A Necessary Evil

In this sermon on the first Sunday of Lent, Clay explores the necessary evil of going to the wilderness, whether or not we are driven there. It is a call to live out baptism and to find our prophetic voice. But it is important to go with humility if we hope to return. "Why do we put ourselves through Lent? Aren't things in the world and perhaps in our own lives bleak enough without stripping the church of Marianne's lovely flower arrangements and giving up chocolate or some other favorite vice for forty days? We can be forgiven for thinking it is one more instance of the church taking away life's simple pleasures, as if fun was a dirty word. Need an example? Think of St. Augustine's making sex a sin. For obvious practical reasons it is acceptable for procreation, but only if you don't enjoy it. Making it an excellent example of a “necessary evil.” Of course he didn't push this brilliant idea until after he'd enjoyed plenty of the non-reproducing kind himself." Full text at http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/?sid=327&id=709.