* First Sunday of Lent (A), February 10, 2008
* Theme: Turn Again to the Lord: Turn Away From Ourselves

* Introduction:
* Lent is our 40 day annual retreat in the desert
* No water in the Holy Water Fonts
* Preparing for the new waters of Easter
* Preparing for the celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
* We often think of Lent as a time of “giving something up”
* Candy, Sweets, Alcohol, etc.
* There is nothing wrong with this plan, but the Scriptures push us to examine our life in greater depth.

* For us Christians:
* If we are to understand the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection, the most important presupposition is that human beings are the Creation of a Loving God,
* Yet we are fallen creatures.
* Something has gone wrong.
* Humanity is not what God intended it to be
* (Could this be what the Church has always called Original Sin?)

* With the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
* With the constant talk of Terrorist Attacks,
* With the violence we read about in our own city streets,
* None of us can doubt that something has gone wrong with creation.
* Every time we go to an airport, we are reminded that we are not completely safe.
* Hate, promoted by fanatics of all stripes and religions still seems prevalent in our world.
* Something is terribly wrong

* Today’s Scriptures help us to understand our situation:
* There two different accounts of creation in Genesis:
* The first is in chapter one – in which God creates everything in seven days, and then creates male and female in his own image.
* The second story, that we read in today’s first reading, is in chapter two – in which God creates man first,
* Then all other creatures are created, and God lets man name them.
* Finally God creates woman from man’s rib to be man’s helpmate.
* The mythology is different in the two stories, but the central religious theme is the same – Human Beings have a special place in God’s creation.

* The Hebrew word “Adam” means man – The personification of Everyman
* Adam stands for us all
* Adam’s story is the story of us all
* Sometimes Eve gets a bad wrap in our popular piety – We say, “If it had not been for Eve who tempted Adam, we would not be in the mess we are in today.”
* Not even St. Paul (who some accuse of being a chauvinist) falls into this trap:
* In today second reading from the Letter to the Romans, Paul does not throw the blame on Eve, but rather he says, “Through one MAN sin entered the world.”
* That is “Everyman” is responsible for our fallen condition.

* Paul picks up on the mythological language of Genesis when in Romans he offers a fundamental Christian insight:
* Man (that is, all of us) cannot get out of this mess alone:
* Paul says, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one [Jesus] the many will be made righteous”

* So where are we in all this?
* “Everyman,” that is every man and woman, symbolized by Adam and Eve, lost focus.
* In the Garden Story:
* They turned their focus in on themselves and lost their focus on God.
* This kind of narcissistic behavior was their downfall – and at times it is our downfall as well.

* In the Gospel (Matthew Chapter 4)
* Jesus is offered the same kind of temptations:
* You are hungry – change the rocks into bread
* Nothing wrong with bread is there?
* Throw yourself from the parapet of the temple – you won’t get hurt and everyone will know that you are the Messiah.
* Mission accomplished. Sounds reasonable
* I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the earth if you worship me.
* Become ruler once and for all
* In a sense, all the temptations are the same:
* Jesus is being tempted to focus on himself and to forget about God and everyone else.
* However, Jesus does what Adam was not able to do – He keeps his focus on God and dismisses Satan

* Lent is a time for us to refocus our lives:
* A time to see things in the light of Jesus
* Yes, a time to get our own house in order, but perhaps even more a time to renew our God focus and to turn outward from ourselves to see how we relate to other people:
* To spouse and children
* To parents and neighbors
* To people we know well
* To people and to cultures about whom we know little
* Jesus turns our worldview upside down and challenges us to see everything and everyone with new eyes and a new heart:
* To forgive those whom we never thought we could ever forgive;
* To reach out to people, even to those who have a different background then our own;
* To let God touch our hearts in a way that we never might have dreamed possible

* This Lent:
* Let us ask God for help to open our hearts:
* To see the beauty of God’s creation as it was meant to be,
* To walk in the desert with Jesus so as to be able to see as Jesus sees,
* To turn outward from our pettiness so as to create a world that is more just and loving for all.
* May God’s Spirit guide us in our efforts!

* Amen

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