First Sunday in Lent - Testing Trust

Lectionary Year C

Candle Lighting: Light a white candle for Christ and one purple candle.

Question: Why do we light this candle?

Response:

We light this candle to remind us as Jesus’ disciples that our trust in God
will be tested.

Scripture: Luke 4: 1-13

Prayer:

Even You did not escape the time of testing,
most especially You.
Forty days of it
and more to come before the end
that will herald a new beginning.
We too are assailed by temptations to trust
other ways than Your Way,
trust the way of our need and our want,
trust the way of violence and force,
trust the way of our own knowledge and thoughts.
Centre us again on Your Way,
Your Way of forgiveness and reconciliation,
Your Way of one who serves,
Your Way of healing and wholeness.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen.

Singing: Choose an appropriate hymn to sing together, such as:

Amazing Grace, John Henry Newton, 1779
As the Sun with Longer Journey, John Patrick Earls, 1981

Proclamation:

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.” -Psalm 91: 1-2

~

Meditation:

In whom we truly trust we will find the root of all our actions in all aspects of our life, whether individual, familial, church, nation or world. Jesus made a special practice of setting aside time to examine in whom he trusted. Where in your life, the life of your family, the life of your church is time set aside for this? Consider the practice of Sabbath-keeping one possible place for the practice of examining in whom we trust.