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Maundy Thursday—April 1, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Exodus 12:1–14 | Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19 | 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 | John 13:1–17, 31b–35
Summary: One of the most troubling parts of the recent video of a Pilipino woman being attached was seeing the person inside the store close the door on her suffering, just as we so often seek to close the door on the troubles around us. In our Gospel, Jesus washes the disciples feet and opens the door for them to see life in a new way. Jesus gives them an example of what they will do for the world. Jesus calls us to a new life in which we cannot close the door and ignore the world around us but must love each other as God loves us.
Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday—Mach 28, 2021
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Mark 11:1–11 | Isaiah 50:4–9a | Psalm 31:9–16 | Philippians 2:5–11 | Mark 14:1—15:47
Summary: In the Palm Sunday Gospel, they ask the disciples “Why are you doing this?” We face this question of intention in our lives, but we ask the same question about the events of Holy Week. We have asked it throughout the pandemic and especially over the last few weeks. The question relates to both our own pain and the heroism and kindness around us. If we stop asking why, we lose our humanity and resignation sets in. Entering Holy Week, Jesus shows not resignation but the clear intention of giving all. We follow Christ into the darkness asking God to strengthen us.
Fifth Sunday in Lent—Mach 21, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Jeremiah 31:31–34 | Psalm 51:1–12 | Hebrews 5:5–10 | John 12:20–33
Summary: Many parts of our society maintain social contracts that claim to maintain peace and order but actually bind us to a cycle of violence against our brothers and sisters. We greet with joy the words of Jeremiah in our first lesson that God will make a new covenant based not on rules and laws but on God’s relationship with us. God gathers people from the whole earth, just as Jesus in our Gospel welcomes the Greeks. Our old covenant of laws needs to die so that it may bear new fruit of self-giving love.
Fourth Sunday in Lent—Mach 14, 2021
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Numbers 21:4–9 | Psalm 107:1–3, 17–22 | Ephesians 2:1–10 | John 3:14–21
Summary: Truth can hard to accept and can feel painful. It can be easier to be correct than to be vulnerable enough to be exposed by the truth, easier to worship correctly than to be broken open enough to worship honestly, easier to worship the cross than to live it. Perfect love exposes our shortcomings and at the same time heals. May perfect love invite us to be broken open to love and to be loved anew.
Third Sunday in Lent—Mach 7, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Exodus 20:1–17 | Psalm 19 | 1 Corinthians 1:18–25 | John 2:13–22
Summary: In our Gospel, Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple, disrupting business as usual that facilitated time worship. This kind of interruption is necessary for chage because it helps us reset our minds, hearts, and view of reality. From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus disrupts complacency and brokenness, and Jesus’ love continues to interrupt our selfishness, our narcissism, and our complacency and calls us to love one another.
Second Sunday in Lent—February 28, 2021
Preacher: Intern Pastor Bree Lloyd
Lessons: Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16 | Psalm 22:23–31 | Romans 4:13–25 | Mark 8:31–38
Summary: In our first lesson, God’s promise of land and descendants to Abraham seems like the promises of the prosperity gospel, but we know of the hardships Abraham and his descendants will undergo. In our Gospel, Jesus tells of the sufferings to come on the way of the cross. We might wonder what good our faith does us if it does not lead to prosperity. Recently, PBS’s documentary on the Black Church leads us to consider the mixed history of Lutheranism in the Black Church. It was an uphill effort, but Black Lutherans persisted in the face of an indifferent church. In Genesis, God calls Abraham to walk with God—the covenant accompanies the walking, not a certain outcome. In faith may we walk with God, and may our faith be credited to us as righteousness.
First Sunday in Lent—February 21, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Genesis 9:8–17 | Psalm 25:1–10 1 | Peter 3:18–22 | Mark 1:9–15
Summary: This is the first Sunday of Lent, a season of penitence and fasting, but we never know what we will find when we enter Lent. In our Gospel, Jesus submits to baptism by John and the heavens are rent in half and the Spirit descends (as the veil of the temple is rent in half at the crucifixion). Our relationship with God is not always sunshine and rainbows. We should not forget what came before the rainbow in our first lesson. This Lenten season reaffirms our covenant with God: We are forgiven, but that promise comes in the midst of suffering. Surrounded by brokenness, we name whose we are. We know we will break our promises, but God will keep the covenant and be with us in everything.
Ash Wednesday—February 17, 2021
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Joel 2:1–2, 12–17 | Psalm 51:1–17 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10 | Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21
Summary: The last year has seemed like Lent without end as we gave up seeing each other, hugs, worshipping together, singing, and on and on. I love Lent, but one year is more than enough, and I’m ready to return to the Lord. I remember a time when I was a teenager when I got in a very dangerous situation and expected severe and unending punishment, but there was forgiveness. This seemingly unending Lent will end, we will be reunited with God, and there will be Easter.
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