Worship on the First Sunday of Lent
10:00 am March 09, 2025
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Linda Farrah-Basford Welcoming Elder: Jane de Caen
Children’s time and Reader: Lynn Vaughan
We gather to worship God
Music Prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: Friends, let us worship God today, for God is great –
P: God has blessed us with life, with faith, and with community.
L: Let us worship God today, for God is good –
P: God forgives us, and encourages us, and loves us.
L: Let us worship God today –
P: Because we are God’s people.
L: Let us worship God.
Opening praise: Come now is the time to worship
Prayers of approach and confession
Holy and merciful God, you are our refuge and strength.
We rejoice in your grace and love which has called creation into being, and makes all life complete.
We praise you for Jesus Christ who reveals your loving purposes for all people;
in his face we glimpse your love;
in his life we see the pattern for our lives.
We bless you for the Holy Spirit who guides us and strengthens us, drawing us into the embrace of your tender love.
And so we praise you, O God, our eternal, creating father who loves us with motherly care, united with Christ, our Saviour, and your Holy Spirit, the breath of life, Three in One, now and always.
Almighty and most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you
in things we have done, and things we have neglected to do.
We have held back from giving to protect what we have.
We have not trusted in your goodness and instead relied on the world’s empty promises.
Forgive what we have done and direct who we shall become.
Please help us to serve you by serving your world with generous spirits.
Response: We come to ask your forgiveness, O Lord
Assurance of God’s forgiveness
Hear and believe the good news! Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.
The old life is gone. The new life has come.
Know that you are forgiven, and so, in Christ, forgive one another.
Musical offering: Dylan Mohammed and Peter Sheridan
We listen for the voice of God
Response: Open our eyes Lord (445)
Children’s time
Story: Good morning, boys and girls. In about 40 days, we will be celebrating Easter. We call this 40-day time period Lent. Lent is a special season of prayer where we take a look at our own lives and make sure we are doing what God wants us to do … and becoming the people God wants us to be.
Now, everyone stand up and follow me; we’re going to do a demonstration. I want you to pretend someone has asked us to come and play in the park. Let’s go! (Make a little trip around the pulpit, past some chairs and get them to stop up front)
Ok, there is the park; it looks like they are having fun there. But first, let’s pretend there is a road right in front of us here. What should we do? Should we just go straight across? (Let the children respond.) That’s right. We need to STOP. (Have the children join you as if you were all lined up on the edge of a road ready to cross.) Then what should we do after stopping? That’s right, we need to LOOK to see if a car is coming. (Get them to look both ways.) Then what? That’s right, we need to LISTEN for vehicles on the road. (Put your hands up and cup your ears.)
OK, we took time to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN. It looks safe so now we can cross.
Children, what you have just done is very important. If we are going to keep safe while going to all the exciting places we want to go, we need to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN before crossing streets. In life, it is important to do the same thing!
We get so busy with activities and school and work and stuff, we are often in a rush. It’s very important that we take time to STOP and find time for God. We need to LOOK around and think about what we are doing. We need to look at ourselves. Are we doing what God wants us to do? Are we becoming the sort of person that God wants us to be? And finally, we need to LISTEN to God, by reading the Bible and taking time to pray. Speaking of praying, this seems like a good time to show our friends here at Dayspring the song we’ve been learning in Sunday School. (Children sing ‘Standin’ in the need of Prayer’, then sit down again.)
Children’s Song: It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord
So, remember: the season of Lent is when we should take time to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN to all the things that God wants us to do with our lives. Let us pray …
Prayer:
Dear God. Thank you for your love. Help us always remember to STOP being so busy, to LOOK closely at ourselves, and to LISTEN to the plans you have for us during this season of Lent.
The Lord’s Prayer (535)
Song: Come thou fount of every blessing
Scripture: Luke 4:1-13
Instrumental Response
Message: “Tested”
It was an incredible scene. To Him (Jesus), the river was not just another body of water. It was a special place in the hearts of the Jewish people. It was the water parted for Joshua. Crossing it after Moses died was his final step as he led the people out of 40 years in the wilderness. The place where heroes of the faith had walked was a sacred place where Elijah and Elisha had come and walked upon dry ground like a miniature parting of the Red Sea. In popular Jewish folklore, it was the place where a whole class of angels known as God sent down the Grigori[1] to observe the actions of His people.
