|
|
Woship Resources 2009-2010 — Year C: Live Generously, Love Courageously
Return to Year C: 2009-2010
Resource Index
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Beauty of Discomfort
First Sunday in Lent
Scriptures: Deuteronomy 26:1–11; Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16; Romans
10:8b–13;
Luke 4:1–13/ 4:1–12 IV; I Nephi 3:189;
Doctrine and Covenants 163:1–2a
Prelude
Welcome
Call to Worship
“Community of Christ”
What a beautiful name
and yet how uncomfortable,
demanding, hard to live up to.
But if we can embrace it,
we will be a blessing to creation.
How can we not be afraid?
We have an invitation from Jesus Christ,
the embodiment of God’s shalom.
Even though we are in the midst
of this beautiful struggle,
with difficult questions,
We have only to follow Christ
to know divine peace.
—Doctrine and Covenants 163:1–2a, adapted by Lu Mountenay
*Hymn: “World Around Us, Sky Above Us” HS 135
OR “Jesus” NS 22
OR “Gentle God, When We Are Driven” SP 16
*Invocation
*Response
Hymn: “O God, in Restless Living” HS 177
OR “To Live at Peace with Others” SP 17
Scripture for Peace: I Nephi 3:189
Prayer for Peace
Scripture for Confessional Reflection: Romans 10:8b–13
Lord, sometimes we confess only with our lips. Help us believe in our
hearts.
Disciples’ Generous Response
Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to
integrate the message of “share equally” between Local and World Ministries
Mission Tithes. Generosity stories are provided to keep the church in touch
with how contributions to Mission Tithes spread the peace of Jesus Christ.
Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information
as part of your offertory ministry. Visit
www.CofChrist.org/generositystories to print a copy, or contact your
pastor, congregational financial officer, or worship coordinator for a copy.
Stand at the back of the worship space so the congregation has to turn
around to see who is talking. Discuss how it may feel uncomfortable to turn
your head, or turn around completely, to see what is going on in the
back—especially when people are used to looking up front. How is beauty
often found in the places we don’t usually think to look?
Also place baskets at the back of the congregation. Invite the people to
stand up and walk to the back to put their offering in the basket.
Blessing and Offering of Mission Tithes
Scripture Reading: Luke 4:1–13
Message
Based on Luke 4:1–13
Ministry of Music: “Love Is Gonna Break Through”
By Chris Rice; available on What a Heart Is Beating For CD
OR “Brothers and Sisters of Mine” HS 388
OR “To Live at Peace with Others” SP 17
Sending Forth: Matthew 9:10–13
As we go out into the world, as disciples of Christ, may we be aware of
the beauty that can be found in the midst of situations that are difficult
or uncomfortable. May these situations continue to transform us as we draw
closer to God and each other.
*Hymn: “Were the World to End Tomorrow” SP 37
OR “Companions on the Journey” NS 7
OR “Community of Christ” R-14
*Benediction
*Hymn: “There’s a Church Within Us” HS 290
*Postlude
Sermon Helps
Scriptures: Deuteronomy 26:1–11; Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16; Romans 10:8b–13;
Luke 4:1–13/4:1–12 IV
Exploring the Scriptures
With this text we are invited into the season of Lent. The people of Israel
had great expectations of the Messiah. The Messiah would push the Romans out,
make Israel a mighty kingdom, and purify worship. These expectations shaped
Jesus, as they were part of the scriptural and cultural tradition of his people.
His response to the temptations suggests that Jesus understood his call to be
far more than personal. It was to be the transformation of this world into the
kingdom of God.
The setting and story identify Jesus with Israel and the Exodus. Both were
led into the wilderness by the Spirit for forty days (years) and were tempted by
bread, idolatry, and testing God. Where Israel repeatedly failed and God had to
guide them back to their identity and faith, Jesus was faithful. His response to
temptation was quoting scripture, trusting the word of God.
The three temptations connect to Jesus’ ministry. The people expected the
Messiah to end hunger, but that was not the heart of his mission. There was more
to his ministry than miracles and satisfying needs of the body.
Jesus looked over the kingdoms of the world. If he would worship Satan, Satan
could give him authority over them. Jesus chose between the reign of God and the
reign of the world as shaped by power, greed, and fear. Jesus faced a choice
between the idolatry of worshiping a false god and having the power to push
Romans out and make Israel mighty, and serving God and a transforming kingdom
that would forge a new world of peace. At his crucifixion, the sign above his
head on the cross mockingly called him “King of the Jews.” Jesus chose which
kingdom he would serve.
Finally, Satan tempted Jesus to prove that he was the Son of God, by throwing
himself from the temple so God would miraculously save him. This somber choice
was echoed in the Garden of Gethsemane before Jesus was taken to be executed.
Jesus did not defy God’s will to protect himself. Instead, he was willing to
give anything, including his life, to be faithful to God’s call. Jesus did not
try to manipulate God for personal gain; instead, Jesus focused on God’s will at
the expense of his own comfort and safety.
We may look to the example of Jesus for how to resist temptation. In our
lives, tempted as we are, we sometimes forget who we are as people of faith. We
are tempted to use religion to help ourselves and avoid the pain of sacrifice
for God and for those God loves. When Jesus was hungry, isolated, and exhausted,
he retreated into scripture and into communion with God to ground his response.
He pushed back against the influences that tried to deform his call into
something of this world, instead of a foretaste of the kingdom of God. He
focused on living by the words of scripture, worshiping and serving God, and not
expecting God to perform tricks.
As Jesus is tempted, we see a fundamental division between the world as it is
and the world God wants for us. In our present world, people worship power;
satisfying physical needs is often their highest priority. As scripture’s intent
becomes twisted, it is the powerful answer to no one, not even God.
Jesus responds with a vision of the world as a place where meaning is as
critical as meeting physical needs. In the kingdom of God, we care for God’s
world instead of ruling it ourselves, we honor God’s will above our own, and we
remember who we are called to be.
Central Ideas
1. The world as it is and the kingdom of God are fundamentally different;
we must choose between them just as Jesus did.
2. We are not only tempted to abandon ministry—we are tempted to subvert
it to serve ourselves instead of serving God.
Questions for the Speaker
1. How would you reframe each temptation to make sense in your context,
to get at the choices confronting and tempting Jesus?
2. Why do you think the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be hungry
and alone? Would these temptations have been easier or harder if others had
been with Jesus as he faced them?
3. Think of a time you faced a temptation like this. How did you respond?
Return to Year C: 2009-2010
Resource Index
|
