Sermons to reflect on the journey of lent

Our first sermon comes from Pastor Sarah, Chaplain to Kings College London

Luke 13:1-9

This sermon was preached on the 23rd of March 2025 at St Anne’s Lutheran Church in London

I find this a difficult Gospel passage. Partly, because there is so much here, it’s hard to do it justice in a short sermon. But mostly, I find it difficult because it makes us face up to the harsh reality of tragedy in this world. The first half of this Gospel is absolutely heart breaking. Here Jesus and those present with him speak of the brutal murders of Galileans at the hands of Pilate. They then speak of the 18 people who were killed when a tower collapsed on them. Both awful events that must have been so painful for the communities affected to live through. When reflecting on these horrific events, those left behind can often wonder ‘why them and not me?’ It is a question I have been confronted with many times this week as the community in which I work finds itself in the middle of a heart-breaking tragedy. The randomness of death is a pain often too difficult to bear. ‘Why?’ is the question that hangs on our lips – why did this happen, why them, why not me? I have no answer, I have no words, I am left silent only to be a bodily presence sitting alongside those in shock or mourning.

And how I wish Jesus took this opportunity to tell us the answer! Why does this happen? Why did these people die? It is very often in our human nature to want answers – thinking if I can just understand this, if I can make sense of it, it will – I will – be fine. And we want reasons – to be able to explain it away – sometimes in the thinking that if we can know the ‘why’ we can avoid those very outcomes ourselves A false sense of security that, ‘If only I avoid doing all those things that they did, I’ll be fine. I’ll be safe.’ But as Jesus points out, that is not the way it works. And so, instead of giving us the answers we want, Jesus speaks to us of what we need.

In this particular passage Jesus emphasises that tragedy does NOT equal some kind of divine punishment. Those who died under a brutal regime or by a terrible accident ‘were not worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem.’ They were humans who died. People whose lives were cut short. Children, parents, siblings who absence is deeply felt in another’s heart. And this could happen to any of them at any time.

But to those present, those who have this gift of time, Jesus reminds them of the fragility of their life. And so, Jesus challenges both those in this passage and us today, urging us to consider how will use the time given to us. He tells them, ‘unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.’ Taken out of context these words can be harmful and undermine so much of what this passage is about. This isn’t a warning to sort ourselves out or we will come to the same end as those unfortunate ones. The perishing of which he speaks is not of the body, but of our soul. Once again, Jesus shows his deep love for us, his care for all that we are, his longing to save us.

So, what does this passage mean? We can start by talking about how we might understand ‘repentance’. I know that for myself, I have been told this is merely to feel bad about what we have done and to try and do better, but have recently learned how unhelpful this understanding can be. To understand repentance in the Biblical sense it may be helpful to look at the Biblical words. We have in the Hebrew scripture the verb ‘Shuv’ meaning ‘to turn and go a different direction.’ In the New Testament, we then have the term ‘metanoia’ meaning ‘to change one’s mindset’. So, when Jesus speaks to those present to repent, he is calling them to a changed mind, a new way of seeing things, going in a different direction than before. He is calling them to a new life, a new life that is found in Christ himself. He is calling them to the transformative nature of Christ.

And as the parable of the (at the moment) barren fig tree reminds us, we are called to a repentance that bears fruit. We are called to reorient ourselves to be aware of the fragility of our lives and the lives of those around us so that all might flourish. To adopt a new perspective, to put in a new lens. We hear in Isaiah, ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.’ Could a repentance that bears fruit be a changed mindset, challenged to see the world as God does? To show one another the patience and mercy that God shows us? Because that’s the other side of this, we don’t bring on this changed mindset ourselves, we can’t reason ourselves into it – it is by God’s grace through the love of Christ that this may happen, but maybe we can at least be open to it? We can recognise our need for it, our need for a new consciousness of our own shortcomings – an ‘our’ that it both personal and communal. And maybe in seeing this – in recognising this need for change we might also recognise the need for urgency in this change. For life is fragile. We do not live our lives on a timeline that we control. And Jesus does not try to explain any of this away, he does not try to explain natural disasters, horrific accidents or human violence. But what he does do is remind us of what our souls need, what our communities need, what the body of Christ is about – a repentance that bears fruit. Not a sitting around feeling bad about ourselves, but a changed mindset to see the world, to see our brothers, our sisters, our siblings, in a different way where God’s grace and justice is ever-present.

All of our life is lived by the grace of God – God transforms us through grace. As the gardener in this parable of the fig tree offers patience and mercy to the (currently) barren fig tree, God gives us everything we need to flourish – God even works through the manure! So, may we continue this journey through Lent urged on by Christ’s call, to seek repentance that is transformative so that all of God’s creation may flourish.

Our second sermon comes from Katrina Bentsen, an intern from the ELCA currently serving with Trinity Congregation Leicester/Nottingham

Psalm 25:15

This sermon was preached on the same day at Christ the King Polish Congregation in London 

Today is the 3rd Sunday in the season of Lent, and the theme is OCULI Sunday– The word OCULI refers to the eyes. When I was about 11 years old, I realized that the teacher’s words on the chalkboard were looking a little bit fuzzy– I couldn’t see the Words very clearly. I squinted and strained, but everything was a blur. My parents both wore glasses. It seems I inherited this trait. And so I was promptly taken to the eye doctor to get my first pair of glasses. My eyes needed help.