It is where Naaham was healed from his affliction and pain. The river’s water flowed down from Mt. Zion, the Holy Mountain. The water feeds the plain, and the Hebrew Bible calls the ground he stood on “the Garden of God.” The snowy mountain peaks shot into the clouds just off the distance. The ground was a kind of hard clay his feet would sink into. The river was surrounded by lush vegetation and beautiful low-hanging trees. The sweet smell of poplars filled the air as white pups of seedlings floated around like cotton dancing on the wind.
The river itself served as the natural border between Syria and the promised land given to Abraham’s descendants. It was a scenic place. Wildlife came from all around to drink from its calm waters. The water flowed smoothly from the melted snow at the mountaintop, and the river fed the Sea of Galilee, thus nourishing the greatest source of income for the local people who fished the nearby lake.
Jesus stood there on no ordinary ground. He stood there with a man he respected, perhaps above all other mortals. It was his friend, his family. It was John the Baptist, and when Jesus stepped out into that water, he also stepped out into his ministry to his people. This is where it all began: the baptism of Jesus. As the Bible tells us, Jesus came out of the water and was greeted by the voice of the Father in Heaven as the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. And this great voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It is perhaps the single most beautiful picture in our Holy Bible. And yet… it comes with a catch.
This beautiful story of Jesus’ baptism doesn’t stand alone. It appears in all three synoptic gospels, and every single one begins the story similarly. Right after the Spirit descends upon our Savior, the devil appears.
In our reading from Luke, it says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into (NOTE THAY IT IS NOT THE DEVIL WHO LEADS HIM BUT GOD’s SPIRIT) the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Directly after he is baptized, right after God looks down on Him with the proud and swollen eyes of a loving Father, the story tells us that the Holy Spirit takes Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the Devil himself. Notice, the Bible doesn’t say, “Jesus went out into the desert too fast,” or Jesus “was to be tempted 3 times.” It says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” In Luke, it says, “For 40 days he was tested”.
Now, I can’t count on all the hands in this room the times that I have faced temptation. Temptation is simply a daily struggle for every human being. As a wise man once said, “I wouldn’t be so tempted if temptation wasn’t so darn tempting.” It is an inescapable reality of the human condition. And it is inevitable. Right when we’re at our highest points, we stand at the river with the sun on our backs and feel the most like children of God… That’s often the very moment when our most significant challenges come. Because that’s the moment when God knows we are most capable of handling them. Jesus knew this. As Luke will later quote him, “Someone who does not know, and does wrong will be punished only lightly. But to whom much has been given, much more will be expected in return.” (Luke 12:48) If you face challenges, it’s because God believes you have the power to overcome them.
At the same time, I must confess this is one of those verses that I just plain don’t like. This is one I wish wasn’t in there. I’d like nothing more than to take a pair of scissors and cut that right out of my Bible. Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t much care for exams. I’ve never been too good at tests. And here Jesus says, the more I learn, and the closer the relationship I develop with my Lord, the more God is going to expect of me! I tell you, that is no easy pill to swallow. It seems the gift of knowing God’s love can be a bit of a two-edged sword. Because the closer we come to the Father, the more responsibility we have; the more he has the right to say, “You should know better.”
When I think about this story of the temptation of Christ, I feel the most profound concern and sympathy for Jesus. Because as much as we might think we know God, I can promise that when the devil appeared to Jesus, no other person on this earth had ever had the Father expecting more from him. To say that Jesus “was tempted” is a hopelessly weak understatement. It is a frail and puny shadow of the truth. I know temptation. But I have never been face to face with the adversary. And I don’t know about you, but I cannot fathom the level of temptation Jesus had dangled in front of his face. And yet, he just shrugged it off like it was the junk from a broken garburator. My struggle with whether or not to tell my waitress she forgot to include my dessert on my dinner bill seems so puny compared to what Jesus was offered.
