The Season of Repentance is Ash Wednesday & 1st-5th Weeks of Lent Year C with Patti Brunner and Monsignor David LeSieur. The Season of Repentance includes the very powerful stories of Jesus’ transfiguration, his temptation, and the Prodigal Son. Lent is a time for us to consider our own lives; a kind of a spiritual six-week retreat before we celebrate Easter. It is the time to look inward and ask why Jesus came to begin with. He came because of sin. Jesus himself was tempted. He is not only our model in resisting temptation; He is also our source of strength. The Holy Spirit brings us conversion. Repentance is a change of heart; repentance and reconciliation are a matter of relationship. Originally broadcast on KDUA Catholic Radio and Padua Media. Continue reading for script, liturgical readings and other notes. Audio Link: Season of Repentance
Season of Repentance Script
Patti: Welcome to Living Seasons of Change! I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host today is Monsignor David LeSieur.
Monsignor David: Thanks Patti. Today we will be talking about the very powerful stories of Jesus’ transfiguration and his temptation, and the woman who is taken in adultery. Lent is a time for us to consider our own lives; I call it a kind of a retreat, a spiritual six-week retreat before we celebrate Easter. It is the time to look inward. During advent we look outwards, some what, to the coming of the Lord. But during Lent we look inward and ask why he came to begin with. He came because of sin. We ask ourselves, “What have I done in my own life to add to that burden of sin”. Jesus himself was tempted. He is not only our model in resisting temptation; He is also our source of strength. His Father and the Spirit were his sources of strength. We have the same thing.
Patti: As we look inward a little today, Monsignor, will you tell our listeners a little about yourself?
Monsignor David: Well, sure Patti. I am the pastor of St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church of Rogers, and I have been a priest for 30 years. I feel that I was trained and ordained to preach the Word, to share the sacraments with people, and primarily I think that any priest’s task is first of all to preach the word. Basically, it’s not even to say Mass; it’s just to preach. Of course, Mass is a perfect opportunity to preach. If the radio and our conversations can help spread the word in some small way or some large way, that’s great. I would wish that those who listen, particularly someone who’s not going to church right now, could be moved by something they hear us talk about, maybe something you and I don’t even realize that we’re saying, and that something, because of God’s grace, will touch the person who needs to hear what we’re saying. In a nutshell, what I wish for people to do or to experience, as they listen to our programs, would be a greater desire to listen to God’s word. We might feel like we’re distant from God, but God is no farther than the nearest prayer. Just say: Lord, I need your help. How about you, Patti?
Patti: I have not had the training that you have had to be a priest. Yet, I had a conversion of heart where God’s grace welled up within me and allowed me to learn. As a layperson I feel a real calling to share what God has provided, to help others to glean something from what he’s given to me. Lent has always been a time of reflection in the Church and of trying to do better, to do more. Ever since I was a child, Lent has been that for me, too, and the older I get the more often it seems to come! In our Gospel the 1st Week of Lent we see that Jesus did a 40-day fast[i] before he started his public ministry. It’s amazing that the Son of God felt the need to pull away and to really prepare for stepping out on his public mission.
Monsignor David: It was a time of trial for him, too. It was just after his baptism. I think it’s interesting that after that experience of the baptism, where God said, “you are my beloved son”, the devil tempts him by saying “If You are God’s son then “turn these stones into bread”[ii]. Jesus went to the desert knowing who he was, then the devil plays with that a little bit.
Patti: It is just the way the devil works; he tries to put doubts in our minds.
Monsignor David : We have to know who we are. We have to be assured that we are God’s children. Even if it happened long ago, our baptism is still very valid and something we carry with us all the time. The passage of time since our baptism might been many, many years; but to God it’s like it just happened and he still looks upon us as children. I think that’s what got Jesus into the desert or through the desert fasting and praying– really quality time with his father. Probably, sorting through what it meant for him to be God’s son, the son of God, the beloved son. It was probably such a moving experience, he felt like, “I have to sit with this a while”. And just ponder what it means for me.
