God's Wondrous Gifts

March 9, 2025 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 God’s Wondrous Gifts Lent 1 Year C “Wonder” Lent One Prelude Welcome and Announcements Over the Threshold – Call to Worship Leader: Professor of Jewish Mysticism and beloved author, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, said this: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Sing Verse 1 of Hymn 454 – Open My Eyes So that I may see This Lent, we are invited to consider that one of the most important gifts we can give is to be “purveyors of awe.” A purveyor is someone who spreads or promotes a particular idea or who deals in a particular good. Our quest in this season is to promote a state of awe about the lives we’ve been given and revel in the sheer miracles of life that surround us. This is a spiritual journey in the tradition of biblical poets and of mystics. In our modern day, researchers who study wellbeing know that when we cultivate elements that deepen our awe of life, our appreciation for others, our dedication to the good, we live longer, more purposeful and more joyful lives. In a time when we are exposed to the weight of the world by the messages around us, we will spend time on a journey of being exposed to the wonder of the world. Sing Verse 2 of Hymn 454 – Open My Eyes So that I May See The “wide eye of wonder” creates optimal conditions for awe. When we open our senses to the “extraordinariness of the everyday ordinary,” we have begun the journey to a deeper existence than what resides at surface-level. Wonder can be an antidote to anxiety and depression, pulling us instead toward the awe-filled knowledge that there is more than meets the eye, there are solutions in the midst of problems, possibilities where we sense only dead-ends. Let us rise in body and/or spirit and pray: Awe-inspiring God, we come together this day because we need to be reminded to see through the lens of wonder. Too often, we relegate what is always amazing to what is ever familiar, forgetting that there are mysteries and miracles in the ordinariness of our lives. Open us to perceive anew. Inspire us to receive our surroundings with awe. Forgive us when we focus only on what’s wrong rather than allowing the right and good to show us the way forward. Be with us on this journey as we seek again to marvel at your works. Sing Verse 3 if Hymn 454 – Open My Eyes That I May See [fade into silence… after a time, the leader speaks softly into the silence] Be still and know that God is God. Wonders never cease. God forgives us. Jesus embraces us. The Spirit enlivens us. We are whole. With awe, we accept this belovedness. And all God’s people say, “Amen.” Hymn God Will Take Care of You UMH 130 In Awe of Young People and others PRAYER OF CONFESSION Jesus, We confess that when we read about your temptations, we excuse ourselves. After all, we reason, we are not you. Of course, you passed the test, we say. You’re God, right? But we mere mortals have no expectation that we can withstand evil like you did. But we are reminded that you are not only Savior; you are example. You faced the temptation to prove yourself, to be spectacular, and to have consuming power. And you walked away, resisting. Forgive us when we have not resisted; when we have yielded to temptation. Forgive us for loving power and prestige more than God. Help us to choose a life rooted in God’s word and grace. Amen. Written by Valerie Bridgeman Davis, The Africana Worship Book, Year C (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2008), 146. The Peace The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you. I invite you to share the peace of Christ with those around you, [remembering to greet those online with a wave to the camera]. Contemporary Reading Our first reading is a contemporary one–an excerpt from Monica C. Parker, author of The Power of Wonder: “Gently peeking its head around mental corners or bombastically announcing its arrival into our trembling psyche, wonder changes our perspective, our bodies, our souls, and our lives. Art, music, religion, politics, science, nature, love, fear, birth, death; each of the myriad experiences that compress to form the bedrock of human life has a golden vein of wonder running through it.” Ancient Reading Deuteronomy 26:1-11 In Awe of the Word (Sermon) God’s Wondrous Gifts We have all heard the saying – Those who cannot remember the past are bound to repeat it. George Santayama is quoted as saying that in 1905. But we all know that warning has been given to mankind since the beginning of time. There are times in our life when we are good at remembering the lessons of the past, and there are times when are so anxious for the future that we are convinced that the hold is holding us down. Sometimes, it is hard for us to hold onto the lessons of the past, we have to let it go in order to build something new, especially here in America. Some of the ways that we remember history as a people is by getting together, through traditions, even through the collective holidays that we celebrate. For instance look at the holidays that are popular – everyone loves Christmas, Halloween is getting really popular, St Patrick’s Day is coming up and everyone is Irish for the day. And yet there are days like memorial day – which is intended to remember the heroes who got us where we are today – and yet it is celebrated as the first day of summer. Labor day in intended to remember that we got where we are by hard work – yet we think if it as the last day of summer. In a lot of ways, not all it seems that as we march on to the future – more and more we are letting go of the past. When we no longer remember our history, then it ceases to exist. In John Steinbeck''s great novel, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, a migrating "Okie" family is told not to waste vital packing space on photographs and other items of family history and memories. One of the family members responds, "How will we know it''s us without our past?" In the Book of Joshua (4:1-7), the heir to Moses instructs the men from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to gather a stone and to lay them in a special place, "as these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever." The people of Israel must never be disconnected from God''s story and actions. One of the ways of remembering the lessons of the past is through worship – singing together, listening together and praying together. One of the primary messages of the bible is to remember where you came from. I think that the old Hebrew society does a much better job than we do in remembering the past. The bible is full of stories where the people are instructed to remember – an incident. There are even told of ways to collectively celebrate the past. Even Jesus tells his disciples to do this in remembrance of me. The Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy 26:1-11 is thought by the German Biblical scholar, G. Von Rad, to be one of the earliest known "creeds" of the people of Israel. It was recited as a creed to keep the people''s memory of the mighty acts of God in their history alive. History is a simple compound word meaning "His-Story." The divine story and the human response were never to be forgotten. The primary way this was done was by the ancient method of oral communication, called "The Story". It was passed on. It was communicated. It connected people to their past so they would never be orphans. Lent is a time for us to gather and to collectively remember. Most of the scriptures that are chosen for lent are scriptures that remind us of our relationship with God. The Hebrew Bible scriptures usually point out God’s promise to us. They show us how God started a relationship with us based on love and care. They are stories of who someone was in distress, They called out to God and god answered them. This year – we wont hear about God’s promise – we will hear about our response to God’s love. In our scripture for today – Moses is the speaker. This is a part of his final speech. His people have wandered for 40 years- and they are finally about to enter into the land of milk and honey. God has told Moses that he won’t be coming into the promiseland with them -so moses is giving them these final words of advice. He tells them to remember the past, remember where God has brought you through and respond by returning to god your best. Moses starts by saying, when you get to the land of milk and honey bring an offering to God. This would be the land of milk and honey because it would be the land where their livestock would settle and graze and have babies and produce lots of milk, and where they could plant, which would attract the bees and there would be lots of honey. This is the land where the people could settle and be satisfied. Moses wanted them to remember that everything that they received in that land was a gift from God. There is an often-told story about an immigrant shopkeeper who had a son who continuously complained to him. The son would say, "Dad, I do not understand how you run this store. You keep your accounts payable in a cigar box. Your accounts receivable are on a spindle. All your cash is in the register. You never know what your profits are." The old man would respond by saying, "When I arrived in this land all I owned were the pants and the shirt I was wearing. Now your sister is a doctor. Your brother is a teacher. You are an accountant. I have four grandchildren. Your mother and I own a nice house and two cars and this little store. Add it all up, subtract the pants and the shirt, and then you'll have your profit." All of us have a lot to be thankful for, all of us have been blessed by God. Moses direction to us: give your first fruits to God, be grateful, in everything remember where you came from, take account of your gifts from God, the best way to see God, is to look back and remember. For me, every morning I try to get up and journal – to write about whatever is on my mind. Through that process, I set my intention for the day, set goals for the day, reflect on important things to do. Recently I also started identifying ways that I can see that God is working in my life – where are the places that I saw the spirit working. I soon realized that sometimes to only way to see how God is working clearly is to reflect on the past. My list of places and times that I saw God – is always about the day before. When we are living in the moment, it is hard to see how god is working. The only way to identify those moments is to sit and reflect and remember. I think that lectionary writers chose this scripture is to remind us to first bring our best to God, to be grateful, but most importantly to remember. Lent is that time to remember and to respond. We spend a lot of the Christian year in ordinary time – actually about six months. We are told to go out into the world and to be the hand, ear, feet and hands of God. We are supposed to be God’s love in action. The work is important, but can be very busy. The other half of the year, we are in festival time, called into the church to celebrate Christ. We are called to listen, learn, reacclimate and to intentionally listen for God. So far we have been through advent, Christmas, epiphany and now it is time for lent. We are called to slow down. And really take account of God in your life. To listen to what God is saying to you, to find out who Christ is for you, and to become a witness to how God is working in the world, in our country, in our lives. It is time to rethink the covenant – what did God promise to me – and how is god fulfilling that promise in my life. God is all around us – sometimes we forget to look. Sometimes we are so focused on looking for God – we lose sight at what we are looking at. When we get used to looking for God, we can see the spirit clearly. My list of places I experienced God gets longer and more detailed everyday. Have you noticed that when you start to recognize the spirit of God in your life, you can’t help but to say wow! God’s presence is always amazing. God’s ways are always so much better than ours, God works in ways that are impossible to us, God does things that we would never have thought of, God’s blessings are beyond what we could ask for. So our Lenten task is to look for the awe and wonder of God. God wants to do something for us! Isn't that wonderful news? The story goes that Arnold Palmer was asked by an oil sheik to come and lay out and supervise the building of a golf course in Kuwait. Palmer went, built a magnificent course, and was paid extremely well for it. As he prepared to leave and return home, the sheik came to him and asked him what he could give him as a gift. "Nothing," Palmer said, "you've already paid me a fortune and I don't need anything at all." But the sheik persisted, "Isn't there anything I could give you? Just tell me, anything at all?" Finally, Arnold said rather nonchalantly, "O well, give me a golf club," and he thought nothing more of the incident. He got on a plane, flew home, and was met at the airport by his secretary, whose opening question was, "Mr. Palmer, what in the world are you going to do with the Westshore Hills Country Club?" We simply have no idea of how much God wants to help us, bless us, and redeem us. Someone said that when we give up things for lent, usually the things that we give up have nothing to do with God or God’s goals. Usually giving up something is about improving ourselves, not our relationship with God. That is not a bad thing. But how about this lent – we spend time looking for God, and remember when we see God to say wow! Sometimes life gets in the way, and it can be hard