St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Welland, Ontario, Canada

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT  March 30, 2025 

Prayer of the Day 

God of compassion, you welcome the wayward, and you embrace us all with your mercy. By our baptism clothe us with garments of your grace, and feed us at the table of your love, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 1

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 11b “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’

So he divided his assets between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

Reflections on the Gospel Reading

The youngest sibling has gotten more than enough press from preachers and church people—the kid would fit right in with those celebrities known for hard partying and we know tabloids and social media lap up that kind of dish.

The older sibling is cast as the “no fun police” and a bit of a stick in the mud. If we’re honest we identify more closely with the stay at home good child than we might with the wild child. He might be the only sensible person in the whole parable.

What if this story is really about the father? He’s a bit of a chump. When he consents to dividing the family assets before his death he’s messed with the rules of how things are done. He also completely chucks aside a centuries old custom of giving the first born a larger share and a larger say in what what happens in families. When Good Time Charlie stumbles home his father runs to meet him. As undignified as it might be for some of us mudges to run in public it was downright scandalous in Jesus’ day. For the hired help so see their boss running would have elicited snickers and sidelong glances and maybe even a few under the breath murmurings.

See the parallel between some characterizing Jesus as a bit of a schnook for hanging out with the ‘wrong people’ and the father who lets his younger son make off with the family silver—-and gets a hero’s welcome when he gets back?

Jesus tells three stories of people rejoicing over lost things and people. From the one who has lost and regained, the joy is sublime and maybe we just don’t get it.

The foil in the parable utters profound and poignant wisdom—-We rail against that “son of yours” and the waiting Father reframes the whole scene with the words “that brother of yours”. We who follow Jesus would do well to let those words ‘that brother of yours….that sister of yours’ lodge in our hearts—Could come in handy when we are tempted judge who exists, who is deserving, and even who is just as human as we are.

Please contact Pastor Bart to receive an invitation and link to join ZOOM.

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Worship Guide

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT March 23, 2025 

Prayer of the Day 

Eternal God, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. Help us to hear your word and obey it, and bring your saving love to fruition in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 

1At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.2 [Jesus] asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?3 No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.” 6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8 He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

SERMON-

Where is God when a tower collapses or an empire slaughters people and desecrates their bodies? Do we somehow bring suffering upon ourselves?

Jesus pushes back hard against the popular notion that suffering is always a punishment for sin (blame the victim). He calls us all to a radical shift in perspective—This is no debate to be won or lost. How we imagine God and how we believe God operates informs the way we treat what God has created and whom God has created. Sometimes we need to totally re-think what we believe about God and God’s ways of operating. People of faith are called to a lifetime of repenting and repentance. Deeply changed hearts and minds bring changed behaviour.

If you will allow a word nerd his moment…the Bible’s word for “repent” in Greek is meta-noia. Literally a change—meta— as in meta-morphosis plus no-ous meaning mind as in diagnosis.

Once upon a time a young couple’s first born suffered a rare condition of premature aging which led to a short life of suffering. Young Aaron’s dad was Rabbi Harold Kushner ‘s whose book When Bad Things Happen to Good People published nearly 45 years ago has true staying power. Kushner would write that God’s fundamental goodness dictates that God would be a companion with those who suffer.

Maybe Jesus’ parable of the patient gardener reveals something about God and something about us. We might be tempted to abandon the fig tree or maybe the entire enterprise of fig raising when we don’t see any fruit. Might God be the one pleading the fig tree’s case; give it another year.

Fun fig fact…one we learned Wednesday over prayer and coffee and tea…is that fig trees typically bear fruit three to five years after first being planted. Expecting fig trees to bear fruit in years one and two is just plain unrealistic…even year three is pushing it. Neither the gardener nor God are simply kicking the can farther down the road. Maybe the gardener and God know something of the long game here.

Further, figs and fig trees feature in the imagination of each religion with roots in Abraham and Sarah’s life. The prophet Jeremiah has a dream in which fresh sweet fruit represents people living in exile and a basket of mouldering figs represents the usurpers of the Jewish homeland and those who collude with them. Figs might remind the exiles that God remembers and that a sweet day of homecoming will happen one day

This week our group listened as one described what it’s like to eat a fig freshly picked from the tree—Maybe that’s a foretaste of God’s restoration to come—but a fig tree can’t be manipulated or forced to bear fruit. Jesus parable invites us to root for the fig tree—how about rooting for God’s realm coming to be in which all things are reconciled and restored? What radical shift in our beliefs about God and the world would lead to behaviours needed in the world right now? May God instill hope in us and empower us to do a bit of weeding and a bit of fertilizing while we anticipate God bringing a Divine and loving plan to fruition one day. Amen.

