The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

 It is strange that although Baptism is the fundamental sacrament, there is not much about it in the Gospels. The fullest description is that of Jesus’ own baptism which was hardly typical as the primary symbolism, washing away of sins, was surely redundant in his case.  But Jesus’ own baptism does emphasize some other aspects. As he emerges from the water he is recognized by his father and named; he is called by name and belongs to the family of God, just as we are. And as our readings from Peter and Genesis show us, baptism is also symbolic of death, and rebirth into eternal life.
The instruments used to symbolize this new state are the rainbow and the dove, the sign of the Holy Spirit. At the end of John’s Gospel, the risen Christ keeps his promise to send the Spirit to the disciples by giving them peace. The rainbow too is the sign of peace and reconciliation. And the dove, of course, is almost a cliché for peace and peacemakers. This, however, is a peace that acknowledges, and emerges from the forces of evil and destruction. In the upper room the Jesus who breathes on his followers still bears the scars of his crucifixion; the rainbow appears in the clouds that carry the rain which brought the flood. The peace of the spirit is not the denial of the evil in the world; it is not removal or escape from suffering but the power to bring healing, hope and love in a world.
The dove gives us a rather misleadingly cosy idea of the Spirit; the Spirit brings peace but isn’t very peaceful; think of the rushing wind and the tongues of flame, or the way in which St Paul is driven on by the Spirit. Similarly, once the voice from Heaven has recognized his son, the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness where Satan tempts him among the wild beasts, and angels wait on him.
Brought up on David Attenborough documentaries, we tend to think of wild animals and indeed the wilderness as rather attractive, refreshingly guiless compared to the complicated mess we have made of the human world. That is not, I think, Mark’s idea. For him, the wilderness is disordered, it is a remnant of primeval chaos; the wild animals are driven by selfish passion and there is no concept of justice or righteousness- no awareness of God even.
We don’t hear of the specific temptations in Mark’s version but elsewhere we are told how they play on Jesus’ human nature, tempting him with physical satisfaction, and worldly sensation and power. These would be seen as the driving forces in the wilderness; we might call them the law of the jungle. They are the antithesis of the ordered and righteous society of the Kingdom of God. It is, however, just that Kingdom which Jesus proclaims as he emerges fortified and prepared from his experience in the wilderness, rather as we emerge from Baptism into everlasting life. That kingdom and that life are not, however, somewhere else or sometime different; they are the reordering of real life and the real world. 
In a metaphorical sense we can easily see our world as a moral wilderness; we see oases of fantastic wealth, vibrant growth and excitement surrounded by barren wastes of desolation, poverty and depression. And there are wild beasts prowling too; the blinkered faith in the benign inevitability of the market is one; the demand for instant consumer gratification and obvious results is another; and I am sure you can think of your own bêtes noires.
What has all this to do with the penitential life, which is supposed to be the theme of my sermon?
First, of course, Baptism is the sign of forgiveness and the object of penitence. As Jesus’ 40 days of temptation are a preparation for his ministry , so penance should prepare us for living as we should live and spreading the good news of the Kingdom .
Jesus’ experience shows us that penitence should be based in recognition of the evil in the world not as something that can be avoided, or compartmentalised, but something that we have to live with and grow from. Sin is what prevents us from realising our full potential as fully human and  Christ-like being, but it is also an inextricable part of that existence.  But this need not depress us as we assured that we have only to recognise our faults and failings as such, in other words to repent, for God to forgive them. In some churches the absolution precedes the confession; it’s easier to name one’s failings before God knowing that he has already forgiven them.
 Repentance and the penitential life are not ends in themselves. It is certainly a comfort for the individual to know that he or she is forgiven- in fact just as there is little worse than the remorse at having hurt someone whom one loves, there is correspondingly no feeling like being forgiven and accepted, and still loved. But the point of that feeling, the purpose of the forgiveness is that love may grow strengthened by the test.  It is the same when God forgives us; we have failed as the  creatures whom he loves , but acknowledging that failing and accepting his forgiving love will strengthen us for the task of being better creatures and carrying on his creating, loving, healing work in the World. Otherwise penitence becomes an introspective, even selfish activity.
And the experience of Baptism also tells us that penitence and forgiveness are not solitary matters. From them we emerge into the Christian community named and belonging to God’s family. It is perhaps inevitable that in talking about repentance and forgiveness we refer to the model of the family, or similar relations. Equally, we are, or should be conscious of communal or social wrong doing for which we as members of society share responsibility. So it is that just after we have prayed, in the Lord’s Prayer, that God’s kingdom may come, we ask to be forgiven our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. It is by setting right our relations with others that we find ourselves set right with God too. And this is just as we should expect it to be, as the purpose of setting ourselves right with God, is not to make us feel better, but to make us better able us to do what he wants us to do- among other things forgiving others in order to live harmoniously and fruitfully with them. And we will, of course, better at it if we feel reconciled to God.
I felt uncomfortable on AshWednesday evening as Stephen commented on the significant number of nominal Christians in Professor Dawkins survey who had said that they saw Jesus as a role model and thought Christianity was about being good. I thought I might have ticked those boxes too, as although these are rather inadequate phrases for trying to be Christ-like and trying to bring about the kingdom of God, they are at least steps in the right direction. Awareness of our inadequacies, and our need for healing, strength and forgiveness are, I accept, vital preconditions for progressing the task we are set, but they are only means to that end. Penitence itself is not what it’s all about.
Shame and guilt may have a place in the penitential life, but I suggest it should be a small one. We live in society and need its rules. The law of love is not always the carrot that it should be and a stick is needed. So there may be a limited place for guilt in the playground and certainly there is room for rather more shame in the boardroom.  If shame can help us to see our failings then it serves a purpose. The danger is that it distracts us from our real purpose. Self loathing becomes an indulgence, an excuse, or even a disease insulating us from the world about us and preventing us from realising our potential as children of God.
So, do not let this penitential season make you miserable!
The children are following a Lent course called Love Life, Live Lent; it involves doing a prescribed action each day; sometimes doing something constructive like tidying your room and giving unwanted toys to a charity shop; sometimes saying something nice about somebody behind their back; and sometimes too, saying sorry.  I suggest we might do the same and our task for Sunday might be to leave church smiling and looking happy, not burdened with sin and guilt as Professor Dawkins thinks Christians must be. But instead, ready to spread happiness in the world outside. And in that way we shall be like Jesus setting out on his ministry calling for repentance in order to look for the coming of the Kingdom. Amen.