Rev-o-lution

Revised Common Lectionary: Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21

Narrative Lectionary: Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31 (Psalm 41:1-3)

The people began to complain against Moses and God in Numbers 21:4-9 for leading them into the wilderness. Even if they were no longer enslaved in Egypt, they were complaining about the lack of food and water, and the food God provided—manna—they hated. God sent poisonous serpents to bite the people, and many became sick and died. The people came to Moses, recognizing they have sinned, and asked Moses to pray to take away the serpents. God told Moses to craft a poisonous serpent from bronze to set upon a pole, so that everyone who was bitten would look at it and live. For a people who were bitter and complaining, their words were like poisonous serpents, poisoning the people who can only see what is right in front of them. Once they were reminded to lift up their eyes and remember that God had brought them out of their oppression, they were able to survive and live.

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 praises God and gives thanks for God’s faithfulness. In verses 17-22, the psalmist specifically recalls the time when the people were in the wilderness, complaining about the food they had to eat, and they were “sick in sin.” Because they remembered God and cried out to God, they were saved. God healed them and delivered them from their destructive ways. The psalmist calls upon the people to give thanks to God, to offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and proclaim what God has done through songs of joy.

Ephesians 2:1-10 (a personal favorite passage of mine) speaks to how we live in the world versus God’s intentions for us. We have followed the course of this world which leads to sin and death—worldly measures of success, wealth, notoriety—all those lead to dead ends. None of it will last and all of it leads to supporting systemic sin—oppression, enslavement, cruel workplace practices, racism, marginalization, etc. By grace, however, Christ came for us. By grace we have been saved and shown the immeasurable riches of God. Because of Christ, none of us can boast about what we have or haven’t done. Rather, Christ restores us to God’s intentions, which is for goodness and good works. This was God’s intention from Genesis 1. We have been restored, and God has prepared this to be our way of life.

John 3:14-21 is the second part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who has come to see Jesus by night. Verse 14 begins with using the story of Moses and the serpents in Numbers 21:4-9. The people were saved when they looked to the serpent on the pole, when they looked beyond what they could see in front of them—the poisonous grumblings that had infiltrated the camp—and instead looked to God and God’s ways. So the Son of Man must be lifted up, according to John’s account, on a cross. As the people in Moses’ day were saved from poison when they looked up, those who believe will be saved when they believe in Jesus and will have eternal life. While vs. 16 is one many know by heart, it is just as important to know vs. 17, that God did not send the Son to condemn the world, but to save the world. The condemnation comes for those who love the ways of the world more than the ways of God, but those who know the truth know the goodness of God’s created intention for us, and their works reflect that intention.

The Narrative Lectionary focuses on the story Jesus tells of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Some call this story a parable, but it is unique in that one of the characters, Lazarus, is named. Lazarus is the poor man who lies at the gate with no power or agency, and the rich man with all the power and agency at the beginning of the story remains unnamed. Lazarus longed to have the scraps from the table of the rich man, but instead, the rich man’s dogs came and licked his sores. When the two men died, Lazarus was carried by the angels to be with Abraham, but the rich man was in Hades, tormented, longing for Lazarus to come bring him some water. Even in Hades, the rich man acted like a rich man. The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to warn them, but Abraham said if they didn’t listen to Moses or the prophets, they won’t listen to someone even if they rise from the dead.

Psalm 41:1-3 is a blessing for those who remember to care for the poor and their needs, for God certainly has not forgotten them. God is with the poor when they are disadvantaged and helps heal those who are sick. God gives strength to those who are oppressed and marginalized.

God’s intention for us is the same intention for all of creation in Genesis 1: for goodness. However, we have fallen from that intention, seeking the ways of the world. The ways of the world teach us to desire what others have, and to not be satisfied. The ways of the world teach us that sin is only individual and personal, instead of also being collective, as the Hebrew scriptures show us again and again. The ways of this world allow us to ignore the plight of others, those who labor in unsafe work conditions, those who are practically enslaved, as long as we live in comfort. The ways of the world teach us to ignore how our actions affect others. Christ came and taught us to become last of all and servant of all, to seek the best for others. When we mutually care for each other’s needs, we find our own needs are met. This is what God intended us for: good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life (Ephesians 2:10).

Call to Worship (from Psalm 107:1, 21-22)
O give thanks to the LORD, for God is good;
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let us be thankful for God’s steadfast love,
for God’s wonderful works to humankind.
And let us offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of God’s deeds with songs of joy.
Come, let us worship our God, gathered from near and far,
For God’s steadfast love endures forever.

