The First Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2025

The First Sunday in Lent focuses on themes ranging from temptation, generosity,
interdependence, and sacrifice, to divine protection of the faithful. While most preachers will
appropriately focus on the Temptations of Jesus, each of the scriptures informs the others
ethically and spiritually. An interdependent and generous universe invites us to be generous and
seek integrity in our domestic and personal lives.
In a scripture erased by US slave-owners, Christian nationalists, and oligarchs, then and now, the
Exodus passage highlights the liberation of the Habiru (Hebrew) people from their Egyptian
taskmasters and the challenge for liberated people to embody generosity as a sign of gratitude to
the Liberating God. We live in an intricately interdependent universe. None of us got to our
place of privilege on our own. We stand on the shoulders of others, including our “good
ancestors,” and the providence of God. Saying “thank you,” is not enough. Sharing our “first
fruits” is the appropriate spiritual and moral response. Generosity, first; self-interest in the
background.
Needless to say, this passage goes against the grain of the USA materialist and consumerist
society and the individualism prized in daily life and the polling place. No person or nation is an
island, sufficient unto itself. Nor is anyone fully responsible for their current prosperity and
privilege. Our response to God’s generosity is to be generous to God, not in a transactional way
to earn God’s favor, but in a joyful affirmation of the interdependence of life. Mother (Saint)
Teresa counsels, “Do something beautiful for God,” and in generosity to our neighbor, stranger,
or resident alien, we present God with a beautiful rather than ugly universe. In these times in
which national leaders embody individualistic greed, the church must reflect on its vocation of
generosity, especially to those most harmed by our nation’s domestic and international policies.
Psalm 91 speaks of God’s providential protection in words that seem unbelievable today. The
world has always been a precarious place, beautiful and tragic simultaneously, but many of us
have trouble believing the affirmation, “no evil will befall you” in a time when our leaders have
abandoned all reason and replaced the power of love with the love of power, in particular many
of our Christian kin, who have abandoned the poor and vulnerable, shout invectives against
immigrants, and privilege profit over the planet. Many of us feel threatened and at risk from our
own government, despite our faithfulness to God and country. Still, despite the threats to our
well-being and the soul of the nation, God is present in the world as the source of possibility and
the energy to live out our vocation. Gods’ amipotent love, to use the language of Thomas Jay
Oord, cannot control the world, or defeat the powers of evil. It can give us inspiration and
courage to work, against all odds, for justice and healing. Perhaps, that is enough. To know that
God is with us, inspiring and sustaining us for the long haul. In the awareness of God’s
providential care, we may summon the courage to respond to the “powers and principalities” of
our time.

“Everyone who calls on the name of God will be saved.” As universalists, we assume that God
loves us and there’s nothing we can do about it. As one of my preaching teachers, Ernie
Campbell asserted, “There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those are in God’s hands
and know it and those who are in God’s hands and don’t.” The point of the gospel is to let
everyone know that they are in God’s hands, loved beyond our imagination, and that nothing can
separate us from that love, and then out of that knowledge reach out to the stranger and
vulnerable in acts of lovingkindness. That applies to all people, and God’s love for everyone
challenges us to love across every barrier. Salvation is never private but social in nature,
embracing all creation and calling us to love the undocumented resident as well as the MAGA
crusader.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus sojourns to the wilderness for a retreat to test his spiritual integrity.
Fresh from the descent of the Spirit and the experience of his unique vocation, Jesus needs to
ground his mysticism in morality and integrity. In solitude, Jesus confronts the voices of the
demonic, the temptations to put our vision ahead of God’s and focus entirely on our self-
aggrandizement and self-interest rather than the greater good of our neighbors and the planet.
Temptation is seldom about things we perceive to be repulsive and worthless. We are typically
tempted by good things that get in the way of our relationship to God and our vocation as God’s
Beloved Children. There is nothing wrong with a good meal, security, and power rightly used.
But, when we focus on these rather than God’s vision for our lives and the world, we succumb to
self-interested, and eventually dangerous, individualism, even if we think we are doing the right
thing. On the national scene, government accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness is
necessary. Yet, seeking those for ideological reasons, to punish government workers and
vulnerable people without the spirit of empathy destroys our souls and the soul of the nation.
Without value shaming, the preacher can point the congregation, including the preacher
themselves, to the misplaced values of American life. We are a nation whose power and
prosperity are built upon privileging temptation. Jesus’ three temptations and the traditional
seven deadly sins are touted as part of a good life and essential for the economy. Politicians
focus on greed, security, and comfort without regard to the environment, economic justice, or
moral consideration to the least of these. We are all “standin’ in the need of prayer,” as the
African American Spiritual confesses. We all need to turn from the voices of temptation and
individualism and make ourselves to the virtues of simplicity and interdependence so that we
might experience God’s dream for us in this time and place, the “best for the impasse” in our
solidarity with all creation in its wondrous diversity and with our human and non-human kin. In
so doing, our “first fruits” nurture our neighbors and participate in healing the world.

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Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United
Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD (https://www.westmorelanducc.org/) and a professor in
theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 80 books including: “Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of Our Nation through the
Healing Wisdom of America’s Mystics” (Amazon.com: Homegrown Mystics: Restoring
Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America's Visionaries: 9781625249142: Epperly,
Bruce: Books) “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet “(Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and
Prophet: Epperly, Bruce: 9781625248732: Amazon.com: Books), Saving Progressive
Christianity to Save the Planet”( Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet:
Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999215: Amazon.com: Books), and his most recent book,
“God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality and
Social Change.” (The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology,
Spirituality, and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com:
Books The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality,
and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books)