Worship Notes March 9

Worship Notes

The First Sunday in Lent, Year A

March 9, 2014

The Season

With Ash Wednesday this past week, we have entered into our forty day Lenten journey. As Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, so we enter these forty days to embrace more deeply the disciplines of discipleship, particularly prayer, worship, reading of scripture, and service. Our congregation’s Forty Day Lenten Devotional offers some of these opportunities.

 

In Word

The First Sunday in Lent takes us to the wilderness with Jesus each year in the Church Year. This year, Year A, our lectionary takes us there through the eyes and lens of the Gospel writer Matthew. Tempted by Satan, Jesus prevails where we would fail. It is noteworthy that Satan quotes Scripture; beware of those who misuse Scripture toward their own purposes! In each of the temptations, Jesus refutes Satan with Scripture. “God’s Word is Our Great Heritage.” Not only our  heritage, but our strong and sure defense!

Our First Lesson goes to the beginning in the Garden (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7). We were not content with the gift of the Garden, with the charge “to till it and keep it.” It seems we continue to misuse the great gift! We have not been so very good at “keeping it.” The disobedience of the man and woman is our disobedience. We sin, not so much because they sinned, but because it is the human condition to rebel.

The Apostle Paul considers our sin—our disobedience—to be the result of the “original sin” in the Garden. “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18-19). That first man was Adam; the second is Jesus.

Our psalmist knows the consequences of unconfessed sin: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32:3). While our sin may have tragic consequences to those around us, we, too, are victims of our own wrongdoing. Our psalmist sings on: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.” Let us take our cue from our psalmist.

In Song

While we have put away our Alleluias during this season, other musical opportunities present themselves. Our Ordinary—those elements of the liturgy that we say or sing each week—includes both ancient and modern.  Our Kyrie hymn throughout the season will be “Your Heart, O God, Is Grieved,” from the Slovak church. Each petition, “have mercy upon us,” invokes a Person of the Trinity. We do not sing a Hymn of Praise during Lent. “Return to God, Our Gracious Lord,” replaces the usual “Alleluia Verse” before the Gospel. “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord” is newly set to an arrangement of an ancient plainsong, Adoro Te Devote, while “Lamb of God” from ELW Setting Five is set to another ancient plainsong. In addition, we will sing the Lord’s Prayer throughout the season. The sweet tone of the flute throughout Lent will eventually give way to brilliant brass on Easter Sunday.