Prayer of Brokenness/Confession
God Who So Loves the World, You sent us Your only Son, so that we might believe and have eternal life. We have often failed to understand that eternity begins now, that the life You offer is here, and transcends death. We have often failed to understand that how we live matters, and that we sometimes participate in the sins of this world without recognizing it. We have often sinned in our purchases, in our desires, in our shrugging shoulders, in our longing to just focus on ourselves. Forgive us and call us from our sinful, selfish ways. Call us back to You, God Who So Loves the World, so that we might remember You came not to condemn but to save. Help us to turn our hearts, and be restored to You. In the name of Christ, who redeems us all, we pray. Amen.

Blessing/Assurance
Because God So Loved the World, God loves you very, very much. God desires for us to work on letting go of our sinful ways and turning to God’s ways: loving our neighbor as ourselves, serving others, and caring for others. For when we mutually care, respect, and love one another, our own needs are met, and we know God’s love through the love of others. Take courage! God is with you, God loves you, and God has forgiven you. Go share the Good News.

Prayer
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, we lift our prayers to You, knowing that the world is not as it should be. There is violence. There is poverty, disease, and despair. But we turn to You and Your ways, knowing that when we remember who You created us to be, we find the true life and treasures of heaven. When we lift You up, we remember there is no other idol, no other god for us. There is no other way for us to live, for all other ways are false and lead to dead ends. Holy, Holy, Holy One—remind us of what is holy, and good, and true. In the name of Christ, who leads us into life, we pray. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

Narrative Lectionary: Lost Sheep, Coin, Son, Luke 15:1-32 (Psalm 119:167-176)

For the third Sunday of Lent, the Hebrew Scriptures focus on the covenant that God made with the people on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20:1-17. Known as the Ten Commandments, God reminds the people that they were once oppressed in Egypt, and God brought them out of slavery. Therefore, to remember who their God is, they should worship no other gods or idols. They should not take God’s name in vain, and they should remember and honor the Sabbath, a gift from God. For a people who were forced to work, God reminds them that there is one day they should not work, a rest day, and no one among them, even their animals, should be forced to work all the time. The remaining six commandments are how they ought to treat one another as God’s people: honoring their parents, no stealing, murdering, or committing adultery, no lying, and refrain from desiring what others have. This is the covenant: God will be their God, and to be God’s people, they need to remember who they are, how to live with one another, and who they worship.

Psalm 19 is a song of praise from God’s creation. Everything God created tells of God’s glory: the heavens, the sun rising like a bridegroom running out to meet the bride. God created the perfect law, which revives the soul and rejoices the heart and endures forever. God’s instructions are more valuable than any precious metal and sweeter than honey. The psalmist closes this song of praise with a plea to be cleansed of any unknown wrongdoing and to be protected from sin so that sin does not have power over them. The psalm concludes with a prayer that their words and meditations would be pleasing and acceptable to God.

Paul argues that the cross reveals the power of God in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. The cross was the instrument of torture and death in the Roman Empire, but for those who believed in Jesus, it was also the symbol of eternal life, that the cross—that death itself—was not the end. The wisdom of God is not the world’s wisdom. Paul declares that the “Jews demand signs”—in other words, their Jewish neighbors, in Paul’s view, wanted proof that Jesus had resurrected, and “Greeks desire wisdom”—the Greek philosophers wanted to understand from a human point of view. Paul proclaims Christ crucified—which worldly wisdom cannot understand, but both Jewish and Greek believers could attain by faith in Christ. This might seem foolish to the world, but wiser than human wisdom to God.

John’s account of the Gospel differs greatly from the Synoptic gospels in that Jesus travels to Jerusalem early on in his ministry for the first time at Passover, enters the temple, and drives out the moneychangers with a whip of cords. In John 2:13-22, it appears that when Jesus calls the temple, “my Father’s house,” the other religious leaders present want a sign from Jesus. He tells them to destroy the temple and in three days he will raise it—a reference to his own death and resurrection, but those present refuse to believe the temple can be destroyed. This is the temple that Herod had begun restoring, but was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the year 70 C.E. It is important for us to remember that while John’s account purports to tell what happened in Jesus’ day, John was most likely written around 90 C.E., well after the events of the destruction of the temple. John’s account is trying to show how wrong the people were about Jesus, to prove his account of Jesus is the right one. It’s interesting to note how many times in John’s account the Jewish people demand signs, when it seems that the gospel account itself is all about proving who Jesus was, as if over-responding to that demand for a sign. It’s important to look at these passages with a critical eye, in light of how John’s account has been used to fuel antisemitism, and at the same time, recall the reforms Jesus brought to practice and religious life (and in all four accounts of the Gospels, Jesus did enter the temple and drive out the moneychangers).

