1^st Sunday of Lent

Year C:  March 10, 2019

First Reading:  Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Love by Matt de La Pena

(Written for ages 6 and up)

Comment:  This opening passage for the season of Lent calls us into a time of profession and recognition of God’s provision, as we see in verse 3, “…I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” Per Dr. Thomas W. Currie in Feasting on the Word, “they are confessing that the faithfulness of God to Israel is the basis of their own life, the provision by which they may now voice their own gratitude and even claim this story as their own.” Matt de La Pena has penned an astoundingly beautiful message of a love that carries us from our birth through childhood and beyond. “A slice of burnt toast tastes like love,” and other lines like this remind us that love exists in places we don’t think to look, and that love is provision and provision is love.  The book serves as a letter to a child while also serving as an honest message about light and darkness in our lives. Like the faithfulness of God to Israel, love is persistent, providing, and a story we need to claim as our own. {Writer’s Note: Upon reading this book with a small child, the newly-minted 5yo declared “this book is the Bible.”}

Second Reading:  Romans 10:8b-13

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy

(Written for ages 4-11)

Comment:  Donald W. Musser’s theological interpretation of the Romans text for today suggests that the text includes the following theological themes: universal inclusiveness (v. 11-13), the nearness of salvation (v. 8b-9), and God is the starting and ending points of our repentance and salvation (v. 12). Dismondy’s book is a wonderful interpretation of these three themes for school-aged children. Lucy is picked upon by classmate Ralph for enjoying strange food (spaghetti in a hot dog bun) and for having unruly hair. This upsets Lucy, but she’s too bothered to share her hurt with her Papa Gino or teacher Miss Marcia. As she falls asleep, Papa Gino whispers, “Always remember, Papa is here for you. If something’s not right, we can work on fixing it together.” When Lucy is confronted with the opportunity to shun and mock bully Ralph, she remembers Papa Gino’s words: “Even if we are different from others on the outside, we all have a heart with feelings on the inside.” Ultimately Lucy and Ralph work out their differences in the story that illustrates for us inclusion, God’s presence in our repentance, and the nearness of God’s blessings.

Gospel Reading:  Luke 4:1-13

All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant

(Written for ages 2 and up)

Comment: In her exegetical analysis of this passage, Sharon Ringe suggests that the devil is tempting Jesus to do good things (instead of bad-for-you things) in order to lure Jesus from focus on the will of God on which his ministry and mission are based. In the temptations, Christ is told, “if you are the Son of God, then…” Accordingly, Ringe suggests that the temptations are for the greater good of humanity. For example, “If you can turn this stone into bread, then surely you can provide enough bread for all of Israel and feed the hungry.” The board book All in a Day suggests that we are essentially guaranteed only this one day, so we must make the most of it. “The day’s all yours, it’s waiting now…see what you can do” are some of Ryland’s lyrics which help to remind us that there’s work to be done in each day we’re given, so let’s go see what we can do!

Thanks to Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Katie Barrett Todd for writing the Revised Common Lectionary Links this week.

Lectionary Links (RCL): March 10, 2019 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.