March 4 -- Second Sunday of Lent

Grace to you and peace from God who makes and never breaks the covenant with us. AMEN.

Abraham and Sarah are given new names in the covenant that God makes with them. (from “the father is exalted” to “the father of the multitude”, interesting…as if somehow he looses his glory, but ultimately gains it; similar with Sarah)

And we too are given new names in the covenant that God makes with us in holy baptism. (today: Christopher Russell) And this Sunday, we’re looking back and sharing those special names we were given, no titles, no last names – just our naked and blessed first and middle original names.

God makes a covenant with us. And there are always two sides to a covenant. What is God’s side of the covenant?

God’s side of the covenant: to do the impossible --

1) give Abraham and Sarah a child. (Can you believe it?)

2) make this insignificant Iraqi couple the father and mother of today’s 3 major world religions. Muslims, Christians and Jews all share the same ancestors: Abraham and Sarah! (Can you believe it?)

3) forgive you all your sins and grant you newness of life. At the beginning of our service each Sunday: the confession and forgiveness of sins. (Can you believe it?)

By water and the Holy Spirit, God gives us a new birth, and through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, + God forgives us all our sins.

God’s side of the covenant: to do the impossible.

God always makes the first move, but what about our side of the covenant? – p. 236

“take up our cross and follow Jesus.”

- live among God’s faithful people

- hear the Word, celebrate the Meal

- proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed

- serve all people following Jesus’ example

- strive for Justice and peace in all the earth

The key to both sides of the covenant: faith/trusting in God.

With Luther, and for us as Lutherans, faith is a gift…so the key is really accepting faith/trust in God, which God gives us in baptism.

I can’t think of a better image of trusting in God than the image of offering our money…back to God. Please, please don’t hear this as a fundraising drive. I could care less about money raising right now. This is a deeply spiritual practice to take our income and lift a percentage of it up to God. The offering was the original point of worship for the ancient Hebrews. Abraham will learn this as the story in Genesis continues. Worship is taking the best of what you have, what God has given you, and offering it up. In his day, it was his best sheep. In our day, it’s our money. The offering is a symbol of trust, at the heart of our worship service, right in the middle, between the Word and the Meal. Because our money is so important to us.

Our pastors met again this Wednesday, but this week we sat around and simply shared our own giving stories. Basically, how do we practice offering our money. Where did we get our ideas about that.

And I was inspired and a little shocked, to be honest –

…shocked because the stories I heard about faithful giving did not come off as pious or pompous they came off as inspiring – continuing to give 10% of his income through a very difficult financial time – it was all about trust in God.

You too are examples of a people who have accepted the gift of faith! God gives us faith in our baptism. It’s not something we have to earn or grow or manage. It’ just offered to us. And we turn and offer back to God, in our tithes and our offerings. And Lent is a time to reflect again on our tithes and offerings. It’s one of the pillars of Lent: giving praying fasting.

You are examples of a people who have accepted the gift of faith! Every time you open your hands and receive the bread and wine, you are opening yourselves to God’s guidance in your lives. And that is inspiring and shocking too. It is a symbol of that covenant made new in Christ Jesus who promises us forgiveness and ever-presence.

And here’s the thing: God never breaks that covenant. We might fall short, but God never breaks the covenant. We might change, but God never breaks the covenant. God always keeps promises.

God always keeps promises. And here’s the promise God makes to us on our Lenten journeys: “I will be with you. As you seek ways to live more faithfully, I will be with you. As you continue to struggle to be honest about some wrong directions and decisions you’ve made in your life, I will be with you. As you struggle to offer back to me,” God says, “what I have first given you, I will be with you. As you struggle to receive this gift of faith, as you struggle to trust, I will be with you. As you live out, struggle to live out, the covenant I made with you in your baptism, I will be with you.”

These Lenten days can be very difficult, if we take them seriously, if we take up our crosses and follow. To the rest of the world these days are just more busy days, routine days, nothing-special days in our lives (not the life that God has given), shaped by the news headlines and the retail sales. But to us who struggle to follow Christ, to us who gather to be together and to recognize that all life is a gift of God, to us who have opened our hands and received the gift of faith, we have a promise. “Never will I leave you. Never will that change.” Jesus assures, “Come, pick up your cross, lose your life today…and find it in me forever.” AMEN.