This Sunday, April 20, is Easter Sunday for Christians around the world. In our services at Bethlehem we will hear the traditional readings as well as one that is new to our Easter celebrations. Jeremiah 31:1-6, our first reading, is one we haven’t used before, but will provide many thought-provoking and inspiring images this year. One such image is in the words, “grace in the wilderness.”
From an historical reading of the passage we would say that “grace (found) in the wilderness” may refer to the experience of the Israelites who escaped the slavery and danger of Egypt and then were sustained and strengthened in the wilderness of Sinai in the days of the Exodus. The grace they found was that God was close to them, providing for them every day of their arduous journey. The grace they experienced was not the removal of troubles or the resolution of difficulties, but was the realization of the enduring presence of God through it all. The wilderness remained wild, dangerous and hard to them, but the people persevered because of the grace of divine strength which they realized accompanied them in the wilderness.
From a devotional reading of this Bible passage I find a message of assurance and hope that we too will find grace in the wilderness. This reading means for me that God provides for us when we experience hardships in our lives even when our lives take turns that make them seem like arduous journeys. This means to me much the same as the verse in Psalm 23 about walking through the valley of the shadow of death without fear because of the power of God’s presence.
We know that the image of wilderness conveys many different meanings depending on each person’s experience. Over time for the most part we have tamed the image of wilderness in our culture into a place of recreation and renewal. We witness the tens of thousands of people who are drawn to Cook County for that personal and spiritual respite.
For many people however the wilderness has always also carried threat. And we who live on the edge of the forest know that wilderness indeed does have many threats. Outfitters, emergency responders, E.R. personnel in any community perched on the edge of wilderness can testify to the danger of wild country.
This image of grace in the wilderness therefore, may speak a gentle word of affirmation to those who only see the wilderness as a place of retreat and refreshment. However, I hear the words “grace in the wilderness” as a meaningful metaphor when I find myself walking with people through the wildernesses of their life’s troubles.
You also may have experienced times when life has been so hard or hurtful you can hardly see your way through the forest of worries ahead of you.
I have discovered over and over that together through prayer, reading our Bibles, and sharing our stories we find that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We renew our trust that we are in the hands of the Good Shepherd of us all, and we know that nothing, not even death itself, can take us from the safety of those strong hands. In those moments a peace that passes all understanding enters the spirit and we know we have found grace in the wilderness. Have a blessed Easter knowing that God is with you always.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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