Wilderness

Palm Sunday

March 24, 2024 • Pastor Rob Kazinski • John 12:12–19

Palm Sunday is a day when people who were hungry for a messiah looked to Jesus and welcomed him into the great city of Jerusalem. It’s a day filled with excitement and anticipation. It’s also a day when we recall how quickly people’s feeling change and how swiftly our attitudes alter when hopes are not fulfilled as we expected. Even in the wilderness, we have expectations. We’ll look at the people in the Palm Sunday events going all the way to Good Friday.

Dead Man Walking

March 17, 2024 • Pastor Rob Kazinski • John 11:1–43

Few times in our lives feel like the wilderness more than when we are caught in the throes of grief. Sometimes we want to skip over the grief (or ignore it) and own the promise of resurrection and new life. However, processing grief is healthy. We’ll talk about the story of Lazarus and his resurrection to new life and look at how his sisters process grief and the hope of the life to come.

Spiritual Blindness

March 10, 2024 • Pastor Rob Kazinski • John 9:1–12, John 9:35–41

The wilderness is a very disorienting place where we can’t easily see what’s happening before us. It can even lead to a degree of blindness as we don’t know which way to go or to turn. We’ll look at the story of Jesus healing a blind man, and the disruption it brings to the man’s life and community when the truth is revealed.

Dehydration Dos and Don'ts

March 3, 2024 • Rev. Melissa Madara • Exodus 17:1–7, John 4:5–26

In a wilderness–especially a desert wilderness–such basic provisions as water and food can seem very scarce. Such is true for life as well, as we human beings naturally approach much of life as a “zero sum game,” acting as though we will never have enough of what we truly need in order to live a life of abundance. Yet God redefines “abundance” for us, bringing us water in the desert and showing us what is truly necessary for living a life of deep joy and abiding contentment.

Walking in the Dark

February 25, 2024 • Pastor Rob Kazinski • John 3:1–17

Not many people enjoy walking in the dark without some kind of light. Not many people like being “in the dark” when it comes to something they feel they should know. Darkness is a striking metaphor in John’s Gospel and is used for a person’s mindset as well as a physical description of a person’s environment. Either way, it’s often an unwelcome experience. But sometimes it’s exactly the place where we can perceive the glimmers of light the brightest. We’ll look at the story of Nicodemus and see how time in the darkness feeds his seeing the light.

Fierce Landscapes

February 18, 2024 • Rev. Melissa Madara • Matthew 4:1–11

Throughout scripture, the wilderness is looked upon as a powerful metaphor for life spent with God—containing moments of peaceful serenity and terrifying uncertainty. As we explore the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, we are invited to explore the “wilderness” of our own souls and notice the unexpected places where we are being drawn to catch a glimpse of God.

Trinity UMC (21622)

Lenten Learning Series