The Celebration of the Gospel
March 1 , 2020 — First Sunday in Lent
Jesus was led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
—Matthew 4.1
Seeds Scattered…
Jesus said, “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn. 12.24). The repentance of Lent is the work of “falling into the ground” of God, letting our old self die so God can give us a new one.
God created us to experience joy in communion with God, to love all humanity and to live in harmony with all Creation. But because we are mortal we are afraid of death, and afraid of the self-surrender that love requires. In our fear we lose trust in God, and we are unable to love and live in harmony. We become self-protective and self-centered. This fear and separation is sin.
Because in our sin we seek to ensure for ourselves the life that can come only from God, sin is death—that’s the bad news. But the good news is God gives us life anyway, life that can’t be taken from us—not even by sin or death. This is the gift of eternal life. Repentance is the work of turning from what diminishes life toward what restores life: turning away from sin, toward God.
In committing ourselves to this struggle we confess our sin, seeking God’s forgiveness. We examine ourselves, seeking greater clarity about what in us leads us away from God, and opening ourselves to God’s grace to free us from those forces. We pray for the gift of repentance through fasting, prayer and the practice of generosity, so we may be healed and transformed by the grace of God. This is the “falling into the ground and dying” part. In God’s forgiveness and continual breathing life into us, we are like buried seeds splitting open, releasing new growth that soon will bear much fruit.
This is the dying and rising of Lent, the season of forty days of repentance and purification in preparation for the new life we celebrate at Easter.
______We Are Received as Children of God____
GREETING
PRELUDE – Meinen Lieben Gott – – J. S. Bach
[As we listen to the music we quiet our minds and bodies,
listen for our hearts’ deepest desires,
and become present to the Holy One who is lovingly present for us.]
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Creator God, maker of earth and provider of life,
All: You are our bread, and our strength.
Loving Christ, willing to love at the cost of your life,
you are our courage and our hope.
Holy Spirit, you give us a world to serve for you.
You are our love, our belonging, and our calling. We worship you.
SONG – Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days – Blue hymnal #269
______We Are Transformed by the Love of Christ___
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG – Not By Bread Alone – M. Roger Holland II
PRAYER
God of mercy, as Jesus was led out into the desert in solitude for self-examination, lead us into a place of clarity and simplicity, that in this Lenten season we might see ourselves as you see us and open ourselves to your loving transformation. Speak to us, that we may hear, repent, and be changed. Amen.
(10:30) NEW TESTAMENT – Romans 7.14-25
[Sin is the fear, distrust and attachments that lead us away from God and away from life. Here Paul reflects on how insidious sin is: even though we want to do the right thing, sin is like a force that possess us that we can’t get free from. God alone can save us—and does. This is the good news of Christ.]
The law of God guides me in my relationship with God. But there’s a shadow side of me that has secret power over me. I am its slave. I don’t understand myself. I don’t do what I mean to do— I do the thing I hate. It doesn’t matter how much I believe in God’s law: I still do the wrong thing. In fact it’s no longer I that do it: it’s my selfish fear—my sin. There’s nothing life-giving in selfish anxiety. I can intend what is right, but I can’t actually do it. I don’t do the good I intend: instead I do the evil I wanted to avoid. I am powerless over my sin. It controls me.
It’s a basic law of nature: though I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. I delight in the will of God in my soul, but in my flesh another power—the power of my selfish fear— is at war with the will of my soul. I think I am obedient to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. How wretched I am! Who will rescue me from this death sentence? Thanks be to God —it is Jesus Christ our Savior!
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PSALTER – Psalm 32
[We confess that when we hide our sin it eats away at us; but when we confess it, God forgives us.]
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom God imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to God,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be like a horse or a mule,
without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in God.
Be glad in the Holy One and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
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GOSPEL – Matthew 4.1-11
[Jesus, in solitude, faces his temptations. He desires power, security, wealth, belonging, superiority—things we all crave—but he can only receive them from God; any effort to secure these for himself lead him away from God and away from authentic life.]
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying 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.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
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SERMON – Temptations
SONG – Into the Darkness – Steve G-
Only the seed that has died and is buried lives to bear fruit, Jesus said.
Lead me then into the darkness and dying, so you can raise me up from the dead.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
All of my living, my loves and desires, all of the things that I cling to,
now I surrender to die and be buried. Raise me in following, serving you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
Lead me to truth, and have mercy, and wash me dep in the dark of my being.
A spirit like bread that is taken and broken: this is the death that is freeing.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
Give me a clean heart, a heart poor in spirit, willing and steadfast and made new.
My life I lose; let your cross lift me up now. One joy restore to me: life in you.
Jesus, help me die and rise.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, we open ourselves in honesty to God.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see what is in us that is loving,
and what is not loving.
God, we recall when we have been in harmony with you, or with life, and we give thanks. [silent prayer…]
We recall when we have been out of harmony, and we seek your grace. [silent prayer…]
God of mercy, in Christ you have shown us your grace.
Forgive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE: Kyire Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer at the microphone.]
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
_________We Share at Christ’s Table __________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS
8:15: Rock Of Ages – Tune: TOPLADY, arr: John Turner
10:30: Breathe – Michael W. Smith
* COMMUNION SONG – Let Us Break Bread Together – Blue hymnal #618, v. 1
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Beloved, God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Faithful One, our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.
God, we give you thanks, for we live not by bread alone
but by every word that comes from your mouth.
You create us in your image, claim us as your children,
and covenant with us to be our God.
In our hunger for life we stray, and seek blessing in fruitless places,
but you set us free from our inner demons and lead us back to life.
In our greed for power and yearning to belong we use other people,
but you judge the forces of injustice
and set all your children free from all that oppresses.
In hunger for your grace we turn to you, dependent,
and trusting in your grace we come, singing your praise with all Creation:
Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and love,
all Creation shines with your presence.
Praise to you! Hosanna on high!
Blessed is the one who comes in your name.
Praise to you! Hosanna on high!
Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
With courage he looked within; with clarity he saw himself;
with compassion he saw others, and loved them.
He fed and taught them; he gathered a community of grace and kinship;
and he established an empire of justice and mercy.
For resisting injustice he was crucified; but you raised him from the dead.
[The Blessing and Covenant…]
Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ our Love has died, and Christ is risen.
Christ our Love will come again.
Pour out your holy Spirit on these gifts of food,
that those who receive them may experience your love and grace.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
made clean by your Word, filled with your grace,
and set free to love, in the name of Christ.
Praise to you, O God. Amen. Praise to you, O God. Amen.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
SHARING THE HOLY MEAL [Everyone is welcome at the table of Christ’s self-giving love.
The bread is wheat-, soy- and dairy free. We dip the bread in the juice.]
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. We live not by bread but by your grace. Send us into the world, fed by your presence, to love all in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.
______ We Are Sent in the Power of the Holy Spirit_______
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG – Eagle’s Wings – Blue hymnal #143
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE We stand and sing to our neighbors:
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.
POSTLUDE – Amazing Grace – Traditional, arr: Fred Bock