Most of us want Jesus to do the same thing. There are so many things that Jesus is destined to do in his ministry. He will heal the sick. He will cast out demons. He will feed thousands with a few scraps of food. He will raise the dead. Jesus will be crucified and resurrected. Yes, there is much to be done and we are eager for Jesus get about doing it. We want Jesus to have the same sort of impatience we have to get things done.
Yet, we read in Mark that “the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:12-13). Why did the Spirit drive Jesus into the isolation of the desert rather than allowing him to immediately begin his ministry in Galilee? With all the work Jesus had to do, did he really have time to spend a single day, let alone forty, in the desert? Was the wilderness really the best place for Jesus to be?

We are called to enter our own sort of wilderness during the season of Lent. This forty day period of self-denial and careful reflection may seem like a waste of time for many of us. There is, after all, so much for us to do. We have sick folks to visit. We need to help those who are suffering. We need to prepare meals for the less fortunate. We need to comfort the grieving and depressed. Yet the wilderness is for us, just as it was for Jesus, the place we need to be right now.

Jesus prepared for his days of strenuous ministry while he was in the wilderness. He could not have done what he eventually did without careful preparation. And, we are no different. We must prepare for the days of our ministry through serious reflection and prayer. The German theologian Helmut Thielicke said, “To work without praying and without listening means only to grow and spread oneself upward, without striking roots and without an equivalent in the earth.”

During this season of Lent take a pause from so much activity and engage in a different sort of work. Prepare as Jesus prepared in the wilderness. Spend more time in prayer. Read God’s Word more. Get ready for the exciting days of ministry ahead by growing deep roots of faith during Lent.

Paul writes in Romans that “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh” and “to set the mind on the flesh is death.” These are humbling, thought-provoking, and perhaps even frightening words of truth. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, one of America’s greatest preachers, tapped into this line of thought once saying, “Surely the spiritual malaise of our time is at the root of our fright and anxiety. We have great mental capital, but we are spiritually bankrupt…This lostness is a spiritual matter.”

It’s true. We are facing spiritual death in America. The American mind is increasingly turned to things of the flesh rather than to the things of God. We accept a country in which recently one hedge fund manager was paid $4.9 billion in a single year, more than the federal government spends on hunger relief in all of New York City. The CEO of WalMart makes more in one hour than most of his employees make in an entire year. We spend over $6 billion a month in Afghanistan. We are fixated on the trial of Casey Anthony and mourn the loss of that child, yet we tolerate a society in which over 15 million children risk death everyday because they live in desperate poverty.

We are headed for complete and utter destruction unless we make a change. Christians must be the voice of justice and the energy for change. If we Christians don’t lead the nation back to sanity, no one else is going to do it. If setting the mind on the flesh results in destruction, Paul also writes in Romans that “those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” and “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” When the Spirit fills us we begin to change and do the things that please God. The Spirit might demand that we redirect one month of spending in Afghanistan so we could feed every hungry person in America for a year. The Spirit might show us if we redirect one month of military spending we could cut the prescription drug bill for every elderly person in America by 50 percent for a year. The Spirit might demand that we take action to shrink income inequality in America, not so there are no rich people, but so that everyone might have a decent life filled with opportunity and hope.

The choice is ours to make. What will posses our souls in America—the flesh of the world or the Spirit of God? Pray about it and let God change the world through the Spirit working in and through you.

Many of the conversations I have had lately rapidly turn to the problems we face in the church such as shrinking attendance, financial constraints, and a sense that the church is losing its influence in the world. The United Methodist Church has recently spent a great deal of time and effort examining these and other related issues. Those of us within the denomination are praying and thinking about what it means to build “vital congregations” as way to renew the energy and vigor of the Church in the 21st Century.

So just what is a “vital congregation?” Alfred Gwinn, Bishop of the North Carolina Annual Conference, recently declared that “vital congregations are spirit-filled, forward leaning communities of believers.” The simple definition offered by Bishop Gwinn is loaded with meaning and direction for Christians seeking to reinvigorate their churches.

First, vital churches must be “forward leaning.” This means that churches have to have an eye on the future. This is not a call to ignore the proud history of local churches nor is it an automatic push to incorporate contemporary music and flashy technology into worship services. Those things may have their appropriate place but being “forward leaning” is less about specific tactics and more about developing an understanding that what made the church great yesterday is not necessarily a recipe for success tomorrow. A “forward leaning” church is at least open to the possibilities of change and accepts the reality that the future will not look the same as the past.

Second, vital churches are “spirit-filled.” If churches could do just one thing to become more vital in the future they should focus on inviting the Holy Spirit to be at the center of the church’s existence. We learn in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” A spirit-filled church, first and foremost, is focused on proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Such churches do not try to conform to the ways of the world. Instead spirit-filled churches are committed to being shaped in the image of Christ. Spirit-filled churches understand that it is God alone who brings vitality and use that knowledge to determine every action.

Pentecost is a particularly apt time for Christians to concentrate their attention on building vital churches under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Christians should offer fervent prayer for the divine wind and righteous fire of the Holy Spirit to guide our actions and to warm the hearts of those who hear the message that Jesus Christ is Lord!