March 10, Lent 4 The Wandering Heart 

Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements 

Call to Worship
On our worst days, God is good.
On our best days, God is good.
When life is consistent, God is good.
And when life turns on its head, God is good. Day and night, Monday through Sunday, God is good.
God is here. God is love. Hold tight to that good news.
Let us worship God! 

Hymn:  Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

(See projection screen) 

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Loving God, You call us to turn away from our own selfish interests, to take up our cross, and to follow after You—to find our lives by giving them up to Your greater purpose. 

So we come before You this morning with open hearts and open hands, eager to hear Your Word, and eager to know Your will. 

Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, move within us and among us as we worship. Open our eyes to Your presence; open our ears to Your call, open our hearts to one another. 

And then send us back out into the world, to live and work as Your faithful disciples.   

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord, 

Amen. 

 

Call to Confession  

There’s a moment in our scripture today when Jesus turns to Peter, named “the rock” of the church, and says, “Get behind me, Satan!” I don’t know about you all, but that’s a pretty bad day for Peter. It’s a pretty bad day when Jesus calls you Satan!  

Fortunately, this absurd moment comforts us with the knowledge that even Peter made mistakes. Peter, who was given the keys to Heaven. Peter, Jesus’ right-hand man, made mistakes just like us.   And still, Jesus chose him. Knowing that, let us speak honestly with God. For even on our worst days, we belong to God, and that will never change. Let us pray together— 

Prayer of Confession:
Holy God, We often find ourselves moving through a world that does not make sense. Like Peter, we want to yell out, “This should not happen!” We want to control scenarios beyond our reach. We want to hold your world in our hands. Forgive us for the moments when we lead with declarations instead of curiosity. Forgive us for arguing when we could listen. Forgive us for fixating on one truth, when we could open ourselves up to many. Soften our hard edges and teach us how to listen. With hope in our hearts we pray, amen.
 

Assurance of Pardon 

no matter how many times you have dug your heels in, no matter how many times you have disagreed, raged, or clung to what you know instead of embracing holy change— we worship a God of grace.
Nothing can separate us from God’s love, not even a stubborn attitude or a tense heart.
So hear and believe the good news of the gospel:   God’s love for us will always be deeper than we can imagine. We are seen. We are loved. And we are forgiven. Amen.
Passing the Peace
 

Hymn:  634 Will you come and follow me

Scripture:

Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22  p 94
Matthew 16:  21-23  p 1524 

Sermon:  Peter:  I’m fixed upon it 

What are some of the sayings that seem to inhabit the world, and the word, that humankind live by? 

Dog eat dog 

The best defense is a good offence. 

Walk softly and carry a big stick. 

Shoot first, ask questions later. 

 

Let’s compare them to the words that Jesus chooses to live by: 

The meek shall inherit the earth. 

Turn the other cheek. 

When asked to give your cloak, give your coat also. 

Forgive your enemies. 

Love others as you love yourself. 

There is no greater love than to give your life for another. 

 

It seems like the walk that Jesus asks of us, is counter-intuitive to the way that the world operates.  Is it any wonder that we are misunderstood? 

More to the point, is it any wonder that Jesus was misunderstood, even by his own disciples. 

When Jesus announces that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life., that proclamation was an example of the kind of life he is calling all of us to live.   

He was declaring that because God (and he) loved the people of the earth so much, that the heavenly plan was that Jesus would suffer and die in order to save all of us from our sins.   

 

Clearly love changes lives, rather than standing on the sidelines and watching the suffering. 

 

From Peter’s reaction what do we wonder the disciples heard? 

Throughout this Lenten series on the wandering heart, I have been urging us to give Peter some slack.  He is just like us, prone to wander, prone to misunderstand, prone to not be able to see past the end of his own nose, and very prone to being wrong. 

We have all been in difficult conversations.  The doctor has bad news.  A friend announces that they have a terminal illness.  Someone calls to say that there has been a death.   

