Word for the Week – Sunday, March 14, 2021 – Fourth Sunday in Lent
Introduction
The fourth of the Old Testament promises providing a baptismal lens this Lent is the promise God makes to Moses: those who look on the bronze serpent will live. In today’s gospel Jesus says he will be lifted up on the cross like the serpent, so that those who look to him in faith will live. When we receive the sign of the cross in baptism, that cross becomes the sign we can look to in faith for healing, for restored relationship to God, for hope when we are dying.
Prayer of the Day
O God, rich in mercy, by the humiliation of your Son you lifted up this fallen world and rescued us from the hopelessness of death. Lead us into your light, that all our deeds may reflect your love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Reading: Numbers 21:4-9
4From Mount Hor [the Israelites] set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” 6Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
Psalm: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
1Give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good, for God’s mercy endures forever. 2Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that God redeemed them from the hand of the foe, 3gathering them in from the lands; from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 17Some were fools and took rebellious paths; through their sins they were afflicted. 18They loathed all manner of food and drew near to death’s door. 19Then in their trouble they cried to the Lord and you delivered them from their distress.20You sent forth your word and healed them and rescued them | from the grave. 21Let them give thanks to you, Lord, for your steadfast love and your wonderful works for all people. 22Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of your deeds with shouts of joy.
Second Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10
1You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—
9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Gospel: John 3:14-21
[Jesus said:] 14“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
Theme for the Season of Lent
We are saved by your Grace; make us alive in your Spirit.
We approach the season of Lent as a time of reflection and repentance, anticipating the renewal and rejoicing of Easter morning at the end of this forty-day season. We approach the throne with humility, fully reliant on the gift of God’s grace. We journey together, walking with Jesus on the road to the cross.
We are reminded that God comes to us in the midst of darkness and shadow, at the moment we are most heavily burdened by sorrow, despair, and hopelessness. God lifts us up, shoulders our burdens, and shows us the limitless depth of grace. We arise in hopefulness and raise our eyes to the cross, remembering the enormity of love and sacrifice that Jesus showed all humankind.
Our worship theme for this Lenten season is a two-part prayer, spoken directly to God. From our hearts to God’s, we recognize that we are saved by God’s grace. God reached out to us in our darkness and showed us the light of the world. Grace is truly a gift, given freely. Nothing we have done has earned this great gift.
The second part of the worship theme is a request to help us respond to the gift of grace. We ask God to make us alive in the Spirit. In this request, we demonstrate our understanding that life is a gift from God, and that God continually makes us alive and helps us grow into the kingdom servants we are called to become.
As we worship during this Lenten season, please join our fervent prayer:
We are saved by your Grace; make us alive in your Spirit.