Worship on the Web STARTERS FOR SUNDAY Date: Sunday 21st February 2010 First Sunday in Lent Readings Old Testament Reading Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Lent is more than a season of preparation for Easter. It is a time for the Christian community to repent and be reconciled with God and one another. It is a time of journeying with and praying for the catechumens who will be initiated into the Church at the Easter Vigil. We also pray for those baptized candidates who will be confirmed and/or will be receiving the Eucharist for the first time. Finally, it is a time to appreciate and profess our faith, as God's people do in today's first reading. As they celebrate a liturgy of thanksgiving, Moses retells the story of the marvelous way God guided and saved them. He reminds the people that God sees their suffering and hears their cry for help. Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 The Psalm continues the theme of God's protection and deliverance in the past and offers us a way to pray voicing God's continued promise of protection for God's people New Testament / Epistle reading Romans 10:8b-13 Just as Moses wanted the people to express their faith, Paul calls on the Christians of Rome to "confess with their lips that Jesus is Lord." He reminds them and us that we must truly believe that Jesus rose from the dead if we hope to be saved. Through Jesus, God's great mercy embraces us and makes us "justified," or right with God. Gospel Reading Luke 4:1-13 Lent is a period of forty days during which the whole Church renews itself through prayer and fasting. Today we are reminded that the Israelites wandered for forty years in the desert after God led them out of captivity. We are now observing the forty days of Lent. During the Easter Triduum, we will celebrate being led from slavery into freedom. According to today's gospel, Jesus retreated to the desert for forty days to prepare for his mission after being baptized by John the Baptist. Luke dramatically describes what happened to Jesus while he was alone in that deserted place. The devil tempts Jesus with promises of bread (a symbol for material comforts), of power (authority over others), and of false glory (to be gained by daring to test God). However Jesus defeats the devil by defending himself with God's word from the Old Testament. Even then the devil does not give up. He "awaits another opportunity" to tempt Jesus. ---------------- The "temptation" for worship planners and many Christians may be automatically to set the temptations in the desert. The scriptures, however, do not say this. The temptation about bread may have happened near the edge of the desert, but it may have been more likely to have reflected a scene closer to a more habitable environment since stones are mentioned. The temptation of the kingdoms happens on some sort of a high place, perhaps a mountain or a plateau, not in the desert. The temptation of worship was in Jerusalem itself, at the very top of the temple building. Finally, all these temptations happened after and not during the forty day fast of Jesus, which was in the desert. So there are two different, although related, themes that today's gospel text invites us to explore: the practice of fasting to offer oneself fully to God's calling; and the experience of temptation, which tests clarity about calling achieved during fasting. What is also interesting about the readings for this week is that the focus, rather than being on Jesus’ temptation, is on God’s care, protection and provision for God’s people. When the temptation narrative is placed in that context, our focus shifts dramatically – and importantly – away from fear of failure, or succumbing to evil, and on to God’s resources that are at our disposal to keep us strong and faithful. Perhaps the great temptation of this week in the lectionary is to make it all about evil and its attack on us and our world. The Lectionary, however, rightly calls us to make this week about God – God’s care, God’s Word, God’s protection, God’s provision – which means that we can rest assured that whatever we may face, “the best of all is ‘God is with us’” as Wesley said. With little scratching of the surface, the three temptations of Jesus are no different than the ones we wrestle with in the world today – power and influence, wealth and consumption, personal appetites and greed. Are there any of the big justice issues that do not fall into one of these general categories? Yet, this is where God’s care and protection is so important for us to focus on, or we can easily fall into the trap of fighting this evil on its own terms. Jesus refuses to do so. Trusting in God, and immersing himself in God’s Word, Jesus simply embraces a different set of values – self-giving, humility and servanthood, fasting and self-control. Even in the big global issues, simply working to create communities of trust in God’s ways that live out these alternative values is a significant way to contribute and to push back the forces of evil. How can your community embody the values of Christ more visibly and publicly? Perhaps we should think about the Lenten disciplines of: – fasting (to confront our consumption and appetites); – giving of time, abilities and resources (to confront our love of power and pride); – prayer (to confront our self-dependence and security issues). As individuals, and as faith communities, embracing these practices – not just in Lent – is the easiest way to confront the evil within and without. As Mother Teresa famously said: “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” Prayers Collect (Common Order p660) Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, but did not sin. Give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit; and, just as you know our weakness, so may we know your power to save; through Jesus Christ our Lord PRAYER OF ADORATION AND PRAISE Liberator God, we praise you for acting to release people from whatever enslaves them.  Your people of old remembered your great acts of mercy when you freed them from a land of oppression  and led them into one flowing with milk and honey.  Like them, we remember and celebrate the great gift of your mercy - your love in action. Love revealed forever in Jesus Christ Through his sacrificial life and love, we have been released from enslavement to sin and death.  We remember today the beginning of his journey towards an agonising death for him,  but towards the gift of life for us.  May words of praise and adoration for such love be forever on our lips and in our hearts.   This we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen PRAYER OF CONFESSION Gracious and merciful God, we confess to you our reluctance to enter the wilderness places where we are confronted with our true selves.   The places where we are tempted to put worldly values before our desire for you, and when our hunger for power and wealth is greater than our hunger for seeking and doing your will: Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you. When we are tempted to use the gifts you give us to benefit ourselves at the expense of serving others: Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you. When we are tempted to use sensational means to increase people’s faith, rather than being guided by the humility of Christ: Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you. When we are tempted to use bribery to influence and control people:  Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you. When we are tempted to manipulate you, O God, to satisfy our own needs: Forgive us, O God, and increase our trust in you.                 A time of silence for personal confession ALL: Merciful God, save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.  Forgive us our sins and fill us with the joy and peace of your salvation. So strengthen us with your Spirit during this Lenten season that we put our whole trust in you as confidently as Jesus did. This we pray in his name.  Amen ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS As the Apostle Paul wrote: “...if you confess with your lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will  be saved.” (Romans 10:9) These words contain the good news that in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! Alternative Prayer for Lent Holy God, Refuge of desert wanderers: as the seeds of grace you have planted within us bear an abundant harvest, we would offer the first fruits in thanksgiving to you and in service to others. Jesus Christ, Companion of Lenten pilgrims: you understood that God alone feeds us, and so became the broken Bread; you knew that the power to transform our lives comes from God alone, and so became our Servant; you did not ignore the warning not to test God, and so became our Hope. Holy Spirit, Leader of Christ's apprentices: you fill the hungry with the Bread of life; you fill the arrogant with the Servant's humility; you fill the hopeless with that trust which endures. Lord God, in our hearts and with our lips, we pray as Jesus has taught us, saying, Our Father . . . Creative Prayer for Lent Give everyone a stone which they can hold comfortably (size wise) and which has both smooth and rough surfaces. Encourage them to shut their eyes in prayer. Ask them to feel the rough surfaces and to think of the rough (hard) areas in their lives at the moment. Encourage them to silently ask God for help with regard to these areas. Then ask them to feel the smooth surfaces and to think of the things in their lives that they are grateful for - the things that make them happy and give them joy. Encourage them to pray silently thanking God for these things. Maybe you can adapt the prayer below as an extended meditation during your service? Meditation/Prayer Look at your stone. See how it is shaped and coloured. Feel its contours, the rough and smooth patches. Does it feel warm or cold to the touch? Silence Think of the journey your stone has made: -broken off from a larger piece, -pounded by the force of the sea, -used by a child to build with, -thrown in anger, -traveled from afar, -once admired by someone, -placed in water by someone; -or maybe never touched by anyone, until you came along . And now it lies in the palm of your hand. Silence Now let the pebble become a way of thinking about your journey. Reflect on how you have