The Narrative Lectionary focuses on three parables that Jesus told in Luke 15 that are all similar. The context given is that some religious leaders grumbled about the company Jesus kept, tax collectors and sinners, and Jesus even ate with them. I highly recommend Amy-Jill Levine’s commentary Short Stories of Jesus for interpreting these parables. The first parable Jesus tells is of the lost sheep. It’s foolish to think that a shepherd would go after one lost sheep over the 99. No good shepherd would. But Jesus tells the story that a good shepherd would go after the lost sheep, and then have a party with friends and neighbors (and that party probably cost more than the one lost sheep). In a similar manner, a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Now, the coins were worth one day’s wage, so it makes sense for her to search for the lost one—but again, she calls over her friends and neighbors to celebrate in a way that would probably cost about as much as the coin that was lost. Both parables conclude with a similar theme: there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than others who are righteous and have no need to repent.

Then Jesus tells a story about a man with two sons, and how one demanded to have his inheritance early—something that wouldn’t have been prudent. But the father relents, giving half the inheritance to the younger son, who then goes off and squanders it. He ends up hiring himself out to work and drooling over the scraps the pigs are eating. But then he realizes the servants in his father’s house get better than this, so he decides he will go back to his father, repent, and ask to be hired on. Instead of refusing to welcome his son, or hiring him as a servant, the father rushes out to meet him and celebrates that he has returned. The older son refuses to celebrate. The father reminds the older son that everything he has belongs to him already, but they had to rejoice for the one son who returned. Jesus seems to be telling those who think they know the way to God that perhaps what Jesus is teaching is not necessarily for them—and instead of hindering him or grumbling about it, to rejoice that others who have been left out and rejected are being included by Jesus.

Psalm 119 is an acrostic psalm, but instead of each line beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, each stanza begins that way. Verses 167-176 conclude the psalm with a plea from the psalmist who has kept God’s decrees and statutes, a plea for understanding. The psalmist promises to continue praising God and singing of God’s promise, but also prays for deliverance, for they have gone astray like a lost sheep from God’s ways. This confession at the end calls for God to seek them out, for they know God’s commandments and know that God will always be their God.

From the beginning, God has desired for us to be known as the people of God, and to live into that identity by loving our neighbor as ourselves. Indeed, this was what the covenant, commandments, ordinances and statutes were all about. But human beings are flawed, and we’ve gone to extremes in our understanding and interpretation of the commandments and decrees instead of understanding that our identity is how we shape our lives, as God’s people, and not the other way around. And lest we Christians accuse Pharisees of doing that in Jesus’ day, I would argue it’s the same problem with the writer of John’s account of the Gospel—caught up with proving who Jesus was that they forgot their identity as a follower of Jesus, as God’s people, is what shapes us and calls us into a life with one another and accountability. The sinners and tax collectors that others grumbled about understood themselves as beloved children of God because of Jesus’ welcome and inclusion. They knew they had failed to follow all the commandments, but strove for a better relationship with God and with one another. The commandments are there to help us better love one another, but it is the loving of one another and God that shapes who we are.

Call to Worship (from Gen. 1:27; Psalm 8:5-6; Eph. 2:10)
God created humankind in God’s image,
Male and female, all of us, created by God, and blessed in goodness.
When we look at the heavens, the work of God’s fingers,
What are human beings that God is mindful of us?
Yet God made us a little lower than the angels,
And we have been entrusted to care for all creation.
We are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
Which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
This is good news: we are God’s beloved children,
Called into service and worship of our God.

Prayer of Brokenness/Confession
Ancient of Days, we confess that we have not held Your commandments holy. We have squandered our rest, forgetting how important Your rest is for us. We have filled our lives with busyness, with meetings and tasks. We’ve filled our moments with worry over the next thing. Call us into accountability, knowing Your rest is a gift for us, and help us to accept and embrace this gift. Lead us into moments where we love You and love others best by loving ourselves, too. Help us to find our peace and rest in You, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessing/Assurance
God’s love has been made known to us in the rising and setting sun. God’s love is whispered in the breeze among the leaves, in the tingles in your toes. God loves you madly. Trust in this love and know that you are forgiven. There is no perceived fault or failure that could ever keep you from the love of God found in Christ Jesus. Go and share the love of God with one another, and watch and listen for all the ways God loves you.

