Wilderness

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

The Gospel lesson this week talks about how Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the “wilderness.” There, he suffers hunger and thirst, and a time of great temptation.

The word “wilderness” appears a significant number of times in these first chapters of Mark. It’s an interesting word in the Biblical Greek. It can, as I’ve said, be translated “wilderness.”

But it can also mean “lonely place apart.”

This week, it feels like we are living this Biblical truth. A natural disaster like none other in our state’s history has driven us to a cold and desolate “wilderness.” And it is, most certainly, a “lonely place.”

Some of our citizens are without basic needs, as I write these words. It’s hard to even find the words to describe the devastation.

I spent a good bit of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to check in with as many of our Kessler Park families as I could. If I failed to connect with you, I sincerely apologize. It’s very clear some of you have been truly suffering these past few days. Your power has been spotty at best. Your pipes are freezing, and you are now without water.

Others of you have faired much better, and in our conversations this week, you have expressed your gratitude for the how this tragic week has gone for you.

The only thing I know to compare this week to would be a hurricane. It’s *similar* to that kind of natural disaster, in that it affects all of us, one way or another. It’s different, of course, because it literally affects our whole state, not just the coast.

I hope you have been inspired by the news of how so many churches, non-profits and our city/county government has been responding to this crisis. There will be much more to do in the future. I hope you are deeply grateful to Ken Kelley. Even in the midst of being without power himself, Ken has made multiple trips to the Church, and to assist some of our own members in need. He is an inspiration to us all.

Mark’s version of Jesus’ “temptation in the wilderness” has one interesting twist that isn’t in every version. It says that while Jesus is enduring his wilderness time of temptation, “the angels waited on him.”

I take comfort in that today. In our “lonely wilderness place” this week —a place none of us want to be— take comfort in the fact that God’s angels will come to us…

In the form of the kindness of our neighbors and friends.

In the form of a call to check in by church members.

In the form of help from so many in our community, doing what we always do…loving and serving God’s people.

Stay as warm as you can, my friends.

We will get through this

Eric Folkerth