1st Sunday Lent - Dark Woods - series

Dark Woods:  Temptation

In the Disney movie, Moana, there is a scene that involves a crab.  This crab loves stuff, the shinier the better.  When he finds his treasures, he sticks them to the back of his shell.  He is absolutely covered in stuff.  As Moana encounters this crab, he sings her a song.  Shiny
Like a treasure from a sunken pirate wreck
Scrub the deck and make it look...Shiny
I will sparkle like a wealthy woman's neck

Shiny   Watch me dazzle like a diamond in the rough
Strut my stuff; my stuff is so...

            He loves shiny stuff.  As we begin this season of Lent, we begin by thinking of the temptations before us that are shiny distractions.  Are there things, perhaps even good things, that distract us?  Are there good things that get us off course and keep us from doing our best good because we are drawn into distraction? 

            Jesus is in the wilderness, he is there not as a punishment, he is there because the Spirit sends him there.  The Spirit leads him to the wilderness where he fasts for forty days.  He is involved in a spiritual practice before he encounters his three temptations.  Jesus is famished so the tempter comes to him and says, turn these stones into loaves of bread.  Not really a bad temptation, I don’t see anything wrong with creating food.  In fact, later on in Jesus’ ministry, he takes loaves and fishes and feeds the 5,000. But, in this particular moment in time, this is not the greatest good that Jesus is being called to do.  Performing a miracle, creating food, is a shiny distraction.  Jesus stays focused, remembers his purpose in that particular moment in time, and is able to say no in order to say yes to his spiritual calling. 

            Now, the next two temptations are a bit more extreme.  Jumping off the highest point of the Temple and expecting angels to catch him, not really any greater good in this one except to show off.  We have all kinds of dare devils in today’s world that enjoy this thrill, creating bird body suits so that as they jump they can then soar to the ground.  Sometimes the thrill of showing off can just get us distracted and we don’t even realize we are doing it.  Maybe our showing off isn’t as drastic as attempting to fly, but we do find our own particular ways to try and shine, to try and out do someone else, to try and look great.  But it all becomes distractions and keeps us from doing our best good. 

            The last of the temptations is the most pointed.  The tempter will give power if only Jesus will worship him.  Look, here are all the nations of the world, and they can be yours if only, if only you worship me.  Well, of course Jesus is going to say no, but what about us?  So many of us were raised to excel, to climb to the top, to be powerful.  We push our children at a young age into competitive sports because they just might be a future Olympian or professional player.  When was younger, I wanted so badly to be an Olympian, I just might have fallen into the temptation of assuring that future if there was some sort of quick fix for it. 

            Although we may not personally connect to the temptation of ruling the world, there are bright and shiny temptations all around us that keep us from keeping God as our center.  Jesus was clearly able to name what is right and what is wrong as he keeps his focus and his center on God, but as we journey through this life, we can so easily get distracted.  And we don’t even realize that these good distractions are actually hurting us. 

            One of the missional habits is called Missional action and it examines the choices we make within the life of the church and becoming more focused.  It calls us to think about what we might have to say no to in order to give something else our greater yes.  God has called us, as a church, to a specific purpose in this place in this time.  We may feel that our path is not clear, and so we need to fine tune our good intentions and learn to say no to some of the shiny goods that come our way. 

            There is a labyrinth on your bulletin cover.  A labyrinth is not a maze, it is a spiritual practice of prayer guiding people as they seek clarity on an issue or concern.  This one can be used as a finger labyrinth.  Is there a shiny good before you?  Something that does not seem like a bad temptation, but maybe a distraction?  Take time, pray about the shiny good, allow your finger to follow the path through the labyrinth, and pray about what other good this might distract you from.  For those that, like myself, sometimes bite off more than they can chew, this is a good practice.  I would honestly say that helping with the PTA right now is my shiny distraction.  Its not a bad thing, they need helpers, but it is keeping me from the greater good of my commitment of the kindergarten Daisy Girl Scout troop.  I want Andi to do swimming, but the only class available is during an afterschool program that she is enjoying.  We have so many choices today, so many shiny distractions.  So many good choices.  But no one should be spread thin and as a spiritual people, we need to make sure that our choices are keeping God at our center.