Worship Guide - First Sunday of Lent, Year B

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all…in order to bring [us] to God.
—1 Peter 3:18

In order to bring us to God.

Here is the invitation of Lent in a nutshell—the gift of a season journeyed toward God that comes by way of dying.

Do not let this be a morbid thought. Life has always come this way. Our own suffering is not meaningless. Just look outside and let the tree buds and crocus and daffodil shoots testify.

And consider the gospels. Let them preach of faith. Mark was the first, written sometime around the year 65. John was the last of the four, around 90 or 100. Two full generations between them. And how different they are as the souls who shaped them tried to figure out how to respond to shattered expectations that Jesus had not returned, as they shaped a new coherence, an enduring faith!

We have measured our loss in days, months, perhaps. We are overwhelmed by a year of pandemic. Our last worship together in person was nearly one year ago. What we have lost! But this is not the only measure. We are enduring changes that are generations in the making and in the experiencing.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts of the chaos of this moment and this season of history, perhaps the greatest gift of this Lent is the gift of easing us off the dependence of being able to control our environment that comes from privilege and power. That we would lean on God instead, that we find God once again for a new generation.

…in order to bring us to God.

​Enter into worship.

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You can watch all of this Sunday's worship service in a series of linked videos, one after the other, by clicking this link. Just press the button that says "PLAY ALL" and lean in to worship. You can also just click on the graphic to the left.

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If you have prayers you would like to share, please do so here. These will be shared by email to our St Andrew prayer list so that we pray for what you hold by name. This information is not shared online in a searchable form.

We continue to keep our financial commitments to our mission partners and staff. Thank you for remembering to send in your financial pledges and offerings.