Patti: The heavenly realm waits for all who turn their eyes of Jesus and then follows him. Sometimes the Way of the Cross seems too hard, too harsh, but Jesus has led the way for us. His word shows us how to follow Jesus. This Lent the scriptures invite us to fast. Fasting can be more than just giving up meat on Friday. It is a commitment to place God before food. When I have prayed for people who were attending Cursillo retreats I often included fasting as part of my Palanca, a sort of spiritual bouquet. I got a little creative by the choice of what I gave up. Once I gave up my favorite beverage, Diet Coke. Another time I gave up watching a favorite TV soap opera “All My Children”. When the fasting period was over, I had overcome my addition to these things. Even though my little sacrifice was for the benefit of others, God blessed me as a result of the fasting. I try to fast each week, now, before I minister at the JDC and before I give a teaching at RCIA or other group. Here the fasting helps me focus on the ministry. People I have talked to who have had conversion experiences, a lot of times it is after they have pulled away from the norm: a retreat or perhaps a day of recollection. It seems so much easier for us to have closeness with God when we pull away from the things of the world
Monsignor David: Sure, life’s routine can become like a hardened foot path. And when our lives are so hard, so routine and so regular, God cannot get into that. Breaking away could be a morning prayer time. I think Jesus’ going into the desert was certainly a transition time for him, but it was his way of getting off the footpath. He did that a lot. Maybe he didn’t go for 40 days every time, but he certainly pulled away often. He spent the night in prayer or he was absorbed in prayer.
Patti: In the same way, the Transfiguration[iii], which we hear about in the 2nd Sunday of Lent, is pulling Peter, James, and John into a real transition where Jesus is showing them his glory. They don’t understand it. They probably didn’t comprehend it until after Pentecost when they were filled with the Spirit. They wanted to camp there; it was such an awesome experience. They wanted to stay on the mountain and stay in God’s glory.
Monsignor David: They wanted to bask in the glory. Then it says in the Scripture “while Jesus was speaking a cloud came and cast a shadow. They were frightened when they entered the cloud, and from the cloud a voice said “This is my son”. And after the voice, Jesus was found alone.” Then, it says, at the very end of the Gospel, “They fell silent, and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.” You would’ve thought they would a babbled about it but maybe they didn’t understand it.
Patti: Maybe it was beyond words. Do you think it was maybe a touch of heaven that they experienced? It was certainly stepping into eternity, seeing Moses and Elijah.
Monsignor David: But they were frightened, too, when they came into the cloud. They saw the Shekinah Glory. It was an awesome experience. Awesome!
Patti: My daughter Bridgette experienced a similar cloud during a camp worship experience. They were delighted by it. At the Transfiguration, Jesus allowed Peter, James and John a foretaste of the resurrection; it foreshadows Easter. It was sandwiched in between the first time Jesus foretells of the passion and the second prediction of his passion[iv] in Luke’s Gospel Chapter 9. Fresh beginnings sometimes call for drastic measures. Monsignor, here in northwest Arkansas, we live a fast-growing community. Some are climbing the corporate ladder and their companies move them here, some come to retire; a lot are moving here seeking new jobs; they just want to start over somewhere, seeking fresh beginnings.
Monsignor David: Think of their spouses. They might have to find a new job now, make new friends, or their kids go to a new school. So there is a lot of newness here.
Patti: I’ve always felt like our parish has a special grace because the people that have gathered here are willing to take a chance to do something new. For a lot of people it’s hard to do new things. But we have a whole community full of people who are open to change. It’s exciting. It means people are open to taking advantage of God’s grace; His grace is always available.
Monsignor David: I think the physical move for the family moving from one town to this area, from one parish to our parish, becomes a metaphor for the move that is required of us spiritually; a change.
Patti: We tap into God’s grace. In Lent we are really seeking God’s grace to help us to change, to come to a better fulfillment of our lives.
Monsignor David: I think that’s what Lent is about. Lent is about moving from point A to point B in our spiritual life. Jesus did it. You know, I am sure Jesus was comfortable at home for 30 years. He probably lived with his mom, and I’m sure she loved that. But he had to move out; he felt called to do so, humanly speaking. His mother would have loved for him to stay in Nazareth and be a Carpenter.
Patti: Isn’t she is the one at Cana, that was saying “okay; now son!”