After being tempted by the Devil for 40 days, starving, smelling of the desert heat and the wild animals, emaciated, in his most vulnerable state, the skin simply hanging off his skeleton – the Devil asks a famished Christ to turn stones into bread (something that doesn’t even appear to be a sin). Jesus waves his nearly lifeless arms and shrugs the very notion of it away. He quotes the bible (Moses from Deuteronomy 8), “Man cannot live on bread alone” [But only by every Word of the Lord]. Jesus does not need to prove that God will provide for him. And he doesn’t need to prove that he’s the Son of God. So when the Devil takes him up to the Temple and says, “Throw yourself off if you are the Son of God, and He will protect you,” Jesus again turns to the scriptures for his answer. He turns to Exodus 17, and quotes, “Do not put the (YHWH) LORD your (Elohim) God to the test.”
I’ve probably noted this previously, but in the story of Adam and Eve, the words YHWH Elohim for “The Lord God” are used for God’s title. It’s how God is referred to throughout that narrative. Elohim is the general word for God in Hebrew, but YHWH is the personal first name of God given to Moses – YHWH (meaning I am what I am). Throughout the story, God is referred to in this very personal way. And this (sometimes called the Sacred Name or Tetragrammaton) is God’s “first name” and is used in every instance the Father is referenced.
Well… accept for this one special time. See, the serpent in the story doesn’t do that. It’s the only time in the story it happens, only once. But in the story, the serpent simply refers to God as Elohim (as if God is some general deity who is largely unknown). But the serpent simply will not (or perhaps Cannot) speak the actual Name of God. And there is something very powerful about how that is communicated.
In our story of the temptation, something similar is going on. See, at the time, the Essene Community of Hebrews who lived in the desert generally held to the reading of 4 different Psalms used for the exorcism of evil spirits. Psalm 91, which we read from today, is one of those four psalms used to rid the world of the demonic. This is something that is missed by today’s average reader but would have made this story seem like an absolute horror movie to its original audience.
The Hebrews had grown up believing that the Devil and his minions could not stand to hear the word of God. But here, not only does the devil hear the words, but also speaks them himself as if they have no power over him.
And what’s worse yet, the devil actually speaks the very words of the Psalm that people used to exorcise evil. It’s like a huge red flag in the story to tell its listeners that this Devil cannot and will not be sent away. He’s here to stay, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
For the original audience of this story, things seemed insane and terrifying. The very words they used to rid the world of demons mean nothing to this Devil. Not only do they not send him away or “cast him out,” but he is the one who speaks them.
But, much like that story of Adam and Eve, while the deceiver speaks the words of scripture, he twists them. “Did that Elohim (he wont say the name) really say not to eat of the fruit?” he says.
I think there may be a message that is not so hidden.
Similarly, here, the devil taunts Jesus. Quoting the exorcism Psalm, he adds a twist. Not only will God watch over you, as the scripture states, but the Devil also claims God will send his holy angels to swoop down and rescue Jesus for a later purpose. And again, the twist. That may have been correct. Still, the evil one uses the Bible but twists it, takes it out of context and adds things.
Remember, Jesus and all of his people lived in a country taken over, defeated by, and still occupied by a foreign empire. When the Devil shows him every kingdom in eye’s sight (even his beloved Jerusalem, at the very moment – oppressed by Caesar and his army) and says all you have to do is “bow to me,”… Jesus says No. When the Devil offers, “You can free the people, you can make this world the way you want it to be; you can fix it all – Just Bow down to me… Jesus says No! When the Devil says you can still be the Messiah, God has given me the power to give that to you; Jesus says, “No.” And all the while, knowing that he would suffer and die on the cross, a beaten and rejected man, Jesus was offered the Keys to the Kingdom, but again Jesus said, No! And again he for the third time quotes Moses from his period of 40 Years in the desert. He quotes Deuteronomy 6, saying, “You shall worship the LORD your God and Serve Him only.”
And there you have it. This seems like a natural ending to this story for many of us. Jesus defeats the Devil and proves that he will not abuse his power. He shows that he will do the Father’s will even if it might mean death. He teaches us all how we, too, can confront the work of the Devil and the temptations of our daily lives by holding on to the Word of God and not allowing it to be twisted. Everything is all tied up neatly in a package with a great big bow on top. But the truth is… that is Not where this story ends.
