Let Us Pray:

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Genesis 15:1-12,17-18

The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I
am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess." But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant

with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates."

Luke 13:31-35

Some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants
to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

I must preach February 24th. These words have been resonating in my mind for the last few weeks. As I began to work on this sermon, I noticed that I was thinking back to Christmas Day when I preached to a smaller group of the faithful. Yet today, I stand before the entire congregation. And dramatic as it may seem, I envision a sea of parishioners waiting to hear what I might say. Within me there is a churning sea full with the ebbing and flowing waves of doubt and pressure. And as I speak these words, I must preach They begin to echo fear more than excitement. How much I long to hear the words God spoke to Abraham when he was only Abram, Do not be afraid. We can only pray that God might transform my fears and doubts into faith and righteousness like He transformed the doubts and fears of Abram. So, let it be said once more for the record, I must preach today!

In todays Gospel reading, Pharisees come to Jesus to offer him warning. Jesus immediate response is that the Pharisees should go to Herod, that crafty and deceitful one, and tell that fox that I am working, that I am doing my ministry. I am busy casting out demons and performing cures. Jesus continues Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day, I must be on my way Jesus states with greater fervor that Herods plans are not his plans, not what Jesus sees as the divine plan. I confess I feel a sense of doubt and possibly fear in these passages. Jesus speaks, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! Jerusalem, Jerusalem these are perhaps the most pitiful words Jesus ever spoke. So as I continue to examine the humanity of Jesus Christ I find that I relate most to this Gospel in the moments when Jesus says the words, I must... Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day, I must be on my way. How many times have I spoken those words, I must How many times have I believed in these words, I must, How many times have these words birth my faith into action, I must And as we are in the season of Lent full with our Lenten practices, I wonder how and why you must? God gifts us with desires and passions that compel us to do the work of God in the human world. God compels us and if we are open to hearing Him and committed enough to following His Son and His Spirit then we will always find that God is most evidently present in the moments where and when we confess, admit, and proclaim to ourselves, to our brothers and sister, and to all the world that, I must or that We must These are the most powerfully prophetic words a human being can state. I must advocate for our children and youth. We must find better ways to own and use guns. I must pray diligently. We must make time for our families. I must follow my Lenten practices. I must and we must over and over again. These are not prophecies in the divine sense. For saying, I must does not always mean that we will bring into being that which we desire, but it does mean that God becomes and is manifest in the world through the very fact that we must. When we must, we create room for God to enter into the world and to transform more of it into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is Messiah but also mankind vocalizing its ultimate I must Jesus confesses, admits, and proclaims that I must cast out demons. I must perform cures. I must be on my wayand even, eventually, I must live. I must die. In asserting all of these things Jesus really asserts just one thing that, God must be present in the world and that God must work through His creation, through humanity. Jesus, God in Christ even goes as far as to model how to must and presents us with the frightening reality that oftentimes when we must it is not easy, to must can cause us

excruciating pain spiritually and physically. Later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives to pray. Jesus speaks with God, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me This is a plea. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me Its not the kind of thing we expect of our deities. Its not the kind of thing we want from our messiahs. This is a very human act coming out of a very human moment for our Lord and Savior. And yet in this plea, there is something akin to an I must. Jesus finishes by saying, Yet, not my will, but yours be done. Jesus shows us, these musts most faithfully come out of our prayers, our communication with the divine. Prayer is simple as a one-on-one, a relational meeting with God in which He wants us to tell Him about our lives. God wants to hear about what brings us joy and what brings us sadness. God will even ask what makes us angry. But God does not just stop at hearing us. God answers our prayers by calling us to action. God most desires to know what things we will do because of our joys and sadness, what things must we do because of our righteous anger, and to see us live those things out. For I must is the proof that God ever moves in our world and in us. And however you may choose to complete the statement, all of us must strive to live by these words, I must... And this is the reason why, I must preach today. Mahatma Ghandi is often quoted, You must be the change you wish to see in the world. And though I love this quote, I would amend it slightly. I would have it say this: You must be the change God wishes to see in the world. For when you prayerfully must and faithfully live out what it is you must do then there is little difference between your desires and Gods desires. In discerning what we must do and actually doing it, we find complete harmony with God. We become set apart from the world but we also become God in the world. In short, we become holy. In this time and place, God is inviting us into a Holy Lent through our particular practices of I must and we must. More importantly in our everyday attempt at confessing, admitting, and proclaiming that we must, we are asking how God invites us into holiness in every season of our life. And so today, tomorrow, and the next day, what is it that we must do to accept these invitations. Amen.