Grace and peace to you from God who gathers us, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
The day has finally come, Our Savior’s. As Justin put it last week: Alleluia and Amen!
But hold on. Let’s not get too settled on that AMEN! Just like all celebrations in life, this first day becomes the starting point for the next milestone. The Lenten season. This year, 2025. The ministry we will all do together at Our Savior’s and all over this community in the coming years.
I thought about the circumstances that brought each of you, and me, together in worship today. Seriously, if I were to ask each of you how you came to be here today, I’d hear stories of people who have been at Our Savior’s since their baptisms, people who joined when they moved here and raised families around here, and people who joined Our Savior’s when they retired to this quiet, picturesque area of Central Wisconsin. And hundreds of other variations on those themes. But one little twist, one thing that happened or didn’t happen, and each of us would have had a different landing place.
As one of my mentors often says, “I’m so glad each one of you is here. Worship would be very different if any one of you had chosen not to be here today.”
Let me give you one “for instance.” One little twist that changed everything.
I didn’t even expect to land in the East Central Synod of Wisconsin. I had selected another synod – another area of the state – as my first choice for First Call Assignment years ago. And if Synod Leadership had followed the First Call process to the letter, that’s the Synod to which I would have been assigned.
But it so happened that THAT synod’s Bishop and Bishop Anne Edison Albright of our East Central Synod chose to work together to assure that pastors found a really good fit without waiting too long. Honestly, it’s not how the process is supposed to work. But as it turned out, the best fit for me was here. Had those two bishops not elected to work together, you would still be waiting for a pastor. I might still be waiting for a call. I may have ended up elsewhere. Call it coincidence. Call it a happy accident. I prefer to call it the Spirit’s leading.
Speaking of the Spirit’s leading, today’s lessons are filled with situations that represent the Spirit calling and moving and accompanying God’s people. The Old Testament lesson recounts the journey of God’s people: first Abraham being led by God, then the Israelites being led out of bondage in Egypt, and finally, the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land after a couple of generations.
And each of these represent so many choices and guidings that could have gone so differently. What if Abraham hadn’t left his land and his kin, or if Abraham and Sarah did not trust that God would give them a son in their advanced age? What if Moses didn’t listen to God in that burning bush? What if Pharoah had not let the Israelite people go?
In the text from Romans: What if Paul had not turned from persecuting Christians to become one of the great Evangelists of the Church? What if the people in Rome weren’t open to listening to the message of Jesus Christ?
There’s these amazing God-happenings in every one of these stories – and in our stories too. Signs and wonders as the First Lesson puts it. Journeys that are more than happenstance, more than sheer coincidence. Spirit-inspired actions that gather people at specific times and places to continue writing God’s story together.
Today’s gospel sounds very familiar to many of us. We read some version of Jesus’ testing or temptation in the wilderness every year on the first Sunday of Lent. And we know it is an encounter between Jesus and the evil one. But don’t forget – it’s not Jesus or the Tempter who initiates this encounter.
In the beginning of our Gospel today, directly after Jesus was baptized, the fourth chapter of Luke begins: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tested by the devil.” Don’t miss two details here: The Spirit knew Jesus needed this testing to prepare him for his ministry. And second, the temptations we read about today were at the END of 40 days worth of testing.
The Spirit not only prepared Jesus with the challenges he needed to develop his ministry, but the Spirit accompanied him through them. All of them. Through all his days of testing.
In a similar way:
The final tests that Luke includes in today’s Gospel are symbolic. Symbolic of the tests that face us in our personal Christian journeys, and symbolic of the tests that face us as God’s people together.
Our Savior’s – Blessed be our time together. Blessed be the ministry God is calling us forth to do.
Amen.
The day has finally come, Our Savior’s. As Justin put it last week: Alleluia and Amen!
But hold on. Let’s not get too settled on that AMEN! Just like all celebrations in life, this first day becomes the starting point for the next milestone. The Lenten season. This year, 2025. The ministry we will all do together at Our Savior’s and all over this community in the coming years.
