The Ten Essentials

• We are currently collecting for Fuel Assistance to help four local families with 100 gallons of oil each.
• Neighbors Waffle Breakfast on March 15th 9:30-11:30am. Walk in event.
• Lenten Fridays with INC begin this Friday at the Central Congregational Church at 6pm.
• Lenten Home Contemplative Practices with Owen and myself can be found on our website.
• Discussion Group & Confirmation Studies on March 23rd and 30th after Church.
• Watch the recording HERE

This is the season of walking into the wilderness.  The first step is to prepare.  Jesus is baptized and accepted by the Holy Spirit (feel welcome to take a moment to ponder: what is the Holy Spirit—this is something we are exploring in our Discussion Group).  Jesus carries with him enough, but not too much.  

Then, he steps out into the wilderness to prepare himself for the challenges and testings and struggles that will come.  He prepares himself for his coming ministry, by stepping out into the unknown.  

We see this in the ministry of others in the Stories.  They are chosen, baptized, and then prepare themselves for ministry.  It’s easy to miss.  It’s often just a sentence or a phrase in the passages.  

This is what we are echoing when we take on a Lenten Practice.  This time in the desert, the unknown, the wilderness.

First, we must choose and then we must prepare.  The point is that we can never fully prepare, but we don’t (usually) just walk out the door into the wilderness.  Taking from one of the top ten Lenten practices, we usually empty the house of chocolate before giving up chocolate for forty days.  We prepare.  

One might compare the Lenten preparation to filling one’s backpack for a hike.  Too little and we are not ready for the changing weather (sometimes, extreme and deadly changing weather).  Too much and we can’t carry the load and we won’t get anywhere.  

Did you know that one of the definitions of “trauma” is “too much, too fast”.  In this fast paced world where it feels like we are being bombarded with information and sensory impressions from every direction, it seems we are in a constant mild state of “trauma”.  Hence, we will be offering some gentle Lenten practices to calm the nervous system and tend to the adrenals (the “home” of stress in the body) this Lent.  

In hiking, there are the ten essentials that are the must haves for the journey.  Then there are the things specific to your climate/terrain—if it’s winter, you will need a few different things that in summer.  Then there are the things that you personally will need—your medications, for example.  There are collective things and personal things to keep you safe on the journey into the wilderness.  It’s both universal and deeply personal.  

Which got me to wondering…what are the ten essentials on the spiritual walk into the wilderness?  The first thing that comes to mind is: A Willingness to Change Direction.  

A few years ago, we did a big hiking trip that included hiking Mount Greylock. Knowing that a hotel and a shower were waiting for us at the end of that day, we lightened our packs and prepared to summit.

Two others of our hiking group decided to hike through MassMoCA for the day.  Another was going to drive up to the top of Greylock and do some short hikes at the peak.  Everyone is on their own journey in the wilderness, especially when the weather gets “bad”.  

The weather was “bad”. It was pouring rain and parts of the trail were deep streams of water rushing.  Our feet were soaked in no time.  We were soaked in no time (despite “the right gear”), but it was also fun…warm showers awaited us at the end of the trek.

It was so horribly rainy that when we reached a large pond, we seriously thought it was the trail and started to debate how and if we were going to traverse it.  A text (we didn’t receive until later) from our buddy at the top went something like this: gale force winds, tower fell over, heading to Dunkin’s instead of hiking up here (the tower hadn’t actually fallen over). There was no one, I mean not a single other soul, on the trails that day.

We were going to earn our warm tea by the roaring fire at the lodge at the top of Greylock before heading down the other side of the mountain.  

This hike was the first time I’ve experienced the drastic climate change on a tall mountain.  The trees suddenly changed. The vegetation was suddenly different.  I’d seen that before, but this time, the temperature…dropped!  Significantly.  Suddenly.  It was beautiful, eerie, and scary.  

While we had extra socks and base layers in our pack (useless in the puddles), we had no gloves and no hats.  We were cold, bedraggled and really looking forward to tea and that roaring fire.  

