Lenten Devotional: Urban Wilderness

Our unofficial Artitist-In-Residence, Deb Murphy had other pictures that did not make it into her exhibit, “The Sacred on the Street.” However, they are showing up as bulletin covers during Lent. This first one is called “Urban Wilderness” and is based on the First Sunday in Lent’s Gospel text.

At the last Worship committee meeting, I heard a voice say, “I’ll find art for the bulletin covers for Lent.” Then I realized it was my voice. Great, now what? Well, I told myself, start with the lectionary and see what that inspires. The Gospel selection for this first Sunday in Lent is Luke 4:1-13 (Jesus in the wilderness after his baptism). Wilderness – a real place Jesus could go to as well as a metaphor. What does that metaphor translate to today? Years and years ago, the white European explorers would have considered this area wilderness. Now, it’s tame and civilized — or is it? Do we live in an urban wilderness — are we and others hungry (for status, power, recognition, etc or even just plain physically hungry) and are we tempted by all sorts of things around us? Do we find ourselves in unknown territory due to life circumstances? Is our spiritual journey currently taking us through an area of wilderness? With these questions in mind, I then looked through the many photos I took of the city during my practicum experience and found one that ‘spoke to me’ as urban wilderness.

Deb Murphy