Lent 1 (C) sermons
Trust and See, Lent 1 (C) – 2025
[RCL] Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13 “The only way to get rid of a temptation” Lord Henry advises Dorian Grey in Oscar Wilde’s novel, “is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.” We, like Lord Henry, have the sense that when a desire…
Hunger for the Word, Lent 1 (C) – 2022
[RCL] Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13 What strikes the reader and listener of the lectionary this morning is the eternal echo of God’s Word in Scripture. We hear it in the phrase “forty days and nights,” a familiar set of numbers found both in the Hebrew Scriptures and here in the…
Jesus, Daniel, and Johnny, Lent 1 (C) – 2019
Humanity vs. the Devil. It’s a tale as old as time. You might know one such story that starts like this: “It’s a story they tell in the border country, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire. “Yes, Dan’l Webster’s dead—or, at least, they buried him. But every time there’s a thunderstorm around Marshfield, [Massachusetts,]…
Driven by the Spirit, Lent 1 (C) – 2016
It is the first Sunday in Lent and it seems as if Advent was just a few days ago. During Advent and Christmas we were confronted with the scandal of the incarnation: the wondrous and terrifying news that God entered our humanity in a specific place, at a designated time, in the form of a…
Sin, Like Ashes in Our Eyes, Lent 1 (C) – 2013
The ashes are gone – washed off our foreheads – but their darkness still stains our thoughts and spirits as we begin Lent once again. Tiny grains of ash, like the darkness of sin, may have fallen in our eyes or down our faces. Annoyed, we may have rubbed our eyes or brushed our cheeks….
The Word Is Near You…, Lent 1 (C) – 2010
“The word is near you,on your lips and in your heart” This past Wednesday we struck out into the desert spaces alongside Jesus, receiving a cross of ashes on our forehead or on our heart to begin the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday calls upon our humanity. It reminds us that we are but dust and…
A Roadmap for Our Lenten Journey…, Lent 1 (C) – 2007
The lessons for the first Sunday in Lent can be viewed as a roadmap for our Lenten journey. They embody the theme of journeying: travel, protection, and longing for a destination. If we look at each of them as Lenten guides, they will richly serve us through this season. Deuteronomy talks about our heritage as…
Wet and Washed, Lent 1 (C) – 2004
Wet and washed, Jesus walked out of the river, full of God, full of God’s Spirit. That Holy Spirit led him into the wild land west of the Jordan River. He headed for the wilderness out of which his cousin John had come, preaching and calling people to come to God and be cleansed in…
Today’s Gospel Passage Begins…, Lent 1 (C) – 2001
Today’s Gospel passage begins with an incredible contrast. Luke tells us that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, and then he is led into the emptiness of the wilderness. Remember, in Luke’s account, Jesus has just been baptized. We read that this Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice from heaven…
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