First Sunday in Lent (Year A, RCL)

God's "consuming fire" is the fire of holy love. It doesn't await sinners in the future; it burns up sin itself.

What might God have to say about the creatures most people don’t think of as lovable?

The first Sunday of Lent is the best time of the year to talk about sin. Many people in the church, especially the mainline church, are stuck when it comes to the overlap of sin and sensuality. No one really wants to be the pastor who comes over all judgmental about sex.

The serpent was right: when Eve and Adam ate the fruit, they did not die; they saw more clearly.

Chang Lee survived two brutal wars in his mother country, Korea. He lived through the dangers posed by Japanese bombs, Chinese howitzers, North Korean minefields and American carbines. But he did not survive an encounter with a mugger in the hallway of his own apartment in the U.S. He was brutally stabbed, and died at the age of 80. Chang Lee’s family were members of the parish I served in Queens.

"A man had two sons . . .” was a common way to begin a parable, especially one comparing good and bad sons. Matthew uses it to contrast one son, who promises to work in the vineyard but never shows up, with another, who at first adamantly refuses to go to the vineyard but later repents and goes (21:28-32). Which one did the will of his father, asks Jesus? Not the one who talked a good game, but the one who actually followed through with obedient actions.

The Tempter will return again and again. But we are never left alone.

Neither the journey nor the wilderness comes naturally to Americans anymore.