I come to the wilderness today wondering: Why am I here? What’s this about? Where do I go from here?
What am I to do as I go from here?
Or, I come wondering: Should I do this thing (right now)? Or that thing? Should I even venture into the wilderness in my walk with—following—of Jesus?
In this (my) wilderness: I know nothing. I have nothing. Yet, I have nagging questions: Can I stand it? This heat?
This thirst? This danger? The boredom? Can I be here?
One of my favorite stories of is Francis opening the bible at random and letting that opening write his rule, “go give all that you have to the poor and come follow me” – and he did! In our walk following Jesus in the way of Clare and Francis, freedom comes from giving up what we know, what we want, what we think and letting the Trinity, through the Holy Spirit, lead.
But how? In OEF we practice (in both senses of the word) discernment. Our task is to listen. We listen to each other, we listen to ourselves, we listen for the still small voice. We use discernment at Chapter. We use discernment to write our rules. We learn to use discernment as a way to lay our rules upon the alter and have the rule transform our lives.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits for God
In the Word is my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than watchmen for the morning
More than watchmen for the morning
O Israel, wait for the Lord
For with the Lord there is mercy
With God there is plenteous redemption
And God shall redeem Israel from all their sins (Psalm 130)
In the wilderness, Listen — God is still speaking.
This Lent, I walk into the emptiness of the wilderness and give myself to what come and is set to me. Deepening my trust that I will be shown which voices are leading me away from my hope and where is the light that anchors me. “Security” is not security. My hope is nothing less that Jesus and his righteousness.
The 3rd step: I turn my life and my will over to the power of God
All of this of course is a radical gamble –
What if we are in an echo chamber and all we hear is ourselves?
What if there is no voice to hear?
What if the voice says: “go give all that you have to the poor and come follow me”
Love God and do what you like – says St Augustine – now that’s a gamble! This section needs a supporting transition
Juniper OEF