Flipping Expectations thread for Lent, Year C
1st Sun. 3/9/2025 God is our Refuge. Don’t put God to the test.
Week: Testing God
Luke 4:1-13 – Jesus tested by devil: We don’t live by bread alone; Worship only God; Don’t put God to the test.
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 – God my refuge, fortress, and dwelling place. God rescues those who know God’s name.
Deut. 26:1-11 – First fruits, wandering/perishing Aramean, living out of gratitude.
Romans 10:8b-13 – All who call on Jesus’ name are saved. Jesus is generous to all.
2nd Sun. 3/16/2025 We can let God gather and shelter us in love.
Week: Refusing God’s Shelter
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 – God’s covenant with Abraham: I’ve been with you on your journey. Promise of descendants and a home.
Luke 13:31-35 – Lament over Jerusalem: God as Mother Hen gathering chicks, but you would not allow it.
Philippians 3:17-4:1 – Our citizenship is in heaven. Our bodies will be conformed to Christ’s glorious body.
Psalm 27 – Recalls the Exodus. God is my light & my salvation. To behold the beauty of the LORD/God’s name.
3rd Sun. 3/23/2025 God’s steadfast love is an alternative “economy”
[“household”]
Week: A Different Economy
Isaiah 55:1-9 – Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Why do you buy things that don’t satisfy? With no money, come, buy, and eat. What satisfies you? I will make an everlasting covenant with you. God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts.
Psalm 63:1-8 – Your steadfast love/covenant loyalty is better than life! I’ll praise & bless You. In the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 – God won’t let you be tested beyond your strength. They drank from the rock of Christ.
Luke 13:1-9 – Unless you repent, you’ll perish. Bloom and be fruitful, regardless of the season.
4th Sun. 3/30/2025 God’s forgiveness surrounds us from beginning to end.
Week: Crazy Forgiving
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 – Forgiving father and both sons: one prodigal, one resentful. Choosing to look for the one sheep and leave the 99. God’s forgiveness seeks us out even when we’re on the margins.
Psalm 32 – Happy are those who are forgiven! I acknowledged my sin & You forgave me. You preserve me from trouble. God’s steadfast love surrounds those who trust in God.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – From now on, we no longer see people from a human point of view. A new creation. Everything old has passed away; new things have come into being.
Joshua 5:9-12 – “Gilgal” = [your disgrace] is rolled away. First Passover: they no longer needed the manna (God’s special food) and could eat off the land to which God had brought them.
5th Sun. 4/6/2025 God is constantly doing a New Thing among us. Week: Doing a New Thing
Isaiah 43:16-21 – A path in the waters [//Exodus]. Don’t remember the former things. I’m doing a new thing!
John 12:1-8 – Mary anoints Jesus, pre-burial. Different points of view: Mary’s view of Jesus, Judas’ view of what’s important/money, respectable folks’ view of the poor – Jesus turns our point of view around.
Philippians 3:4b-14 – Rules for behavior by bishops, deacons, women. Be able to manage your families, etc.
Psalm 126 – Hope that God will restore the people’s fortunes, “like watercourses in the [desert].” Sowing in tears and reaping in joy. Hope for the future.
6th Sun. 4/13/2025 Palm and Passion Sunday
Week: God’s Alternative Celebration
Luke 19:28-40 – Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem [versus Herod’s pomp & circumstance]: on an untrained colt, with a jubilant crowd. If not them, “these stones would cry out.”
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 – Give thanks to God, for God’s steadfast love endures forever! The rejected stone has become the cornerstone.