Key words this week – covenants and cross.
The first two weeks in Lent, according to the sermon described two covenants – that between God and Abraham to make him "the father of many nations" and then the next week God’s covenant with living creatures to insure that the waters will not be used to destroy the earth.
"And to be in covenant with God, God expects them to live in a certain way, so God gives the people the Ten Commandments" which were summarized in Psalm 19 today
The cross is paramount in the Corinthians reading. "For Paul, the cross stands in front of and overshadows any wisdom, justification and self-righteousness that we have constructed for our own salvation and for the salvation of those around us. …The one thing that unifies and saves us is the cross itself. Christ crucified. Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. "
The cross is the heart our faith as the covenant was to the Israel. Actually the nature of atonement symbolized with cross can be held together by the by the organizing notion of ‘covenant relationship.’
The New Testament reading from John describes the baggage that gets in the way in the way of the cross with the scene of Jesus in the marketplace – tossing out the moneychangers, those selling dove. The sermon brought this into our time.
"If we are God’s temples, which we believe ourselves to be, then this passage challenges us to open the doors of our hearts to God, and to let this man of power and might enter, yes, even with a whip, to shock us, and to drive out the things that we have made idols in our lives, the things that keep us from being worthy dwelling places for our Lord and Savior, to pray that he will drive out those things that keep us distracted…" Yes, it’s our self-righteousness
"During this Lenten season, join me in asking Jesus to enter in and drive out of our hearts the idols that we have all set up to protect ourselves, to clear out all of the things that have become our own private marketplaces, the things that we look to instead of to God, the things that distract us from God, especially our own wisdom and knowledge.."
We had 38 today on a rapidly warming, sunny day in mid-March. The sermon is here with the readings and the bulletin