for us to see God. Lent is our time to step away, remember how god has worked in our life, and respond with gratitude. Whatever you do, wherever you go – don’t forget God. Lets pray…..Amen. Hymn Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley TFWS 2112 Approaching an Awesome God [Prayers] Holy and Living God, we approach this time of prayer with wonder at your world. With all our senses, we open to you. Give us lenses of awe with which to perceive and love others as you perceive and love us. We imagine in our mind’s eye now the people in our lives, the people of our communities, and the people of our world. Each of them is beloved by you, and this alone creates awe in us. We especially lift up those who need our prayers in this moment… [continue with prayers of thanksgiving and care for people]. For all these people and those we name in our hearts, Hear our prayer, Awesome God. Give us lenses of awe with which to perceive and love your creation as you perceive and love it. Each blossom, each sunrise, each unfurling fern reminds us that new life is possible. You are making all things new all around us. Help us to care for the nature around us. This week, we name… [continue with prayers about specific entities of nature in your area]. For all these places, creatures, and lifeforms, and those we name in our hearts, Hear our prayer, Awesome God. Give us lenses of awe with which to perceive and love life as you perceive and love the life you have given us. Open us to the wonders around us–the art-fullness of each encounter, each moment, as a possibility for amazement waiting to happen. Slow us down in this season of Lent so that we might savor anew the gift of life. We pause in this silence, setting intentions of awe for the week ahead. [pause in silence] For all these intentions, Hear our prayer, Awesome God. Let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us… [Lord’s Prayer]. Lord’s Prayer Responding with Awe – Stewardship Moment Offering/Offertory [as is your custom] Doxology [Tune: Old 100th] Praise God, Creator of us all, Praise Christ, by whom we hear our call, Praise Spirit, that which sets us free, Our awe is yours, the One-in-Three. Offertory Prayer Faithful God, who journeys with us through the wilderness of our lives, as we offer these gifts, we remember your sustaining presence. In this period of spiritual renewal, strengthen us to resist temptation and guide us to live in community with love and grace. May these offerings be signs of hope and acts of compassion that reflect the love you have shown us in Christ. Empower us to rise together, supporting one another on this journey of faith and transformation. In the name of Jesus, our Redeemer, we pray. Amen. (United Methodist Board of Discipleship) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Benedictions are blessings. And blessings are all around us. So for this season, instead of bowing your head as I offer a Benediction blessing, I invite you to open your palms in a position of receiving, and hold your head high, imagining a radiant stream of light from above shining upon you and everything else around you. And this week when you need to be reminded of the wonder-filled world, take this stance again. Open your palms to receive, look around to perceive, and notice one small thing that can light up your heart for a moment. And now may you go forth remembering Rabbi Heschel’s words: “Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Be a purveyor of awe this week. Be amazed as you gaze with the lens of wonder at the world around you, as you wonder with hope about what will unfold, as you invite wonder to live and breathe new life in you. Be a “purveyor of awe,” curating a life of spiritual depth that inspires others to join you on the journey. May the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of Awe, the Holy One-in-Three, be with you now and throughout these days, Amen. Community Time (Joys and Concerns) We Go Forth with Awe [Benediction] Beloved, you—you—who live in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the shadow of the Almighty —will find in God your refuge and fortress. Go now, in the blessing of the Triune God who shelters you and rescues you, that we all might be a shelter and a rescue for and with one another. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, August 2024. Postlude Worship Notes Contemporary reading excerpted from the following source: Parker, M. C. (2023). The power of wonder: The extraordinary emotion that will change the way you live, learn, and lead. Penguin Random House. Additional Illustrations A friend once told me of an experience he had as a child. When he was eight years old he went with his family to visit an uncle who lived on a farm. He always looked forward to these visits because his uncle had horses that he let the children ride. When it was his turn to go for a ride, he rode the horse until he was out of view of the house. Then he slipped to the ground. He wanted to try mounting the horse as he had seen cowboys on television do it. So he got behind the horse and took a running start toward the horse. He jumped as high as he could but his feet barely left the ground. He landed on his feet directly behind the horse. He looked up at the horse's tail and, as he stood there, he wondered how he would ever get back up on such a large horse. The horse calmly turned its neck to look at him. Then it reared and kicked him with its hind legs. This time when he landed it was on the other side of a ditch beside the road. He got up and raced home crying. When he got to the house, he told his uncle the horse had kicked him. He failed to mention that he had been attempting a running rear-mount of the horse. His uncle insisted that that horse had not kicked him. He was absolutely sure the old mare was too gentle to kick anyone. He refused to believe that his gentle old mare would kick someone. With that the boy took off his shirt. He showed his uncle his chest, which displayed two bright red circles that looked conspicuously like the hoof prints of a horse. To a great extent, we choose what we believe, don't we? We also choose the outlook and the perspective that governs our lives. For Christians that outlook should reflect a sense of gratitude for what God has done in our lives. We can choose to ignore the evidence of God's goodness if we want. Yet, if we look through the eyes of faith, we will see God's faithfulness and we will be compelled to respond in gratitude. Today's scripture passage raises three important questions that can guide us as we see the perspective God wants for us. What Is Your Inheritance From God? The fathers of modern psychology, Freud, Adler, and Jung, are recognized students of human nature. Their combined message to us is that to be truly human we need three things - significance, security, and love. For Israel, and for us, the ultimate source of our significance and security is to be realized in the covenant of God's love for us. Giving to God a portion of the first fruits is a lovely way of honoring and thanking him. Imagine the five-year-old daughter who, upon receiving from her parents a gift of new crayons or markers for coloring, makes her first project an "I love you" note and picture for her mommy and daddy. This is the quality of the first fruits offering: let the first thing I do with God's gift to me be a way of saying "thank you" and "I love you" to him. Todd Outcalt, in his book, The Best Things in Life Are Free, tells about a short story authored by Charles Dickens, titled, "Tale of a Chemist." It is a futuristic tale in which a famous chemist is tortured by the painful memories of his past. He tries desperately to shake these memories from his mind, for they haunt him constantly, plaguing his days and tormenting his nights. But his efforts are to no avail. Eventually he decides that he will undergo a series of experimental shock treatments, which will obliterate his memory and give him a new lease on life. This he does, and the shock treatments are a complete success. However, the chemist soon discovers that the obliteration of his memory has had some dire consequences. Because his entire memory has been erased, he has no past. He cannot remember where he was born, who his parents were, who his friends are or where he has come from. He is lost without the simple recollections of familiar faces and names. Not only are the painful memories gone, but also the memories that compose his identity as a human being. At the end of the story, the chemist cries out for his past--painful memories and all. He wants what he has lost, for without his memories he is nothing. Wilting inside, he cries out again and again, "Keep my memory green. Keep my memory green." (3) What a powerful story. We do cherish our memories, don't we? Memories of our childhood, memories of those we once loved who are now with God, memories of our wedding day, the birth of our children, our baptism or confirmation, memories of vacations, and significant victories at work, and all kinds of precious events. Israel retained their identity as a people because they remembered their history as a people. There are some things that need to be remembered. Steve Reeves tells about a woman who underwent a very delicate form of brain surgery. When the doctors removed a tumor they were concerned that the slightest mistake could cause her to lose either her memory or her eyesight. So they asked the woman to choose which side of the brain tissue they'd enter with their scalpels. In other words, if she had to lose one of those senses, which would she prefer to lose? She wisely said, "Let me think about it overnight, and I'll tell you tomorrow which is more important to me." The next day she said, "If I had to lose either my memory or my eyesight, I would prefer to lose my memory." When asked how she arrived at this decision, she calmly replied, "I'd rather see where I'm going than remember where I've been." (7) Our biblical, Christian faith is basically a response to a story, to the story of what God has done in human history. It is not as if Christians through the ages have looked at the natural world and decided that there must be a God who created it. They have not thought up a picture of God and designed worship to go with the picture. Nor have they adjusted to their changing cultural and social situations simply by drawing up their own rules for the ethics and morals by which we should live. There are some forms of faith in our day that are such products of human imagination and construction. But that is not true of the biblical faith of the Christian Church. No. Our faith is a response to a history of God's words and deeds, a history that is now preserved and passed on to us in the scripture. So it is that when we confess our faith in the Apostles' Creed, for example, we tell the story on which that faith is based, and the story is the history of what God has done: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ... I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The third day he rose again from the dead...." On that basis, then, we respond and say, "I believe." God's acts always come first. We did not construct our faith out of our own thoughts and desires. Rather, God did particular deeds and said particular words, and we say, "Yes, I believe God did those things and spoke those words," and then we work out our response of faith in accord with what the deeds and words have revealed to us about God. Thus, in our Epistle lesson from Romans 10:8b-13, Paul writes that whoever believes and confesses that God raised Jesus from the dead and made him Lord, will be saved. Faith and salvation rest on God's prior act in Jesus Christ. Dr. Craddock concluded Dr. Momaday''s story by saying, "Anyone who cannot remember further back than his or her own birth is an orphan." (1) Remembering is not intended to paralyze us, but to free us. Dr. William Hinson, tells the story of his brother-in-law who took piano lessons as a youngster, practicing on a Wurlitzer. He always began playing the pieces he had memorized by recalling that middle C was under the "W" imprinted on his piano at home. On the big day of his recital, he walked confidently on stage, yet to his consternation, he was seated before a Yamaha. He hadn''t the slightest notion as to the location of middle C. After a long, terrified silence, the piano teacher realized the problem, walked across the stage, and pointed to middle C. Hinson''s brother-in-law then proceeded to play the oft-rehearsed recital selection. (2) As we reflect on this Memorial Day weekend, what is the "Middle C" that is missing from our national heritage. Is it: Character, Compassion, Commitment, Common Cause, or Charity? What is the "Middle C" missing in the Christian Church? It is the "Centrality of Christ." Father Henri Nouwen wrote, "The strategy of the principalities and powers is to disconnect us, to cut us off from the memory of God." Do you remember that in George Orwell''s provocative book, 1984, the first thing to be sacrificed for the new world order and system is the history of the past? Only when you can convince a people they are strangers in an alien land can you then re-educate them, because they have been stripped of the richness of past experiences. Without our past, we can never really live or die, we simply exist. Elie Wiesel wrote, "Memory is an exalted way of seeing one''s life in its totality, it is not a morbid thing." There is a great power in memory. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a powerful story that says it well. A young man meets and falls in love with a beautiful young lady. