“A New Beginning and Finding the Center”

(Mark 1:9-15; Genesis 9:8-17)

Genesis 9:8-17 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Mark 1:9-15 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. And a voice came from the heavens; “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

One of my favorite devotional books is called “Each Day a New Beginning.” That title is a good way today to begin talking about the first Sunday in Lent in light of the two scripture readings. So, I began to wonder, “What are the best things about new beginnings?” Well, they’re new, and, by and large, we like new. They’re exciting, and who doesn’t appreciate a little excitement in their lives? And when we have a new beginning we probably get to leave the bad stuff behind. All these work in favor of new beginnings.

So, that’s my starting place for this sermon as we observe the first Sunday in the season of Lent today. You have heard two scripture texts that have new beginnings within them. In Jesus’ baptism story we see him coming up out of the water after John baptizes him. In contrast, the Spirit is there coming down like a dove, and they meet each other.

If you remember last week’s reading on the day we observed Jesus’ Transfiguration, what God said to Jesus at that point may sound very similar to what God said to Jesus in today’s Mark reading. Last week’s was the voice from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!” Today’s reading tells us that a voice from the heaven said as Jesus came up out of the water, “You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased.” So, Jesus’ ministry, Jesus’ new beginning was launched, and it seemed great.

But then that very same Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness for 40 days where he was tempted by Satan. There the wild animals were his companions, and the angels took care of him. But, we have to remember that the wilderness experience was also part of this whole new beginning for Jesus.

The next phase was the launch of his ministry. He came to Galilee and began proclaiming the good news of God saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the Gospel.” We talked about this several weeks ago. For Jesus and his ministry, it was an incredible new beginning….

Now, in the Noah story God gives the rainbow as a sign of God’s new covenant to never again cause a flood that would kill all flesh. Now, most ancient peoples had a flood story similar to ours, but I don’t know if they all had a new convenant like this. This new deal that God made with the people was a great new beginning in the relationship between God and the people.

By the way, the rainbow is a wonderful symbol of God’s care and love for God’s people. It’s why we have it as our sign of being a Reconciling Congregation, meaning that all people are welcome here, that God cares for ALL people.

And so it is that Lent gives us a chance to begin our relationship with God again as if it were the first time. It’s an opportunity to renew our covenant with God, a chance to wipe our slate clean, a way to rededicate ourselves to being part of God’s wish for God’s people and for all God’s creatures. The thing is, God doesn’t ever give up on us. So, during Lent we are reminded that we have been given a Redeemer because we, and all the generations before and after us, are always needing redemption. We always need forgiveness. We always need the chance to wipe our slates clean.

…What a relief for Noah and his family. It was a chance to begin again without the fear that everything would be destroyed in that cosmic manner again. It was a new beginning for all of humankind. It was hope for the future. Though exceedingly frightened, the Noah family must have been grateful and overwhelmed with this gift of a new beginning that they’d been given.

But one thing about new beginnings is that they are inevitably preceeded by endings of some sort, and that can be kind of humbling.

As wonderful and exciting a prospect as the new beginning might be, the ending usually means a loss.

Noah and his family had lost friends, family, jobs, homes—everything to which they were accustomed. As much dysfunction as must have been in the world, it was still home to them. What was happening in their world was life as they knew it, and I’m sure there were parts of that dysfunction that they benefited from, even enjoyed. They were certainly comfortable there in their own world. Symbolically, the flood took away parts of themselves and their own self-understanding. So, we mustn’t rush to all the hope we see in this new covenant with God without acknowledging the sense of loss.

For followers of Jesus, the new beginning of Jesus’ ministry would mean the loss of their Judaism as they understood it. For Jesus, it was the loss of his own will to the mission to which he had been called.

…It’s not hard to point to new beginnings in our own lives that have come on the heels of painful endings or have required that those endings take place.

For those young people who have gone off to college or have left to live on their own, that event may have marked the celebration of their maturing and moving into the next phase of their lives, but it was also the end of their childhood. And it’s a huge change to the parents’ child rearing relationship with their kids.

For those who make marriage covenants, it is a joyous and happy occasion, AND it is a closing of a chapter of the bride’s and groom’s lives. Some things like self-determination and independence may seem to be left behind.

People who make the decision to get sober or quit drugs or eat healthy or to quit gambling or end the compulsive relationship with the internet or stop some other troubling behavior must let go of the old life in order to open themselves to the new possibilities. As many of us know, that is often very hard.

The endings of relationships that turn out to be toxic for people are so often difficult. Even though the possibility of hope in that new beginning is out there, it’s still hard….

Baptism for us adults can be a symbol of these endings and beginnings. The covenant of baptism is made with God, and it represents our dying to our old selves and rising to the new creation in Christ. The water symbolizes our being washed and made brand new. This, of course, is an apt description of what our Lenten journey can be like. WE are offered the possibility of letting go of that about us that is self-centered, egotistical, power-broking, unrepentant and not “of God.” We can, then, rise to a new existence “in Christ” wherein we love ourselves and others in a new way—the way God already loves us. See how I’m picking up on all the themes in today’s readings?

Well…our Lenten journey is like a renewal of our covenant with God. It’s another run at it for us. God’s covenant with us is binding and there are many signs of that covenant that remind us that God loves us completely. On Ash Wednesday we received the sign of the cross on our foreheads in ashes. What I say to the kids is what I’m talking about here. “This is a sign that God loves you.” And so it is.

The rainbow is another sign that God loves us. When the Gospel is preached, it is a sign of God’s unrelenting love and hope for humanity. When two or three are gathered, we are reminded of Christ’s loving presence with us.

When things are going wrong in our lives, we can remember one or all of those signs; the ashen cross on our foreheads, the bread and the cup, the baptismal font, the rainbow, the angels and the wild animals that surrounded Jesus in the wilderness.

At these times, in these signs, we are reminded of Jesus’ dying and rising, and our calling to share God’s love with all those around us, especially the children.

If we look for the signs of God’s love, we can find them everywhere: a cool, rushing stream, a stimulating conversation, a poem, a healing touch, a friend in need, a candle burning strong and bright, the face of a child, a hug, a song, a chance encounter with one of God’s creatures, a death, a birth, a prayer, a rainbow….

God is with us—when we falter and lose sight of the brand new self that God has created, even when we act like that old self (that WILL happen over and over). Still God is there, encouraging us to make a new beginning, assuring us of God’s love—that love which transcends all human failings and meets us on the other side, saying, “This is my bow in the cloud. You are never without hope.” And “You are my beloved child.”

Lent is a time of letting go of the old (and that is hard sometimes) and figuring out how to incorporate the new beginning that God is offering. May you have a holy and blessed Lenten season, but also, realistically, a bumpy ride, a time of grieving as well as discovery. Through it all, I guarantee you, God will be present, and Jesus will walk with you.

So, I leave you with the words from a spiritual: “I want Jesus to walk with me, I want Jesus to walk with me; all along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.” All along our Lenten journey, Lord, we want to be accompanied by Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.

---