Between Sundays for the Week of February 23, 2026
Our Lenten journey has begun. This year’s theme – Inspired Conversations – invites us to listen deeply to Jesus and to the people around us. In a chaotic world rife with conflict, it is easy to succumb to fear and align with those who share our beliefs, while maligning those we believe do not. In the process, we lose sight of our shared humanity and the possibility that “the other” is just as frightened and confused as we are. As we listen, we build community and connections and recognize the many ways our common humanity unites us.
In Sunday’s gospel from Matthew (4:1-11), Jesus, fresh from his baptism, has his first inspired conversation with the devil who tries to sway Jesus to overcome his humanity and exploit his divinity by targeting his hunger, his vulnerability, and his ego.
The voice of the tempter that tries to sway Jesus reminds us of the insidious voices of the tempter alive in our world seeking to sway us as well. The voice calls to us in all kinds of forms and guises speaking in words that confirm our own biases; offering us what we want; telling us to make heroes of those with whom we agree and to demonize those who think and see differently. It calls to us in words that seem entirely reasonable and good and says: You’ve worked hard. You deserve this. You’re entitled.
Everywhere around us this insidious voice of the tempter is trying to get us to sway from God’s righteous way of justice, peace, healing, and liberation. Every day there are voices tempting us to embrace dominance and oppression instead of justice; to seek division, and even violence, instead of peace; to accept inevitability instead of seeking healing; to choose imprisonment instead of liberation.
In these moments, Jesus’ inspired conversation with the devil reminds us that even when the tempter quotes scripture, offers us what we want, or speaks with power and authority — it is NOT the voice of Jesus.
Jesus’ first inspired convseration rejects all attempts to sway him to the ways of this world and instead makes clear that God’s chosen one will embody power and majesty through humility, service and love. In doing this, he embraces his mission to reveal to the world God’s righteous way. Jesus invites us all to listen to his voice and to follow his way, promising us to raise us up when we stumble and stray.
We hope to see you Wednesday evening for a simple supper at 6 pm in the fellowship hall and Holden-inspired worship at 7 pm in the sanctuary!
May God inspire our conversations and sustain our faith this Lenten season!
P.S. Our livestream recording offers you the opportunity to to hear the dramatic reading of the gospel and Pastor Amy’s full sermon (beginning at 25:20). You can also share in the worship service on our website, where you will also find links to previous worship videos.
P.P.S. Click the graphic below for the full Lenten schedule!
Faith Connection at Home
BLC’s calendar featuring Inspired Conversation starters allows families a flexible and quick way to connect with each other during this lenten season. If your family is anything like mine, days can pass when it seems the only time we have together is riding in the car on the way to the next activity. Inspired Conversation starters provide an invitation to connect through sharing and listening to each other, if only for a few minutes during a busy day – waiting for the bus, riding in the car, eating a quick meal at Tom Wahls, getting ready for bed.
You can find these questions in several places this lent:
- here in the Family Faith Connection each week
- on a print calendar that you can pick up at church
- digitally on our BLC website (or by clicking here)
- on BLC’s social media Instagram and Facebook accounts weekly
We encourage you to use the questions in a way that works for your family: with tweaks, shuffled around, or with your own created questions.
Ponderings
Part of how the tempter in Matthew 4:1-11 attempts to trap Jesus is by quoting scripture. Scripture has been, and still is, misused as a trap and in many other harmful ways. This truth can sometimes be confusing to Christians. What are we to do when the scriptures seem to be abusive or twisted? The Reverend William Sloan Coffin of Riverside Church in New York has an answer that may be helpful. He once said that “when everything biblical is not Christlike, we Christians need to develop an interpretive theory of Scripture. I think the love of Jesus is indeed the plumb line by which everything is to be measured” (The Heart Is a Little to the Left, [Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1999], 34).