John 12: 20-33

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from the Triune God: Source, Savior, and Spirit.  Amen.

We are nearly through the season of Lent.

Four weeks ago this morning, as we gathered on the First Sunday in Lent, we sang the first stanza of the old spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” inviting Jesus to walk with us on this Lenten journey to the cross.   Today, as we stand on the threshold between Lent and Holy Week, I invite you to turn once again to Hymn No.  325, and join in singing the second & third stanzas as this 40-day journey with Jesus approaches its destination, and as his words to us today get us ready for the looming days ahead.  We sing stanzas two & three…
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John 3: 14-21

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from the God of all love, from the Christ of all compassion, and from the Spirit of all grace. Amen.

For those of you who might have come to church this morning looking for a sign, I didn’t want to disappoint you. (hold up “3:16″ sign) Except that usually you don’t see this sign displayed in church as much as at the end zone of a football field, or in the stands at the basketball game, or some other athletic contest where a TV camera might zoom in for a close-up of the sign or, more often, a close-up of the dingbat who’s holding it up. (present company excluded, of course!)

It’s sort of an insider message actually — because what the bearers of these signs are intending to do is deliver a rather cryptic message. “3:16″ refers to chapter and verse from the Gospel of St. John, our Gospel text this morning. But I’m never quite sure what they expect people to do with those numbers.  Will people think it’s someone’s score prediction?  Will anyone cross the court or playing field to inquire?  Will someone think it’s a secret ratio with a hidden meaning?

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John 2: 13-22

Sisters & brothers, grace to you & peace from our jealous God, the zealous Christ, and the disruptive Spirit of grace.  Amen.

For those of you who were here last week, you will recall that we were quite physically disturbed and re-arranged in order to better hear the disturbing and disruptive call of Jesus to “deny our selves, take up the cross, and follow.”  In an exercise of communal disruption, the preacher asked the congregation (or was it ordered the congregation?!) to pack up and move to the polar opposite side of the congregation from where they were presently seated. The homily was preached from the back of the sanctuary just to disorient everyone involved a little bit more. It was all a bit of Lenten fun (if there is such a thing) done in the spirit of Jesus’ disruptive call to self-denial, to cross-centering, and to Christ-following.   Perhaps the topsy-turviness of it all helped us to hear and to discern that call with new ears.

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Mark 8: 31-38

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from God the Serving One, from Christ the Calling One, and from the Spirit the Strengthening One. Amen.

Today we hear the disrupting and disturbing call of Jesus to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses, and to follow him. This call is far more disruptive and disturbing than what I’m going to ask you to do right now, in the spirit of total disruption and disturbance. But what I’m going to ask you to do right now, I would ask everyone to do — including choir and organist and assisting ministers and acolytes and every worshipper who is able to stand and walk without difficulty — and that is to relocate to the opposite side of the sanctuary from where you are presently seated. If you are in the back on the right, move to the front on the left. If you are on a side aisle up front on the left, move to a center aisle in back on the right. Mix it up! Change it up! Go now! Get up! Move your Lutheran be-hinds to another location.  This is not the sharing of the peace (that comes later) so don’t bother greeting your neighbor as you go, just move! And by the way, I would suggest you wait until the sharing of the peace to go back to your regular-scheduled place, if you must.

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Mark 1: 9:15

Sisters & brothers, grace to you & peace from the God of grace, the Christ of compassion, and the Spirit of life. Amen.

As we begin our 40-day Lenten journey together as a community, I invite you to turn to Hymn 325 and join me in singing this affirmation and invitation for Jesus to join us on the road to the cross and the empty tomb.

Sing ELW 325 — I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

Our Lenten journey has begun. And this past Wednesday, whether you were able to be here or not for the ashes, served as a not-so-subtle reminder that we are most certainly not “going on a sentimental journey” with Jesus.  Rather, we were (and are) reminded that Jesus walks with us all the way — “all along our pilgrim journey” — from our birth to our burial, from the cradle to the grave, and ultimately from death to life.

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