Into the Desert: Week 2 | the Wilderness

Week 2 | the wilderness

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness...”
— Luke 4:1

The desert is a harsh landscape. The contours of red canyons and mustard-hued crevices have been sharpened by millennia of the sun's insistent beating and a the winds molten caress. Even flora and fauna of this landscape are fanged and barbed bearing pointed reminders of the desert's unflinching demands.

It is a fearful place.

Yet, this is where Jesus was called following his baptism and affirmation as beloved son of God. To the untamed wilderness with all its tests and trials.

Edward Abbey warned that, "The desert ain't nothing but a God-damn place to die."

The desert has a way of stripping away all careful composure, facade and pretense, fantasy and falsity. It reveals things we'd rather ignore. It calls us to listen closely, step lightly, reflect deeply, and to be resilient.

What is the desert calling us to endure? What is it asking us to die to? What is it revealing that we can no longer ignore?

// resources

"Wilderness, with all its ambiguities, has been my teacher—showing how power and love, terror and delight, can be held in the same mystery."

  • Longer Read: "Looking for God in the Desert" | Belden Lane in New Christian Century:

"...passion has color, like the landscape before me. It is not pale. It is not neutral. It reveals the backside of the heart."

  • Shorter Read: "Desert Quartet" | Terry Tempest Williams in Spirituality & Practice

"I set out, wander wind-scoured mountain ridgelines, getting to know myself again..."

// questions for going deeper

  1. How is it significant that Jesus was "called" to the desert? Why would the spirit usher or invite him into this harsh environment?

  2. What does the desolate landscape of the desert elicit in you in your personal reflection? What do you need the desert to lay bare for you in this moment?

  3. How can we be attentive to and honor the call of spirit - no matter where it is calling?

Payton Hoegh