been shaped by events: rounded and smooth in parts…battered and rough in others…the colour, the texture of your life, your feelings. How much are you a chip off the old block? How much of other people’s journeys has rubbed off on you as you have travelled together? What has washed and cleansed you, marked you, polished you? Silence Reflect on your journey, offering back to God the places that hurt, the worn and rough patches, the gentle rounded places… “Listen to me, you that seek the Lord.” Look to the Rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to those who bore you and carried you… “Awake, put on strength… I am the one who comforts you. I have put my words in your mouth, and hidden you in the shadow of my hand. You are my people.” Silence Has your stone changed as you have held it? Where does the future lie for your stone; for you? Hymns and songs Unless otherwise indicated hymn references are from Church Hymnary: Fourth Edition, denoted as CH4, followed by the hymn number. At the name of Jesus CH4 number 458 Fairest Lord Jesus CH4 number 463 Father of heaven, whose love profound CH4 number 483 For the fruits of all creation CH4 number 231 Forty days and forty nights CH4 number 337 God is love, let heaven adore him CH4 number 123 Guide me O thou great Jehovah CH4 number 167 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds CH4 number 461 I bind unto myself today CH4 number 639 I'm not ashamed to own my Lord CH4 number 645 In Christ there is no east or west CH4 number 624 Jesus lover of my soul CH4 number 490 Jesus, the very thought of thee CH4 number 560 Now thank we all our God CH4 number 182 O God of Bethel by whose hand CH4 number 268 O Jesus, I have promised CH4 number 644 O love how deep, how broad, how high CH4 number 354 O Love that wilt not let me go CH4 number 557 What a friend we have in Jesus CH4 number 547 Your hand, O God, has guided CH4 number 511 Spirit of the living God CH4 number 619 or 620 Something for the Children You will need: an array of clothes – jacket, tie, scarf, hat, sunglasses. Also some gel, hairspray, aftershave etc. Ask for a volunteer (preferably someone who is the same size as the clothes you have brought with you – even if it is an adult). Explain that today’s lucky volunteer is going to get a “make-over” – probably an idea to have your volunteer primed beforehand. You can have a bit of fun by saying that their clothes are very last year and that with your help they are going to look amazing. Put on the jacket and the tie; ham it up if you wish by gelling the hair (maybe a hair stylist in the congregation could assist). Give volunteer a pretty quick make over and everyone will, I am sure, enter into the spirit of it. Teaching: Explain that today we begin an important journey called lent. On this journey it is a chance for us to get a make over, not on the outside, but on the inside. We think about our relationship with God in these weeks leading up to Easter. Some people give up things as a way of being close to God – maybe we can do that too. Others think about how they can spend more time in prayer or bible study. The result is something far more wonderful than your pretend make over – the result is a deeper friendship with Jesus and that is something that will last forever. Additional resources CALL TO WORSHIP: Based on Psalm 91 verses1,2,10-13; Romans 10:13 We gather here, trusting in God as our refuge and strength - assured of God’s everlasting care for us.  And so, at the beginning and throughout our Lenten journey we have confidence in God’s presence with us in every time of trial and temptation.  For everyone who calls on God for help is saved through the sacrificial love of Jesus, our Lord and our Saviour. alternatively Call to Worship Jesus began his ministry to the world, led by the Spirit into the wilderness. As we begin our Lenten journey, let us be led by the Spirit, even into the uncomfortable places. In those forty days, and in that place, Jesus was faced with hunger, doubt and temptation. As we seek to follow Jesus, we would be led, even into the uncomfortable choices. Jesus left the wilderness, faithful and obedient to God, rejoicing in the One in whom he trusted. As we continue on our path to faithfulness, we will be led by our Christ, rejoicing in the Lord our God. What can we give up this Lent? GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, "In everything give thanks." GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion. GIVE UP looking at other people's worst attributes. Instead concentrate on their best points. GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! They're too heavy for you to carry anyway. Instead, trust God with them. GIVE UP TV one evening a week! Instead, visit someone who's lonely or sick. GIVE UP buying anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money to something better. GIVE UP judging others by appearances and by the standard of the world! Instead, learn to give up yourself to God. A word about the author Rev Alan Gibson is the Minister of The United Parish of Carstairs and Carstairs Junction. He has been there for 18 months, prior to which he was at Avendale in Strathaven.