Praying Together during the week beginning Sunday 21 February The First Sunday of Lent During this time of great anxiety and uncertainty, we want to stay in touch with our regular worshippers and indeed with everyone who is associated with the Cathedral family. We are very sorry that we have had to suspend public worship again. Durham Cathedral is however still open for private prayer and quiet reflection. If you’d like to come to the cathedral for prayer, there are some important measures we’d like you to know about, to ensure the safety of members of the public and staff. You can find this information on our website: www.durhamcathedral.co.uk We will continue to live stream services as well so that you will still be able to engage with us online. Gospel Mark 1. 9-15 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ Thought for the Day by the Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett Mark 1.9 – 15 Jesus’ Baptism & Temptation 13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. In his introduction to the first session of this year’s Lent course, Richard Sewell, who is the Dean of St George’s Anglican College in Jerusalem, takes us on a pilgrimage to the Judean desert. And it’s not quite what you might expect. It’s only ten years or so since I first visited the desert in which Jesus is believed to have spent 40 days, tempted by the Devil, but the scenery still stands vividly in my mind. Before travelling there, I had an image of the Sahara, Saudi or Gobi deserts, with vast sand dunes, expanses of emptiness and occasional oases. The sun beating down and little room for shelter. But the Judean desert is quite a different experience, though undeniably a desert all the same. Drive just a few miles west out of Jerusalem on the Road to Jericho, through the motorway tunnel which runs under the Mount of Olives, and soon you find yourself descending. Down and down you go – because this is the way to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. And before too long, it won’t surprise you to learn that you come to the Good Samaritan museum, you are after all on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. And there you take a left off the highway and you’re there. Just off the road. 10 miles from a capital city. The desert. But no sand dunes. No vast interior. No oases shimmering in a mirage. Rather, hundreds of gorges cut into the sandstone landscape. Gouges slashed into the rock strata, taking any water to the bottom of ravines where you can barely see the floor. And deep in the ravines there is life: it is sheltered from the sun in summer yet still warm in winter. Water flows, and flora and fauna abound, but they are deep down. So at first sight, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. There is the means of life. Christian monastic communities have survived there for nearly two millennia. But the point is where they have survived. Not on the surface, up where the full light of the sun brings temperatures approaching 40c in the summer. So, you have to find shelter deep down in the ravines, out of the glare of the sun, where water trickles down and life is able to exist. And there are two other striking things about the Judean desert. Not in Mark’s account of the Temptation, but in Matthew’s we hear of Jesus being taken to a ‘very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour’. 2 I described just now how the journey from Jerusalem out into the desert is a descent. You probably recall the opening words of the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho’, and that’s literally the case. Whereas our mental image of a desert is of rolling sand dunes and vast empty spaces with no horizon or vista, the Judean desert sits between the relative heights on which Jerusalem sits and the rift valley in which the Dead Sea has sunk to the lowest point on earth. Sitting on this midpoint means that from the Judean desert you get incredible views out across the Jordan Valley, over Jericho and the Dead Sea with Amman in the distance. The second thing which comes as a shock is the fact that many people live in the region. There are areas of wilderness inhabited by Bedouin and monastic communities, but the desert region is also home to large urban areas. Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron all lie on the edge; Jericho is right in the valley. So what does the desert experience teach us as we enter Lent during this strange season of pandemic? I want to draw out three suggestions. The first is to follow the deep ravines and to find the sources of water and of nourishment. The present time can seem arduous and discouraging, a dry and barren period in our lives. But the Judean desert points to the ravine and gullies, the hidden wadis which bring water to an arid region. They are not on the surface and we have to dig deep, but the water of life is still there, Christ himself is among us, if only we will recognise him. And secondly, there is also a sense of perspective which comes from this desert. It is not unending or without horizon, in fact we might look back on it as a view-point from which we have gained a better perspective on the world. Finding a rhythm of prayer which sits with our daily pattern of life and doesn’t feel like a chore; making space for reflection, bible reading, acts of kindness. These are all gifts of our time. And finally, we are in good company. Any pilgrim who has travelled to the Judean desert shares the experience of appearing to be in the middle of nowhere when suddenly a Bedouin trader pops up out of thin air. The trail leads to a monastic community where there is hospitality and a gift shop. We are not alone, even in the desert. And seems to me to be one of the great gifts of this season, that as will journey through Lent, we are in the company of sisters and brothers who are fellow pilgrims, who may at the moment be struggling through the desert, but know that the mountain heights await them. 3 A Form of Intercession In the power of the Spirit let us pray to the Father through Christ the saviour of the world. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For forgiveness for the many times we have denied Jesus, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For grace to seek out those habits of sin which mean spiritual death, and by prayer and self-discipline to overcome them, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For Christian people, that through the suffering of disunity there may grow a rich union in Christ, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For those who make laws, interpret them and administer them, that our common life may be ordered in justice and mercy, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For those who still make Jerusalem a battleground, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For those who have the courage and honesty to work openly for justice and peace, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. 4 For those in the darkness and agony of isolation, that they may find support and encouragement, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For those who, weighed down with hardship, failure, or sorrow, feel that God is far from them, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For those who are tempted to give up the way of the cross, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. That we, with those who have died in faith, may find mercy in the day of Christ, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, have mercy upon us. Calendar of Holy Days Tuesday 23 February Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c 155 Saturday 27 February George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633 Contact details for The Reverend Canon Michael Everitt Address: 15 The College, Durham, DH1 3EQ Email: [email protected] Telephone: 0191 384 0164 5 Hymn Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King! The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly: The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.