<$MTGreetFacebookCom Luther rose colored glasses: Lent Archives

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Don't make assumptions. People get resentful about it. They want you to know who they are, they want you to notice them, but only reveal who they are to a point. The rest is for Jesus. 

 This sermon is quite a bit different from how it was written, therefore, please listen to the sermon rather than read it.  The sermon notes which are included for convenience.  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 26 - 4th Sunday in Lent

"Seeing".  Text is from John 9:1-41


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Good morning to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, saints and sinners, children of God.

This morning's gospel reading is a pretty long one, one of the longest in our lectionary outside of Christmas and Easter. And it has another remarkable thing about it. Look here, we first have Jesus giving this man eyesight, and then he is brought before the Pharisees, questioned mercilessly... his parents are questioned, they tell them that he's all grown up, he can speak for himself, and then they question him once more and finally when they don't get the answers they want, they expel him from the synagogue. 

And after all that, Jesus seeks him out, and finds him.  And with all that happens in the interim, it is the longest absence of Jesus in the entire gospel, with the exception perhaps, depending on how you look at it, of the Easter Narrative. 

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Light is the best sanitizer. You know how some people have a store room they haven't opened in a while? And when they turn on a light? Yeah, we're going there.... 

This is an unrehearsed homily, so there is no accompanying text!  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 22, 2017 - 4th Wednesday of Lent

"Homily on Ephesians 5:8-14".  Text is from  Ephesians 5:8-14


Jesus knows all of our secrets. There's no point in hiding from him. We become vulnerable whether we like it or not before Christ, our God. The living water is a gift that changes our lives and gives us reason to live. 

 This sermon is quite a bit different from how it was written, therefore, please listen to the sermon rather than read it.  The sermon notes which are included for convenience.  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 19 - 3nd Sunday in Lent

"Laid Bare".  Text is from John 4:5-42


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Good morning to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, saints and sinners, children of God.

The narrative of the Samaritan woman at the well is gorgeous, and so full of possibilities in its own right.  We have Jesus walking in Samaria, and he comes to this city and conveniently, while his disciples are away getting food, he stops at Jacob's Well, where he encounters this woman. To understand the tension, it helps to know a little bit about the different characters.  While Jesus is a Galileean, he is nevertheless specifically Jewish, just of a rural variety. And furthermore he is, at least to his disciples, a rabbi, a teacher, kind of a holy man. Samaratans like this woman are of a different breed of people altogether. It's not that they're that different from Jews, their religion stems from worship of the same God that the Jews worship.... Yahweh. But for the Jews, Yahweh is at the Temple in Jerusalem, and all worship must take place there. For Samaritans, the worship takes place on Mount Gerazim. The other major difference belongs to the distinction of the Old Testament, because the Samaratans were the ones who remained in the land of Israel during the Babylonian exile, and believed that their version of the face remain uncorrupted from Persian and Babylonian influences. 

And from these minor differences comes a major break, because the Jews considered the Samaritans, in many ways, worse than Gentiles. For a holy man such as Jesus to be speaking with a Samaritan woman was simply unheard of, particularly on his own. It was a violation of several laws and more significantly, social customs. 

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Don't you hate it when people tell you suffering builds you up? I don't want to hear that when I'm in pain! But what I would like to hear is that I'm not suffering alone. Jesus is there with us. 

This is an unrehearsed homily, so there is no accompanying text!  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 15, 2017 - 3nd Wednesday of Lent

"Homily on Romans 5:1-11".  Text is from  Romans 5:1-11



What happens when we've been baptized as a child and yet we still feel like we're going through a "born again" experience? It means living out your baptism. We can grow and make changes in our lives well beyond our baptism. 

 This sermon is quite a bit different from how it was written, therefore, please listen to the sermon rather than read it.  The sermon notes which are included for convenience.  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 12 - 2nd Sunday in Lent

"Born Again, Again?".  Text is from John 3:1-17


Good morning to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, saints and sinners, children of God.

We move into a different part of the gospels with today's text and the next several Sundays, going from Matthew to John's gospel, where we have some very interesting revelations play out in the text.  

