The Lectionary Passages for Sunday, February 21, 2021 (1st Sunday in Lent)

Below are NRSV translations of the lessons from the Old Testament (Genesis 9:8-17), the Psalms (Psalm 25:1-10), the Letters (1 Peter 3:18-22) and the Gospels (Mark 1:9-15). Please make any comments concerning the passages you want. Together, let's discuss the Word of God.

Genesis 9:8-17

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Psalm 25

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.

Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!

Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

1 Peter 3:18-22

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

A New Devotion - Freedom from, Freedom to

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

1 Peter 1:13-16, 22-25

Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever." That word is the good news that was announced to you.

Freedom from, Freedom to

Although I’m in no way suggesting that it’s good or minimizing the very real sacrifices some people have been forced to make, COVID-19 has freed us from some of those repetitive tasks we complained about six months ago. For example, students have been freed from having to go to school and from having to come up with new excuses for why their homework wasn’t done. And employees have been freed from all those boring tasks that are just part of the job and employers have been freed from watching their workers just go through the motions without the passion and pride owners feel for their businesses. We have been set free. But this freedom means nothing if we don’t do something with it. I mean, even though we may have more time to spend with our families and more time to improve ourselves in some way, that time can be easily squandered if we choose to make life right now as repetitive and as boring as school or work. Freedom only has value when we decide to use it.

And I’ll tell you, I think that’s the point Peter was making in the passage we just read. You see, through Jesus Christ, we’ve been set free, free from all those thoughts and fears we may have experienced before we decided to trust in God and his love. But that actually means nothing, unless we use that freedom to live in a way that reflects some of God holiness. In other words, our new freedom from all those things that messed us up in the past is only made complete when we use it to love God and one another. In a real way, our freedom from offers us the chance to claim our freedom to.