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. She is from outside the solar system. She asks her husband if she can go home one more time before they set up their home. When she comes back, she has with her a rather large box, and she says, "We''ll get married and I''ll live here, but this box must remain in our home and you must never look in it." He says, "That''s okay. No problem there." The days went by, and you know what happened. One day she was away from the house for a long period of time and he was there by himself. That box kept saying, "Come and look, come and look." He went over to the box and got the nerve to open it up. He felt he had to know what was in it. When he opened it up, it was empty. That made him angry. When she came in, he said to her, "You told me not to look into the box. The box seemed to be special to you. I made a special place in our home for it. Then when I opened the top and looked in, it was absolutely empty. How could you pull a fraud like this on me?" Tears were coming down her cheeks. She said, "You''ve missed the whole point. You remember when I went back to my planet and came with the box? I went to get this special box and I filled it with all the aromas of the crops and the homes, the aromas of the people of the streets--all of them are in this box. And when I get terribly homesick, I go and breathe deeply of the memories that are in that box. Now you have called what is very special to me profane." Memory is a powerful perfume from the past in which we continue our connection to God''s saving acts in history. I pray we will not let others or ourselves forget what God has done, is doing, and wants to do through us. Let us not take what is special, sacred and holy and call it profane. The woodcutter was filled with fear and began to panic. He wanted to escape, but the house was locked up tightly; there was no way out. As he slumped on the floor, the woodcutter thought of his wife and family. He had been a fortunate man and now his life was to end. After a long time, the woodcutter looked at the clock on the wall; it read five minutes to midnight. The snake stood ready to strike, but in the distance could be heard a faint sound; the church bell was ringing. It rang and rang -- nine, ten, eleven, twelve times. With the last peal of the bell, the house and the snake disappeared. With no place to go, the woodcutter, grateful for his reprieve from death, curled up in a soft place and went to sleep. The next morning he made his way toward the old church. When he arrived, he found the stairs to the belfry and climbed to the top. As he peered at the old bell, he noticed small spots of blood. On the floor of the bell tower he found many feathers and then the bodies of two white doves. They had thrown their tiny bodies at the bell twelve times in order to free the woodcutter, repaying him for their rescue by his hand so many years earlier. The woodcutter quickly picked up the doves. Their bodies were bruised and broken, but they were alive. He ripped his shirt and wrapped the small creatures tenderly. He stayed with the doves, feeding and nursing them until they were once again healthy. Then one morning he opened the church door and again set the birds free. The woodcutter then returned to his wife and children and all lived happily ever after.1 The story of the woodcutter and the doves demonstrates the need for gratitude in our lives. The doves were so grateful that they had been freed that they were willing to die in order to assist the woodcutter, who, in turn, was grateful for their totally unselfish action and nursed them back to health. This story, our lesson from Deuteronomy, and the national holiday we celebrate suggest that we must always demonstrate gratitude in our lives, to one another and most especially to God. On the battlefield a chaplain encountered a wounded soldier lying in pain in a foxhole. "Would you like me to read to you from this good book, the Bible?" The man could only respond, "I'm so thirsty." The chaplain dutifully ran off, found a canteen, and poured the soldier a drink of water. The wounded man was shifting around as if he were very uncomfortable. Thus, the chaplain found a bedroll and placed it under the man's head as a pillow. The soldier then began to shiver. Without thinking the chaplain stripped off his own field jacket and laid it over the wounded man. The soldier then looked the chaplain in the eye and said, "Now if there is anything in that book of yours that will allow a man to do more for another than you have already done, then please read it, because I would like to hear it." Recently, a college basketball player got hurt in a game. It was her third or fourth concussion in recent play. Officials and medical personnel were alarmed when they discovered that the young woman had a selective amnesia as a result of the injury. She knew her name and her family, but she could not recall ever playing basketball. They took her back home and showed her the high school she played for, and she laughed. She didn't believe them when they insisted she played basketball. She forgot who she was, at least in terms of her sport. Forgetting who we are is a tragic thing. It is so tragic that we spend a great deal of energy in reminding ourselves who we are. The patriotic celebrations we plan for national holidays are partly an attempt to remind us of our democratic heritage. The family reunions that are so prevalent in our communities are an attempt to keep our ethnic and family identities alive. Even the political elections that take place is this country are an attempt to sort out and reinforce who we are as a people. We always want to remember who we are. Remembering who we are is what worship is all about for the Christian community. One of the main purposes of worship is to clearly identify, clarify, and recall who we are -- people created, redeemed, and sustained by a loving God. This story is about three very religious people who lived in a rural community. It is a story about three people who chose to attend the annual thanksgiving worship service. Their names are Liz, Sam and Joe. They live in the country and each of them is involved in farming. However, each of them has his own view of what it means to be "thankful" for the harvest that is now out of the field and in the barns. Liz does not actually do farm work herself. She is married to a farmer. Her husband farms a very large plot of land. This past year they did very well. It was a bumper crop for them. Liz and her husband are very happy about it. As faithful worshippers, they will tithe a full ten percent of everything that they received from the harvest. Considering the size of this year's crop, giving away ten percent means giving away a lot, but they do not mind. Even after giving so much in their offering, they will still have their remaining nine-tenths. It is enough to make them quite wealthy and, for that, they are thankful. Sam also farms. He farms a much smaller area than Liz's husband does. For whatever reason, Sam's crop was not too good this year. Sam's barn is pretty small to begin with, but, even so, his harvest did not come close to filling it. Nonetheless, Sam is also faithful in giving his tithe every year. Discouraged as he is by how little he received from the land, he too plans to attend the special worship service. He will offer his tithe and give thanks for what crops he does have. Finally there is Joe. Joe is a very young farmer. Some of his friends tease him about being more of a "nature lover" than a farmer. He sometimes goes out to his field and just looks at the earth. He stands in awe as he watches the miracle of planted seeds sprouting from the ground. As Joe brings his tithe to the special worship service, he does so conscious of the magical wonder that is bound up in the process of planting and harvesting. Each of the three people approaches the worship service with a little different view of thankfulness. Liz is "happy thankful." Sam is "discouraged thankful." Joe is "awe-struck thankful." Yet, even though their viewpoints vary somewhat from each other, they each attend the thanksgiving worship service with the same thing in mind. Each goes to worship expecting it to be a time to offer God their thanks and their tithe. However, when they actually get to the worship, they discover that, this year, there's more going on -- much more. The worship turns out not to be only a time for them to give their offering and speak a prayer of thanks. This year's worship now includes: "the creed" -- and that changes everything. Attending this thanksgiving worship, Liz, Sam and Joe each discover that there is far more going on than they had realized. The end. That's the story. What did you think? Was it as bad as I led you to expect, or did it actually seem like a fairly nice story to you? I would guess that for many people it probably sounded simply like a story about some pretty nice, fairly generous, "church-going" people. If you had a hard time figuring out what was so non-Christian and so un-American about it, allow me to let you in on the secret. You see, the "creed" that was said in the worship service was not the Apostles' Creed. Nor was it the Nicene Creed or the Athanasian Creed or any other Christian creed. In fact, Liz, Sam and Joe were not attending a Christian worship service at all. They were attending a harvest time, thanksgiving worship service all right, but it had nothing to do with our American Thanksgiving. The three worshippers in the story were not Americans. None of them lived anywhere near America. Neither did they worship in a time that was anywhere near the 20th century. Although it may have sounded like it was a story about an American Thanksgiving worship service, much like the service we're having right now, it was actually a story about three Hebrew people attending the "feast of the first fruits" in Jerusalem, centuries before the birth of Christ. Such an event could not possibly be Christian and it certainly was not an American tradition. Nevertheless, the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy, the chapter which prescribes the worship for this ancient Hebrew festival, is the appointed Old Testament lesson which is to be read as we gather for our Thanksgiving Day worship. What, we might ask, could this text possibly have to say to our situation? The "feast of first fruits," described by our Deuteronomy text, is also called by other names in scripture. It is sometimes called "the feast of harvest," and sometimes "the feast of weeks." The date of the festival was set by counting seven weeks from the time the sickle was put to the standing grain (Deuteronomy 16:9). Since it was celebrated on the 50th day after the beginning of the harvest, it was later given the name "Pentecost," since the Greek word pentacosta means 50. It is the same harvest festival that was taking place when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and others in the second chapter of the book of Acts. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The story with which I began this sermon is a story about people attending this "feast of the first fruits." Liz, Sam and Joe are just nicknames I gave to worshippers who would probably have gone by the longer Hebrew names of Elizabeth, Samuel and Joseph. The particular characters, along with their scenarios, are just something I made up for the story, but the worship service I described them attending was not "made up." We heard Martin Luther say this earlier. He claimed that the offering up of the first fruits to which our First Lesson from Deuteronomy refers (v. 2a) are the good things of love given to us by grace. The first fruits you give to God in thanksgiving are the service you and I render to God and our neighbors.4 You can understand now why Christians do not just give ten percent to God. Essentially when we are living the Christian life we are giving God everything. How about providing for myself and my family? If you ask that question, you have not gotten the point. Christians, every good thing that you and I have belongs to God. He has given them to you to use responsibly and to enjoy. But since they are not yours give them all back to God by thanking him for them and by sharing all these goods with those in need. A few years ago, Susan and Harvey Duke went through a rough period that taught them to trust in God's providence. Harvey couldn't find work, and the family finances were dwindling quickly. One morning, Susan opened the pantry to find bags of potatoes and onions--and absolutely nothing else. And, to complicate matters, as she prayed over the family's financial situation, Susan felt God urging her to give away what they did have. What a dilemma. Then Harvey came home. And he asked Susan to take some food to the new family moving in next door. What was he doing? Didn't he realize how dire their situation was? In spite of her misgivings, Susan loaded a picnic basket with potatoes and onions and delivered it to their new neighbors. A short time later, Susan answered the door to find the neighbor's son on their front steps. He was carrying bags of groceries. His family's refrigerator hadn't been installed yet. They needed to get rid of the food they had brought from their old house. Would she accept a couple of bags of groceries? Of course, she would--with great joy. Susan and Harvey could only interpret the neighbor's kindness like this: God had rewarded their giving by giving back to them abundantly. (3) It was Christmas Eve, and Dr. Leandra Lynch was stuck working the night shift in the emergency room. As the newest resident at the hospital, she had the last choice of shifts, so