We talk about the eyes on the 3rd Sunday in Lent, because Lent is a time of testing. Perhaps you’ve given something up for Lent? Many people I know gave up social media, chocolate, sugar, or alcohol. We do this because Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert. Giving something up for Lent is a way of being tested. We do this because Jesus was tested. We do this because it brings us closer to God.. Today we find ourselves ½ way through Lent- we are headed down the hill towards Easter. and our strength to make it to the finish line is maybe not as strong as it was when we started. We may be squinting and straining to see God, or to see any results from our efforts. so OCULI Sunday reminds us to focus our eyes on God- to focus our attention on God with our hearts and minds.

My eyes are ever on the Lord… but everything looks blurry. But there is no eye doctor for vision of the heart. There is no spiritual vision test where we are asked to read tiny letters on the bottom line. There is no spiritual blood pressure cuff; no lab test to prove that we are spiritually anaemic and need to take a daily supplement of scripture.

But God knows our hearts, and if we take a step back, and look at all the things that take up our attention, we will know that we don’t only squint during the season of Lent. If we were to confess how well we’re able to see God, we would know that we are usually squinting every day, of every season in the church calendar year– not just during Lent. And sometimes we’re not even squinting– sometime we just simply don’t see God, nor are we actively looking for God. Our attention is distracted with busy lives. It is part of the nature of who we are as imperfect humans, constantly blundering into things because we can’t see very well.

So this OCULI Sunday, we’re going to try on different pairs of glasses from 3 different perspectives:

1. First, we’re going to gaze through the glasses of the Psalmist.

2. Next, we’ll gaze through the glasses of Martin Luther.

3. And finally, we’ll see gaze through the glasses of the ancient church Fathers & their habits.

We begin with Psalm 25 itself. Back when I was my 11 year old self, and I was squinting and straining to see the chalkboard, I was also writing note and poems to my friends– the type of poem where the first letter of the line spelled out my friends’ name.

J For example, if I were writing a poem to Jesus the first letter of the first line would be an J.

E The the first letter of the second line would be an E;

S the first letter of the third line would be an S, and so on and so forth until the name JESUS

U was spelled out in a clear line from top to bottom.

S

The psalmist used this strategy too! and Our OCULI Sunday verse for today comes out of such a poem. Psalm 25 is an alphabetic acrostic psalm, where each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Old Testament professor Joel LeMon tells us that understanding the alphabet was important, because WRITING was God’s way of sharing laws and guidance with people. Acrostic psalmsalso helped the person memorize the psalm more easily so that they could carry God’s words within them always. The Psalmist knew that this would nourish the inner and communal life & vision of God’s people, so that they could see more clearly see God’s path, and follow it.

Like the psalmist, our forefather, Martin Luther, also knew that our eyes needed help! Martin Luther held two truths in tension– he knew that God is always with us, that God always sees us, and that Grace and Faith alone save us. But, like the Psalmist, Martin Luther also knew the importance of spiritual nourishment– of teaching & educating & making God’s word accessible to everyone, so that people could get to know God’s Word & teachings, & carry it with them in their hearts. This is why he translated the Bible into the spoken language of his people. and why he developed the Large catechism for pastors, and the Small catechism for use in the home– he wanted the Word to be in every home, to nourish everyone’s faith. Luther work still teaches us how to improve our attention to God:

● He teaches us to memorize the 10 Commandments, the Creed, & the Lord’s Prayer

● He teaches us to engage regularly in daily prayers

● He teaches us to bserve the sacraments of baptism & the Lord’s Supper.

The 3rd perspective comes through the glasses of the ancient church fathers, like Ignatius of Antioch, Basil of Caesarea, and Athanasius of Alexandria. These fathers embraced a simple life to help improve their own inner vision and attention to God– a life that quieted the mind and disciplined the body. Ignatius of Antioch taught that by paying attention to every part of life, we have the opportunity to find God. Today, this approach is a form of what many modern people call mindfulness– specifically Christian mindfulness. Mindfulness emphasize paying attention to the present moment– to quiet the mind from chaotic thinking, and shift from fast to a slower, more meditative state of mind. Jesuit Priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade calls it “The Sacrament of the Present Moment.”

Christian mindfulness helps us to pay better attention to God through different methods that include:

1. Singing the music of Taize,

2. Praying in a cantered and listening way

3. And by sitting quietly with scripture– reading the words many times, and meditating on their meaning. This is called Lectio Divina or Dwelling with the Word.

Christian mindfulness is literally like an imaginary pair of glasses, so that when you put the glasses on, you see God in all things. Christian mindfulness also brings awareness to that which leaves smudges all over our lenses–whether that be trauma, or addictions, or any number of things that cloud our heart’s vision. Christian mindfulness helps us to see the smudges, And helps us to prayerfully ask God to help us wash them and then put them back on so that we can see God more clearly in each other; we can see God in the bus driver; we can see God in the faces of the people in the Tube; we can see God in our co-workers, and classmates; we can see God in the guy who cut us off at the intersection; we can see God in our landlords, and the politicians; we can see God in the pigeons, and the daffodils, and in the brand new green buds on tree branches; we can see God in the rain that comes to refresh, and cleanse God’s world, like tears in dry, tired eyes. Imagine how our hearts and minds, our interactions and our world would be impacted if we wore such glasses, and saw God in every part of life; if we were aware of the air not simply as something we breathe but as God’s breath of life in all of us.

God is writing God’s Word on the chalkboard, and our eyes need help to see. I give thanks to God for our heritage that is so rich with poetry, prayer, & practices that can nourish and clarify our inner vision so that we, like the Psalmist, may keep our eyes ever on the Lord.

AMEN.