Monsignor David: That was in John’s Gospel. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus himself makes a transition from a comfortable hidden life at home at Nazareth, where he was well-known. He gets baptized, goes to the desert, is tempted, and then he goes to his public life after his Lent which is 40 days in the desert.
Patti: Which we imitate.
Monsignor David: He goes into the desert to go inward with God, and even in order to face temptation. I imagine those temptations were probably inward.
Patti: In Ephesians Chapter 6, it talks about putting on the armor of God[v] to be protected. That our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, the rulers of darkness, the evil spirits in the heavens. Just like there are people, now, that have more awareness of the spiritual realm, Jesus would definitely be able to visualize the tempter.
Monsignor: A few years ago I saw a TV movie about Jesus and in the temptation scene it showed Jesus dressed in his first century robe in the desert and the devil, that appears to him, as a man dressed in a modern business suit. He shows Jesus modern warfare. The devil shows tanks and guns and the entire history of the world with all its sin and hatred. And the devil says, “This is what you’re going to be dealing with, I can keep you from this.” Of course Jesus embraced it.
Patti: Jesus doesn’t back down. In our 1st Sunday of Lent reading from Luke 4, the devil uses scripture to tempt Jesus, he gives a lot of his own connotation to it, which is false. Then Jesus answers him with Scripture because he knows it. I think that’s our call, too, to learn what Scripture really says.
Monsignor David: Even the devil can quote scripture, but he puts a spin on it. He takes it out of context. “If you are the son of God, jump from these Temple heights because he will send his angels to save you, so that you will not cast your foot against a stone[vi]”. Nicely quoted from Psalm 91, but Jesus replies with the quote, “you should not tempt the Lord your God.” The book by Thomas Greene called Weeds among the Wheat[vii] is a wonderful book about discernment of spirits. He is a Jesuit priest and has written several books: Darkness in the Marketplace, and When the Well Runs Dry. They are wonderful; I would recommend them to anyone.
Patti: We’ll post the names on Patriarchministries.com website. His name is Thomas Greene, S. J., spelled g-r-e-e-n-e.
Monsignor David: They’re very basic. In Weeds among the Wheat he takes St. Ignatius of Loyola, who taught us how to discern. He gives a running commentary on St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises[viii] from which the 30 day retreat is derived. Thomas Greene tells us sometimes the devil will appear to us as an angel of light and he can be very persuasive. And that this is why we have to discern.
Patti: That is scriptural also[ix]. 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, says, “For even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.”
Monsignor: That’s right; he can appear to us very attractively thus very tempting. Thomas Greene in Weeds among the Wheat gives us a good concept. He calls it the “tail of the snake”, because what the devil says may look good or sound good, but something about the devil will tip his hand. Greene calls it the tail of the snake. If you look carefully at what he says or how he says it, you can see that it just rings a little false. Jesus picked that up right away.
Patti: I like James Chapter 4, verse 7 “submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee[x] from you”. If the devil is involved in it, he does not want you to be submitted to God. One of the key messages of Lent is to repent, to change. To repent, we first have to admit that we need to change. I heard a Catholic evangelist tell about talking to young people, trying to get them to go to confession. He said that people who go to church and say they don’t get anything out of it might be “clogged”. They don’t want to go to confession because they don’t think they have any sin in them, but what you have to realize is that when you are clogged by sin nothing goes down. No matter what you put in. You should go to confession; it may not be a good confession, because you don’t think you have any sin. But what you are doing is poking a hole, so that grace gets in.
Monsignor: You are putting a plunger to it.
Patti: Yes, and then the next time you go to confession, you admit your sins and you get a clean flush! I love that visual. So, if you go to Church and you don’t get anything out of it, you’re probably clogged up somehow.
Monsignor: That’s a good point, because that is a common complaint. It is said, “you get out of it what you put into it.” When we are clogged up we don’t put anything into it.
Patti: We drift away so quickly from our sense of sin, our sense of what is pleasing to God, and we start pleasing ourselves.
Monsignor: I once listened to a Carmelite priest who said that one time a man went to confession and just broke down and wept and said, “I just feel so dirty before God” and the priest said, “that is not a bad way to feel because God is revealing to you where you need to repent, and we can trust him to come and grace those parts of your life that are filthy.” God reveals that to us. I think the more we hang around God with a regular prayer life, He will either gently, or not so gently, reveal to us those areas of life that need change.