Prayer
Holy One, You are the same one who called us forth into being along with light and all creation. You are the same one who called a people to become Your people, giving them commandments, a way of living with one another and You. You are the same one who hears the cries of the oppressed and leads the people out of exile. You are the same Spirit that moves in and among us. You are the same love incarnate in Jesus Christ. You have been present from before time began, and You are present, with us, now. Help us to perceive You at work in the world around us and in our lives. Help us to know we are not alone. Grant us strength for the journey of life before us. In Your Holy presence and name we pray. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 or 9:2-9

Narrative Lectionary: Lament over Jerusalem, Luke 13:1-9, 31-35 (Psalm 122)

The second Sunday of Lent begins with the second of God’s covenants in the Hebrew Scriptures: the covenant with Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16. God gave Abram and Sarai new names, promising they would become the ancestors of a multitude of nations. This was an everlasting covenant, that God would be their God, and that they would have a son, and kings would be born from their descendants.

This portion of Psalm 22 praises God for God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn, in verses 23-31. The psalmist praises God for God’s deliverance when the psalmist was in need and calls upon the people of Israel to join in praise. All the families of all nations shall worship God and future generations told of God’s greatness.

Paul wrote to the church in Rome that the fulfilment of God’s promises to the people descended from Abraham came not from following the law but from faith, in Romans 4:13-25. Abraham’s faith in God fulfilled the promises made to him in his old age, that he and Sarah would have a son. That is what saved him, not his works of the law. The believer’s faith in Jesus’ resurrection is what saves believers, not the works of the law, according to Paul, and Jesus’ death and resurrection fulfills all righteousness.

Peter tried to talk Jesus out of going to his death, but Jesus rebuked Peter in Mark 8:31-38. Right after Peter’s declaration that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus began to tell the disciples that he must undergo suffering and death. This marked a shift in Jesus’ ministry, turning toward Jerusalem and death—a different direction that the disciples understood the Messiah to be going before this. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him, but Jesus turned and rebuked him back with the famous words, “Get behind me Satan!” Peter and the others had set their mind not on divine things but human things. Jesus then addressed the disciples along with the crowd that had gathered, declaring those who were faithful must deny themselves and take up their cross. Those who wanted to save their life would lose it. Those who would lose their life for Jesus’s sake, for the sake of the gospel, would fine it. This passage marked a pivotal point for the Gospel of Mark, from the teaching and healing ministry, into who Jesus knew the Messiah would be, not what others thought the Messiah should be.

Mark 9:2-9, the Transfiguration, was also our lectionary passage two weeks ago. While Peter, James, and John are on the mountain with Jesus, Jesus was transfigured. His clothes appeared dazzling white—an unnatural brightness—and Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus, talking with him. Peter didn’t really know what to say because he was afraid, but he said what he thought he was supposed to: he was glad to be there, and suggested making tents for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses: shrines to each of them. But a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice declared, “This is my Son, the Beloved: listen to him!” (A similar voice declared Jesus as the Son, the Beloved, at his baptism). When the three disciples looked around, there was only Jesus, and Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about what they had seen until the Son of Humanity had risen from the dead.

The Narrative Lectionary follows Luke, and in 13:1-9 Jesus was told about some Galileans killed by Pilate while they offered sacrifices. Jesus questioned those who thought perhaps the Galileans deserved what happened to them because of something they did. Jesus asked them also about another incident, where the tower of Siloam fell and killed eighteen people. The accident that happened wasn’t punishment for sin. However, unless people repent and turn back to God’s ways, everyone comes to the same end: death. Jesus then told parable of a fig tree (in Matthew and Mark, Jesus curses a fig tree). In this parable, a gardener begged a vineyard owner who wanted to cut down a fig tree that hadn’t produced any fruit to give this tree one more chance, one more year, to see if it would bear fruit, before cutting it down. The parable served as a warning—one does not know when their time would come. Repent before it is too late.

In 13:31-35, some Pharisees came to warn Jesus that Herod wanted to kill him, but Jesus told them to tell Herod he would continue to do his ministry, because Herod’s threat wouldn’t stop him. Jerusalem itself was where many of the prophets were killed, and Jesus lamented the death and destruction that happened there. Jesus longed to gather the people like a hen gathers her chicks, but Jesus knew what would happen: he would be killed, and a generation later, the temple destroyed by Rome.

