Lent 4 Eph 2:1-10 ; Jn 3:14-21

Way back in 2021, I did my first sermon here (or ever) and I talked about my discomfort with unconditional love. I want to return to some of those ideas today, and I’m sorry if you have such a perfect memory that that bores you.

Late in high school at one point, I was in the backseat of my mum’s car when she was talking to a friend about the friend’s son. More specifically, talking about his hair. A few years before that, this teenager had moved from a boy’s school with a pretty strict military-inspired dress code, into a public school, and had grown a lush mane of hair. Just so much wavey healthy hair. It was clearly an expression of freedom and release, and at the time I had heard my mum and this woman discuss it and how positively this reflected his sense of creativity and joy returning.

Now, a few years later, he was considering shaving it all off. That wasn’t the reason the mum’s were talking, though. The point was a funny anecdote about the things teenages say, because apparently one of his friends had said “but your mum loves your hair! You’re sure she won’t like… disown you?” Cue both mum’s bursting into giggles.

Genesis 9:8-17

Good morning, everyone! My name is JJ, and it is lovely to see you here today.

Today is the first Sunday of lent, which absolutely made me feel like the year is moving very quickly. Lent means different things to different people in this congregation – some of you may pick up a focused study, some may take up a fast or cut something non-food-ish from your lives, and some might not really notice it is happening.

Lent, like advent, is a kind of waiting phase in the church year. But in the same way that easter is a bit more emotionally mixed than Christmas, lent is a bit more mixed than advent. The roguish younger brother to your prince charming. Where advent is joyful eager waiting, lent is penitent, lent is reflection.

In a move that is more serendipitous than calculated, by the end of our lenten waiting, fasting, reflecting, we will have received not only the joy and sorrow of Easter, but a new minister. So today I want to invite us to do some reflecting – to sit in the posture of reflection – as we make the slow trek towards welcoming Hugh and Yoonhee into our community, and prepare to build the next bit of our story together.

Those of you who were here last week heard me go on about how demon possession was an antiquated idea. Whether you agreed with me or not I came down pretty strong that explaining illnesses by attributing them to demonic possession was a concept from a culture that didn’t understand all we know now. I basically said the bible was wrong. Was that brave or foolhardy? I don’t really know.

But as I was preparing this week’s service I saw that the gospel reading was Mark 1:29-39 which is a story about Jesus healing the sick and in particular casting out demons from people.

So, who says God doesn’t have a sense of humour?

Mark 1:21-28

As I prepared today’s message I became very aware how different the world Jesus lived in is to the world we live in today.

In the 2,000 years since Jesus lived our understanding of so many things has grown and grown and grown.

We now know the earth revolves around the sun and the sun is a fairly insignificant star in an ever-expanding universe.