Patti: When we go to confession, the sacrament of Penance, one of the things that we are called to do is plan to change; not just go and get a quick absolution so we can go to communion, and then fully intend to go right back into the sin we were doing. When we go to confession we need the desire to change—to step out of our patterns of sin. Even though in our weakness, we may fall back into it.
Monsignor: I don’t think that we can ever guarantee God our promise that we will never sin again. We can say that we don’t want to sin again and with his grace we won’t sin again.
Patti: I love the story of the Prodigal Son[xi] on the 4th Sunday of Lent. I use this so much when I’m working with the troubled youth, because it explains that no matter how bad things have gotten, God is waiting there to welcome you back; he is watching for you, and he will restore you to his good graces.
Monsignor: I once saw a little movie based on this. There was a young boy who got mad at his parents and ran away from home. After quite a while he realized he needed to go back home, so he called his parents from another city and said, “I think I need to come home. I can understand if you do not want me to. I’ll come home at night and if you just leave the porch light on I’ll know its ok. It took a long time because he had to hitch hike. As he came into town he was telling the guy, who was giving him the ride, the story. He said, “I don’t know what I’m going to find. But when they turned the corner every light in the house was on!
Patti: That’s sweet! Every light was on! Earlier, you mentioned the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. I spent some time trying to do those on my own, without a spiritual director, and they were very beneficial. It is a four-week exercise, but it took me several weeks to get past the first week. I liked visualizing creation and the goodness of God and how the sin of the angels and Adam and Eve affected creation. But when I visualized Jesus’ passion, and how my sin affected him, the sorrow I felt was so deep that I couldn’t stand it. I backed away from thinking about it, and for many months I could not continue the exercises. It was incredible, incredible to think of how my sin affected Jesus during his passion. We are probably not all called to that degree of feeling that sorrow.
Monsignor: I think that maybe it is good to feel it at least once in life, that it’s real, that we actually could have put him on the cross.
Patti: On the 5th Sunday of Lent, we hear John’s rendition of the woman caught in adultery[xii], and how Jesus brings such good from that, because he shows us how she received forgiveness.
Monsignor: He also made the crowd drop their stones. He stops them in their tracks with that statement “let the one among you without sin cast the first stone”. It caused them to reflect inwardly. They were a mob ready to stone her; he probably helped save them, too, because he got them to think.
Patti: It’s always easier to see other people’s sin rather than our own. The 4th week of Lent, in Second Corinthians, we hear the phrase where God “made him to be sin who did not know sin[xiii]”. There is a bronze statue at St. Vincent de Paul named the Heart of Jesus[xiv], where Jesus has all sorts of people in his heart. Jesus is wearing a hooded cloak and looks burdened. When we first brought the statue into the church it bothered a lot of people to see Jesus portrayed in such a dark way. But to me that statue shows part of his agony in the Garden; to me it visualizes the moment he took all of us into his heart, full of sin without redemption yet. By accepting us into his heart He became sin, because he accepted us.
Monsignor: He became one with us. we might say: as Christ became our sinfulness, we became God’s righteousness. Yes, he became one with us, with all of our sin, and so he who was without sin became sin, because of becoming one with us in our sin.
Patti: Again God is bringing something good from the bad. Continuing our discussion about the way the Lord brings good from bad, I want to share a little example. My daughter fell when she was about 6. That was bad. She busted her lip. But God worked it for good. She had been trying to stop sucking her thumb. And we had prayed and asked for God’s help. After she fell, her lip hurt too much to put her thumb in it so the habit was over come. Something good came from it. Now did God push her and make her fall? Of course not! She was running with friends chasing each other and she tripped. But God used this opportunity to bless her and to answer her prayer. I wanted her to stop sucking her thumb too, but I would never have tripped her to make her fall and bust her lip. God loves us more than I love my daughter. He wants goodness for us. But sometimes he uses a bad situation to bless us, almost like taking advantage of an opportunity. The Catechism says we are called to ongoing conversion[xv]. It takes a conversion of heart to step out in faith. We receive the Holy Spirit when we are baptized and confirmed, but I think there is this spiritual awakening that happens at some point in our spiritual maturity that gives us that boldness, it is called Baptism of the Spirit by a lot of people; that blossoming of the Spirit in your life is the Pentecost experience.
