#this would go hard at the beginning of a song ala-matthew 9:10–12 in the calling actually

[violence-infatuation]

[johnhardinsawyer]

A New Beginning

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

2 / 21 / 21 – First Sunday in Lent

Psalm 25:1-10

Mark 1:9-15

“A New Beginning”

(A Prayer for Starting Over – Again and Again)

As we get closer to the one-year anniversary – if you want to call it that – of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have heard more than one person refer to this odd year as having the same, unchanging rhythm.  “It’s like Groundhog Day,” they say.  For those of you who don’t get this ancient movie reference.  There was this movie called Groundhog Day that came out back in the distant past of 1993.  In the movie, the main character is forced to relive the same day over and over – again and again.  

Since the pandemic began, I have heard several people talk about how one day seems to blend into the next and one week blends into the next – over and over, again and again.  It’s like we are caught in some kind of loop, and – because we can’t go to many of the usual places or plan many of the usual events we used to – we find ourselves stuck in this unending cycle of wake up, do work or school from home, eat dinner, watch Netflix, go to bed, rinse and repeat – again and again.  And yet, even though there is this undercurrent of “sameness,” the days still pass, the seasons still change. . .  life still happens.  

On this first Sunday in the Season of Lent, the seasons have changed and, yet again, we have begun our forty-day Lenten journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter.  Now, there are some people for whom Lent might be just a blip in their lives, if it registers at all.  And, there are other people who think about Lent as a time to give up something – chocolate, alcohol, red meat, Facebook.  Anyway, Lent can be all about giving something up, or it could be all about taking something on – like a new spiritual practice or healthy habit – all in the name of reorienting one’s life around something helpful and holy.  The Season of Lent is yet another opportunity for a fresh start – a new beginning – letting go of things that need to be let go of and/or taking up something that needs to be taken up, and starting life again with a new beginning – a new way of life, a new direction, a new path – in mind.  

In today’s first reading from the Gospel of Mark, we see a new beginning – a fresh path.  God is doing a new thing – forging a new path – here on earth.  It should be noted that Mark’s Gospel is not filled with a lot of detail.  We would need to read the Gospels of Luke and Matthew to find out a little bit more about Jesus – the circumstances of his birth, and his family, where he was raised, what kind of child he was.[1]  In Mark, Jesus – a guy from the small town of Nazareth – just comes onto the scene and goes from 0 to 100 in quick succession – boom, boom, boom – Jesus is baptized, and suddenly he is God’s Son, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased, and then immediately, he is driven by the Holy Spirit out into the wilderness where he is tested, and then he goes back home to Galilee and tells people, “Time’s up!  God’s kingdom is here.  Change your life and believe the Message.”[2]

This is how God’s new beginning for all of creation begins.  Up until now, everyone has been living their lives – perhaps hoping for something new.  And, now, here is Jesus – God’s “something new” for all creation:  “the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent – turn your life around, reorient yourself toward God – and believe the good news.”  (Mark 1:15)[3]

Now, you and I read this story with a certain perspective.  We know what both the Bible and history tell us – that Jesus will start to teach, and heal, and feed, and welcome, that he will suffer, and die, and rise again, and make a profound difference in the course of history.  And so, we read today’s passage with this extra knowledge.

But if we were to somehow remove all of what we already think and know about Jesus and just see this humble, lone figure – Jesus of Nazareth – going down the path into the river to be baptized, and then wandering into the pathless wilderness, and then walking the well-trod path back home to Galilee, and if we were told that this person is God’s new beginning, I wonder what we might think of it all.  Is this really the path that God is taking for all of humanity – one solitary figure, filled with the Holy Spirit?  Is this all there is?  Is this thing going to work out okay?

If we were to hear the story of Jesus without knowing any of the spoilers, beforehand, we might wonder just where God is taking us in this story.  And, if we were to hear the message of repentance and good news from this thin person who has been fasting in the wilderness, and decide to go deeper, and follow along the path that Jesus treads, we might discover just how hard this path can be for mere mortals like you and me who are trying to do the right thing, trying to be on the right path.

In today’s second reading, from Psalm 25, we find the prayer of someone who is trying to turn toward God and follow the path – the way – that God has laid out.

Just so you know, we’re going to be spending some time with the Book of Psalms during this Lenten season.  And, if there is anything you need to know about the Psalms – besides the fact that it is the longest book in the Bible – it is full of song lyrics – ancient hymns.  Just as an aside, sometimes, the people who wrote the Psalms would use fun poetic devices in their writing.  For example, today’s psalm is an “acrostic” psalm because it begins with each letter of the alphabet, in order [A, B, C. . . Aleph, Bet, Gimel. . .].  Anyway, very rarely do the Psalms come with a backstory, though sometimes they do.  It is thought, though, that many of the Psalms were written by King David and Psalm 25 is one of David’s.  