Psalm 122 is a prayer for peace for Jerusalem, a pilgrimage song for when the tribes came to worship at the temple. The throne of David is in Jerusalem, and justice is served from there. The psalmist prays for peace for the city, for its inhabitants, and for the pilgrims coming there.

In this season of Lent, we remember in the Hebrew scriptures the covenant of God that endures forever—not because of anything we do, but because God established the covenant, and our faith that God will fulfill God’s promises sustains us. In faithfulness, Jesus turned toward Jerusalem, toward death, not afraid of Herod or of the religious leaders. The disciples didn’t understand, because their mind was set on human things. We often think the goal is to prolong our lives as much as possible. Jesus argues that to save our life, we must be willing to lose it. To deny ourselves and take up the cross. To become last of all and servant of all. It’s about living for God, living for others, that we find our lives, not in trying to save ourselves. Jesus came for the sake of the world, showing us an eternal life that begins now, not simply after we die. But it’s a hard transition to eternity thinking, as Peter and the others learned.

Call to Worship
The promises of God are like bulbs deep in the soil,
God is making all things new.
The promises of God are like crocuses peeking out of the snow,
God is making all things new.
The promises of God are like fresh turned earth,
God is making all things new.
The promises of God are all around us, though we cannot perceive it yet—
God is making all things new.
Come, worship our God, for we know the seasons will change,
And our God will make all things new.

Prayer of Brokenness/Confession
Ancient of Days, we are a stubborn people. We become set in our ways. We only know the past, so we look back with nostalgia like the Israelites in the wilderness, who remembered only the good things about their past and forgot all the hardship and toil they went through. We, too, often only remember the good things and push aside the difficult memories. Call us into accountability. Help us to remember the sins of our past so that we might learn to live into a future with hope. Call us to repent, to turn back to Your ways, to seek to repair the damage we have caused, to dismantle systems of sin at work in our world and our lives, so that we can build a future that You have called us to with more mercy and grace. In Your name we pray. Amen.

Blessing/Assurance
The peace that surpasses all understanding is with us, now. Christ Jesus has shown us the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Your sins are forgiven. Rejoice, and reclaim the life that God has in store for you. Seek forgiveness where you have gone wrong, and work to repair and restore. Turn your hearts to the newness of God’s promises, and live into God’s ways. Amen.

Holy Light, shine bright in our lives when the shadows threaten. Shine bright in our lives when despair creeps in. Shine bright in our world when the systems of sin threaten to overpower us. Shine bright in our world when evil seems to prevail. Shine bright in us, so we may be beacons of hope for others. Shine bright in us so that nations will be drawn to Your light, as Isaiah spoke long ago. Shine bright in us, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Revised Common Lectionary: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15

Narrative Lectionary: Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-42 (Psalm 15)

The first covenant God makes is after the great flood in Genesis 9:8-17. The covenant is not just for humanity, but for all of creation, that God will never again destroy the earth by flood. God has hung up the bow, God’s weapon, and will never again use it against the earth. In a world where people believed in gods who often went to war with the people in their stories and myths, the God Noah knew was unique, in that God made a covenant and promised to never again make war with the earth by flood.

Psalm 25:1-10 is the first part of an acrostic poem, in which each line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmist turns to God, praying that God will deliver them from their enemies. The psalmist desires to follow God’s ways, to trust in what God has in store for them. They pray for God to not remember the sins of their youth, when they fell into the ways of the world. They know that God is the one who instructs sinners into the path of right-living. For those who keep God’s covenant, they will know God’s steadfast love and faithfulness in their lives.

1 Peter 3:18-22 speaks of Christ’s suffering for all—for both righteous and unrighteous. In the writer of 1 Peter’s view, and how the early church creeds interpret this passage, Christ descended into the place of the dead, “the spirits in prison,” to proclaim the good news. The writer of this letter also interprets the story of Noah as a story of baptism, saving all of humanity before Noah from their sins through the floodwaters, and now baptism saves the believers who are alive.

Mark’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert is sparse on the details. It’s really two verses long. So the pericope for the Revised Common Lectionary includes Jesus’ baptism (again, sparse on the details) and Jesus’ first sermon, that “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of heaven has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (1:15). While we often focus on Jesus’ time in the wilderness on the temptations he faced from the devil, thanks to Matthew and Luke’s more detailed account, perhaps we ought to focus on Jesus’ time with the wild beasts, the Spirit, and the angels who waited on him. This helped Jesus become clear about his message, who he was setting out to call as disciples, and that the time was fulfilled. He was ready. The world was ready.

