Sometime last week, Bob Puckett was going on his usual evening walk, breathlessly trying to keep up with his dog Zany. Bob was enjoying the cool night air when suddenly, he heard a voice.

Bob looked all around, but saw no one there. So he continued on. But then, once again, came the pleading voice.

This time, Bob looked down and saw a small green frog sitting by his feet. He bent over and picked up the little frog, and looked at it. Suddenly, the frog spoke.

"Please help me!" the frog said. "You see, I am really a beautiful princess who has been turned into a frog by a wicked witch. If you kiss me, I will turn back into a princess, and I will love you and kiss you and adore you and...well, you can use your imagination."

Bob took a long moment to think about this. But then, as if to ignore the invitation, he took the frog, stuck it into his top pocket, and continued on his way.

The little frog looked up from inside Bob's pocket. "Hey! You! Is something wrong? Why won't you help me? Why won't you kiss me and let me become your beautiful princess?"

Bob looked down at the little green frog. Then he said, "Frankly honey, at my age, I'd rather have a talking frog!"

Now, I tell you this strange - but true - story about Bob because it was Bob Puckett who took the first steps in organizing the effort to begin a Community Church here in Tellico Village. Back in the Spring of 1985 - a full year before the first lot would be sold, and eight months before Cooper Communities would even acquire title to the land that would become this Village - Bob wrote a letter to John Cooper proposing an interdenominational church.

Well, fifteen years and more than 800 members later, we the people of Tellico Village Community Church can more fully appreciate the miraculous nature of that original vision. To dream of a church before there was even a Village here is something that can only be done by a person who has the courage to believe that the joyful certainty of having a beautiful princess is only surpassed by the slim possibility of owning a talking frog!

Or...by a person driven by the Holy Spirit.

Today, on the first Sunday in Lent - and the day we celebrate our founding as a church - our Scripture text takes us into the pivotal experience of what it means to be a Christian person, and a Christian church. According to St. Mark, at the time of Jesus' baptism, something of great significance occurs to Jesus. And this significant happening results in Jesus going out into the wilderness for forty days.

Note that it is to the wilderness Jesus goes. Not to church. Not to the old neighborhood. Not to his father's carpenter shop. The result of Jesus' baptism is not to return to the old and familiar, but to go out to the new and the unknown. Not to the land where the ending of every story is the certain revealing of a beautiful princess. But to the place where every story has unpredictable twists and turns and surprise endings. The place of talking frogs, so to speak.

Now, how does Jesus get from one place to the other? How does he move from the world of the sure and certain to this wilderness of uncertainty where - among other things - he faces great temptation? Well, Mark puts it this way in verse 12 - "And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness."

Jesus was driven by the Spirit.

On Thursday evening, a number of us were honored to share in the baptism of Martha Scruggs. One of the things we did during the ceremony was to take a moment for some of the people attending to remember their own baptism. Some had been immersed in lakes and rivers. Some had been sprinkled from a baptismal font at the front of a sanctuary. One of us had actually been baptized in the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. And another spoke of returning, not long ago, to the church behind the Iron Curtain where she had been baptized as an infant. Under communist rule, the church had been closed, but now, since the fall of the eastern bloc, that church is vibrantly resurrected and alive and again baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As a congregation of people, we are bound together by our baptism. We may be Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran or any other denomination by background. Theologically, we may be conservative, moderate or liberal. We are a very diverse group of people.

But there is one thing all our members share in common. We all are baptized Christians!

And if we have been baptized, then there is one other thing we should know about ourselves and about each other.

The moment we were baptized, the Spirit began driving us into the wilderness.

Can you fathom this? A power far greater than ourselves became present in our lives. It began to nudge our hearts and minds to feel new things and think new thoughts. Long-closed doors began to open. Long-open doors began to close. The circumstances of our lives were miraculously shaped and altered to guide us into the new frontiers where God's purposes can be fulfilled in and through us, and where we can become spiritually whole.

Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the founding of our church. You may remember that, when Bob Puckett shared with Carl Burke his great idea about Carl coming to serve as the founding pastor of this non-existent church, Carl replied, "As for your brilliant idea...It isn't!" No way was Carl Burke going to leave the comfort of retirement to take up this crazy offer in the wilderness at Tellico Village! Or so he thought! But then his thoughts began to change.

