This is the promised post for the first Sunday of Lent 2021… Those sharing with me in our livestreamed communion service this evening will hear a version of what I have to say here twice, but this is a more permanent record and one accessible for those who don't wish to join in that fleeting experience.
I recorded this immediately on my return from a walk out to and around Islandhill on Strangford Lough, just within the recommended 10 mile limit of travel for exercise. Actually we are inordinately blessed to have so many beautiful places to walk within easy reach, and I reel for those who cannot access them or places like them for whatever reason. I find getting out into the outdoors in some shape or form invaluable during lockdown. And even where I haven't been able to venture beyond the garden, as was the case right at the start of the first lockdown when Sally and I were subject to standard isolation due to potential exposure to a covid-case, we at least have a lovely garden with plenty of wildlife in it... And indeed, as I write my wife is out tending to the plants and replenishing the bird/squirrel smorgasbord.
Today's walk was somewhat windy, but nothing like the "howling waste" of the "Jeshimmon" traditionally associated with Jesus' wilderness... And I expect that even though Mark doesn't make as much of the temptations/trials that Luke and Matthew do, his wilderness experience wasn't entirely restorative... But I suspect it was essential preparation for what lay ahead. And part of that, I believe was being with the "wild animals" that Mark gives equal weight to with the temptations.
As we prepare for what lies ahead, whatever that may be, we need to experience "the peace of wild things", whether we do that through "communing with nature" or in a spiritual/psychological journey into the wilderness throughout Lent. I hope that this short series may be a help on that journey.
Today's poem is from "New Collected Poems" (Counterpoint,
2012) © 2012 by Wendell
Berry, and is yet another gem first introduced to me by my much missed friend Glenn Jordan.
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