Getting Lost in the Woods

Forty is a biblical number denoting a very long time . The Israelites were in the wilderness forty years . Jesus was in the wilderness forty days . And we have been in our own wilderness for three hundred and forty seven days .* It has been a very long time , indeed. A long time  since we broke bread together.  Since we felt that peace which passeth all understanding as it spreads throughout our entire body as we receive communion alongside our fellow parishioners.  Such  a very long time  since we harmonized a favorite hymn or embraced one another in a hug or handshake at the Peace.  For the first time in our lives, we may now have a glimmer of understanding for what it was like for the Israelites wandering or for Jesus wrestling with his identity in the wilderness.  Before it was just a story, and now, as a community we understand the  quality , the feel in our bones, of what it means when we say  a very long time .  When we began the season of Lent last year, we had no idea it would

We end the season of Epiphany each year with the story of the transfiguration.  At the heart of the story is an unveiling.  Revealing the fullness of one who is somehow both fully human and divine.  When the veil is lifted back, we gain a better understanding of who Jesus is and how his way of life can continue to inspire our own ongoing transformation.  We know Mark’s gospel was the first of the four canonical gospels to be written.  It is a brief and fast-paced read.   The author intends for us to take in every detail and moment.  The gospel begins by introducing us to John the Baptist, who by verse nine is baptizing Jesus in the Jordan.  In Mark’s version of the baptism, when Jesus comes up and out of the water,  he alone  witnesses something spectacular.   The heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descended on him like a dove, while a voice from heaven said,  just to him :   ” You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (1:10) .  From there, Jesus retreated into the wi