The Narrative Lectionary turns to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:25-42. Luke’s account of Jesus giving the greatest commandment is different from Matthew and Mark, in that the question asked is not which is the greatest commandment, but “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds with a question of “what is in the law,” and the lawyer responds correctly, with the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4 and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self in Leviticus 19:18. But then the lawyer wants to know who their neighbor is, and Jesus tells the parable. Amy-Jill Levine’s take in Short Stories of Jesus is a must-read for understanding this parable. The known anecdote would have been, “A priest, a Levite, and an Israelite,” meaning if a priest or a Levite didn’t respond, then it’s up to everyone else to fulfill that role (pg. 103). Jesus’ twist in using a Samaritan—someone that the listeners in his day would have despised—is not putting down the religious leaders for failing to fulfill their role, but rather that sometimes the outsiders, the people we despise, are the ones who show us more clearly how we ought to be living. The question “who is my neighbor?” by the lawyer was really to find a loophole, a way out of not having to love everyone, but if a Samaritan can do it, then we all must.

Now on to Mary and Martha. There’s an excellent take on this in a Facebook post by Amy Courts (I do not know her) that is a must read. There are many different ways to interpret this story, but I like her take on the fact that Mary has taken up the ministry of discipleship in the way the men have, but that Jesus validates both Mary and Martha in their ministry.

I also like to contrast this with the story of Mary and Martha in John 11, in which they live with their brother Lazarus. Whereas Martha may seem distracted in Luke’s gospel, in John’s, Martha is the first to declare that she believes in Jesus and the resurrection and is ready when Jesus comes to visit, and Mary is not.

The psalmist asks the rhetorical question of who can come into God’s presence in Psalm 15. The psalmist responds that those who live into God’s ways faithfully. Those who are honest and true, who do no harm to their neighbors, who cannot be bribed and do not exploit those in need. They will remain faithful to God and nothing will cause them to fall.

This first Sunday of Lent gives several options to think about: the forty days and nights of Noah and his family aboard the ark with wild beasts, and the forty days Jesus was in the wilderness with wild beasts and angels. The Narrative Lectionary asks the questions of who is our neighbor, and what is authentic ministry? Lent is a time to reflect on our faith journey with Jesus: who are we, and who is God calling us to be? How do we get from here to there? Repentance and faithfulness, yes, but living out our faith is a call to love our neighbors and meet their needs. There are many ways to be faithful: to seek God in our prayers, to spend time alone with God, to do the work that needs to be done for others to serve God faithfully, and to care for our neighbors in need. Perhaps Mary and Martha teach us that there is no one right way, but multiple ways to live in righteousness. Rather than judging how we live into faithfulness, we ought to honor and lift up each other in our faithful ways.

Call to Worship
The time is fulfilled.
The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.
Repent, and believe in the Good News.
The reign of God is at hand.
Follow Jesus, who calls us to gather others.
For the work has begun.
Believe in God’s love for you, for the world,
For God sent his Son for us, that we might know eternal life.
Roll up your sleeves, and be prepared:
The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.

Prayer of Brokenness/Confession
Ancient of Days, the earth flooded long ago, and we were given a sign: the rainbow, a reminder that Your covenant is with the whole earth, that You will never again destroy the earth by flood. Your covenant is a reminder to us that the world is still broken, but You strive to make it whole. We have failed and fallen short, but You have remained steadfast. Your love for us has never ceased, though we have wandered and sought after the world’s desires. Call us back to Your covenant. Remind us of how You formed the world and made us in Your image. Remind us that we come from You, and we return to You, and Your promises never end. You may be ancient, but You also make all things new. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Blessing/Assurance (Psalm 25:7-10)
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD! Good and upright is the LORD; therefore God instructs sinners in the way. God leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble the way. All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep God’s covenant and decrees.
Know God’s love and forgiveness are with you, and your sins are remembered no more. Go forth, and live into God’s ways.

Prayer
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! We are in awe as we think of how You created the earth and the heavens, the universe that we know hardly anything about, the galaxies that we have only a glimpse of. You made everything, and You made us. What are we to You, O God? Yet we know You care for us, You love us, and we know You draw near to us. Help us to draw near to You, O God. Help us to seek Your wisdom, insight, and understanding in our lives, and help us to keep the awe and wonder alive in our hearts. If we would only remember how much we do not know, perhaps we would hold more tenderly our relationships, our lives, our world. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory, Lord God Almighty! Amen.