Lent 1: Sunday, 09/03/2025

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OPENING SENTENCE OF SCRIPTURE –

You, O Lord, are my refuge; my God in whom I put my trust (Psalm 91).

HYMN

GREETING

Grace and peace to you from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

COLLECT FOR PURITY

Almighty God,

to whom all hearts are open,

all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden:

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name;

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SUMMARY OF THE LAW

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”

The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord, have mercy.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

God is love and we are God’s children. There is no room for fear in love. We love because God loved us first.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.

SILENCE

God our Father,

we confess to you

and to our fellow members in the Body of Christ

that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,

and in what we have failed to do.

We are truly sorry.

Forgive us our sins,

and deliver us from the power of evil,

for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

ABSOLUTION

God, who is both power and love,

forgive you and free you from your sins,

heal and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit,

and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

GLORIA sung by Sue Turner

COLLECT

Almighty God,
whose son fasted 40 days in the wilderness
and was tempted as we are, yet did not sin;
give us grace to discipline ourselves
in submission to your Spirit, that,
as you know our weakness, so we may know your power to save:
through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit:
one God, world without end. Amen

PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 26.1–11, read by David Kerr

Moses spoke to the people, saying: ¹ When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, ² you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.

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³ You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.’ ⁴ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, ⁵ you shall make this response before the LORD your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.

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⁶ When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, ⁷ we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸ The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; ⁹ and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. ¹¹ Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

SILENCE

SECOND READING: Romans 10.8b–13, read by Amie Byers

⁸ What does scripture say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. ¹¹ The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. ¹³ For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

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GRADUAL HYMN

GOSPEL READING: Luke 4.1–13, read by the Rev Dr James Clark-Maxwell

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke, Chapter 4, beginning at verse 1

Glory to Christ our Saviour

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 tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.

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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 their glory and all this authority; 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 took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying 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.”’

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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.

Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel

Praise to Christ our Lord.

SERMON – the Revd Jim Booth

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil…” So begins chapter 4 of Luke’s Gospel, giving us his account of the temptation of our Lord after his baptism in the Jordan and at the beginning of his earthly ministry among us.

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On this first Sunday in the season of Lent our theme is temptation, as we journey with Jesus from the wilderness to Jerusalem and arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.

The temptations – and over the forty days, I am sure that there will have been more than the three that each of the Gospel writers records for us, or at least many variations of those three – are all, I think, about the shape, manner, style, and focus of the ministry that Jesus will exercise. Will he be some kind of glorified social worker satisfying only the physical needs of the poor and needy? Will he exercise some kind of political power, become a national leader? Will he perform spectacular miracles that compel allegiance? Whilst none of these, of themselves, is a denial of the ministry that Jesus will exercise – indeed, caring for those in need, engagement in the life of the nation will be part of what it means for us to be followers of Jesus – they will not be the way that Jesus must go. And that is the subtlety of temptation. So often, temptation isn’t about something that is obviously wrong, but rather about drawing us away from God’s way for us at that particular point in our life’s journey.

Then, although it may seem clear and obvious, we need to acknowledge that Jesus was tempted as we are tempted. And it was the Spirit who led him into the wilderness to be tempted. This is the work of God. So, being tempted or tested should not, of itself, be a cause of feelings of guilt. But that is not, I think, our experience of temptation. We feel guilt even when we fight off the temptation to do that which we know is wrong; we feel guilt when we succumb to temptation and do wrong; we feel guilt when we don’t know whether we have done right or wrong. All guilt is real and needs to be dealt with. And that’s what I believe Jesus does for us, if we let him.

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God’s wondrous outpouring of his love for all people, for all time, for you and for me, gives us the gift of his Son, Jesus, who comes out of the wilderness and sets his face towards Jerusalem, going the way of the cross, to crucifixion and resurrection. By his life, death and resurrection – as we open our hearts and minds and lives to follow him – we are set free from all that which separates us from God. We are set free from guilt. We will still be tempted. We will still succumb. We will still feel guilt. But as we make our life’s journey with Jesus we will know what it means to be loved, valued, and given hope, purpose and meaning in life.

May God bless you in your life’s journey with him

Amen.

THE CREED

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

God from God,

Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one substance with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven;

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father.

With the Father and the Son,

he is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

PRAYERS

Let us pray first of all for those closest to us; for family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. We thank you, Lord, for the situations where relationships are good, and for the joy, laughter, comfort and support that they bring. We ask your healing and your guidance where relationships are less good; and your forgiveness where we are at fault.