Today’s readings are full of life . . . that is to say - they are real. 

They are full of faith
and full of doubt.

 They are full of the struggle we know as life…
and our accompanying vulnerability….

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit… was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”  (Luke 4:1)

This period of 40 days for Jesus fell between the time of his baptism and the beginning of his public ministry….

On this Ash Wednesday as we begin our Lenten journeys, we hear, as we do every year, about prayer and fasting, self-examination and repentance, and meditating on God’s holy Word.

All of these things are well and good, but the key question is:
            to what end?…

Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a great cloud?
            Or if not,
in the middle of a dense, dense fog…
     perhaps up on top of one of these beautiful mountains?

What was it like?….

“Love your enemies,

            do good to those who hate you,

                        bless those who curse you,

       pray for those who abuse you….

After reading today’s lections these 3 questions popped into my head:

 In what do we trust?

            Who do we trust?

       Where do we find life?…

“When they had brought their boats to shore,
they left everything and followed him.”

 Sounds like all of the stories of calling in Scripture, right….?

I am struggling. 

I think most of us, if not all of us, are struggling.

 Some of us are struggling with our bodies:
           with unrelenting pain,
                        or new diagnoses, 
or diseases that are chronic…
that we learn how to manage as best we can,
            and we are grateful for times of relief….

In today’s gospel story we hear that:
“Jesus,
filled with the power of the Spirit,   
                                 returned to Galilee.”

 Where had he been?

Are you a glass half-full
or a glass half-empty kind of person…?

Today we gather to celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord…
         and our own baptisms alongside that of Jesus.

As today’s Gospel begins,
we hear that “the people were filled with expectation….”