she got the ones nobody else wanted. Late that evening, an elderly man was admitted with chest pains. Dr. Lynch treated him for heart attack symptoms. She checked on him throughout the night. Eventually, he was stable enough to go home later. The next year, Dr. Lynch was stuck once more working the night shift on Christmas Eve. At 9 p m., an elderly couple entered the emergency ward and introduced themselves to Dr. Lynch. The gentleman, Mr. Lee, wanted to thank her for saving his life the previous Christmas Eve. The next Christmas Eve at 9 p m., the Lees returned with another gift and a hug for Dr. Lynch. They just wanted to express their gratitude. And the next Christmas Eve they did the same. And the next. For 13 years, the Lees returned to the emergency ward on Christmas Eve to thank Dr. Lynch. And for the next 13 years, Dr. Lynch looked forward to working on Christmas Eve just for their visits. After Mr. Lee's death, Dr. Lynch and her family started a new tradition. Every year at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, they ring a small crystal bell--a gift from Mr. Lee--and toast the memory of a man who never forgot to be grateful. (6) To remember is to be thankful. And to be thankful is to taste joy twice. I challenge you this Thanksgiving to tell the story of this past year of your life--and as you tell it, to focus on the positive. Focus on how God has guided you and provided for you. Remember what God brought you through this past year. Remember God's promise that He has a "future and a hope" for you. And leave here rejoicing "in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and to your household." Even more important, the memories that we have show us the direction in which we need to be headed as we move into the future. Those are the memories of: • what God has done for us in creating us and giving us a job to do. • what Jesus did for us by entering into human history. • what Jesus did by taking our sins upon himself to the cross. • our religious tradition as handed down from the Reformers. • parents and friends who nurtured us in the faith. If we ever forget who we are, where we have come from, why we do what we do, and what we need to do as we travel the road, the danger is that we will flounder. The challenge on this day of Thanksgiving is a simple one ...remember! Lent is known as a season of giving up, but it is far more important to simply give, and to resist the temptation to give in. Give to the work of the church. Give to others. Give up because you want to be able to give more, and because you refuse to give in to our culture of wealth, power, acquisitiveness, envy, and greed. You bear great names — the names of Abraham and Jesus, and the God who is, and the promise of what is to come. These names make life worth living, and other lives worth saving. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays in Lent and Easter: The City of Justice, by Frank Ramirez f I said to you that next year God will bless you with a million dollars, but that in turn he would require you to bring 10% to the altar, you would cheerfully sign up, would you not? Can you imagine how readily most of the world's people would nod in assent if I said that next year THEY will make what YOU make, but 10% must be returned to the Lord? They would see that as a tremendous bargain. They would indeed be cheerful givers. One church had on its bulletin board this sign: "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. He also accepteth from a grouch." If we properly understood why we give, we would be cheerful givers. We would understand what a privilege it is to give. And we would anticipate the day when we will be able to give even more. Some years ago, Dr. Edson, the rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, used to walk through the town, greeting everyone with a cheerful "Good morning, and how are you today?" One morning, he was surprised to hear someone respond, "I'm very well, thank God!" Edson brightened and replied, "I am so delighted to hear you thank God for it! For 20 years I have heard everyone in Lowell thanking me. They always say, 'I am very well, thank you, Dr. Edson. "It's nice to hear someone thanking God." Do you have your health? Do you have people who love you? Do you have food to eat and a warm place to sleep on a cold winter night? Do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sins? We have much to be thankful for. We give, first of all in response to all that God has done for us. Some years ago, Dr. Edson, the rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, used to walk through the town, greeting everyone with a cheerful "Good morning, and how are you today?" One morning, he was surprised to hear someone respond, "I'm very well, thank God!" Edson brightened and replied, "I am so delighted to hear you thank God for it! For 20 years I have heard everyone in Lowell thanking me. They always say, 'I am very well, thank you, Dr. Edson. "It's nice to hear someone thanking God." Do you have your health? Do you have people who love you? Do you have food to eat and a warm place to sleep on a cold winter night? Do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sins? We have much to be thankful for. We give, first of all in response to all that God has done for us. Recently, I sat by the bedside of a friend who had the previous day been in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. When he looked up and saw me coming into the room he said, "Oh, oh, I must be really bad off if they have called you." He looked over to his wife and he said, "Who told you I was here anyway?" During the course of the next several hours he had several visitors who brought flowers, gifts, cards, and unsolicited words of wisdom about staying off motorcycles. Since he was a pastor, I could tell he was quite uncomfortable with his new role as a patient. He continued to show pastoral presence as his members and staff came to visit with the one from whom they had been accustomed to receiving comfort and consolation. Finally in a moment when we were alone, he turned to me and said, "Okay, you haven't said much. Let me have it. I know I've got a lecture coming." I said, "Oh no, not a lecture, just a lesson." We began to pray prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and praise. We cried out to God and thanked him for his continued protection and care. You see, although my friend had slid 575 feet on the pavement and grass, when he came to a stop within seconds a passing paramedic stood by his side. Several seconds later a passing physician came to his aid. Our prayers took us back over the 13 years of our friendship and our memories of God's faithfulness in many circumstances in our lives began to pour out of us. The Holy Spirit reminded us of God's promise to protect us and build a wall of protection around our ministries. While some of the visitors had asked, "What is God trying to teach you through this experience?" he and I knew that it was not punishment but covenant that sent the angels to deliver in time of trouble. O give thanks to the Lord! I sat amazed at how this man, bandaged from head to toe, raised his arms and began praising God in the midst of his injuries. We sat a while longer and recalled the stories of faith that we had lived through and then we again thanked God for being so good to us -- all the time! The season of Lent is a time to reflect on our journeys of faith. Sometimes those journeys take difficult paths, but we can know through faith that God never leaves us alone. Perhaps these words ask it best: What shall I render unto God for all his blessings, what shall I do? During the beginning of the Lenten season that is a question that we can all ask. What shall I render unto God? Our faith journeys are best understood in light of our covenants, convictions and hopes. What are we willing to put first in our offerings to God? CSS Publishing Company, TURNING OBSTACLES INTO O, by Rodney Thomas Smothe Deuteronomy says that the Lord bought us out of the wilderness into the promiseland. I like this scripture because it addresses another important lesson about lent – when you get to the promisland – never lose sight that it was the Lord that bought you through. Another lesson for lent – for all of our lives – is to remember to give our best to God – because God always gives us his best. STORY: Did you know that a person with six kids is more satisfied than a person with six million dollars? What do you think? The reason for this is that the man with six million dollars wants more. At this Lenten season, what do you like about your present giving patterns? What do you dislike? What would you like to change? Deuteronomy reminds us about the first fruits – to give the first of what we have. We don’t live on farms and grow fruits and vegetables. We go to work and earn money. Which is why the conversation is about tithing today and not first fruits. But the challenge is to look at all of our lives, all of what God has given and all of what we can give back to God. Lent is a time to look at what part of our lives are we giving to God. how are we intentionally being faithful, truthful and loyal. 2. To Deny Ourselves: Why don’t we give God what’s left of our paycheck, or of our time, of our efforts? Many people will say, “if I don’t have anything else to do Sunday, I’ll be at church. If I don’t have too many bills to pay, I’ll give a little bit.” If you operate on that principle, you will never give of your time or money. You’ll always be too busy or too broke to do anything. STORY: A Japanese artist painted a picture on a fairly large canvas. Down in one corner was a tree, and on the limbs of the tree were some birds, but all the rest of the canvas was bare. When he was asked if he was not going to paint something more to fill the rest of the canvas, he said, “Oh, no, I have to leave room for the birds to fly.” We often fill our lives so full of obligations that there is not room for the birds to fly and there is no room for God besides. This recitation helped them to remember what God had done for them. They told their story. During the Lenten Season what is the history of your relationship with God? What is your story? We need to share our story with someone this week. “Give God YOUR BEST; expect HIS BEST.” If we give God just the bare minimum, that doesn’t take much faith. Give to God your very best even if it stretches your faith. If you were giving your best to God, what would it be? What would you consider to be your very best? What would your best look like? CONCLUSION: Has God fulfilled His part of the bargain when you gave him your very best? God promised to be with you. Did He? to deliver you from whatever bound you. Did He? to teach you how to live abundantly. Did He? Are your vows a testimony to God’s blessings to you? Are they meaningful vows that connect with your whole life and vows that give God the best of your lives? What stands in the way of you giving all honor and glory to God in your lives? What temptations do you need to overcome. How do you give back to God? Have you made space in your life to give honor and glory to God? If not, lent is a good time to stop and think about how to overcome temptation, and to live in faith, loyalty and trust in God. No matter how we pray, how we go to church, how we trust God – temptation will not go away – evil will not go away. But good always defeats evil. Trust in the lord, in Jesus Christ gives us the strength to over look evil. Verse 14 of psalm 91 says o Because they cleave to me in love, I will deliver them, I will protect them, because they know my name. I will satisfy them with a long life and show them my salvation. Let that be our prayer this day Amen. We Haven’t Been Up To Bat Yet Temptation tries to blind us to other possibilities. A business man driving home from work one day, saw a little league baseball game in progress. He decided to stop and watch. He sat down in the bleachers and asked a kid what the score was. "We’re behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," he responded. "I have to say you don’t look very discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet." Brett Blair, The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each had been smitten with a bad case of spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper." Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions. Then she said, "First question--which tire was flat?" Lent: Spring Training For Christians When I was a boy, I was told, "Baptists don't do Lent." No one knew why. I suspect that it was an anti-Catholic thing which I pray we are over. It was the old argument, "whatever they do, we don't!" - a curiously convoluted, twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices. Whatever the reason for "not doing Lent," I think it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Every spring the baseball players prepare for the season with spring training; every spring ordinary people prepare for summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry - what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us on Golgotha's cross and at the empty tomb? If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning. John Ewing Roberts, Remembering and Forgetting

Lead us not into temptation this lent

