Sunday, March 13, 2011

Worship for Sunday, March 13, 2011

The First Sunday in Lent

Theme: Soul Tsunami

Thanks to the good folks at Process and Faith for the Lenten Liturgies

Unison Prayer

Loving God, as we journey through this holy season of Lent, give us strength and courage to make the changes that are needed in our lives. Open our hearts and minds to your steadfast presence and help us to put our trust in you. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

We cannot even imagine the horror that at neighbors in Japan and elsewhere experienced on Friday while we slept, O God.

The power of your sea is beyond our comprehension. We pray for our neighbors who know you by many names. Let them feel your presence and comfort in this frightening time. We pray that you will use us and your church to bring comfort, aid, and your presence to those whose home have been swept away--indeed those whose lives have have been tossed aside by the waters.

We know you are a kind and gentle God, whose tears were mixed in the waters that washed over the land. We pray that you will bring healing to all your people.

We come to you today as a people who have been worn down bit by bit by the snow and ice of winter. As the signs of Spring crawl forth, lighten our hearts during this lengthening of the days.

We praise you and thank you for your unfailing love. We ask that you teach us to love as you do, without reservation or even expectation.

We pray for our Governor John, our Senator Kris, and our Representative Jay. May they know your wisdom, mercy, compassion, justice, and strength as they serve this great State of Ohio.

We are aware of many who need your healing touch. Some whose names we have called, others we kept silent. Hear us now as we pray for the sick and bereaved.

These are our cares, concerns, fears, and hopes. We leave them with you in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. ³The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” ⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” ¹¹Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

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The defining moment for me in this week’s sermon preparation was not in reading the texts for today. Not in working in the books in my study. Not in scouring the internet for interesting items about this passage.

I did all those things, and I still came up with the same message on Jesus in the wilderness that I’ve been preaching, well, forever (should I keep doing that until I get it right?).

The pivotal moment in my thinking this week happened on Friday morning as I watched a scientist from the United States Geological Survey explain the mechanics of a tsunami.

The particular tsunami on everyone’s mind was the one that struck Japan, Hawaii, and other Pacific coastlines that morning.

This is what happened.

Eighty miles from the East Coast of Japan, and more than fifteen miles down, tectonic plates--massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock under the earth--collided, rupturing the earth’s crust along a one-hundred eighty mile stretch.

The ocean floor was then thrust upward with enough energy to displace an enormous amount of water, churning up huge waves that swept across swaths of the Japan coast and tore across the open ocean at the speed of a jet plane.

A major unseen phenomenon manifested itself in something so big that the whole world could not help but notice. That’s a tsunami.

When I heard her describe this incredible event, I thought, “that’s what we need.”

No, I’m not saying we need waves to wash over Richland County, wreaking devastation in their path.

What we need is a tsunami of the soul.

In Lent, we seek to open ourselves to the love and grace of God. To lay our souls bare, that God make mold us and use us to change the world in the name of Jesus Christ.

Some people like to “give something up” for Lent. A habit, an indulgence, something that we enjoy--caffeine, alcohol, sodas, desserts. The idea is that a “fasting” of sorts will help us to be more open to God’s movement within us.

I’ve always thought that giving something up with out giving the resources for them away is hollow. In other words, if you decide that you’re going to give up you $3.79 mocha latte every day, great. But to truly make it a redemptive sacrifice, you might want to give the 40 days worth of overpriced coffee to the poor, or to relief efforts that will help people in the Pacific who’ve been hurt by this event. That would come to $151.60, by the way.

But, unless that changes us beyond the 40 days, what good is it? What Lent demands is a rigorous self-examination. A thorough inspection of our very being and a laying bare of our souls before God--not only for our own sake, but so that God can change us that we might change the world in Jesus’ name.

At First Christian Church, we’re trying to lay bare our collective soul in a process called New Beginnings. In this process, we are asking questions like, “who are we?” Who are we really? When you peel us back to tectonic plates at our core, who are we?

What is it that we are passionate about?

What is it that we do with excellence?

What are the resources with which God has blessed us?

And where do these areas overlap? What is that we are at our core?

And the big Lenten question--when we can look at who we are at our very core, how can God use us in Christ’s mission in the world--from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth?

It would seem to me that a tsunami of the soul--whether of the church or of each of us as individual parts of that body--would begin at that core of who we really are.

I started praying on Friday that God would shake us so hard at our very core that it would create a sea change in the world around us during this season of Lent. That we would be broken at our very core and changed--convicted by our Lenten self-reflection--that waves which could not be ignored would swell up and wash over our family, friends, and neighbors.

That’s the point of Lent--self-reflection and not navel gazing. Reflecting on who we are as God’s people, and who we are in relationship to the world. It ‘s not enough to ask, “who are we?” We must also ask how will we relate to our neighbors? How will we safeguard God’s creation? How will we advocate for justice in the world?

Jesus came out of waters of baptism and embarked on his 40 days in the wilderness.

That calls to mind the journey of the Israelites--who passed through the waters of the Sea of Reeds to spend 40 years in the wilderness. It was in this time that they struggled with their identity as God’s people. They asked themselves, “Is the Lord with us or not?” They received, rejected, and received again the Law at Mount Sinai. They re-covenanted with God as they sought find their core.

Jesus struggled to find his core, too. He stripped away all else and faced temptations--temptations that Henri Nouwen characterizes the temptations as to be relevant ("Turn these stones to bread."), to be spectacular ("Throw yourself from the temple."), and to be powerful ("I will give you the kingdoms of the world.").

Jesus rejected all of these things in his journey. He would not be a Savior who does tricks on command. He would not take the easy way out. He would walk with the people, and share their pain and struggles.

And today, as we face our wilderness, we are not alone. Jesus walks with us and shares our pain and struggles. And is with us in the shaking of our foundations as the world waits and wonders, “what kind of church is this? Who and what is god calling us to be? Why are we in this place at this time? What will the tsunami look like which arises from our shaking at the core?”

Over the next few weeks, we will journey with Jesus through our own wilderness--as we journey together through New Beginnings. I’m praying we get shook up pretty good.

What are you praying for?

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Offering

Deuteronomy 26 says “...take some of all the first fruits of what you grow in the

land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God,

your God, sets apart for your to worship him....And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family....” Let us bring our first fruits to God.

God of all good gifts, as you asked, we have brought our gifts to you and through them

celebrate the good things you have give us. Let us always be grateful for your gifts and generous with ours.

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Benediction

In this season of Lent, take time, when you can, to be still.
Ponder the one who gave his life to bring forth the kingdom of God.

We will honor Christ by believing in God’s vision for creation;
We will be like good soil, in which the seeds of justice may grow.

God speaks to us in the life of Jesus;
Let us hear the word and understand it.

We are witnesses to God’s transforming power;
We go forth as Christ’s partners in the work of justice and love.