Evidently, the Spirit drove him into the wilderness of this new enterprise! And we are all well aware that God called just the right man, at just the right time, to just the right circumstance to facilitate the miraculous birth of our church!

And those who became its founding members. How much easier it would be for them to stay in the familiar surroundings of their past as Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians...whatever their denominational heritage. To come together as a new interdenominational body of Christians would require huge risk, immense change, tremendous tolerance, and great patience. This was unfamiliar territory! It made more sense to remain in the land of the safe and familiar than to step out into a wilderness they had no experience with! But our church did not become just another denominational congregation. Our founding members began to grasp a larger thought. Evidently, the Spirit drove our forbears into the wilderness of interdenominational ecumenism!

And even in the process of building this sanctuary some ten years later, our forbears learned that their own safe idea of a small chapel-like structure for Sunday worship was not enough. That idea had to be relinquished in favor of a larger and much riskier idea. Even before the building was completed, phase one had to give way to phase two and phase two to phase three to keep up with what the Spirit was doing! And even now, the phases of development continue to unfold with the new Christian Life Center as our congregation swells and our ministry expands. The Spirit continues to drive us from the certainty and safety of the familiar to the wilderness where our only certainty is God himself.

And that's what it means to live as a Christian.

I wonder this morning if you can reflect for just a moment upon your own life. If you are like me, there are some dimensions of your existence right now that feel pretty safe and comfortable. Maybe you've just moved into your brand new house, which was finished on time, which came in under budget, and the very day you took possession of the house, you shot your very first hole-in-one with a bank shot off the hill at the 13th hole of the Toqua Golf Course! Wow! One of the nicest parts of living where we do is hearing each others' stories about how good life can be!

And yet, underneath the surface of our lives, there are other things going on too. You know what I'm talking about. There are some aspects of life that don't give you joy. Troubling relationships with family members. Tragic losses. Serious illnesses. Moral crises. Doubt. Despair. Frustrations. Uncertainty about the future. There are things that don't feel safe to you. They make you feel uncomfortable. You don't want to engage them. You wish they'd go away.

But, dear friends, on this first Sunday in the season of Lent, I want to urge you to not turn away from these uncomfortable, uncertain experiences of the wilderness. For God makes a promise, and it's symbolized in your baptism. You do not go into the wilderness alone anymore! An unseen hand is at the wheel of your life now! The Spirit is driving you forward, guiding you, providing you with what you need to overcome the wilderness and to transform even its darkest experiences into unexpected blessing, surprising discovery, and miraculous purpose!

Just recently, I have been deeply moved to observe how a number of our members are learning to trust in the guidance and power of the Spirit. One told me that retirement has really gotten him thinking about what he wants to leave behind in this world besides a low golf handicap. He's gotten involved with one of our local mission projects and is giving of himself in significant ways. He said to me not long ago, "I used to be an engineer, but now I've become a missionary!"

Who would have thought?

And another member recently diagnosed with a serious illness. He and his wife are learning about the gift of prayer. They are studying about prayer in the Bible, reading about it in books, hearing about its power from friends and neighbors. And together, they are turning to God in prayer for their day to day and moment to moment needs. You see, even though we walk through valleys of darkness, the Spirit will not abandon us.

We are a Spirit-driven people!

And as we face the future as a church, let us not shrink from the challenges before us. In a religious world that finds it easier to divide people from God and each other, we must face up to the more daunting calling of finding unity in our diversity, and promoting a Gospel that brings people together through the Cross of Jesus. And we must be faithful to Jesus' calling to learn how to lead others to faith, to forgive people, to love the unlovable, and to be Christian advocates for the poor and the powerless.

For the story of our church is a living testimony to the truth and power of God. We do not live where things are safe and certain and always guaranteed to result in fairy princesses.

Oh no, we dwell in the land of talking frogs, expansive visions, bold ideas, daring mission, sacrificial service, unlimited forgiveness, monumental change and amazing grace!

We live where the only certainty is that we are a Spirit-driven people!

Will you believe that about yourself? Will you believe it for our church?

Come, let us follow the Spirit!