"Gifts of the Dark Wood: Where we Find Ourselves" - Sermon, March 1, 2020
Community UMC, Quincy
“Gifts of the Dark Wood: Where We Find Ourselves”
Rev. Andrew Davis
March 1, 2020
Matthew 14: 22-36
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
the early Christians observed with great devotion
the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection,
and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation.
the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection,
and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation.
During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.
It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins
and had separated themselves from the community of faith
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,
and restored to participation in the life of the Church.
and had separated themselves from the community of faith
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,
and restored to participation in the life of the Church.
In this way the whole congregation was reminded
of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ
and the need we all have to renew our faith.
of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ
and the need we all have to renew our faith.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,
to observe a holy Lent:
by self–examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self–denial;
and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.
to observe a holy Lent:
by self–examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self–denial;
and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.
To make a right beginning of repentance,
and as a mark of our mortal nature,
let us now kneel before our Creator and Redeemer.[i]
and as a mark of our mortal nature,
let us now kneel before our Creator and Redeemer.[i]
Welcome to the journey of Lent. These words were said Wednesday night at our Ash Wednesday service as we formally began our 40-day journey together. The season of Lent is an important time in our lives as followers of Christ, as we go from the light of the season of Epiphany into the darkness, or from the mountaintop into the valley, wilderness, or dark wood. As the days become longer and signs of spring are around us at the present moment, the time between now and Easter will be a time of journeying with Jesus, adding new spiritual practices or giving things up we enjoy, so that we can die to the ways in which we miss the mark so that we can rise with Jesus into new life.
During this journey, we will be exploring Rev. Dr. Eric Elnes’ book, Gifts of the Dark Wood. While Jesus journeyed through the wilderness for forty days and faced temptations from the devil, the Dark Wood is similar to the wilderness. As a metaphor for the more challenging times we all face in our lives, we all have likely been in the dark wood at one time or faced what St. John of the Cross calls, “the dark night of the soul.” We may oftentimes associate the dark wood as a place of desolation or a scary place which it can be, yet the dark wood and wilderness are places where we can have some of our most profound encounters with God on our journey with Jesus. Between now and Easter, we will consider the gifts of uncertainty, emptiness, getting lost, being thunderstruck, temptation, disappearing, and becoming a misfit, before considering where we go from the dark wood at Easter. Rev. Dr. Eric Elnes explains that “these gifts may appear more like curses” although “before you dismiss them out of hand, ask yourself, ‘Do I ever experience any of these?”[ii] I think it’s safe to say that we do at one time or another.
When we consider what these gifts mean, there are two ways of seeing them. Medieval writer, Dante Alighieri who wrote The Divine Comedy considers the dark wood “a place of confusion, emptiness, and stumbling that is entered because of our sin,” although on the other hand, others in the ancient church “understood struggle not as punishment for sin, but as the central context in which revelation takes place.”[iii] So where do we find ourselves in all of this? Do we find ourselves like Dante, standing in the midst of the dark wood or in a boat in the middle of the sea during a storm like the disciples did? Are we still on the mountaintop where we were last week with Jesus, Peter, James, and John, in a place of revelation?
As we look at our text this morning, we usually read the Gospel account of where Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness, although this year we are taking a different approach, as that text will come up later in this series. (I suppose since Lent is a time of giving something up, I’m giving up the Revised Common Lectionary.) Jusr before this moment in the storm, Jesus just got done teaching and feeding a crowd of 5,000 with the loaves and fish. Jesus, who is exhausted (who wouldn’t be?), goes up to the mountain to spend time in prayer, and to rest, while sending the disciples to the other side of Lake Gennesaret/Sea of Galilee in a boat. As the disciples are making their way across the lake, a storm comes up and naturally, the disciples are afraid, which I can relate being on rough waters in a small boat, or on a bumpy flight.
