LENT 2019: Create in Me
Lent can be an especially good time to preach a sermon series as attendance (in my experience) is consistent and increases as Easter approaches. This year I was inspired by the Ash Wednesday reading from Psalm 51: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
Commentators tell us that “create” is a translation of the Hebrew bara’, and is usually used to describe God’s actions. God is the one who creates. The psalmist’s prayer, is an appeal for God to act by creating in her/him a clean heart. At the same time, I understand God, not to be coercive, but to be one who wants to partner with individuals to create, to bara’, together. As I read Psalm 51 this year, I wondered what we as individuals can do to open ourselves up to a re-creating partnership with God? After prayerful reflection I settled on the following topics, with related Scripture verses to shape a Lenten sermon series:
- Curiosity
- Impermanence
- Sabbath
- Repetition (as part of service with Taizé chants)
- (Com)Passion (Palm/Passion Sunday)
By being curious, by expecting impermanence, by observing sabbath rest regularly, by repeating rituals and healthy actions, and by living compassionately, might we become God’s partners in re-creating ourselves anew?
So those are my plans for a Lenten sermon series? What are you thinking?
© Rev. Kevin Goldenbogen, 2019