March 6, 2022 Luke 4:1-13 First Sunday of Lent Year C Prelude Welcome Invocation Call to Worship L: For some of us, it was tempting to “sleep in” this morning. P: But God has called us to this place, to hear God’s word, to open our hearts in prayer and praise, and to seek direction for our lives. L: There are many temptations placed in front of us. We are called to be strong and place our trust in God. P: God is always faithful to us, comforting, guiding, lifting us. AMEN. (Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer Lord, the temptations of the world loom large before us. We are enticed, cajoled, and “sweet-talked” into moving from lives of service to lives of self-centeredness. We need your healing love. As you resisted the temptations in the wilderness, help us to place our trust in you, that we may be strong in our faith and confident in our service to you through serving others. AMEN. (Nancy Townley) Hymn of Praise I Love to tell the Story UMH 156 Responsive Reading Psalm 91:1-2,9-16 UMH 810 Scripture Luke 4:1-13 Luke 4:1-13 Common English Bible Jesus’ temptation 4 Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. 2 There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving. 3 The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.”[a] 5 Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. 7 Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[b] 9 The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; 10 for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you 11 and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.[c]” 12 Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.”[d] 13 After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity. Anthem Sermon Lead us not into Temptation this lent There are few words that disturb a Christian more than the word temptation. The Lord’s prayer says lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So we tend to associate temptation with something bad. The story of Jesus temptation is included in three of the 4 gospels. Each has a little bit of a different spin on the story, but in each Jesus goes into the wilderness and the devil tempts him and Jesus comes out victorious and begins his earthly ministry. Jesus has been baptized, he hears the voice of God and that same voice leads him into the wilderness. The devil comes and encourages him to take care of himself and his needs by using his special powers as the son of God. That is the point of this passage, for us to think about what it means for Jesus to be the son of God. The things that the devil tempts him to do are all come from his needs and his thoughts – he is hungry, he is struggling with what a messiah does, he is all alone in the dessert. Why wouldn’t he do all that he can to take care of himself and to survive a difficult experience? – because he realized that being the son of God did not mean having access to the power to do what he wanted, but it meant having the power to back away from our deepest desires. It meant thinking beyond our immediate needs to think about the better cause. Temptations don’t come from the devil, they come from our hearts. And they are not always intended to lead us to the wrong place. The Union Pacific Railroad built an extensive bridge over a canyon in the west. In order to test the bridge, they sent a train across it with extra weight and extra cars. They stopped the train in the middle of the bridge and left it there for 24 hours. People asked it they were trying to break the bridge before it started. No they said, they were just trying to prove that it wont break. In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren’t designed to see if he would sin, but to prove that he would not. (Word, March 14, 1991) Life sometimes does the same for us. Temptation doesn’t come to mislead us, but to show us our own strength. Just as the Spirit and the Word led Jesus, they also lead us. Just as Jesus is the son of God, we too are children of God. Thomas Pilgrim, a pastor reminds us that in those times when we feel as if we are in the wilderness, trying to find your way and temptation offers you the wrong answer, the wrong choice, the wrong use of power, the way to popularity, the wrong kind of partnership, then remember that God called us by name. He said of each of us, this is my beloved son, my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased, and if God calls us by name, God will see us through. Our job is to make sure that in the midst of all of the other noise of life, that we are able to hear God’s voice. That is our job during lent. We too have the spirit and the word to sustain us. We listen to our faith, we read about our faith, but I think most of us learn from singing our faith. . When you think about what you know and remember about your faith – did it come from the bible, from a sermon, or for a song? I am a pastor and I give sermons every week – its my job. But I never know if they make a difference. Of course whenever I try to fudge and give a short sermon – someone always calls me on it. When I was younger – I looked forward to coming to church – I wanted a chance to see my friends. I came to hear the choir sing. When the pastor would get up to preach – that was my cue to tune out and think about something else until the choir started singing again. Yes there were some things that the pastor said that stuck with me – but it is still the songs and hymns that capture my heart and come to mind in the dark corners of life. Unfortunately, for pastors, our brains are wired to sing. There is something deep inside of us that responds to music. Even on the late stages of alzheimers disease – long after people have lost touch with he world- they can remember the songs of their childhood. All those songs that we learned in Sunday school – the words are still there. That is something to look forward to in life. But I want you to think of some of the faith songs that are important to you…… I just finished a book called wintering by Katherine May. The book is about some of the traditions and things that we do in order to survive winter. As she goes through the winter months, she talks about her personal winter moments. One chapter is titles – “Sing”. Where she felt that she was losing her voice in life, and she went to a voice coach to learn to sing again. She said that singing was important to her and to her family. She says “There’s a moment of deep genetic resonance in hitting the exact same not in the exact same way.” She goes on to say that when I sing with my son, I am teaching him something: not just words and lyrics, but how to survive. Like the robin, we sometimes sing to show how string we are, and we somethings sing in hope of better times. We sing either way.” (page 228) Personally, I am not a big fan of contemporary Christian music. Some of it is too simple for the ears of someone with a seminary degree. But what is called contemporary includes a wide variety of music. But I do have to say that within the last two years, Shine.FM out of Olivet has become my goto radio station. In those days where I am searching for hope, motivation, support for the struggle to survive – it soothes my soul in a ways that nothing else can. And in the last 2 years, survival has become an every day issue. What are some of the songs that have become a staple in your faith life? What are your favorite faith songs? Two songs that will be sung at my funeral are Precious Lord Take my Hand and I’ll fly away. Lately as I listen to Shine.FM two songs catch my attention every time they come on – Looking for my promisedland by Toby Mac. And a song, Sunday Sermons by Anne Wilson. The line that resonates with me – “Devil gone try to take me out of the church. But you can’t take the church out of me.” This lent we will look at those songs – those lines that speak to us when we are in the trenches of life. I will let you know what songs we will look at on Sunday. And on March 13th – Bettylou will lead us in a hymn sing. Our guide will be a devotional called “Unrevealed until its season – a Lenten journey with the hymns by James C. Howell. He starts the journey with the song “Hymn of Promise” – the song that we sang. The song reminds us that life is always a work in progress. The future is connected to the present. The flowers of the future lie in the seeds that we plant today. Our Lenten practices will carry us forward. The three pillars of lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. On Sunday I will have a sheet with the things that we will do as a church for lent. But my challenge to us – is to declare this a holy lent. How can we improve our relationship with God in the next 40 days? Prayer of Reflection and Growth God of the Road, we journey together into the wilderness again. In this time filled with new spiritual practices and studies, our minds will be “tested.” Doubts will creep in as we seek your presence. At times, we will slide away from our responsibilities to care for our neighbors. “Keep awake,” you call to us. And so we ask ourselves: Will hurtful words from others taunt us, and inhibit our growth with you? Will negative images in our minds draw us away from our practices? Will we snooze to the needs of this world and ignore the pain in our communities? Deliver us from the temptations of this world and the tests that we impose upon ourselves. Amen. Assurance of God’s Grace When we aimlessly wander throughout this Lenten journey, God follows us – even into the depths of the wilderness. May we see God’s presence, knowing we are never alone on arid days and in barren lands. Amen! (Rev. Michelle L. Torigian) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Moment for Stewardship This is the first Sunday in the season we call “Lent”. In earlier years, this 40 day season (in which every day counts except the 7 Sundays from today through Easter) was a rigorous time of fasting, which began with Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”) as a time to clear the house/kitchen of meat, oil, butter and sugar. Today, Christians are encouraged to use these 40 days to practice three acts: 1) prayer, 2) giving to the poor and 3) fasting (stepping away from some act, practice or thing you ordinarily would consume). I don’t believe it meets that practice to declare you’ll pray for lima beans to disappear, offer cans of lima beans to the local food pantry and promise not to eat any lima beans from now until Easter (I wouldn’t touch a lima bean for ANY reason, in any season!) [use your own example of something you detest] Rather, I want to challenge each one of us to a three-fold, season-long practice: “prayer, share, care”. Will you start today? Will you pray for this faith community, share your finances to help ________ (name your particular recipients or organization you’ll bless with a financial gift at the end of this Lent), and care for your mind/body/spirit by taking on a new discipline or giving up something separating you from living as you believe God intends you to do? (if you want to encourage this more strongly, create for each person present a 2 part card: 1 piece for the offering plate, the other to take home and post in a prominent place – refrigerator door or bathroom mirror — as a reminder of their intent.) Will you share your intention? Please sign the card, then tear off that part and add it to your morning offering. Remember to take the other card home to remind you of this 40 day challenge. May you find this Lent to be a power-packed season as you take these three steps! Prayer of Thanksgiving Loving God, you filled Jesus with your Holy Spirit before his 40 days in the wilderness. We thank you for inspiring (“in-Spirit-ing”) us as we step into these forty days of Lent. Now, receive these gifts and these cards of our positive intentions for this season. Please use these resources to build up your Realm on earth, and your Church in this place and around the world. AMEN (Center of Faith and Giving) Hymn of Dedication O God our Help in Ages Past Communion Invitation to Communion In the first temptation, described in Luke 4:1-4, Jesus had fasted for forty days! While we don’t know the specifics, most of us can hardly imagine fasting from bread, dessert, or coffee, for 40 days! Jesus, however, after fasting in the wilderness, was able to turn aside from the suggestion/temptation of the devil to create bread from a stone. Using scripture as his piece-de-resistance, the famished man quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3; “one does not live by bread alone.” At this table, we are all invited to participate in a simple meal which Jesus instituted on the last night of his life. It is not bread alone, but it is a small piece of bread, and a sip of juice, which help us remember Jesus’ body and blood. These elements bind us to God and to each another, renewing our identity as one part of the body of Christ on earth. Together, let us share these gifts as signs of our decision to be disciples of Jesus, the Christ. (Center of Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Benediction (Psalm 91:9-12) God will command the angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear us up. