Lent 2023
Palm Sunday: Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept)
April 2, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
Everything about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry is the opposite of Pilate’s military parade. Pilate rides a warhorse while Jesus rides a donkey—a donkey’s colt. Pilate’s soldiers are armed with swords; Jesus’ disciples are armed with palm branches. Jesus' scepter is a reed, his crown is made of thorns, his acclaim is a cruel insult. And on Coronation Day his throne will be the cross itself. This is how the KoG comes, and it comes no other way. But does Jerusalem understand this? Do we understand this?
Lent 2023: The Coming One
March 26, 2023 • Jacob Taylor
The story of Lazarus gives a picture of the great hope of salvation - that humanity would be set free from the dominion of Sin and Death. Will we join Martha in confessing, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world" and "through believing.. have life in his name?"
Lent 2023: Working the Works of God
March 19, 2023 • Derek Vreeland
Work is good. Jesus himself said, "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work." Work appears in the creation narrative before sin enters the story. God makes man and woman in his image and God gives them a job. Their primary job was to name the animals, care for the garden, and be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth. God has created each of us and now God is recreating us in Jesus for good works—four different kinds of good work. We have been created for the work of faith, the work of repentance, the work of justice, and the work of worship.
Lent 2023: More To The Story
March 12, 2023 • Jacob Taylor
While God will always remain greater than our capacity to contain him - as we grow, so does our ability to perceive just how large the love of God is. This uncontainable love of God is revealed in a bold and unpredictable way at a well with a woman from Samaria. If you've heard this story before - lean in, hear it again, and allow your perspective of God to grow. You may find there is more to the story than you first thought.
Lent 2023: The Jesus Revolution
March 5, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
WANTED: JESUS CHRIST Alias: The Messiah, The Son of God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, etc. Notorious leader of an underground liberation movement. Wanted for the following charges: Practicing medicine, winemaking, and food distribution without a license. Interfering with businessmen in the temple. Associating with known criminals, radicals, subversives, prostitutes, and street people. APPEARANCE: Typical hippie type—long hair, beard, robe, sandals. Hangs around slum areas, few rich friends, often sneaks out into the desert. BEWARE: This man is extremely dangerous. His insidiously inflammatory message is particularly dangerous to young people who haven't been taught to ignore him yet. WARNING! HE IS STILL AT LARGE!
Lent 2023: The Third Temptation
February 26, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
On the first Sunday in Lent the lectionary takes us to the wilderness temptation of Christ. As Jesus prayed and fasted forty days in preparation to launch his ministry—a ministry that would announce and enact the arrival of the kingdom of God— he was beset with three satanic temptations. The first two temptations involved misuse of miraculous powers. But it was the final temptation that was the most insidious of all: the temptation to receive political dominion over the kingdoms of the world in exchange for bowing down to the devil. The third temptation deserves special attention, not only because it was the most sinister, but because it is the temptation that has beguiled and beleaguered the church for seventeen centuries.
Ash Wednesday: Press On
February 22, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
We need to recover the word repentance. It’s not a dour word invoking self-hatred. Far from it! Repentance is a word of hope. The philosophy of repentance is that we can change. To repent is to rethink the trajectory of our life, believing we can find the right path. And this is what Lent is all about.