Entering Lent

Sermon Notes:

We begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, dust, human failing; but the Lenten road we travel leads to resurrection. Let us not forget, these fragile jars of clay are home to children of God with hearts and souls made in the image of God, the God of Light, the God of Love.

For the first Sunday of Lent, we read the story of Jesus’ baptism, temptation, and the beginning of his ministry, marked by the arrest of John the Baptist. Isn’t it interesting that right after Jesus is Baptized and declared “the beloved,” he is driven into the wilderness to face hunger and temptation? Perhaps the question is not “why Jesus would be declared beloved and then sent to face temptation,” but “how in the world COULD he have faced such temptations without first being told he was “beloved.”

Is it not true for us, as well? Is it not true that only by knowing ourselves as God’s beloved sons and daughters are we strengthened to resist the temptations of this life that lead to hardened hearts and deadened spirits?

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Rev. Jane Herring

Pastor * Writer * Teacher

Emmanuel Presbyterian Church

https://epcnashville.com/

*One Day I Wrote Back *- Upper Room Books

https://bookstore.upperroom.org/Products/K1376/one-day-i-wrote-back.aspx JaneHerring.com https://janeherring.com/