Taken from a Red Rock News Article (10/11/24)
- Rev. Dona Johnson |October 20, 2024
Sedona, unlike the warmer more arid regions of the Sonoran Desert, is still considered high desert country. It is a place that during the summer months can be very hot, dry and the backcountry can at times bring a deafening stillness. The high desert is both a beautiful place and a place that tests your agility and endurance.
Throughout biblical history, the desert has been known as a place of intense solitude where people encountered God. As Parker Palmer has said, “The desert is a significant learning space, and it was a significant place of learning for Jesus and this wilderness experience strengthened Jesus for his vocation.”
Some of the earliest, if not the earliest Christian monastics, the desert fathers and mothers of Egypt retreated to wilderness places. They intentionally moved away from ecclesiastical centers to the more barren desert areas. There they lived ascetically, living sparsely off the land. All if this was in reaction to the acquired luxury and laxness after Christianity was declared legal and became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Throughout Scripture God used the desert as a place to test, teach and communicate to his people. In Hebrew, the word for desert is MIDBAR where we get the word ‘medaber’ which means to ‘speak.’ In the wilderness God gathered his chosen people. Then he called Moses to lead them into the wilderness for 40 years. God used those 40 years to speak to his people and demonstrate his saving power. It was not an easy journey.
There was definitely a power struggle between Israel and God. At Mount Sinai God not only spoke to Moses, but gave his people the Ten Commandments, a sign of his deep and abiding love for them. In the wilderness God met Elijah. Later still John the Baptist lived out his ministry in the harsh conditions of the desert, calling people to repentance. Thus, clearing the way for Jesus’ temptation in the desert for 40 days which strengthen him for his vocation—to bring salvation to humanity.
The desert is also used as a metaphor for the spiritual life. We all will eventually experience the desert. When we lose our way, when what worked in the past no longer serves us well, when our vibrant and alive spiritual life suddenly feels dried up or when we feel disillusioned with our belief system and it feels like the voice of God has gone silent.
Wilderness places are where God does some of his best work in us. God is with us in those times when we pray. ‘Surely Lord you are not asking this of me?’ In the desert we hang in there with God, in the heat of the desert, in the demands of the desert, they grow us in ways we would not have the opportunity to grow if we were not there in that very demanding and difficult place.
Human beings want to run from the truth. The truth about ourselves and the truth about God. Facing the truth threatens us. But when we find ourselves in vulnerable places, when we find ourselves in a survival mode, the masks we hide behind, the false images we create and project to others and the bad habits we live with fall away. They no longer protect us. In desert experiences, facing the truth about ourselves can be a painful experience and it is also a life-giving. God uses painful situations to reshape us from the inside out. Whether it be working through a serious illness, marital conflict, a stubborn addiction or unexplored childhood trauma, there is something in the center of these situations that we must take a truthful look at. And when this happens, our prayer is transformed into ‘Thank you Lord for not giving me everything I asked for.’ In the desert, a reordering of our desires and longings take place. And through these periods of testing, we come to truly know ourselves for the first time and our relationship with God moves from ‘belief in God’ to ‘knowing God.’ Amen.
- Rev. Dona Johnson |October 20, 2024