If you are unable to attend this Prayer and Coffee session in-person, contact Pastor Bart to receive an invitation and link to join ZOOM.

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SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT MARCH 16, 2025

Prayer of the Day
God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross you promise everlasting life to the world. Gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy, that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Luke 13:31-35
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

A Brief Reflection:
Herod (that fox) was Jewish. He also was loyal to the empire that put him on his little throne (Rome). Herod is known for his murderous rampage of children because he thought one would grow up and take his throne.

Shortly before the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod’s gunning for him, the empire that installed Herod into office had recently killed Judeans and mingled their blood with the sacrificial rites of the cult of Caesar.

The mention of Pharisees matters. While others including many of the Saducees collaborated with Rome for both safety and financial gain, the Pharisees resisted and held fast to their religious and ethnic identity.

And Jesus chooses to focus on his life’s work of healing and opposing life depriving life degrading forces of evil. Death threats don’t stop Jesus. What’s more even though his heart’s desire is to embrace and protect his beloved city and its people it looks as though they reject him. And Jesus chooses to carry on his life’s work and even at the cost of his own life. And Luke tells us another “third day” is coming. Resurrection Day assures us that not even death stops God from the divine impulse to bless and save the world.

A few questions to think about: What is the nature and scope of Jesus’ work today? What is the church called to be and do as part of Jesus’ work—today? In what ways is the church (throughout the world) responding to that call?

If you are unable to attend the first two Prayer and Coffee sessions in-person, contact Pastor Bart to receive an invitation and link to join ZOOM.

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Worship Guide

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
March 9, 2025 

Prayer of the Day 
O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13
1 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. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ”

5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”

9 Then the devil led him to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’

11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

SERMON
Maybe you’ve had a cardiac stress test to figure out just how much the ol’ ticker can take. The word “test” as it applies to Jesus’ wilderness experience is the perfect word. How much pressure can the one called beloved son withstand before he sells out or gives in? Each of the tests operates on multiple levels and at their core, each test becomes one of integrity—is Jesus the One the Divine voice says he is? Is he truly trust-worthy? Jesus is filled with the Spirit of God and even led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God. The tests are dressed up in religious language peppered with misquoted scripture.

Jesus withstands pressure with his own resistance—Jesus quotes scripture to reaffirm his loyalty, not to win arguments or manipulate anybody. We might think a minute about the ways in which Jesus’ followers and now the church faces tests of our own. The Spirit puts Jesus in the wilderness—just like God led a liberated people through the wilderness. These places are scary. We’re vulnerable. Luke puts Jesus age at 30-considering most poor people in Jesus’ world seldom lived to see 40 tells us something. Jesus isn’t Superman…he’s already old relatively speaking and here he is in the wilderness having not eaten for a long time. Jesus’ vulnerability reminds us of our own. The tests come when we haven’t trained or prepared.

We might be cave in to the desires for quick fixes or even dusting off some of our former ways in hopes of being the thriving places we imagine or remember ourselves being. Worse, we might be succumb to the current popular practice among some calling themselves Christian to decide who’s human and who’s not and justify ourselves by twisting words of scripture.

The devil’s opportune time to retest Jesus comes at his execution. The test is mouthed by hecklers saying that if he really is the Son of God he should Houdini his way off the executioner’s scaffold. What would happen to this part of God’s agenda to bless and save the world had Jesus used his divine power and privilege to end his human suffering?

We’re not Jesus, though. We might feel the weight of the world and just want to bail. There’s a reason Jesus taught us the prayer that has the words, “save us from the time of trial—or testing. Left to our own devices, we are apt to capitulate to the current powers that hoping to find sure footing in life. Such misdirected trust leads to all sorts of actions that make things worse. Part of Lent is a rigorous gut check.

When the stress test feels overwhelming we ask of ourselves as church and as people of faith: To whom are we loyal? Really? Whom do we trust? Really?

May the Spirit of God that led and sustained Jesus likewise lead and sustain us. Amen.

STARTING SUNDAY, MARCH 9th