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High will be your dwelling place. No evil shall befall us. Go in peace, in the provision and protection of the Lord. Thanks be to God! Amen. (Matthew J. Packer) Community Time Benediction The journey has begun. God is with you. Go forth to learn, to teach, to serve. Go bringing peace and hope to all in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN. (Nancy Townley) Choir Postlude Children’s Sermon from Sermon4Kids I would like you to help me with something today… I have this bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies (again, this could be another treat, or a toy or other item). Would you like one? Well, I am going to give each of you a cookie to hold…but DON’T eat it! You can touch it, you can feel it, but don’t eat it. Why don’t you smell it? Does it smell tasty? Do you think you would like to eat it? Don’t eat it, though! Is your mouth watering yet? You might be getting tempted to take a bite… Have you ever heard of the word “temptation”? Do you know what it means? Being tempted means you want to do something you are not supposed to do. Right now, you might be tempted to take a bite of that cookie. Well, eating cookies is not necessarily wrong, but if I specifically told you not to do it, then you should probably not be doing it, right? Sometimes it’s tempting to disobey, or to not listen well to our parents. What are some rules you might have at home? (Allow kids to share examples of rules. Optional: hold up list of rules or procedures for something.) Now, you might be tempted to skip some of those rules, or to do something other than what you should be doing. Maybe one of the rules doesn’t sound fun, and you’d like to do something else. It can be hard to be obedient. In fact, on our own power, it’s downright near impossible! But guess what? We don’t have to obey everything perfectly on our own power. Jesus took care of that, and we can rely on HIS power! Did you know that Jesus faced temptation? It was in our Gospel lesson today, as a matter of fact! He went out into the desert, and for a long time He didn’t have anything to eat. Well, that made Him pretty hungry, and Satan picked that time to try to make Him do things He knew He was not supposed to do. These were things that might not have been bad if God instructed it, but Jesus knew He couldn’t listen to Satan for directions. Being tempted is not a sin, but giving in to temptation is. Jesus did not give in, though. Do you know what He used to get rid of the Devil? He used Bible verses! He told Satan that He was not just going to rely on His physical body, but on the Word of God. He threw out Scripture like arrows, and it hit those temptations and eventually made Satan run away! Now, it can be hard to do the right thing. But we know that Jesus lived a perfect life, and died for us so that we can live. Jesus faced temptation, so He knows what it’s like when we are having a tough time trying to obey. What do you think we can do when we are tempted to do the wrong thing? (Take suggestions.) Yes! We can pray to God for help, and we can read our Bibles. And we can also focus on positive things in our lives. The best way to fight off a negative temptation is to focus on something wonderful instead. Why don’t we pray for help with that right now? Oh, and afterwards, you may eat your cookies… (Optional: after prayer, let kids enjoy their treats.) Additional Illustrations A Collapse of Concentration We have all gone through times of testing – times which tried our patience and tested our faith. Christians are not immune from troubles. I played in nationally-rated chess tournaments for years. The one thing all tournament chess players had to guard against was making a mistake when your position was under attack. The pressure of defending a difficult position would often cause careless errors. I’ll never forget a game I was playing against a much-higher ranked player than myself who was from Fresno. Even though the position was relatively even, I was applying a lot of pressure. Every time he parried one threat I seemed to find another way to continue the attack. Finally, he made a blunder and lost a knight and the game. Afterwards I was analyzing the game with some other Fresno chess players. Their attitude was: you only won because our player made a mistake. They didn’t realize that fatal mistake was preceded by a series of pressure-creating moves that finally resulted in a collapse of concentration. All tournament chess players face that – they have to try to not emotionally respond to a tense situation on the chessboard and allow their game to fall apart. This is why God allows testing to come our way. He wants us to learn how to not respond to the pressure, and learn how to go through the difficulty without being crushed emotionally. David Humpal, Overcoming Times of Testing Temptation in Tough Times In tough times, we are tempted not to believe in God. I remember when Old Man Lunde was alive so many years ago. I remember him telling about the Depression in the 1930s and the dust storms of North Dakota. I remember how Al Lunde was broke and didn’t have a dime to his name. He, his wife and kids moved out here to the Pacific Northwest, and Al’s face stuck into my face, as his finger wagged at my eyes, “And where was God in all of that?” Al was still mad at God for what happened to him in the Depression. The years passed, and his wife, Cora, ultimately had a stroke. As she came closer to death, Al was wrestling with loneliness and depression. He was again angry with God and me and again wagged his finger into my face, “How could a good God do something like this to my wife, Cora?” … How nice it would be in the primary temptations of life had to do with sugar cookies, ice cream and popcorn, but the temptations of life have to do with the gut issues of life such as the temptation not to believe in God. The temptation not to believe that God knows your name. The temptation to not believe that God counts the numbers of hairs on your head. The temptation not to believe that God is good. The temptation to not believe that God is not watching our every action and is close to us. Edward F. Markquart, Sugar Cookies, Ice Cream and Popcorn Settling for Less? Do not bother looking for Lent in your Bible dictionary. There was no such thing in biblical times. There is some evidence that early Christians fasted 40 hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the custom of spending 40 days in prayer and self-denial did not arise until later, when the initial rush of Christian adrenaline was over and believers had gotten very ho-hum about their faith. When the world did not end as Jesus himself had said it would, his followers stopped expecting so much from God or from themselves. They hung a wooden cross on the wall and settled back into their more or less comfortable routines, remembering their once passionate devotion to God the way they remembered the other enthusiasms of their youth. Little by little, Christians became devoted to their comforts instead: the soft couch, the flannel sheets, the leg of lamb roasted with rosemary. These things made them feel safe and cared for -- if not by God, then by themselves. They decided there was no contradiction between being comfortable and being Christian, and before long it was very hard to pick them out from the population at large. They no longer distinguished themselves by their bold love for one another. They did not get arrested for championing the poor. They blended in. They avoided extremes. They decided to be nice instead of holy, and God moaned out loud. Barbara Brown Taylor, Settling for Less, article in the Christian Century, February 18, 1998, page 169. How Do Needs Become Sinful? Jesus was really tempted. By definition temptation is something that appeals to us. But how can the Spirit-filled Son of God be tempted by something that is potentially sinful? Spirit-filled, sanctified, spiritually vibrant Christians are still subject to temptation. Jesus was hungry. There was nothing wrong with craving bread after a forty-day fast. All of us have certain desires, wants, needs, both physical and emotional. We crave food when we are hungry. We need companionship, acceptance, approval of others, love and appreciation. These are legitimate needs. And even our wants are not necessarily sinful. How then do they become sinful? The devil is often viewed as the source of our temptations. But we need to understand something about ourselves. It is doubtful whether the devil would have suggested that Jesus turn the stone to bread had Jesus not been hungry. The source of our temptations is almost always our own legitimate, normal, natural desires. The desire for food, sexual intimacy, approval of others is not from the devil. These are wholesome, normal, legitimate desires. How do they become sinful? Jirair Tashjian, Lectionary Commentary and Preaching Paths Christ Lives Here The sure antidote to temptation is to be focused on Christ, to be so filled with his power, his salvation, his life and service, that there is no room for temptation. Shortly after the Reformation, some young followers of Martin Luther wrote him (kind of like an original Ann Landers) with a question, saying, "We are harassed by many temptations which appeal to us so often and so strongly that they give us no rest. You don't seem to be troubled in this way and we should like to know your secret. Don't temptations bother you? Are you somehow immune to sin?" Luther wrote them back in reply, saying, "I, too, know something of temptation. But the difference is that when temptation comes knocking at the door of my heart, I always answer, 'Go away! This place is occupied. Go back where you came from, for Christ is here.' " Lee Griess, Taking The Risk Out Of Dying, Lee Griess, CSS Publishing Company Commentary and Devotional This passage (4:1—11) is often appointed by lectionaries for the first Sunday of Lent. The presumption is that the narrative is of direct relevance for Christians as they enter a period of penitence. Ordinary Christians are unlikely to perceive it so, and with good cause. The story does not correspond with our experience; we do not hold conversations with a visible devil, nor are we whisked from place to place as Jesus is in the story. Moreover, the temptations that Jesus faces are peculiar to him; they seem very remote from those we face day by day. This passage may in fact prompt some to doubt the validity of Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” What did Jesus know of the temptations that are faced daily by the recovering alcoholic and substance abuser? The lonely divorcee? The struggling business owner? The teenager who covets peer acceptance above all? There is, however, a common denominator that links all of these with the temptations ascribed to Jesus. The basic, underlying temptation that Jesus shared with us is the temptation to treat God as less than God. We may not be tempted to turn stones into bread (we are more apt to turn butter into guns, but we are constantly tempted to mistrust God’s readiness to empower us to face our trials. None of us is likely to put God to the test by leaping from a cliff, but we are frequently tempted to question God’s helpfulness when things go awry; we forget the sure promise, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians 12:9). Pagan idolatry is no more a temptation for us than it was for Jesus, but compromise with the ways of the world is a continuing seduction. It is indeed difficult for us to worship and serve God only. We should be continually grateful that we have a great high priest who, tempted as we are, was able to resist all such temptations by laying hold of Scripture and firmly acknowledging that only God is God. Douglas R. A. Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, John Knox Press. God's Testing As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, "Are you trying to break this bridge?" "No," the builder replied, "I'm trying to prove that the bridge won't break." In the same way, the temptations Jesus faced weren't designed to see if He would sin, but to prove that He couldn't. Today in the Word, March 14, 1991. Sermon Closer Harry Emerson Fosdick was one of the greatest American preachers of this century. He described his preaching as counseling on a large scale. Few people knew that as a young seminary student he reached the breaking point after working one summer in a New York Bowery mission. He went home and was overcome by deep depression. One day he stood in the bathroom with a straight razor to his throat. He thought about taking his own life. And then -- and then he heard his father in the other room calling his name, "Harry! Harry!" It called him back. He never forgot it. It was like the voice of God calling him. So I want to remind you today that in those times when you are in the wilderness, trying to find your way through, and when temptation comes and offers you the wrong answer, the wrong choice -- the wrong use of power, the way to popularity, the wrong kind of partnership -- then you remember that God has called your name: "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased." And, you remember that because God has called your name He will see you through. Thomas A. Pilgrim, The Man From Galilee, CSS Publishing Company The Savior Is There I think of Mother Teresa, ministering to those often left by others to die. I think of the press coverage on Mother Teresa's long dark night of the soul, as she wrote with weary familiarity of an arid landscape from which, seemingly, the Deity had disappeared. Is that the more convenient time? Or is it the senior years, when the reality of age rudely intrudes into your personal fantasyland? When the temporary exuberance of youth has surrendered to the inexorable advance of old age with its cynicism, if not possible disillusionment? When the fumes of yesterday’s zeal and vision may be all that is left in an empty spiritual tank? As I sort through all that, I arrive at the inescapable conclusion, to know that opportune time might be helpful, but what you and I really need to know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is not the “when.” The focus of our attention ought to be, whenever the enemy’s opportune time—despondency, sickness, failure, waning stages of life, whenever—the victorious Savior is there. Benjamin Reaves, What You Need to Know

Into the Wilderness

