Trinity Episcopal Church-February 2008

February 2008

At our small, intimate Ash Wednesday service, which rivaled a snowstorm, several of us brave souls started the Lenten season off with a sooty forehead. The ash-drawn sign of the cross reminds us that we are God's very own; we are the creation and He is the Creator; we are mortal and He is immortal; we limited human beings are not always in control, are sometimes weak, sick, and we all will one day die. We are man and woman and God is God, "...that infinite being in Whom all things have their source, support, and end."

Adam the man and Eve the woman (who, in my opinion, was framed in the whole sordid affair in the Garden of Eden episode and has taken the heat much too long) typify humanity because they had it all (food, shelter, location). They messed things all up when they forgot that they were the creation and God was the Creator. When they each took a bite of that forbidden fruit they were choosing to be their own god, stepping out of their role as a mortal. The temptation was the desire to be wise, to be like God (Genesis 3:4 spells it out. The serpent said, "that's what you'll get if you eat the fruit"). And today, it seems more than ever, human kind has a real appetite for forbidden fruit. (And that's why we're in such an awful jam!)

But Adam and Eve are not our only ancestors. There is someone else who has claimed us, which brings me back to the cross many of us make in church or wear around our necks. The story of Jesus in the wilderness (no food, shelter, or location) is the story of God's Son who chose to be human. He went through human trials, he walked in the desert like many of us go through trials and the desert today. But Jesus looked to God for sustenance ("change the rock into bread"), security (the devil said, "throw yourself off the cliff"), and honor (the devil said, "worship me"). Jesus said to the devil, "I am living the life of a human and I will not cheat and bend the rules!"

When we take the cross upon us we are saying we want to be like Jesus, not Adam.

Trinity Episcopal Church

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February 2008