Colourful Dreamer

This sermon can be listened to here Gate Pa – 1 st Sunday in Lent - Year A - 2020 Readings: Psalm -                        Psalm: 32                                                                  First Reading -             Genesis 2: 15-17, 3: 1-7        Second Reading-        Romans 5: 12-19                            Gospel -                         Matthew 4: 1-11                What I want to say: Jesus time in the wilderness was less about being tempted to act in certain ways, and more about being tested in his sense of who he was and how he might live that out. Lent too is about who we are as beloved children of God, how we forget that, and how we might live that out. I want to suggest that our collective issue might be “climate change” What I want to happen: People to reflect on what their Lenten disciplines might be considering that, and what “our” Lenten discipline might be. The Sermon        1.      Introduction: A small man was standin

As this Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent, we hear again of Jesus testing time in the wilderness. Because we are in the year of Matthew, we get his version. Jesus is baptised and is declared to be the God’s Beloved Son. The Spirit then takes Jesus into the wilderness to face the big questions. What kind of beloved son will he be? How will he live that out? The wilderness is a harsh place where there is no hiding. Here he fasts and prepares. He is anchored in God. And at the end he is tested in this identity.     How will he respond? Will be put his own needs first or trust that God will provide? Will he succumb to the dramatic and lure of fame, or will be trust God and meet the needs of those who encounter him on the way? Will he seek power and fortune, or seek nothing for himself and live in response to God’s compassion and justice? We too are beloved children. But too often, like Adam and Eve, we forget, and we strive for what is ours already. They strove to be like God when