I thought about the circumstances that brought each of you, and me, together in worship today. Seriously, if I were to ask each of you how you came to be here today, I’d hear stories of people who have been at Our Savior’s since their baptisms, people who joined when they moved here and raised families around here, and people who joined Our Savior’s when they retired to this quiet, picturesque area of Central Wisconsin. And hundreds of other variations on those themes. But one little twist, one thing that happened or didn’t happen, and each of us would have had a different landing place.
As one of my mentors often says, “I’m so glad each one of you is here. Worship would be very different if any one of you had chosen not to be here today.”
Let me give you one “for instance.” One little twist that changed everything.
I didn’t even expect to land in the East Central Synod of Wisconsin. I had selected another synod – another area of the state – as my first choice for First Call Assignment years ago. And if Synod Leadership had followed the First Call process to the letter, that’s the Synod to which I would have been assigned.
But it so happened that THAT synod’s Bishop and Bishop Anne Edison Albright of our East Central Synod chose to work together to assure that pastors found a really good fit without waiting too long. Honestly, it’s not how the process is supposed to work. But as it turned out, the best fit for me was here. Had those two bishops not elected to work together, you would still be waiting for a pastor. I might still be waiting for a call. I may have ended up elsewhere. Call it coincidence. Call it a happy accident. I prefer to call it the Spirit’s leading.
Speaking of the Spirit’s leading, today’s lessons are filled with situations that represent the Spirit calling and moving and accompanying God’s people. The Old Testament lesson recounts the journey of God’s people: first Abraham being led by God, then the Israelites being led out of bondage in Egypt, and finally, the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land after a couple of generations.
And each of these represent so many choices and guidings that could have gone so differently. What if Abraham hadn’t left his land and his kin, or if Abraham and Sarah did not trust that God would give them a son in their advanced age? What if Moses didn’t listen to God in that burning bush? What if Pharoah had not let the Israelite people go?
In the text from Romans: What if Paul had not turned from persecuting Christians to become one of the great Evangelists of the Church? What if the people in Rome weren’t open to listening to the message of Jesus Christ?
There’s these amazing God-happenings in every one of these stories – and in our stories too. Signs and wonders as the First Lesson puts it. Journeys that are more than happenstance, more than sheer coincidence. Spirit-inspired actions that gather people at specific times and places to continue writing God’s story together.
Today’s gospel sounds very familiar to many of us. We read some version of Jesus’ testing or temptation in the wilderness every year on the first Sunday of Lent. And we know it is an encounter between Jesus and the evil one. But don’t forget – it’s not Jesus or the Tempter who initiates this encounter.
In the beginning of our Gospel today, directly after Jesus was baptized, the fourth chapter of Luke begins: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tested by the devil.” Don’t miss two details here: The Spirit knew Jesus needed this testing to prepare him for his ministry. And second, the temptations we read about today were at the END of 40 days worth of testing.
The Spirit not only prepared Jesus with the challenges he needed to develop his ministry, but the Spirit accompanied him through them. All of them. Through all his days of testing.
In a similar way:
- Over the past eight years, there were many trials, many moments that tested my faith. Yet the Spirit, and people the Spirit sent my way, were there to accompany me through them.
- Over the past three and a half years of searching for a pastor, there were many trials, many moments that tested your faith. And the Spirit accompanied you through this time.
- Over the past 120 years, who knows how many times God’s people at Our Savior’s must have been tempted and tested as life together and ministry in this community was challenging, but the Spirit accompanied them and led them through it.
The final tests that Luke includes in today’s Gospel are symbolic. Symbolic of the tests that face us in our personal Christian journeys, and symbolic of the tests that face us as God’s people together.
- When Jesus refused to turn stones into bread, Jesus was telling us it’s not about satisfying our own personal needs.
- When Jesus refused to bow down to evil, Jesus was saying we shouldn’t seek power and glory.
- When Jesus refused to throw himself off the temple, Jesus was making it clear that it’s not about us being in control.
Our Savior’s – Blessed be our time together. Blessed be the ministry God is calling us forth to do.
Amen.
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