encounter God with us in new ways and in new depths of experience as we see the myriad ways we can find at this time to be with others through in-person care and virtual connections. I wonder how you can reflect on the environment of ruin through your Lenten project and Lenten experiences.
By contrast our reading from Matthew 4 sees Jesus leave the place of trial and restriction to make his home in Capernaum by the sea and to go on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, to Galilee of the Gentiles proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven has come near and that light has come to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.
This is the environment of renewal; a place of activity and vocation, of gatherings and shelters, of journeys and arrivals, of farming and fishing. In three short years, Jesus travelled throughout Galilee and beyond, calling and training disciples sending out 12 and then 72 while others supported them financially from their homes. This is the environment in which his teaching was shared; whether sermons on mountains, stories from boats or acted parables in upper rooms. The stories he told were also set in this environment and peopled by farmers and fishermen.
This environment is one of daily life and work. It is ordinary, everyday and mundane yet the kingdom of heaven is near and the light of illumination is at hand. I wonder what you will find of heaven in your everyday life and work this Lent. How will your stories and sharing, your activity and travel – whether literal or virtual – be blessed and broken for revelation and renewal? How will you picture or describe the in-breaking of the kingdom in the environment of renewal for your Lenten project?
The final environment in our readings is that of recuperation. Our destiny, our destination, is a city where the river of the water of life flows through the middle of the street with the tree of life alongside and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. This is a place of restoration where nothing accursed will be found any more, where God will wipe every tear from our eyes and death, mourning and crying and pain will be no more. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. They will not hurt or destroy for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Our experience in this world is of being led to green pastures and of being led through the valley of the shadow of death, but our ultimate end is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever where goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. I wonder where are the green pastures and still waters to which we can be led this Lent in order that we experience a taste of the restoration we shall experience in that final environment of recuperation. What images and words can we find to illustrate and illuminate that experience for those that will see your Lenten project, exhibition and film?
If you seek out these environments and experiences this Lent and if you share them through pictures, photographs, films for your Lenten project, then you will have the experience that my father knew, in moving from community work to landscape gardening, of coming closer to the natural rhythms of the seasons and the circle of life. By coming into these Lenten environments of remove, ruin, renewal, and recuperation, you will experience challenge, awe, vocation, and healing while coming closer to the pattern of death and resurrection, letting go and receiving back that is the natural rhythm of the spiritual life. It is my prayer that that may be your experience this Lent. Amen.
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John Tavener - Eternity's Sunrise.
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