The Wilderness of Lent

Dear Edinburg First Family,

The season of Lent is now in full swing, and I have to tell you—Lent is my

favorite time in church because in Lent, we slow down. We go back to our roots. We

take stock of who we are before God.

In Gospel of Luke 3:21–22, Jesus stands in the waters of the Jordan. The

heavens open. The Spirit descends in bodily form. A voice speaks: “You are my Son,

the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And then, Luke tells us that Jesus, “full of the

Holy Spirit,” is led into the wilderness (Luke 4:1–13). Notice the order: Jesus is

reminded of his identity as God’s beloved Son. Then, the Spirit sends him into the

wilderness.

Lent follows that same pattern. We often imagine the wilderness as a place of

deprivation, temptation, and testing. And it is that. In the wilderness, Jesus fasts. He is

tempted. He must decide what kind of Messiah he will be. But throughout Scripture,

wilderness is also the place where the people of God encounter God. Israel meets God

in the wilderness after liberation from Egypt. They learn who they are there. They

receive manna there. They receive the Law there. The prophets are formed in lonely

landscapes. Jesus himself repeatedly withdraws to deserted places to pray.

The wilderness is not simply barren. It is spacious. Lent invites us into that kind

of space. ot as punishment, not as spiritual performance, but as holy spaciousness.

Before Jesus resists a single temptation, he is named, “Beloved.” Before we fast, before

we repent, before we do anything for God, we are held in that same belovedness.

So what is fasting for? Perhaps fasting is less about restriction and more about

creating room. We create room to notice what fills our days and our minds—to hear

God’s voice beneath the noise—to remember who we are.

When we fast, whether from a meal, from constant news consumption, from

social media scrolling, or from whatever keeps our souls crowded, we are not proving

our devotion. We are creating space for prayer, for Scripture, for love.

This Lent, I invite you to enter the wilderness with intention. We are reading

through Luke together in our Wednesday evening Bible study. Everyone is invited!

Whether you join us in person or not, you are welcome to walk this path with us. You

can read the assigned chapters each week. Or, if a full reading feels overwhelming, you

can sit with the weekly focus passage and let it dwell deeply in you. Each week also

includes a spiritual practice. Some are quiet and reflective: journal prompts, moments of

examen, questions to ponder in prayer. Others are embodied: simple invitations to

extend God’s love in tangible ways, to forgive, to bless, to notice.

Fasting, then, is not simply about what we give up. It is about what we make

room for. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness—not to abandon him, but to form him.

And the same Spirit leads us.

May this season be less about striving and more about spaciousness. Less about

proving and more about receiving. Less about scarcity and more about the surprising

abundance of God who still meets us in the wilderness.

You are Beloved.

Let us make room to remember it.

Caminando en el monte contigo, Walking in the wilderness with you,

Pastor Sarah