February 14, 2016 1st Sunday of Lent Luke 4:1-13 Into the Wilderness A preacher tells a story of the time the devil came to him and invited him to take a walk to the store. They walked past the church and into the convenience store. The devil took him up to the counter and bought him a lottery ticket. He encouraged him to hold on to it. Just in case, if he won, he would never have to work a day in his life. Not wanting to offend the devil, the preacher took the ticket and put it in his pocket, fully planning to tear it up once the devil left him. Then the devil took him to all of the great pulpits of Chicago, he took him to Salem, with all of those people in the congregation depending on the pastor, he took him to Trinity UCC, he took him to St Sabina, he even took him to Chicago Temple to look on Rev Myron McCoy – and the devil whispered in his ear- all this can be yours – if you just follow me. Now notice I said this preacher was a man – so I am not talking about myself being put in this position. The devil continued chiding him, telling him that his church could be even bigger than this, that he could do even more than this – the preacher looked at all that those churches were doing, and still he said no – I will stay put where I am in my little church in the hood. But them the devil took him to Sears Tower- Willis Tower. They took the elevator to the top floor – even higher that the observation booth – and he let him look through a telescope. There was a crowd of people on the sidewalk below. And then he looked around and saw that all of the television crews were there, channel 7, channel 5, channel 2. The devil whispered in his ear again, go ahead and jump – You can make it. It has never been done before, but God will protect you. And just think when you succeed – you will make it into the Guiness book of world records – you will be a hero. Just then he heard the crowd below encourage him to go ahead and jump. That’s when the preacher fainted – he was afraid of heights. When he came to – the devil was gone – but he had a funny feeling that this was not the last time that he would see the devil, as a matter of fact, he checked his pocket – and he still had that lottery ticket. This is a modern day telling of our gospel passage. We can find this story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So if the preacher is following the lectionary, then we hear this story every first Sunday of lent. And you all might get tired of hearing this story – but I have to say that I never get tired of telling it. Even as I was preparing for this sermon this week – because this story is so rich – and there is just so much in this story for us to think about as we enter into the wilderness of the Lenten season. And the exciting thing this year is that nobody can tell this story like Luke Our understanding about who Jesus is, and why we need a messiah come from Luke’s telling of Jesus story. And this is why this story is so important for us to hear. We know Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we know that Jesus is the son of God, who came to life in human form to show us how to truly live, we know what a messiah is and what a messaiah does, we all know that we are sinners who need to be saved. All of that comes from Luke’s telling of this story. This story is important because Jesus realized that his people had been sinning for thousands of years. God had led them for thousands of years, and they were still sinners. In need of a messiah. Jesus realized that something had to change. There had to be a new way to salvation, a new hope for people. And if he was the son of God and if he was the messiah then he had to be the one to change things and to make a difference. That was more than enough to drive him into the wilderness to think. I think I have told this story before, but I love Asian movies, because there is always a lesson in them. I remember watching a movie about an old budisht monk – who became a great master. As he began his journey – he went into the wilderness to meditate. And his task was to be a spiritual leader for lay people who needed a retreat from life. And they would come in streams to learn their lesson, and then go on with their lives. Well one layperson went came to the wilderness thinking he wanted to give up his life and become a monk- but in his time away realized that he loved his wife and kids, and his job and his life and decided to go back to the city, but a changed man. When his wife came to pick him up and take him home, the man lashed out at the monk and asked him why he had chosen to be a monk. Who does this, why would you give up your life and live in the woods? And the monk calmy replied – because I know that there are always fools like you who need to get away and your run to the wilderness in order to get a perspective on life. And when you come out here in the middle of nowhere – there has to be somebody here to guide you so that you have sense enough to get back home. And that somebody is me. For me, that was one of the altime greatest story lines. And I tell that story now- because whenever we are are all alone and can quiet all of the noise in our lives – there is still a voice that speaks. I remember someone came to me once and said that she thought that she was called to be a minister – because a voice spoke to her. But she told me that she was not for sure if the voice was the devil or God. and that she could not tell the difference between the two. So she asked how could she tell the difference. I told her it depends on who she is used to listening to. If she is used to listening to God- then she will know its God speaking to her right away. And if she is used to listening to the devil- then the devil will continue to talk to her. In Luke’s story – it is God’s voice saying this is my beloved son that drives Jesus into the wilderness in the first place. But when he gets there it is the devil who speaks to him. In verse 3 the devil sows seeds of doubt, in verse6 and 7 he outright lies, and in verse 23 he even uses scripture by reminding Jesus of psalm 91 that God will protect him. The devil uses that same tactic on Eve in the book of Genesis. When he takes what she already knows and puts a spin on it causes her to doubt causes her to question what she already knows to be right. The devil’s tactics do not change – he does the same thing all of the time. The bible says that God speaks to us through the prophets, and that if we want to hear God’s voice and know God’s will – then we have to know what is in the bible. God’s word will never change. The meaning of God’s word will never change. When God speaks to you – you can find it somewhere in the bible. When the devil speaks to you, he is going to take the word of God and twist it and cast doubt upon it. That is what is going on in this story. The devil is tempting Jesus with scripture, and each time Jesus responds with another scripture. That is why we hear psalm 91 and dueteronomy this morning. The devil misuses psalm 91 and says that God will protect you no matter what. And Jesus responds with the words of deauteronomy and says but the word of God says…. I think it is interesting however that in our culture we are taught that temptation is wrong, and that the devil is wrong for leading us into temptation. We are taught that the devil is bad, and wrong and even evil. And that is not really what the bible says. We get a little of that in the new testament, but that is not in the old testament. Satan is that one who asks – those really strange questions. The problem is not in the question, the problem is in how you answer the question. We think that temptation is really bad. When in reality, we all know right from wrong. And most of us don’t wake up in the morning to do wrong. People don’t carry guns for the sake of killing people, people don’t sell drugs because they want them to be destroyed. We have complete control over the wrong in our lives. It is that little bit of right that we don’t have control over that leads us into sin. It is that justification for protecting ourselves that leads someone to pull the trigger, it is the desperation in feeding our family that leads someone to give someone else drugs. For eve, it was that what if God is hiding something that led her to sin. And for Jesus – if he is the son of God and if God had just outwardly claimed him – then just maybe God would also deliver him if he jumped from a high tower. But in this story Jesus teaches us that it is not the devil, and it is not even the temptation that leads us to sin – it is our response. Each time the devil comes at him with a twisted version of the truth – Jesus responds with the word of God. and the determination to stick with the word of God. the good news in this story is that when jesus was in the wilderness – the devil spoke to him. But the scripture says that the holy Spirit never left him. Luke says that the spirit led him into the wilderness. But there is not mention that that spirit ever left. Now Mathew and Mark both say that the angels had to come and minister to Jesus after this temptation. But if you read the book of Luke – he stresses that that spirit is always upon Jesus. The spirit was there when he was born, the spirit was there when he was baptized, the spirit was there in the wilderness, the spirit was there during his trial, the spirit was there at the cross. It was that spirit that led him to resist temptation. The good news for us is that there is nothing wrong with the devil speaking to us. It is nothing wrong with the devil telling us the wrong thing. If we are a child of God and we have claimed Jesus Christ – then the spirit is with us at all times. We can claim the promises of Psalm 91 – that God will protect you in all circumstances. Even in the presence of the devil. Even in the presence of temptation. And if I know the bible, and I know that I am a child of God – then I have the power to resist doing the wrong thing. I love this story – because it is so rich I could preach on it forever. The scripture says that the devil left him until an opportune time. What are that opportune times? It is a common understanding in healing circles that we should never let ourselves get to the point of halt. Never get to hungry, angry, lonely or tired. Because those are the times when we are most likely to pay attention to the devil’s foolishness. But the lesson that jesus was trying to teach us – and everything jesus does is a lesson for us. The lesson is that salvation is not a means to an end, it is a commitment to God. the biggest temptation that the church and all of face is the temptation to survive. To make it by any means necessary. Jesus could have turned stones into bread and ate them, jesus could have become ruler of the world – if jesus was in charge how would that be a bad thing. Jesus could have jumped and God would have caught him. But what would that have taught you about salvation? And how would that help you in your life today? God did not put you here to survive. God did not intend for you to just get by. There is more for you! God intended you to live your life to the fullest. To be a child of God. Jesus came out of the wilderness a better man, with a clearer understanding of what it meant to be the Son of God. If the devil had not tempted him, he would never had the opportunity to realize what it meant to be saved. He would never have been able to claim salvation in his own heart. We read this story every time it is time for us to go into the wilderness. So that we will have the strength to stand with Jesus on the other side. Let us pray…. Children’s Sermon: Exegetical Aim: The body is more than food. Props: A loaf of bread (Wonder Bread if your region of the country sells it). Lesson: [Hold the loaf of bread before them.] What do I have in my hands? (response) Can you tell me some of the things we make with bread? (response) That's right. What's your favorite thing you make with bread? (response) Peanut butter and jelly sandwich? That's my favorite too. What do we need in order to live? (bread) That's right, and why is bread important? (response)Bread is food, and we need food for energy. What else do we need in order to live? (response)Possible answers are water, clothes, etc. Try to draw these ideas out of them, and talk to them about why these are important. If one of the children guesses early where you are headed, then use that thought for the following discussion. As important as food and water and clothes and houses are, we need more than this to live. Can someone tell me what else we need besides food, water, clothes, and a home? (response) It will be great if you get something spiritually related but, if not, then suggest something. Do we need our parent's love in order to live? (response) What about the lessons they teach us? (response) What kind of lessons do they teach you? (response) Do your parents teach you what an A and a B and a C look like? (response) What else do they teach you? (response) Do they tell you not to hit and not to tell any fibs? (response) You know we need to be taught how to behave. Application: So, you see, we don't live by bread alone hold up the bread or by water alone. We also need to be taught how to live. We need to be taught to be kind and to tell the truth. Your moms and dads know this because God told them not to live by bread alone. They need to listen to God in order to live. It is God who tells us not to lie and to be kind to one another. You see, it takes a lot more than just bread to live. We need to listen to our parents, and we need to listen to God. Let's Pray: Lord, give us your Word. We know that we cannot live simply by eating bread and food. We must have your Word to live. Amen.

