I gave this sermon at a nearby Episcopal Church, St Pauls in Logan, OH on 29 March 2025, for the fourth Sunday in Lent. The readings for this Sunday are at the bottom of the post.
In our lesson from second Corinthians, the apostle Paul states that if we are in Christ:
There is a new creation!
Everything old is passed away.
Living in Christ, we can be transformed.
Through the ministry of Jesus Christ, the world, all of us, can be reconciled to God, and in our reconciliation with God we will no longer regard each other from a human point of view.
Living in Christ, we can be transformed.
Paul was a man who knew about transformation. When his name was Saul, he persecuted the followers of Christ, and was transformed by his encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. He changed his name to Paul, and was called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. To proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to people outside of the Jewish faith; that we are all beloved sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, who has forgiven our sins against Him and each other.
The transformation that Paul describes doesn’t just happen by itself. Like anything else worthwhile, it requires work and commitment on our part. We must choose to follow the example of Jesus in his ministry as described in the gospels. With very little effort, most of us can bring to mind some story of Jesus, where he does not act or speak like most other people. Where it is very apparent that his regard for those around him, his compassion and the love he expresses toward everyone, set him apart. The way he regards both the ‘important’ and the humble people he encountered, treating everyone with respect and his full attention.
How are we to start living in Christ, so that we may be transformed into a new creation?
What practices did Jesus follow in his ministry which we can follow today?
In many of the gospel stories of Jesus there are accounts of his seeking solitude in which to pray. Jesus would separate himself a short distance away from his disciples, late at night, or in the quiet of the early morning to pray and meditate.
The story that first comes to my mind is the time when Jesus was praying by the Sea of Galilee just before he walked across the water. This is related in Mathew chapter 22 verse 23: After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
Several Sundays ago in our readings there was the story of the transfiguration of Jesus. Here again Jesus prayed some distance apart from several of his disciples that came with him according to the gospel of Luke chapter 9 verse 28:
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. This same event is also told of in the gospels of Mark and Mathew.
Again in the gospel of Luke, there is a mention of Jesus praying as a regular practice, in chapter 5 verse 16: But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
As this is the season of Lent, it is also appropriate to remember that Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, fasting and praying in solitude. Jesus was preparing himself for what he knew was coming, his own death on the cross.
Jesus spending time in solitude and silence is something He followed as His regular spiritual practice; it is something we can do in our own lives, living in Christ; to be transformed during this season of Lent.
Increasingly, many of us due to the circumstances of our lives spend more time alone, living in solitude, but unlike Jesus how do we spend our alone time?
We turn to our electronic devices to fill the silence around us. We turn on the radio or we turn on the TV, and just leave them on all day. Sometimes, we are actually watching or listening to them, but much of the time it is just to fill that silence with some music or talk, for the company.
There isn’t anything wrong with that. But maybe we should also turn them off from time to time. Just for a bit of peace and quiet – for a change.
Just for a change, we might try turning off the radio, turning off the TV, not clicking on that podcast, putting our phones down – for a few minutes every day.
Just sitting, or going about our day, allowing silence to happen around us.
When Jesus spent all that time in prayer, we have no idea of what he was thinking, how he was praying, or if his practice was more of a meditation, or of listening for the holy spirit. For Lent this year, perhaps we should follow the example of Jesus, to live in Christ through prayer and meditation. It is a practice that I’m trying to follow this year.
I believe that living in Christ starts with letting go of old habits, prejudices, and the opinions of others and ourselves. To be in Christ is to allow ourselves to listen to that whisper of the Holy Spirit that can only be heard when we are calm, and it is quiet. It is to establish some regular practice where we can just unplug from the world and all the demands on our time and attention, and simply exist in silence.
Once we give ourselves that gift of silence just let it all go.
Let go of what the world expects of us.
Let go of what we believe we are owed by others.
Let go of our judgments of ourselves and of others.
Let go of all our failings and fears.
Let it all go.
It is like a Spring cleaning of the mind. Just letting go of all that angst and worry we’ve allowed to take up valuable space in our minds.
I believe that, we can be transformed when we give ourselves the space and time to become a new creation in Christ. Clearing our minds so that we can see the world around us with new eyes, to think new thoughts, to be present and engaged with people as Jesus did in the gospels.
We still have two weeks left in Lent.
Two weeks to find some time every day to unplug from the world.
Two weeks to find some peace.
Try to find 15 minutes today, this afternoon to just sit in silence.
Tomorrow, try to do it again. Tuesday do the same and for the rest of the days this week.
Maybe you’ll feel less like filling the space around you with the sound of a radio, or the TV.
See if you feel any different. Try looking at the world with new eyes as a new creation!
Observe a Holy Lent, by living in Christ this week.
We can all be Transformed.
Joshua 5:9-12
The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
From now on, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So Jesus told them this parable:
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”‘ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe–the best one–and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'”
What is Good 