Finally the wind died down, leaving peace in its wake. I have a new paraphrase of a sentence from this morning’s Gospel. If the words for wind, spirit, and breath are the same, then one could say of the Holy Spirit: the breath of God blew/drove/swept Jesus into the desert, a stretch, I know.
But who isn’t driven out into the wilderness, into solitude, into deserts by the Spirit, faith seeking understanding, hearts seeking wholeness. I think this morning was the first time I understood the desert sojourn as an impulse coming from within Jesus, who having just come up out of the waters of baptism, left town to struggle in the lonely places of soul. First Lent, and the journey has begun.
A lovely thing happened today. We have four youth and two adults who have decided to attend the 2012 ELCA National Youth Gathering. We decided today after church, and though we’re late, better late than never. I’m so pleased for our youth, and for the two adult leaders. We’ll have some catching up to do, and serious fund-raising, but we can do it. I felt like weeping with happiness when we all agreed that we were going to do it. This afternoon has been all about registration, with phone calls and emails back and forth to parents, a panicky call to Rev. Tim Roser, who is the Synod coordinator, a quick visit to pick up some paperwork for a couple of the youth, and a surprise piece of chocolate cake on the way from here to there. We’ll keep posting our progress. I hope this will be a life-changing experience for them.
The rest of this week, I’ll be at Camp Calumet, available by email, and cell phone, and will be checking in with Joanne Peterson in the church office everyday. The retreat here at Calumet is an iconography workshop–we’ll be working on an icon of the face of Jesus. A good beginning for the season.