First comes the test, then the Testimony

February 17, 2013 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Luke 4:1-13 First Sunday of Lent “First a Test, then a Testimony” Year C Read Psalm 91 In honor of the season of lent I want us to start out our time by reading psalm 91 responsively, it is in the hymnal #810. I wanted to start out with this hymn because it sums up our lesson for today in a perfect way. With just the right words - look at verse 2 – it says my refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust. We can feel safe, not just because God is God, but because we trust in God. One of the lessons for today is to learn to trust and have faith in God. Verse 9 says because you have made the lord your refuge, no evil shall befall you, no scourge shall come near your tent. No danger comes to you, not because you are special, danger comes all of the time – but when you trust in God the dangers of life don’t affect you. Verse 11 -12 says – for God will give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up on their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone. These are probably the verses that Jesus was thinking of when he was in the desert being tempted by the devil. In the third and final temptation the devil challenges Jesus to jump from a high place- for if he is truly the son of God, he will command his angels concerning you, to protect you. And on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against the stone. Luke – Jesus Son of God Today, I will use some other scriptures – but I want to focus on the intent of Luke. And why Luke is important to us during this season of Lent. Interesting enough, Luke’ s Jesus is tempted in proving that he is the son of God. that is one of Luke’s biggest points – that this man, is the Son of God. We need to take his story, his actions, his love for us and for the world seriously – he is no ordinary man – and his actions are no ordinary actions – in him we see the acts of God. Spiritual grounding of Luke On the first Sunday of lent – we are reminded of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness. Jesus was baptized, the sky opens and said this is my beloved son. Luke 4 opens by saying Jesus full of the holy spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. Now I want us to look at that verse for ourselves, because it says that holy spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. And you will notice in Luke wherever, Jesus is – the holy spirit has led him there. Luke likes to focus on the spiritual life of Jesus. In every lesson from Luke we see that Jesus prays, he talks regularly with God. Why is Jesus talking to the devil? And yet interestingly enough in this verse he is not talking to God. who is he talking to? He is talking with the devil. If Jesus is the son of God, and he prays, and he follows the spirit- then why would he be talking with the devil? He talks to the devil – because he knows that the devil talks to us – daily. God sends his son to earth to live our life, to have our concerns, to even die our death. Because between God and the devil is the life we live every day. Every day we face sin, evil, the devil and death. Jesus engaged each of those threats to our faith, so that we would have the strength to overcome them each and every time that they come along. Jesus first day of work The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants - who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right." Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow." Replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised over the answer, one that he had never thought of himself. "Now, listen carefully, who killed Abraham Lincoln?", asked the sheriff. The job seeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, "I don't know." The sheriff replied, "Well, why don't you go home and work on that one for a while?" The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview. He greeted them with a cheery smile, "The job is mine! The interview went great! First day on the job and I'm already working on a murder case!" In our Gospel reading this morning in Luke 4 it is Jesus' first day on the job. Immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. And he is confronted with this basic question: Would he take the crown without the cross? These are the most basic temptations in life and they form the foundation for all other temptations… The problems of temptations We always start our lent conversation with the subject of temptations. Because temptations are the biggest threat to our trust, faith and loyalty to God. First, recognize that we are most vulnerable when, like Jesus, we are stretched to our limits. Exhausted, hungry, weak, beaten down by deadlines, stressed out by the demands that pull us in every direction -- if we cannot keep our lives in order, if we do not put Christ on the throne in the center of our lives, if we neglect the rest that God has given us in the sabbath, we are asking for trouble. Even the King of kings and Lord of lords had to face temptation when he was famished and exhausted Temptations of being a self proclaimed leader The three temptations that Jesus encountered in Luke 4 was first to turn stone into bread, to force all of the world to worship him and live a dangerous life and let God save him from his own mistakes. I thought that it was interesting that one commentator noted that Luke was attacking the leaders of the day. The emperor of Rome would have been tempted to have others bow to him and to serve him and to go as far as worship him – and Jesus tell the devil in each instance that one who is loyal, trusting and faithful to God does not need to give in to those temptations. Temptations are things that stand in the way of serving God I would say that is what temptations are – things in our lives that stand in the way of us giving God the ultimate praise and glory in our lives. They are just obstacles for us to overcome. They remind us that we are all vulnerable, and if we are not aware of what makes us vulnerable – them we give in to sin. And yet the son of God, the one who prays to god, who talks to God about everything in his life – talks to the devil – so that we can rise above our temptations and move on the life under the cross. Devil does not go away Another interesting that about this scripture - - verse 13 says that when the devil had finished every test he departed from him until an opportune time. In other words the devil does not flee and go away. He just sits down to be quiet. If you continue to read about Jesus journey to save us – evil is lurking around somewhere in the scene. – just waiting for another chance to stand up and create a problem. And evil and temptation never leaves our life either. One of the greatest temptations of life is thinking that we have overcome our sins. They can always reappear in our lives, sometimes even as good intentions. Jesus talks to the devil not so that he can defeat the devil, but so that he can show us the way to overcome the effects of the devil. You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him. Temptation are those things which stand in the way of our faithfulness to God. our faithfulness to God is the only way for us to overcome temptation. A friend of mine writes this poem about temptation OUR WILDERNESS Somewhere, sometime each one of us takes an unchosen path through the wilderness. Not the rocky, broken land, nor the frigid night winds, nor the terrible beasts, nor the parching thirst will frighten us most. But it is the loneliness, the utter fear that we are forgotten and that nothing makes sense-- this is the barrenness where we finally cry out, pray for love to find us. And then He comes. Deuteronomy says that the Lord bought us out of the wilderness into the promiseland. I like this scripture because it addresses another important lesson about lent – when you get to the promisland – never lose sight that it was the Lord that bought you through. Another lesson for lent – for all of our lives – is to remember to give our best to God – because God always gives us his best. STORY: Did you know that a person with six kids is more satisfied than a person with six million dollars? What do you think? The reason for this is that the man with six million dollars wants more. At this Lenten season, what do you like about your present giving patterns? What do you dislike? What would you like to change? Deuteronomy reminds us about the first fruits – to give the first of what we have. We don’t live on farms and grow fruits and vegetables. We go to work and earn money. Which is why the conversation is about tithing today and not first fruits. But the challenge is to look at all of our lives, all of what God has given and all of what we can give back to God. Lent is a time to look at what part of our lives are we giving to God. how are we intentionally being faithful, truthful and loyal. 2. To Deny Ourselves: Why don’t we give God what’s left of our paycheck, or of our time, of our efforts? Many people will say, “if I don’t have anything else to do Sunday, I’ll be at church. If I don’t have too many bills to pay, I’ll give a little bit.” If you operate on that principle, you will never give of your time or money. You’ll always be too busy or too broke to do anything. STORY: A Japanese artist painted a picture on a fairly large canvas. Down in one corner was a tree, and on the limbs of the tree were some birds, but all the rest of the canvas was bare. When he was asked if he was not going to paint something more to fill the rest of the canvas, he said, “Oh, no, I have to leave room for the birds to fly.” We often fill our lives so full of obligations that there is not room for the birds to fly and there is no room for God besides. This recitation helped them to remember what God had done for them. They told their story. During the Lenten Season what is the history of your relationship with God? What is your story? We need to share our story with someone this week. “Give God YOUR BEST; expect HIS BEST.” If we give God just the bare minimum, that doesn’t take much faith. Give to God your very best even if it stretches your faith. If you were giving your best to God, what would it be? What would you consider to be your very best? What would your best look like? CONCLUSION: Has God fulfilled His part of the bargain when you gave him your very best? God promised to be with you. Did He? to deliver you from whatever bound you. Did He? to teach you how to live abundantly. Did He? Are your vows a testimony to God’s blessings to you? Are they meaningful vows that connect with your whole life and vows that give God the best of your lives? What stands in the way of you giving all honor and glory to God in your lives? What temptations do you need to overcome. How do you give back to God? Have you made space in your life to give honor and glory to God? If not, lent is a good time to stop and think about how to overcome temptation, and to live in faith, loyalty and trust in God. No matter how we pray, how we go to church, how we trust God – temptation will not go away – evil will not go away. But good always defeats evil. Trust in the lord, in Jesus Christ gives us the strength to over look evil. Verse 14 of psalm 91 says o Because they cleave to me in love, I will deliver them, I will protect them, because they know my name. I will satisfy them with a long life and show them my salvation. Let that be our prayer this day Amen. We Haven’t Been Up To Bat Yet Temptation tries to blind us to other possibilities. A business man driving home from work one day, saw a little league baseball game in progress. He decided to stop and watch. He sat down in the bleachers and asked a kid what the score was. "We’re behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," he responded. "I have to say you don’t look very discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet." Brett Blair, The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each had been smitten with a bad case of spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper." Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions. Then she said, "First question--which tire was flat?" Lent: Spring Training For Christians When I was a boy, I was told, "Baptists don't do Lent." No one knew why. I suspect that it was an anti-Catholic thing which I pray we are over. It was the old argument, "whatever they do, we don't!" - a curiously convoluted, twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices. Whatever the reason for "not doing Lent," I think it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Every spring the baseball players prepare for the season with spring training; every spring ordinary people prepare for summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry - what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us on Golgotha's cross and at the empty tomb? If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning. John Ewing Roberts, Remembering and Forgetting