People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: 40 Minutes? ~ 1st Sunday in Lent Yr C '19

For Sunday, March 10, 2019, 1st Sunday in Lent, Yr C; Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Ps 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13, Luke 4:1-13

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 your house. [Deuteronomy 26: 11]

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, abides under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall say to the Lord, "You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust. [Psalm 91:1-2]

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. For, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. [Romans 10: 12-13]

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...Jesus answered him..."One does not live by bread alone...Worship the Lord your God and serve only him...Do not put the Lord your God to the test." [Luke 4:1-2a,4b, 8b, 12b]

40 days and 40 nights thou wast fasting in the wild…tempted and yet undefiled. So goes the 19^th century hymn [#150 in "The Hymnal 1982" of the US Episcopal Church]. And so our time of 40 days and 40 nights has begun again; shall we be “undefiled” at its conclusion? Not realistically likely. Temptation is a human foible and even with the best of intentions, we all – more often than we’d like to admit – fall prey to the allure of some thing or another, sometimes to especially unhealthy levels and our own or others' detriment. Yet isn’t our situation different? Jesus was tempted by the Devil, after all, with promises of earthly power and glory and authority. But do we dismiss ourselves from this self-examination because of our mere mortalhood? After all he was "full of the Holy Spirit" it must have been much easier for him. Yet this preparation for his imminent ministry, this long retreat, fully human as he was, was no picnic in the park. Sure, we might not be promised power and authority by a supernatural being, or spend all that time alone in a wilderness, but the pull to just turn toward the glitter of all that beckons can be very difficult to resist in our brief human journey. And that brings its own kind of desert.

The readings for this week give chapter and verse on how God hears us, shelters us, and saves us if we but turn toward the Lord our God. The literal translation of "repent" from the Greek is, at its basic level, to turn away from sin by turning toward God. These 40 days bring us the time to reconcile our earthly wants with our eternal souls. We are to clean out our spiritual closets and blow the dust off hidden temptations, overindulgence, and the shallow distractions that distance us from Christ. It's time to turn the light on what we hide from ourselves and re-awaken to the call of salvation.
I bid us each, over these weeks, to worry less about what to “give up” and concentrate more on what to “take on” to discover what will turn us back toward our Risen Lord and Savior. Keep the word near you, on your lips and in your heart as Paul tells us. Prayer is a starting place even if only “WHAT, HOW, WHERE DO I START?” Jesus gave 40 days and 40 nights to his spiritual growth and strength for beginning of his earthly time. Can you give 40 minutes? Put the phone, the tablet, the computer, social media, online shopping, the tv remote, etc., down for 40 minutes [okay you can use the phone as a timer only!] and take on a definitive, intentional, conscious turn toward the Lord by thought and by action, by desire, and most importantly by faith. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved." What could be more important for those of us who call ourselves Christian? Here's an opening just from the Psalm for this week: You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust. Got 40 minutes?

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Almighty God, Most High, as we enter the pilgrim way of Lent once more, let these 40 days and 40 nights fill us with unceasing prayer. Strengthen our souls to dismiss the lures of this earthly life, and to proclaim, with faith on our lips and in our hearts, that Christ Jesus is our Risen Lord.

Jesus, Son of God

RESPONSE: Deliver us from temptation

~ Almighty God, Most High, grant us the fortitude of Christ in the wilderness to stand before the Powers of this World, this Nation, and this Community, to demand for all people the release from affliction, injustice, inhumanity, and oppression imposed by the evils of greed and corruption. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Jesus, Son of God