If we are honest, we often don’t hear anything after the words that cause us to enter shock and make our heart race in fear, and our stomachs contract and ache with dread.   

And if we are really being honest, we go into denial and refuse to believe, cope with or grasp the news we have just received.   

Why should it be any different for Peter? 

He hears: Jesus say,  I am going to Jerusalem and will suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed.  Of course they don’t hear the assurance that on the third day he will rise again.   

The shock of that statement must send him reeling.  It comes up hard on what he thinks a Messiah is called to do.  His first inclination is to argue with Jesus, and not just argue but to correct Jesus.   

 

Peter began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you” 

Clearly this is a man fully immersed in shock and denial.  If this condition were to be allowed to continue, he would do what we always do when confronted with a road we don’t want to travel.  Make alternative plans.  Take over control and do things only our way.   

 

It is such a human response that we can hear the plan he would soon be formulating in his mind. 

We will keep you away from Jerusalem, we can hide out in Samaria. 

We will use all the connections that Judas has to arm ourselves with knives and swords, and use every means available to protect Jesus.   

Jesus also knows the road that Peter will feel compelled to follow, and so he brings Peter back into line in the firmest way possible. 

He says to Peter, “Get thee behind me Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 

 

Do we hear the reverse echo of what Jesus said previously, where he praised Peter for hearing the revelation of God and understanding what no human could have known.  But now he accuses Peter of not listening to the concerns of God and merely focusing on human concerns and desires.   

How the mighty have fallen.  This is not just a little stumble along the way, this is a full on fall that removes Peter from the guidance of God and puts him in the role of the tempter..   

To yield to temptation is one thing, to align oneself with the tempter is another.  That Jesus is so fast to rebuke Peter tells us two things. 

 

First, Jesus will withstand this newest temptation of Satan.  He did so in the 40 days in the desert and if he could overcome that, he will overcome now.  Jesus always remains true to himself, and faithful to God and the calling upon him. 

But the second thing we can understand here, is that humans are extremely vulnerable to temptation and that if it is not addressed, it can move from a stumble, to a fall, to embracing a life that denies God altogether. 

We all know people who have felt abandoned by God because of a life circumstance that rocked their world to the core.  They become angry and turn away from God altogether.  They stop going to worship, seeing friends, and retreat into their pain and grief.  It is an unhealthy anger. 

Don’t misunderstand this.   

It is not the end of the world to be angry with God, if in that anger we turn to God to cry, complain, demand answers and declare our lack of confidence in him.  We see that example in the Psalms all the time.  The Psalmist cries out in anger, and complaint.  But it brings him closer to God as the lamenting gives way to seeing and understanding how God has been faithful to him all along. 

But the danger for Peter, and for all of us, is that in our anger and sense of betrayal we can become bitter,   

And that danger exists when we are in a state of denial.  We are right, reality is wrong.  Peter knows what should be and Jesus is wrong.   

Peter is oh so wrong! 

 

 

When we feel the need to correct God and tell God he is wrong, then we are aligning ourselves with evil   Spend enough time with denial, anger, hurt, betrayl, and evil and we can fall away from God altogether. 

Ironically it happened for the lyricist who wrote the hymn, “Come thou fount of every blessing.”   An Historian of hymns tells of the lyricist, Robert Robinson’s encounter with a woman on a train one day and they end up having a conversation about the hymn he had written.  , In that discussion he admitted that he no longer feels or believes the truth of what he expressed when writing that hymn.   

It can happen to all of us if we allow the temporary set backs in our lives to become permanent.  We don’t just stumble—we fall.  We don’t just drift away—we ride away on an uncontrollable wave. 

 

As difficult as it is, we all need to be rebuked by God at one time or another.  We all need someone to come alongside us and tell us that we are walking a dangerous path. 

 

So that is what Jesus does here with Peter.   

Whoa, my friend, why are you tempting me to do other than what God asks.  Get away from me because you are not listing to the revelation of God.   

Fortunately this rebuke works. 