Monsignor: Like the fearlessness that Philip had. Philip was driven by the Spirit to go talk to the Ethiopian eunuch[xvi] and then he was driven by the Spirit to go somewhere else. Jesus had the same thing. I think the longer you live, the more you experience, hopefully, the more ego gets into its proper place. We don’t have to protect it quite so much. And then we can be free to let the Spirit guide us. Ego blocks us quite a bit, because we’re afraid of how we will look or if we’ll be accepted.
Patti: I think fear is one of the strongest weapons the enemy uses against us. God helps us overcome fear with the reminder of the parting of the Red Sea. How many times does that comes up in Scripture? It says to me: now trust God, if He can part the Red Sea to get you to safety, He can give you the courage to speak up.
Monsignor: He also parted the Jordan River. And Jesus allowed Peter to walk on water.
Patti: That’s right. The 5th Week of Lent remembers the Red Sea. God not only used it to allow the children to journey to the Promised Land; He also pushed the water back together to destroy the Egyptian army that was following them and then Scripture says, “see I am doing something new[xvii].”
Monsignor: He can speak to our hearts in the desert of Lent. That is where Jesus is the new Israel, the faithful Israel in the desert. Jesus didn’t give in to temptation the way the Israelites did there.
Patti: In the 3rd Week of Lent, we have the burning bush, where Moses is called to come apart to follow the Lord and his commands.
Monsignor: He got his call in the desert, too.
Patti: We don’t all get the burning bush, though. But we do all get the Gospel. It is a lot more powerful than a burning bush. We get the call to follow Christ as we listen to the Gospel message. Ask for the Holy Spirit! Now there is a fire that is much stronger than any bush burning. To receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, you just have to ask for it. Romans 10, read the 1st Sunday of Lent, says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord[xviii], and believe that God has raised him. You will be saved!”
Monsignor: There is always a burning bush somewhere, like you said it’s the Gospel. And you cannot say Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. That reminds me of something I heard Bishop Sheen say once on tape; he was describing the Last Supper and the disciples were told, “One of you is about to betray me.” Bishop Sheen said, “All the disciples, one after another, asked, “Is it I Lord? Is it I?” Until it got to Judas, who says, is a I master? Because you can’t say Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit.
Patti: Have you ever seen Bishop Sheen live?
Msgr.: I have. I saw him at a retreat at the seminary. I was a seminarian in the early 70’s at Holy Trinity in Dallas. He was amazing. He was as good live as he is on the air. But I noticed how short he was. He was a short man but you know he made up for it in stature with his ability to speak and his ability to really speak to the heart.
Patti: Jesus’ name is above every name. So if you name an infirmity, Jesus is above that infirmity. It is one of the ways to pray for healing, to submit every infirmity; Jesus is Lord over every problem. Live the faith and believe that Jesus is Lord. We look at Luke 13 in the 3rd Week of Lent. It is the story about not cutting down a fig tree, getting the second chance, fertilizing it; and the challenge to show fruit or perish. We are called to do more than just accept that Jesus is Lord, we’re also called to step out and live our life with Jesus as Lord and to share that faith with others. When you believe something, it becomes a part of who you are, your belief system.
Monsignor: We are meant to be fruit bearing trees. Healthy trees will bear fruit every year, if we don’t bear fruit it is our choice not to bear fruit. If we go to hell it’s because we’ve chosen it; it is our choice. If you’re in the Spirit you are going to bear fruit. If your roots are sunk into the Lord, if you are in his ground, you are going to have the fertilizer you need; he is going to give you the grace. We separate ourselves; we pull our roots out of the ground, out of God’s Spirit and go off on our own. In Luke in the third week of Lent, the fig tree is given another chance; we’re always given a chance like the prodigal son and the woman caught in adultery. It is like these three passages are about being giving another chance. Lent is a time for us to look at our own sinfulness, our own prodigality and running away from God. It is also time to realize God is merciful, and that it is possible to return. It is meant to be a time of hope, too.
Patti: Right, Monsignor. Like the 2nd Week of Lent’s reading from Genesis where we have the covenant with Abraham. It is ad infinitum. It is forever. We can draw on that.