Likewise, the disciples are afraid when they see first Jesus walking toward them, which might be a little disconcerting initially. Of course when Jesus sees this, he speaks tenderly to the disciples to “not be afraid,” as Jesus usually would admonish them for a lack of faith (Matt. 14: 27). Peter, being Peter in his ways of wanting to be just like Jesus tries to walk on water himself, but starts to sink when he encounters a strong gust of wind and becomes afraid, and this time does get admonished in verse 31 by Jesus when Jesus says, “you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt 14: 31).
Let’s be honest, though. When we find ourselves in the midst of struggle, it’s easy to doubt and faith often becomes an after-thought in the moment. I know I’ve found myself in those dark wood moments quite often, times when I’m not always sure what I’m doing, or why I’m doing what I’m doing. Yet like the disciples encountering Jesus on the stormy sea, usually in retrospect, I found that I’ve encountered God in a profound way during those dark wood moments, or find that the Holy Spirit (God’s active presence in the world today) shows up and guided me. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all encountered a dark wood moment at least once or more in our lives, perhaps some of you find yourselves in the dark wood right now. In the book, Eric Elnes points out that
Some people find themselves in the Dark Wood when they wake up and realize the career that has provided a healthy paycheck for years has also been sucking the life out of them. Others find themselves there when tragedy strikes, or a marriage fails, or a serious health threat arises, shaking their confidence in God’s goodness of God’s very existence. Some enter the Dark Wood when their beliefs – or doubts – set them at odds with their friends or faith community. They can no longer bring themselves to pray the prayers or recite the creeds because their internal dissonance has gone off the charts. For these or other reasons they grow weary of juggling all the masks they wear to protect a certain image to the world that has little to do with who they really are. For still others, sheer exhaustion places them in the Dark Wood.[iv]
This is where the Dark Wood can lead to a profound encounter with God, just like the disciples encountered Jesus walking on water to their boat being battered by the waves. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we too can encounter Jesus reminding us not to be afraid whether we find ourselves in the valley, the Dark Wood, or the storms of life. Jesus is there to walk alongside us in those dark wood moments.
As we think about where we find ourselves, I encourage you to see where you find yourself in the stories of scripture.
By locating ourselves in these stories, we discover that our lives are more intimately bound up in God’s story than we ever realized. And because we are bound up in God’s story, there is hope beyond our failures and struggles. In fact, our struggles and failures themselves may become our most powerful allies in becoming most fully alive.[v]
That’s where we are heading on this journey towards Easter, as we are heading towards new life, as God wants us to not just have life, but abundant life as we join Jesus on this journey towards Jerusalem and resurrection. Yet to get to resurrection, we need to go through the valley, wilderness, or Dark Wood first. Along this journey, we can hold on to hope, even in the Dark Wood moments or storms of life. Amidst Peter’s own failures or doubts, Jesus still extended abundant grace to him, as the ‘sinking rock’ would become a key leader in the early church and would experience an unexpected love from Jesus. In the midst of our own failures or struggles, Jesus is here to offer us that same grace too, the same grace he extended to everyone he encountered.
As we prepare for the sacrament of Holy Communion and go deeper into this Lenten journey, where do you find yourself right now? Where do you see yourself in God’s story? What struggles, failures, doubts, or fears do you have that you bring to the table this morning? As you come to the table today, give all of those struggles, failures, fears, or doubts to Jesus, while receiving his grace through this holy mystery. Then, spend some time in prayer as you return to your seats, or at the altar rail, giving your struggles, failures, fears, and doubts to God. Then as you go out, forgiven, reconciled, and nourished, allow the Holy Spirit to be “present – and constant – as breathing” in your daily lives.[vi] No matter where you find yourselves right now, Christ invites you to this table, no matter where you are on this journey right now. As we are a reconciled and forgiven people through the act of confession and pardon, I invite you to turn to page 881 in the red hymnal as we stand as comfortable or in spirit to profess our faith together. In what do you believe?...
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