In Your Presence Lenten Series Week 2

Welcome to Pocketful of Grace, a podcast of Grace Lutheran Church as we begin our Lenten podcast, “In Your Presence” which comes to us from Psalm 51. We say that in Lent we journey to return to God. Our returning is a lifelong ebb and flow in faith. As we travel, do we pause to remember that we are in God’s presence? Can we linger to receive the closeness of God’s love and mercy? In God’s presence we are renewed and empowered to walk with Jesus for our own wholeness and for the sake of God’s world. 

This podcast will work as a worship companion to the Year A gospels, our “All In” devotion and our Midweek worship series on trust. Each week we will offer breath prayer, Scripture, music and reflection to support your awareness of God’s presence, almost like a mini worship break whenever you listen.  

This week's music: "I Want Jesus to Walk With Me"  Judy Nishimura © 2020 ALRY Publications LLC, United Music & Media Publishers, www.alrypublications.org.  Recorded in February 2022 for Grace Lutheran Church in State College, PA and used with permission from ALRY.

Prayers Reprinted by permission of Westminster John Knox Press from Feasting on the Word® Worship Companion. Copyright 2012. 

To learn more about our ministries at Grace Lutheran Church, visit glcpa.org. 

Transcript

Week 2: Welcome to Pocketful of Grace, a podcast of Grace Lutheran Church. Our Lenten podcast, “In Your Presence” comes to us from Psalm 51. In Lent we journey to return to God. It’s a lifelong ebb and flow in faith. As we travel, do we pause to remember that we are in God’s presence? Can we linger to receive the closeness of God’s love and mercy? God’s presence renews and empowers our walk with Jesus for our own wholeness and for the sake of God’s world. This podcast accompanies worship, our “All In” devotion and our Midweek worship series on trust, supporting your awareness of God’s presence, almost like a mini worship break.  For now, we enter a space for prayer. Breathing in we say: Jesus, I need you. Breathing out, we say: Walk with me. Let’s do that three times. 

This week we journey with Jesus in the words of Matthew 4:1-11: 

1 Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

We hear Jesus share three ways God meets us when we feel alone, overwhelmed or tested. Living by the Word of God (study); seeking reconciliation with God and others (not putting God to the test) and worship. Does one of these seem to be drawing you near to Jesus this Lent? 

Music for reflection

Prayer: O Lord may the words of your mouth be our daily bread and may the leading of your Spirit become our way. We pray for all who are hungry- whether for power and glory or for a simple meal.  We pray whether we are tested by tempestuous change or tempted by the safety of the status quo. We pray for leaders in high places, whether they seem determined to help those who suffer or are distant from the cries of the oppressed. Open their eyes to see your saving power at work. Open their ears to hear your prophets’ calls for justice. 

Music for Reflection

Give us peace when anger and fear threaten to divide us and challenge us when we are too comfortable with this world. Instruct us in the way we should go and let your steadfast love surround us always in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

As we breathe in, we say: Jesus, I need you. As we breathe out, we exhale saying: Walk with me. Let’s do that three times. 

OUTRO:  Our Wednesday Mid-Week Lenten worship is at 12:15 or 6:15 pm in person.