For me, the final verse in this story is perhaps the most revealing line. It is an eerily daunting verse. It says, “When the Devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until a more opportune time.” … Like a grenade from a fleeing army, this line flies at us and explodes as the Devil retreats his position but is still very much in the war. And I can picture him now whispering to himself under his breath… “Don’t get too excited. It ain’t over yet”.
Jesus has won the battle, but the war against temptation remains. It did for him, and it certainly does for us.
Humorist Sam Levenson once said, “Lead us not into temptation. Just tell us where it is; we’ll find it.” Few truer words have ever been spoken. The fact is that temptation is a part of what it means to be human. Temptation comes when we are at our highest points. It comes when we stand by the beautiful river banks, basking in the love of God. It comes, too, when we find ourselves in strange places, wandering around in the desert with the wild beasts. It comes in subtleties and asks us to make bread out of stones, little things that initially seem harmless enough. Temptation challenges us to question who we are and who we worship. And even when we think we’ve won, it will come again because we should know that “It is not over yet.”
In life’s journey, temptation is an inevitable companion, appearing when we least expect it and challenging our resolve and faith. Just as Jesus stood at the river, grounded in purpose and washed in divine approval, so must we anchor ourselves in the unwavering truth of God’s Word. Despite Jesus’ decisive victory over the devil, the narrative serves as a potent reminder that temptation is relentless, returning when we are most vulnerable or least prepared. But with each encounter, we can fortify our spirit, drawing strength from Jesus’ example and the scriptures that guide us. Temptation may lurk, waiting for the opportune moment, but we are assured that God’s presence and promises are an ever-present help. As we navigate the trials of life, let us uphold the integrity of the Word, resisting all distortions that aim to lead us astray. By embracing this divine wisdom and leaning on the community of believers around us, we can confront temptation not as lonely warriors but as guided souls, ever-mindful of the eternal victory that is ours through Christ.
But also, please keep in mind that your adversary twists the scripture, and the only way to combat that is to study it yourself. Amen.
Song: Forty days and forty nights (197)
We respond to serve God
Our time of giving
Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!
Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves
God of grace, you are our Judge and our Hope.
Transform us with your love and harness our energy for your purposes in the world into which Christ came and for which he died. Hear us as we pray for the world, the church and our community:
We pray for your creation, staggering under human activity and expectation demands.
May this planet be held in reverence in every culture.
Where we are tempted to use resources carelessly, where human lifestyles endanger homes and habitats of other peoples or other species, where immediate gain tempts people to give no thought for the future, send your wisdom to guide citizens and decision makers to act responsibly.
We pray for the Church facing the challenges of rebuilding ministry and mission in times of uncertainties and possibility.
Where congregations are tempted to guard traditions and resist new possibilities,
where members magnify differences instead of celebrating our unity in Christ, where energy for leadership and community life has grown tired, send your healing and transforming grace.
We pray for relationships tested by conflicts and the lack of mutual understanding.
Where families are tempted to nurse grudges and harbour complaints, where friendships have been wounded by misunderstanding or neglect, where workplace tensions have arisen over clashing opinions or exhausting demands, send your reconciling and restoring mercy.
We pray for a world filled with increasing threats and conflicts.
Where countries are torn by unrest and persecution, where communities are diminished by prejudice and discrimination, where those with power and authority degrade or dismiss their critics, empower those who work for just solutions and advocate for the powerless.
We pray for all who are troubled and find it hard to face uncertain times. We pray for those who face illness or loss of any kind, for those challenged by economic hardship, and for those faced with the reality of death, their own or someone dear.
In silence, we name those on our hearts this day:
Keep a time of silence
Embrace each one with your compassion and courage.
Even as we remember the many challenges around us, we give you thanks for the blessings we know, for moments of pleasure, for laughter shared, for conversations that brightened a day.
Thank you for your steadfast love and the comfort we draw from your presence with us in all things. Amen.
Song: Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us (647)
Sending out with God’s blessing
Go in peace; be of good courage,
hold fast to what is good,
render no one evil for evil;
strengthen the fainthearted,
support the weak,
help the afflicted,
honour all people,
love and serve God,
and may the blessing of God Almighty,
Creator, Christ and Spirit
descend upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.
Response: Benediction (as you go)
Music postlude
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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.
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[1] – The Grigori are a group of angels who were created to shepherd humans on Earth