LENT IS A season of introspection and reflection as we prepare for Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, we replicate Jesus’ sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.
When I was 16, my mom accepted a new job at the University of Arizona, and my parents made the untimely decision to uproot our family and move from the Pacific Northwest to the Arizona desert just before my last year in high school. As a result, I know something about deserts.
Deserts are not simply physical places—they are also spiritual and emotional seasons in our lives. What the physical desert does to the body, the spiritual desert does to our soul, making us feel drained and depleted. In moments of spiritual desert, we can feel disoriented and alienated from God. St. John of the Cross referred to these as dark nights of the soul—times when “we feel a spiritual drought and estrangement from God.”
Nations can also go through what feel like periods of desert. America seems stuck in a dire one now. The current political crisis represents a test of our democracy and of the witness of the church. U.S. Christianity is also facing desert times as younger Christians abandon the church in record numbers.
Jesus knew something about deserts. He spent 40 trying and formative days fasting and wandering in the desert, just before he faced and overcame the devil’s three temptations of instant gratification, power, and control, which helped prepare him for his three years of public ministry. Time in the desert can be essential to prepare us for and sustain the long, hard work of seeking justice and advancing God’s reign.
The desert provides time for preparation through deeper discernment. Time in the desert gives us the space to think more deeply, listen more carefully, and see more clearly. Solitude and silence must be learned and practiced. In the context of pursuing justice, discernment sharpens our analysis and enables us to see possibility in the impossible and hope in seemingly hopeless situations.
Second, time in the desert provides a time for purification. Many justice leaders burn out because their starting point is righteous indignation rather than steadfast love. Our soul yearns for the purification and renewal that real and regular contemplation provides. Contemplation grounds and sustains faith-inspired activism. As Christian leaders and activists, we must constantly resist the dangers of self-righteousness, absolutism, and, at worst, demonizing and hating our opponents and enemies, which has become all too common in American politics. We must overcome the evil that is external but also the evil that lies within each of us.
Third, the desert provides a time for total surrender. All genuine spirituality requires letting go. Letting go of illusion, ego, and sin. In the desert, we must be willing to give everything to God—our past regrets and hurts, our present problems and doubts, our future fears and dreams. In the desert, we are reminded that there is no burden that God cannot carry, there is no yoke that is too heavy for God.
Our communities, nation, and world may be in a harsh and difficult time—but if we engage in deeper discernment, purify ourselves, and surrender to God, we will be better equipped to lead out of the desert, transforming ourselves, our nation, and our world.
Rev. Adam Russell Taylor is president of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community. Follow him on Bluesky @revadamtaylor.
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