(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, this week comes courtesy of The Vine at Home and Twelve Baskets
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Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Opening Prayers
Now is the time to worship,
Now is the time to open your heart,
Now is the time to receive God’s blessing,
Now is the time to be inspired to follow Christ again this week,
Now is the time to be attentive to what the Spirit may be asking you to do.
Now is here, come Lord Jesus.
Christ, the forgiver and redeemer, I praise you.
How wonderful that you know what it is to be in the wilderness, walk with me today and
every day as I navigate my own wilderness, especially as we head into the Lenten season.
Now is the time, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
You may now wish to say the Lord’s Prayer in a version or translation with which you are familiar
Reading:
Matthew 4:1-11
Responding to the reading
As the season of Lent begins, we are drawn into the wilderness with Jesus.
After his baptism, after the sky splits open and he is named Beloved, Jesus is “led by the Spirit into the wilderness” to face temptation. It’s not the path we might expect for someone newly affirmed by God. But it is honest. Real. Human.
And perhaps that’s the point. In this barren, quiet place, Jesus faces three temptations. Not temptations to do something obviously evil, but subtle invitations to use his power in self-serving ways.
Turn stones into bread. Use your gifts to satisfy your own hunger. But Jesus knows that true nourishment is more than physical, it comes from being grounded in something deeper.
Throw yourself down. Test God’s faithfulness. But Jesus chooses trust without spectacle, faith that doesn’t need constant proof.
Worship power. Bow down, and all the kingdoms will be yours. But Jesus rejects the lie that domination and control are the ways to bring about God’s reign.
In each case, Jesus resists not with force, but with rootedness, in Scripture, in identity, in purpose.
For us today, this story invites us to reflect on our own wildernesses, the inner landscapes where we wrestle with insecurity, ego, and the pull to prove ourselves.
In a culture obsessed with productivity, performance, and power, Jesus’ time in the wilderness reminds us that our worth is not something we earn. It’s something we carry. Belovedness doesn’t vanish in the desert. In fact, it might become even clearer there.
Lent is not about proving our strength or impressing God with sacrifice. It’s about letting go of what is false so we can return to what is true. It’s about facing our temptations, not with shame, but with honesty, and letting them teach us where we are hungry, tired, or afraid.
So as you reflect today, consider: —
Where in your life are you tempted to grasp for control, certainty, or approval?
What would it look like to trust your belovedness even in uncertainty?
How might this wilderness season become not a punishment, but a place of quiet
growth?
The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, but did not leave him there. And the same is true for us. The wilderness is not the end of the story. It’s a space of clarity, of resilience, of becoming.
May we walk it with courage. May we face what is real. And may we come through it more deeply rooted in love.
Song – 657 STF – You give rest to the weary
Blessing
Grace flows from this moment, and from this space,
Grace that changes everything, even you.
Go from this worship point, to see God’s grace at work in the world around you,
And take the love of Christ with you in your hearts,
Amen.