Monsignor: The covenant does not end when you or I do not fulfill it. God always keeps his end of the bargain. He will not back down from it; therefore he is going to be waiting for us whenever we change our minds. There is no statute of limitations on his mercy.
Patti: Every light in the house is on!
Monsignor: The lights will be on, even if we don’t choose to come back, they will be on.
Patti: He will be there to take us back. Thank you for being with me today, Monsignor LeSieur. Will you give us a blessing?
Monsignor David: [blessing]
Patti: Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references[xix] in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website PatriarchMinistries.com
REFERENCES AND LITURGICAL READINGS
Original Broadcast Information Including Journal Notes.[xx]
[i] Luke 4: 1 Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert 2 for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry.
[ii] Luke 4: 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
[iii] Luke 9: 29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
[iv] Luke’s Gospel Chapter 9: prediction of passion & transfiguration Luke 9:28b-36
[v] Ephesians 6: “11 Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. “
[vi] Psalm 91 quoted by devil to Jesus at Temptation Luke 4
[vii] Books by Thomas Greene, S.J.: Weeds Among the Wheat, Darkness in the Marketplace, When the Well Runs Dry
[viii] The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius; Translated by Pierre Wolff
[ix] 2 Corinthians 11: 14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
[x] James 4: “7 So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
[xi] Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Prodigal Son
[xii] John 8:1-11 woman of adultery
[xiii] 2 Corinthians 5:17-21made sin who knew no sin
[xiv] Open Your Heart bronze statue of Jesus by Timothy P. Schmalz
[xv] CCC1428 “Christ’s call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church…”
[xvi] Acts 8:26-39 Philips visit to Ethiopian Eunuch
[xvii] Isaiah 43:16-21 reminder of destruction at parting of red sea “see, I am doing something new”
[xviii] Romans 10:8-13 “Jesus is Lord”
[xix] Liturgical readings
Please note that Scrutiny Sundays use the readings from Year A. For more about those liturgies see Season of Hope and Season of Salvation.
Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:12-18 return to the Lord with fasting weeping, and mourning; Lord is slow to anger; proclaim a fast
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 we are ambassadors; him to be sin who did not know sin; now is a very acceptable time
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-19 Actions from the heart-not for show. Recompense, repayment of hidden
1st Sunday of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:4-10 Israel’s oppression in Egypt, “first fruits”
Romans 10:8-13 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord” “you will be saved”
Luke 4:1-13 Jesus tempted by the devil after fast
2nd Sunday of Lent
Genesis 15:5-12,17-18 covenant of Abraham: numerous descendants
Philippians 3:17-4:1 “be imitators of me”
Luke 9:28b-36 transfiguration
3rd Sunday of Lent [For scrutiny: see Year A]
Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15 burning bush, “lead them out” I AM
1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12 drank from spiritual rock “rock was Christ”
Luke 13:1-9 repent; not cut down the tree, 2nd chance with fertilizer
4th Sunday of Lent [For scrutiny: see Year A]
Joshua 5:9a, 10-12 1st Passover, Promised Land, end of manna
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 in Christ a new creation, “ambassadors for Christ”
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Prodigal son
Fifth Sunday of Lent [For scrutiny: see Year A]
Isaiah 43:16-21 “see, I am doing something new” “rivers in the wasteland”
Philippians 3:8-14 “continue my pursuit toward the goal”
John 8:1-11 woman caught in adultery “sin no more”
[xx] Original Broadcast Information Including Journal Notes
Preliminary Transcript recorded 1/16/2007
Final transcript recorded 1/22/2007
Original broadcast March 2007
OTL Journal Notes Outline 1-13-2007
- Introduce yourselves
- Fresh beginnings sometimes call for drastic measures
- Example of 40 day fast
- Transfiguration
- New job, new school, new location
- Grace is always available
- Resist the devil and he will flee
- RepentanceAdmit need for changeSorrowPlan to change
- Welcoming back by the Father—like the Prodigal Son story
- Small story of life experience: Conversion of heart
- God can bring good from bad
- Stepping out
- Takes conversion
- Boldness comes with Spirit
- Ask for Spirit
- Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
- Live the faith; believe Jesus is Lord