A universal truth is that you don’t know, until you know.  You can read all the books.  You can study all the lists.  You can pack and repack the pack.  But you don’t really know, until you FEEL the experience in your body.  

Don’t worry, we were miserable, but not dangerously so.  We also were together. That helps. We did really understand that a few more degrees lower and we could easily have been in trouble. My pack is different now…there are ALWAYS gloves and a hat (even on hot summer days).  What we realize we needs…changes.

Too little in the wilderness and we’re not ready for the changing weather.  Too much in the wilderness and we can’t carry the load.  The wilderness is a balancing act of preparation and trust. It is also a lesson in not allowing fear to carry us away…fear is always heavy!  

We made it to the top, with its gale force winds and not a single soul in sight.  There was no warm fire. There were no mugs of hot tea waiting.  The shelter was closed.  

We were wet, cold, miserable, exposed and had the other side of the mountain to hike down.  A truck with a couple of visitors arrived at the peak.  We changed direction and hitched a ride down the mountain.  We have not yet, years later, completed the downside of the mountain. And…that’s okay.

Perhaps this comes back to the story of the guy who prays to God to save him from his flooding home.  A truck comes by and the guy says, nope I know God will come save me.  A boat comes by as the floodwaters rise and the guy says, nope, I know God will come save me.  A helicopter comes.  Nope.  The guy drowns and gets the heaven and asks God: why didn’t you save me?  God says: I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter.  

One of the essentials to survive the spiritual wilds is: A Willingness to Change Direction.  

We can get so caught up in our own determination that we lose sight of the spirit of the journey.  We can get dogmatic about the one and only way to do this–we must go up one side and down the other, despite the danger. We can’t take the side trail around the summit, because that’s not the “right way”, even if there’s a thunderstorm or a blizzard. 

Yes, there are things where we have no choice but to go through it, but not always. We must be mindful of is this my determination or a practice of faith? Is this me or grace?

We can so easily get stuck in doing it our way.  Thinking that it must be this way. This is the plan. We must be successful. Spiritual practices have an extra stickiness, because we feel like we are “being successful for God”.  We can feel the judgement surrounding “failure”…real and…imagined. We push and resist and fight.  We want to win.  

It’s easy to lose sight of grace and learning in the messiness of our own determination (especially when things get wet and a scary and we stop seeing quite as clearly).  We like to win and we like to be right.

We can lose sight of the idea that this is an echo of the wilderness where the challenges and struggles arise to echo Jesus’s journey to help make us better ministers (friends) to one another on this human journey.  Sometimes, the lesson is the “failure” and the need to change direction.  It’s said that if we’re not failing, we’re not trying hard enough.  Part of the journey is (as a dear friend calls it) Failing Forward.  Sometimes….that’s exactly what the wilderness is about.    

It’s not about winning.  It’s about learning to journey through challenge.  To shift direction and continue to journey when the unexpected happens (and the unexpected always happens). It’s about growing and becoming strong.  Real strong…courageously (heart-centered) strong.  

We can push so hard that we are worn out and beat up.  We are weakened instead of strengthened.  Sometimes, we have enough trials and struggles and challenges.  Sometimes it’s vital to choose a different direction.  Sometimes, it’s vital to accept the help we didn’t want to ask for.  Sometimes, to strengthen ourselves, we must allow the fluidity and inevitability that the weather will change and sometimes, we must change with it.  

One of the essentials to survive the spiritual wilds is: A Willingness to Change Direction.  Don’t be afraid of change. Fear is weight. Fear holds us down and holds us back. And…we can help each other change direction and carry the load.

Certain journeys must be taken alone, but we can do this side by side—we’re all in this together, even when we’re alone.  

So…if you need to “change direction” on your Lenten Journey, feel welcome to do so.  If you need support on your Lenten Journey…we’re here with you.  If you want to rest for your Lenten Journey, we bless you. In the meantime, let us celebrate together, because after all, it’s Sunday. Sunday is a day of celebration.