We don’t get any backstory with Psalm 25, but several things are clear:  David knows how it feels to be ashamed and defeated, to feel lost, and sinful, and forgotten.  Maybe you can relate.  I know I can.  But David also knows how to pray. And, pray he does.  I am paraphrasing here:

O Lord, I am lifting myself – my soul, my life, my appetites,

and passions, and emotions[4] – over to you. . .  all of who I am.

And I am falling down on my face in front of you because I trust you. . .

Make me to know your ways, O Lord.  Teach me your paths.  

Show me your way of life, O Lord. [5]

Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.  

I am waiting for you – eagerly stretching out to you[6] – all day long.

Give me a new beginning with your steadfast love.  

God, please do remember your steadfast love

and please don’t remember any of the bad things I’ve done. . .

The Lord instructs sinners like me in the way to live.

The Lord leads the humble in what is right

and teaches the way to those who humbly trust.

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness

for those who are earnestly trying to be on the path –

to follow the way of the Lord.[7]

This last part – the part about how “all the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 25:10) – is interesting to me.  One alternate translation reads, “All the Lord’s paths are kindness and truth.”[8]  But the way Eugene Peterson translates it is, “From now on every road you travel will take you to God.”[9]

In other words, there might just be something Holy about whatever path we are traveling in life – whether we are going down into the river to be washed in the waters of baptism, or wandering out in the wilderness, or living into our calling as those who are sharing good news, or maybe we’re just looking for a new beginning in life. . .  a new beginning with each new day, with every moment, with every step along the way.

For the Psalmist, the key to this new beginning is humble trust, because “the Lord leads the humble in what is right and teaches the way to those who humbly trust.” (25:9)  I think I might have told you before about a friend of mine who, every year, jokes that she is giving up humility for Lent.[10]  I’m here to say that maybe we shouldn’t give up humility quite yet.  Those whose minds and hearts and spirits are “bowed down”[11] before the Lord may just be like the meek who inherit the earth.[12]  Besides, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who humbly trusted in the Lord as he went down to the river, and out into the wilderness, and back home with a word of good news for all people.  Wherever he went, his steps were blessed because they were leading somewhere – somewhere Holy.  What if our steps are blessed, too?  What if God is leading us somewhere Holy, too?

You know, almost a year into this pandemic, I don’t know if you have come to church this morning from the comfort of your own home with some nagging thought in the back of your mind that tomorrow is Monday – the day when the weekly loop of day blending into day will begin again.

It can be fairly easy to fall into this way of thinking that maybe will change when this whole thing is over – but, alas, it ain’t over yet. . .  We don’t have to live on pandemic time, though, because Jesus invites us to live on fulfilled time[13] – time that is full of the kingdom of God and God’s grace.  Every day is not Groundhog Day.  It is God’s new day.  It might seem like we’re living life on some kind of a loop, but the God that we come to know in Jesus Christ is always offering us an off-ramp.  Again and again, by God’s grace, the loop becomes a path, a way of life that is actually going somewhere. . .  out of the waters of baptism, through any wilderness we might imagine, and into a life that is full of meaning because Jesus has fulfilled it.

This way of life is a new beginning, offered to us in every moment, with every step along all the paths of the Lord that we might be walking. . .

We do not walk alone, my friends.  We walk with Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life[14] – our new beginning and our Holy end.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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[1] See Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.

[2] Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs:  NAV Press, 2002) 1377.  Mark 1:15.

[3] Paraphrased, JHS.

[4] F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody:  Hendrickson Publications, 1997) 659.

[5] Brown-Driver-Briggs, 73.

[6] Brown-Driver-Briggs, 875.

[7] Psalm 25:1-2a, 4-10. Paraphrased, JHS.

[8] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms – A Translation with Commentary (New York:  W.W. Norton and Company, 2007) 85.

[9] Eugene Peterson, 709. Psalm 25:10a.

[10] S.R.D.  This joke never gets old.  

[11] Brown-Driver-Briggs, 776.

[12] See Matthew 5:5.

[13] Paraphrase from a sermon title I heard recently.  With gratitude to The Reverend Dr. Chris Thomas - https://day1.org/weekly-broadcast/6022aef76615fb41e500005e/chris-thomas-living-on-fulfilled-time.

[14] See John 14:6.