 

The good thing about Peter, is that no matter what leads him away from Jesus, he has a repentant heart that is to return to God.  When that happens, he is again able to hear God’s revelation when it is given to him. 

The good news for all of us is that we can see in Peter, and the other disciples, that we don’t have to be perfect to be a person who lives in close relationship to God and follows his will.   

Thank God for that truth. 

We all have those moments when we stumble.  We all have times when we try to run away from what God is asking of us.  We all need to be called back into the fold.   

Most of all, we need to thank God, that we like Peter have hearts that are teachable and filled with a desire to return to God.   

We, like Peter, will be hot and cold, we will have success and failure, we will have ups and downs in life, but; we can still be the person of God’s heart. When that happens we will be a success at being a follower, even in our failures because we hear God rebuking us and calling us back.   

Praise be to God, our failures do not define us.  Rather, our willingness to return to God and hear his voice of revelation does.  We imperfect people are made whole, and led on the journey of growing more and more Christ-like every day.  We will never master that journey here on earth, but that’s okay, all we need to do is keep getting back on the path, and God will show us the way. 

Praise be to God.  Amen. 

 

 

Hymn:   353 Hail our once rejected Jesus

Offering and Doxology 830

 

Offertory Prayer
Heavenly Father, 

Holy God, we pray that we may live this day in your presence
and please you more and more; especially in the ways in which we share your gifts of grace and prosperity. 

Bless all that we bring before you this day—our lives, our service, our wealth.  Bless it and multiply it that your grace may be spread among us and throughout the whole world.  

we pray that this day you will fill us with your Spirit, and cause your fruit to ripen in our lives, that we continue to grow as the blessing of  your, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and that all in need may receive the fullness of your grace.  Amen 

 

  

Gathering Prayer Requests 

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

Gracious God,   In love You created us, and in love You sustain us, day after day.  We praise you that your care over us is constant.  We thank  you that you always desire to bless us, to  hear our prayers, and to direct our paths.   

Most of all we thank you that you are a God of second chances, and that you daily renew your call for us to come and follow you.  We thank you that you bring that renewing grace to all the world and all those who inhabit it. 

So it is with confidence that we bring our prayers to You,
knowing that You hear us, and will respond. 

JOYS 

 

 

 

We pray for the world around us, 

            for those caught up in violence and political uprisings;  Ukraine, Israel/palestine 

            for those picking up the pieces after a natural disaster;  Texas fires 

   

 

           

            

 

We also pray for family and friends who are suffering: 

             

            those grieving the death of a loved one.  Winnie 

            

God, You have called us to pray for our enemies; 

to bless, rather than curse, those who deliberately seek to harm us. 

We bring their names before You now— 

            those who have hurt us, physically or emotionally; 

We ask You to bless them. 

Open our hearts so that we may see them as You see them, 

and be able to respond to them with Your love. 

 

We pray for Your church around the world, 

that it would be a living demonstration of Your coming kingdom: 

            offering hospitality to all, 

            ready to help in times of need, 

            showing love to friends and enemies alike, 

            seeking to live in peace with all. 

God, we praise You for Your faithful love, 

and for the mercy You have shown toward us. 

Open our eyes to recognize Your presence in our lives. 

Give us grace to hear Your call, 

and courage to follow without hesitation, 

knowing that Your way is the only way that leads to life. 

In the name of Jesus, our Saviour and Lord who taught us to pray saying,  Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever.  Amen 

Amen. 

Hymn:  626 Lord of all power

 

Unison Benediction
Beloved wanderer, as you leave this place, may you carry your curious heart on your sleeve. May you look for God in every face. May you find the courage to get out of the boat, to run to the tomb, and to speak of your faith. And when the world falls apart, may you hear God’s voice deep within, saying, “Take heart, it is I, be not afraid.” You are called. You are blessed. In both your ups and your downs, you always belong to God. Go now in peace. Go trusting that good news. Amen. 

Blessing Song:  209

O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee I give thee back the life I owe that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.