THE FIRST LESSON Deuteronomy 26:1-11
THE SECOND LESSON Luke 4:1-13
SERMON "Not Wanting to Be Human"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this First Sunday in Lent. Lent began on Ash Wednesday (February 17) and continues for 40 days and 40 nights, excluding Sundays. The liturgical color for this season of penitence and reflection is purple. During our Lenten journey, we have put our "Alleluias!" away as we follow the path of Christ through "valley" experiences, in part so that we may experience the "mountaintop" of Easter more fully and completely. Lenten worship is characterized by the use of more purposeful silences, an increased focus on confession, and an opportunity to seek God through corporate and personal prayer.
In worship today, we find Christ in the desert where he fasted and was tempted repeatedly by the devil. In this desert He was challenged to put away his humanity and instead manifest His divine power. He chose the path of humanity even in the wilderness
The music through which we worship today illumines the human experience of wandering through our own wilderness. Our hymns sing not only of the temptations that confronted Christ in the desert, but also express our own need for God to be with us and protect us. Our Lenten prayer is one filled with the hope found in the loving mercy of God and expresses our desire to walk, hand-in-hand, with our Lord.
