Lent and Such
This sermon can be listened to here
Gate Pa – Year B 1st Sunday of Lent 2018
Readings:
Psalm Psalm 25:1-10
First Reading:
Genesis
9:8-17
Second Reading: 1 Peter
3:18-22
Gospel: Mark
1:9-15
What I want to say:
I want to explore Lent – it’s
origins and what it is about. I then want to look at whey we might get into
Lent – to what end do we pray, fast and give – using the three questions. I
want to
What I want to happen:
What
do we hope for this Lent as we pray fast and give – using part of Pope Francis’
Lenten Epistle.
The Sermon
1. Introduction – What is Lent?
this week some of
us ate fantastic pancakes – thanks Ainsley and her team
some of us had
ash crosses placed on our foreheads
It must be Lent
I assume that
everyone knows what lent is –
but as you know
assuming makes an ass out of you and me
so what is Lent?
Lent is a season
of forty days, not counting Sundays,
begins on Ash
Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday.
word “Lent” comes
from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring."
The forty days
represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness,
–
which is why we always hear about Jesus in wilderness on first Sunday in Lent.
In the early
church, Lent was a time to prepare candidates for baptism.
Today Lent is a
time of repentance, time of preparation for the coming of Easter.
-
prayer, fasting
and giving
-
As Jesus faced his
temptations in the wilderness
-
time to face our
own temptations
Today, Lent is a
time for us to focus on their relationship with God,
which
we do by give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves or our money for
others.
- time re-establish the rhythms of our
lives into rhythms of God
Sundays in Lent
are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a
"mini-Easter" and the reverent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful
anticipation of the Resurrection.
2. What’s the Point?
so what’s the
point of all this praying, fasting and giving?
why are we giving
up our chocolates/ ice cream/ plain biscuits?
what are we doing
this for?
To feel good
about ourselves?
look at me being all super virtuous and
fasting and praying and such
Ü Gospel reading on Ash Wednesday warned us
about that
to keep on track
to get into heaven?
or something else?
3. Jesus Baptism
Want to spend a
moment using our gospel reading today to explore why Lent
Mark is a little
brief so we also get story of Jesus’s baptism with wilderness
-
in part because
those two stories are linked
-
The Spirit enters
Jesus at the baptism and drives him out into wilderness
As Jesus emerges
from water
-
The spirit enters
into him
-
and he hears a
voice saying
-
"You
are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
-
named “Beloved”
Not messiah
not titles given
to him as he rode a donkey into Jerusalem
-
not the one who
comes in the name of the Lord
-
not the one who
will restore the kingdom of David
Ü The Beloved
wonder if one of
our temptations is to use the grand titles for Jesus
-
titles that may
actually distract us from who Jesus is
-
The Beloved
-
I wonder how our
prayers might change if we prayed to Jesus the Beloved?
4. Wilderness and atonement
Then Jesus the Beloved
is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness
confronts the
tempter – the Satan
he confronts the
powers of evil
-
who hold the creation
and all who live in it captive
For the longest
time this was seen as a story about atonement
what
the cross is about
by sin corruption
and death entered this world
evil abounded
humanity lived
under sentence of death
not from God creator
but from powers of evil
the Satan
so Jesus the
Beloved begins by confronting these powers
bringing harmony and healing
“and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels
waited on him.”
-
like a picture from
Isaiah
when powers of
evil have John the Baptiser arrested and then beheaded
Jesus the Beloved
continues what he began in wilderness
"The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the
good news."
The good news is
that in Jesus the Beloved’s death
the
powers of evil are defeated
creation
is freed
the
chains holding humanity to ways of death are broken
It is not God the
Father who requires Jesus the Beloved’s death
In killing Jesus
the Beloved on cross
powers of evil
and death that put him there are defeated
The reign of God
in Jesus the Beloved begins
and we are part
of that.
5. Conclusion
Lent then is a
time for us to remember
That through
Christ the Beloved
we are created in
the Image of God who created all things in love
In Jesus the Beloved
– we are Beloved
Lent then is a
time for us to take the time to notice all ways we forget who we are
all the ways we live that deny who we are
and we are invited
to live in new ways
-
as Beloved
in pew sheet I
have offered a quote from Pope Francis about how we might do that.
want to finish
with another quote from Pope Francis
our evening Ash Wednesday service at St. Mary Immaculate began
with
it asks again why
we are taking part in any Lenten activities
and invites us to
take part for the sake of all who have yet to live in the reign of God in Jesus
the Beloved
who
restores creation
names
humanity beloved
From the
Lenten Message from Pope Francis
I would also like my invitation to extend
beyond the bounds of the Catholic Church, and to reach all of you, men and
women of good will, who are open to hearing God’s voice. Perhaps, like
ourselves, you are disturbed by the spread of iniquity in the world, you are
concerned about the chill that paralyzes hearts and actions, and you see a
weakening in our sense of being members of the one human family. Join us, then,
in raising our plea to God, in fasting, and in offering whatever you can to our
brothers and sisters in need!
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