For the three years of Jesus earthly ministry he and his disciples essentially lived outdoors traveling from town to town. Jesus said: “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”. Matt 8:19-20; Luke 9:57-58. Jesus was making the point that he was essentially homeless and that there was a cost to following him. Even though this scribe had said that he would follow Jesus wherever he went, Jesus knew that he was not considering the lifestyle that Jesus led.
Obviously the Church has never taught that we have to become homeless to follow Jesus. However, as the Holy Scriptures reveal and confirmed by the teaching of the Church is that we do need to realize that this earthly life is not our true home. The Kingdom of heaven is our true home. The main point I want to make is that Jesus and his followers lived and travelled in the Wild. He would often be welcomed to stay in the homes of those who provided him hospitality when he was in a town, but most of his life was lived outdoors. Even there, the Holy Scriptures show us that Jesus would frequently leave camp and go out into the wild to be alone with his Father in prayer and solitude.
And, of course, the wild man of the New Testament, John the Baptist, who wore only camel’s hair and ate locust and wild honey, was the one the Father chose to Baptize Jesus in the Jordan because it marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and confirms his identity as the beloved Son of God. It is also very significant that from his baptism by this wild saint of God, Jesus immediately heads out into the desert to fast and pray and be tempted by the Evil One to betray his baptism and his identity as the Son of God.
Wildness is at the heart of the Gospels and therefore at the heart of our own journey with Christ! Wildness is characteristic of God Himself!
In the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, when confronted by the idea of Aslan, the lion, who is a picture of God, Lucy asks,
“Is He safe?”
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Mr. Tumnus also says,
“He’s wild, you know. Not a tame lion.”
At the same time, who does not love our Orthodox temples, our glorious Orthodox Cathedrals, our icons, the incense, the candles, the iconostasis, the altar, the chanting? All our senses are transfigured by the presence of God and all his saints.
And yet, we should not forget the desert, the Burning Bush, Moses climbing the mountain to receive the tablets of the 10 Commandments, and all those wild saints, those mad with the love for God, who lived for years on platforms built high above the ground, those cave dwellers – St. Anthony, St. Benedict, those forest dwellers in Ireland, Russia, and Alaska; and, of course those hermits past and present who lived and are still living their whole lives as hermits on Mount Athos.
Take a moment to imagine what it would look like if here in America, our deserts in the Southwest, our forests in the Rocky Mountains, the rocky coast lines of both the East and West coasts became populated with thousands of hermits, small groups of Christians still filled with wanting nothing but Christ, like the wild Christians of old, living lives seemingly mad with love for God. Imagine if every State was sanctified by holy hermits, whose tears of repentance and continual prayer for us Americans with the fragrance of Holiness.
Okay, may most of us cannot leave kith and kin to run off to the desert for the rest of our days (but it is a little tempting isn’t it?). But, we can resolve to make short visits, maybe for a day, a night, a week where we can be with Christ in wildness and solitude. Where we can maybe fast and pray as Jesus did, where we can recover our senses, in every sense of the word, and allow the clouds, the blue sky, the birds, the rocks, the trees, all the animals, become sacraments of the presence of God. Have we lost our minds so much to the Machine of our teckno- barbaric culture that we can’t imagine being without our phones, our computers, the internet, Netflix for at least a day or two?
Instead of a cave we can take a tent. Instead of eating locusts we can bring a loaf of homemade bread. Instead of committing to staying for months or years, we can spend one night or a week-end.
As C.S. Lewis, reminds us: out there in the wild
“there is still the old magic.”.
For suggestions about how to prepare and spend some time in a wilderness vigil, both practical and spiritual considerations, please feel free to reach out to me. I would welcome the opportunity to be of assistance. And for a real immersion into a wilderness vigil, check out the Wilderness Vigil retreats coming
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