In our first reading we hear of Abraham – or, here, Abram (this section of Genesis is from a different source). He is nervous. He’s wondering whether God is really going to fulfil his promise that his heirs will be ‘as numerous as the stars’ when there is no evidence of that. He’s had to appoint an heir, Eleazer of Damascus – what’s going on? he asks God.

Do not be afraid, says God, and tells him to do this curious ritual, no parallels anywhere else, involving sacrificing animals and the mysterious appearance of the fire-pot, flaming torch -maybe referring to the pillar of fire in the Exodus … Either way – Abraham is being told to take courage. Courage – one of my 3 words for this season – Hope, Courage, Love. What is courage?? We’ve seen it over the last fortnight, the extraordinary courage of the Ukrainians, of President Zelensky. How are they continuing to be so courageous?

Also, in the Gospel reading. Jesus is, at the end of the 40 days, famished. He’s offered things which would give him security. Bread = material wealth, temporal power, security. He says no to all three. He rejects these offers. How? Through courage! They are all different manifestations of the virtue of courage.

What do we need, to be courageous? It’s not necessarily being foolhardy, taking stupid risks – that’s not courage, that’s silly. It’s about something deeper than that.

Great podcast by Tara Brach – she’s a spiritual teacher, thinker, meditator, guide. “Living with courageous presence.”

The courage to love –  it’s reminiscent of this joke. A woman is due to have an operation the next day. She’s very anxious, and goes to see the doctor.

Doctor,  she says, I’m worried, this is my first operation –
Don’t worry, it’s mine too, says the doctor.

Our insecurities, our demons within us – judgement, insecurity, fear of rejection – stop us from being courageous. From loving courageously. We put on space suits to protect us. We engage in behaviours which we think protect us-addictive behaviours, judging others, not taking risks… Emotional pain cannot kill you, but running from it can.

Three steps:

1) Allow what will happen to happen. “I don’t mind what happens.” If Jesus worried about the future he would have accepted the devil’s proposals, and turned stone into bread, worshipped him, commanded the angels to save him. But he didn’t. He trusted in God and followed the consequences through to the end. ‘Go and tell that fox.. ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.”

2) Be willing to directly contact and feel the vulnerability – recognise the pain and the hurt which we have within us. The essence of courage is to willingly feel our vulnerability; this is what allows us to respond to life with an undefended, wise heart.  This poem by Mark Nepo – ‘Adrift’ – expresses it well.

We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are
when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved
and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed
and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time…
Our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world
but to unglove ourselves so that the door knob feels cold
and the car handle feels wet
and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being
soft and unrepeatable.

My vulnerabilities are many – anxiety about the renovation! Openness to the future! Being judged!

3) Develop a courageous presence – especially when we feel judged. What does it mean to be courageous at this moment? Lent – giving up – is about resisting the behaviours which stop us from facing our vulnerabilities. Like Jesus did. The temptations are the temptations to settle. To live with second best. Developing a courageous presence is about living in the moment, with courage. What does it mean, to be courageous at this moment? We are, thank God, spared the challenges which people in war zones are facing. But every decision we make requires courage, especially in this difficult world. And courage, in the end, is trust – trust in the love which we know surrounds us. We are reflecting through Lent on what the Common Good might look like – the Common Good can only be served by a community of individuals who act, collectively, with courage. Tara Brach – ‘this way of cultivating courage is best done with each other.’ We have been courageous in going forward with the renovation project. Trusting. The PCC was courageous yesterday as it planned for the year to come. When we open our hearts we enlarge them to include the experience of this whole living, complex, dying world.

What does it mean to be courageous in this moment? This poem by Rainer Maria Rilke sums it up.

How Surely Gravity’s Law

How surely gravity’s law,
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of the smallest thing
and pulls it toward the heart of the world.

Each thing—
each stone, blossom, child —
is held in place.
Only we, in our arrogance,
push out beyond what we each belong to
for some empty freedom.

If we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves
in knots of our own making
and struggle, lonely and confused.

So like children, we begin again
to learn from the things,
because they are in God’s heart;
they have never left him.

This is what the things can teach us:
to fall, patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly.