Are We There Yet?
First Sunday of Lent - Year C
Sunday, February 17, 2013

Let us pray: O God, guide our feet, guide our thoughts, guide our feelings, guide my words, that they may all be directed to follow your way. In these Lenten days – may we all come to have a relationship with you that is deeper, more aware, and peace making. Amen.

I'm sure parents most recently, but also any of us when we were children can recall the sometimes whining question from the back seat of the family vehicle that gives title to this reflection. I expect that many of you who've had the pleasure of a drive out of Yellowknife to Edmonton or points further in the south with a car full of children might recall the “Are We There Yet?” with a certain amount of disdain or pain. Of course, the question tells us something – trips can be tedious, boring, uncomfortable and long, and the tedium, boredom, discomfort and length seem to increase in inverse exponential degree as the age of the traveller goes down.

As you heard me say during the learning time with children, the season of Lent is most often defined not by calendar pages, but by the idea of journey. It is a time to be sure, but a time to go from one place to another.

But again, just as we talked about a few moments ago when the young people were here – the Lenten journey is not a journey that we make on the outside, it is a journey that is typically described as an inward one.

Inward journeys are a bit more mysterious and enigmatic than an outward one. Outward journeys can be quite well defined – we know the starting date and usually we have a destination – that might be all we have – but even those limited details help us to put some framework around the trip. Or even if the destination is not known, we can usually put a framework around the outer journey by setting time limits. We know when we plan to leave and how long we have – even if we don't know where we will be when that time is up.

That's getting closer to how an inward journey goes down, except that once an inner journey gets started it can be difficult to put a stop to it. Outward journeys can be limited by time and resources, but inward journeys paradoxically seem to have an infinite amount of depth or landscape to explore.

Lent is a journey – and as we always say with journeys that are made in the context of faith – it is a journey without a destination, and that the things which happen along the way are what the journey is about. In a journey such as that, the question “Are We There Yet?” makes little sense, because there really is no “there” at which to arrive.

Our parents solved the “Are We There Yet?” dilemma by creating a sort of 'automobile I Spy”. Mom would make a list of things that we were likely to see along the route. The child on the passenger side could only look at the passenger side of the road and the other sibling could only look at the driver side of the road. I can't remember what the rules were for the middle sibling – at first I thought the middle person could look on either side – but that gave the middle person a distinct advantage in the game, so I'm not sure what happened. The result of course was that we were focussed on the landscape – granted it was an enjoyment of the journey motivated by our desire to win the contest, but it was also a way of appreciating the journey by not focussing solely on the destination.

What does it mean to enjoy the landscape of an inward Lenten journey with no specific destination?

What things do we need in our virtual daypack in order to provide guidance, safety, and sustenance on an inward journey?

Here are some ideas – by no means a complete resource list – and perhaps your list will vary, but this is a list that I made:

Guidance: on an outward journey it is always helpful to have a map. A GPS, smartphone or tablet will work too – but you'd better have a backup source of power as well. In addition, an outward journey can be improved with the aid of a well researched guide book. Well seasoned travellers or knowledgable locals can often make a trip more interesting by passing on the must-sees and must-dos, and the avoid-this and don't-do-thats.

On the inward journey, a guide book is more important than a map – and there are several kinds of guide book available. There are lots of devotional books written to help us on our Lenten journey. This year I am using one compiled by Betty Lynn Schwab – who has Yellowknife connections. She and her husband Robert did their internship here many years ago. It's called Dive Deeply and it was being offered in digital form for a half-price discount earlier this week. There are lots of others, but you may already have the resources you need to make your own. Lots of daily lectionary lists have been put together. They are mindful of the Lenten season, and all you need to use them is the list and a translation of the bible that you like to read.

There are other ways that have developed as guiding activities. The practice of a Lenten discipline – whether it is the giving up of something for Lent, or the addition of something – the writing of some poetrty, or reading the aforementioned devotional resource – are ways of guiding our thoughts and hearts in a disciplined mindful way. So you don't necessarily need a guidebook at all, you just need something to take you in a different direction for a while. If it helps you to think and feel more deeply about the presence of God in your lives, then it is serving its intention. Time for another commercial – the Lenten food-for-thought – series developed by some members of the worship committee might fit the bill for you as a Lenten discipline – or one of several.

Sustenance: on an outward journey we often take some trail mix, or pack a lunch of sandwiches or cheese, and perhaps some cookies or a granola bar or two. What about the inward journey? Might I suggest that in a season which is sometimes marked by fasting – the self-denial of something we enjoy as a way of focussing our attention in a new direction – sustenance is provided in a completely different way. One way that comes to mind for me is the presence of others on the journey. A guide book can be very helpful but soulful conversation with others on a similar journey can be very sustaining.

Safety: a first aid kit, extra socks, a whistle, some rain wear and maybe a portable air compressor to pump up a recalcitrant car tire can make a huge difference on an outward journey. Are there dangers or risks associated with an inward journey? Of course the answer is “yes”. An inward journey can be very painful. Once again it is very important to have a support system available – perhaps in the form of others who are on the same journey or trained resource people to whom you can turn if your Lenten travel finds some rocky places, some bad weather, unexpected cold spells or memories or experiences that bring difficult times back to mind and heart.

Warm and extra clothing: An outward journey is made more comfortable when we have new clothes to put on when the old ones are wrinkled and in need of the laundry tub, and when we can put on that sweater or fleece to remind us of the comforts of home. What serves this purpose on an inward journey? A special place of beauty or serenity can create an atmosphere of welcome and peace. Being comfortable is a helpful entrance to the kind of contemplation and calm that accompanies an inward journey. Breathing exercises designed to slow us down – heart rate and thought processes alike. Methods to clear our minds from the thoughts and to-do lists that seem to fill the spaces in our heads are also helpful ways of bringing comfort to the process of inward travel. The same place and time are rituals that can melt away some of the decisions that prevent an inner calm and peace from happening.

Well there are many more things that could be said – many more examples of what helps and hinders the inward journey to which we are called in this Lenten time. More will be said about this journey as we travel through it in these days of Lent.

“Are we there yet” may not be part of the conversation on an inward journey – unending as it may be – but I dare say that there will be moments of discovery and arrival along the way – as we learn more about the way that God inhabits our lives, as we find insight into the connections that bind us together in relationship forged by God and sealed by the presence of the spirit within us. May our journey be so. Amen.