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In today's reading we have a visit from a Pharisee named Nicodemus. It's no mistake that this important encounter is with one from the generally reviled group of people known as Pharisees, but Nicodemus is special. He appears to either be genuinely trying to understand the words that Jesus is telling him or at the very least investigating Jesus for other purposes, but having a worthwhile dialogue with him. 

And in the midst of this dialogue, Nicodemus is bringing all of his own preconceptions to this encounter with Christ and has basically closed is mind to all possibility that Jesus has to offer. Jesus says that nobody is going to see God's kingdom without having been born from above. Nicodemus is perplexed. Birth happens once, right? What do you expect to crawl back into your mother's womb and go through it all over again? Jesus clarifies with a lengthier explanation, that things of the flesh are of the flesh and things of the Spirit are of the Spirit, and that one must be born of water and spirit, that is, "From above" in order to enter the kingdom. Now Nicodemus is astonished. What in the world is Jesus telling him? Jesus castigates Nicodemus, he is a teacher of Israel one who is supposed to understand Godly things and he doesn't get it? 

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We're born again when we get baptized, whether as a child or as an adult. Being baptized can be a choice, but don't worry, God's got the little babies taken care of too. It's okay to simply reaffirm your baptism when you're all grown up.  

This is an unrehearsed homily, so there is no accompanying text!  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 8, 2017 - 2nd Wednesday of Lent

"Homily on John 3:1-17".  Text is from  John 3:1-17 

What does it mean when Jesus is tested in the wilderness? Would that we should fare as well! 

 This sermon is quite a bit different from how it was written, therefore, please listen to the sermon rather than read it.  The sermon notes which are included for convenience.  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 5 - 1st Sunday in Lent

"The Wilderness".  Text is from Matthew 4:1-11


Good morning to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, saints and sinners, children of God.

These words from Matthew herald us into our Lenten journey. As soon as Jesus is Baptized by John the Baptist in chapter three of Matthew, he is brought into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where he is to meet the devil for testing. There he fasts for forty days and is understandably quite hungry at the end of that time. The devil, also named the tempter or tester here, then presents him with three different tests.

What does showing your faith today look like? 

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 This sermon is quite a bit different from how it was written, therefore, please listen to the sermon rather than read it.  The sermon notes which are included for convenience.  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 1, 2017 - Ash Wednesday  

"Carrying the Message".  Text is from  Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 


We often put leaders on pedestals. But pedestals are only good for statues. And falling over. 

lease listen to the sermon rather than read it.  The delivered sermon is often considerably different than the sermon notes which are included for convenience below.  

Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 20, 2016 - Palm Sunday

"Pedestals".  Text is from John 12:12-16


We have been traveling together throughout this Lenten season, carried along the way in our journey experiencing predictions, conflict, parables and miraculous events. Now we have come to a wonderful point along that path, that nearness of Christ, where aw arrive at Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Jesus sits atop a young donkey, and crowds greet him with cries of Hosanna, Hosanna! waving palm fronds, and spreading palms, their cloaks, flowers and what have you along his pathway, in order to celebrate the arrival of this wondrous man. 

And even as Jesus has cautioned the disciples, has warned those healed by his touch and their faith to tell no one what they have seen, the message nevertheless gets spread, first through the region known as Galilee, then all across the Levant. There is a change in the world that is coming, the Messiah that they have foretold is finally here, and the entire city has come out to greet this Jesus of Nazareth, son of Galilee, scion of the House of David. 


Faithlessness becomes faithfulness by virtue of Jesus' gift. The light that overcomes the darkness is here, so treasure it. And God's commandment is what? Eternal life!  That's incredible! 

 This is an unrehearsed homily, so there is no accompanying text!  

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Sermon delivered at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Berkeley. 

March 16, 2016 - Sixth Wednesday in Lent

"Sixth Wednesday in Lent".  Text is from John 12:34-50

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About this Archive

This page is an archive of recent entries in the Lent category.

Palm Sunday is the previous category.

Ash Wednesday is the next category.

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I *am* Cary Bass-Deschenes
Written by Cary Bass-Deschenes
Website © Cary Bass-Deschenes, 2003-2014. All of the content on this website is available under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license unless otherwise indicated.