<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place><st1:PlaceName><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Peace</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceName><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Lutheran</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceType><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Church</SPAN></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place><st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Las Cruces</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">, </SPAN><st1:State><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">NM</SPAN></st1:State></st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:date Month="2" Day="29"
Year="2004"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">February 29,
2004</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">First Sunday in Lent<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Pastor Steve Loy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Text: Luke 4:1-13<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">When Brook Stockberger from the Sun News called on
Tuesday he told me he was doing an article on Ash Wednesday and Lent and he
wanted some quotes to include.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
asked what Lent meant to me.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At
that point I hadn’t given Lent much thought.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>After all, it was still a full day away,
and suddenly there was this pressure for a quotable quote.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Somehow I stumbled into some clarity,
“Lent is following the way of cross and in that sense it is very counter
cultural.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The culture teaches self
promotion, accumulation and achievement. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lent teaches deprivation, sacrifice and
humility.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I don’t expect Lent to be
very popular.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">On
</SPAN><st1:date Month="3" Day="24" Year="1996"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">March 24, 1996</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">, Leon Wieseltier’s father died.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wieseltier was 44 years old, the
literary editor of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The New Republic</I> a
leading political journal on the east coast.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wieseltier had left the Jewish faith
years early, but when his father died he decided to do follow the Jewish law
that calls for sons to mourn their father’s passing for a year.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He writes, “In the year that followed, I
said the prayer known as the mourner’s kaddish three times daily during the
morning service, the afternoon service and the evening service in Washington
and, when I was away from home, in synagogues elsewhere.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Oddly enough the mourners Kaddish is not
about grief or pain or loss it is about praise.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“May God’s great name be blessed always
and forever.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Blessed and praised
and glorified and raised and exalted and honored and uplifted and lauded be the
name of the Holy One.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Three times
a day Wieseltier prayed the prayer.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I
have been reading through a little book by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson called
“Metaphors We Live By.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They
suggest that we have little capacity to think apart from language.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their proposal is radical because if
they are correct than language is not just a means of communication, it is the
only means we have to formulate thought.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They go on to say that metaphors play a significant role in the thought
process.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Let me give you an
example.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Metaphorically speaking,
health and life are up, sickness and death are down.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We say, “He’s at the peak of
health.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Lazarus rose from the
dead.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“She’s in top shape.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are all “up” images.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On the other hand: “He fell ill.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“His health is declining.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“She came down with a cold.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Up is a positive metaphor and down is a
negative metaphor.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Every culture has metaphors that shape their citizens
thinking.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Some of the major
metaphors in our culture are “Bigger is better.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From that metaphor we are regularly
asked the question, “Would you like to super size that?”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The large drinks at Pic Quick and
advertisements that suggest you are getting 25% more for the same price are all
based on the metaphor that bigger is better, especially if it is cheap.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Another metaphor in our culture is
“Might makes right.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Force and
power take a variety of forms, but its clear that the winner gets to set the
agenda and the loser has to live with the consequences.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From military to sports, corporate
</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> to politics – might makes right.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There are dozens of these metaphors that
are a part of the subconscious belief system in our
culture.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">But, when we come to church the Bible readings, the
hymns, the sermon offer a different set of metaphors.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The faith metaphors are often at odds
with the cultural metaphors.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
challenge for us as people of faith is that the cultural metaphors are
everywhere, on the television, in grocery stores, shopping malls, in magazines,
on billboards and in novels.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For us
to believe the metaphors of faith we have to see the metaphors that dominate our
culture as choices rather than as givens and allow the metaphors of faith to
precedent in our lives, even when they are less popular.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It isn’t an easy task because
corporations, marketing firms and the government depend on us accepting without
question the metaphors that benefit them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They need us to accept their metaphors as our own for them to be able to
make money off us and support their agenda.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For decades the church has supported
many of cultural metaphors because it was to our advantage to be viewed as a
part of the mainstream culture.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But
what we have to recognize is that the dominant metaphors of our culture are not
the dominant metaphors of the biblical witness.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Today’s gospel reading is a wonderful example of
competing metaphors.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, the devil is lying in
wait to tempt him.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The
devil asks would like to super size that order of bread, after all bigger is
better. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jesus says, No thank you, I
will be eating only the word of God today.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The
devil offers Jesus advancement, power, a big fat raise if only he will put in
more hours, and give his whole life for the sake of the company.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jesus says, I will be needing time for
worship and prayer.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The
devil challenges Jesus to prove his ability.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You say you are so good.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Prove it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jesus says, my sense of purpose and
worth is in my relationship with God, not in looking good to
you.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The
cosmic battle of good and evil takes up residence in our lives as the metaphors
of the culture, do battle with the metaphors of faith.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And we have to decide which we will
follow.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Wieseltier soon discovered that praying the mourner’s
prayer three times a day was changing him.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>He writes, “It was not long before I understood that I would not succeed
in insulating the rest of my existence from the impact of this obscure and
arduous practice.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The symbols were
seeping into everything.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
metaphors that dominated his life as a political writer were being supplanted by
the metaphors of faith.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A season of
sorrow was transformed into a season of soul-renovation.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">When we allow the metaphors of our culture to set the
tone in our lives we will inevitably be anxious, cynical, and angry.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Because our culture tells us that we can
never stop, we are never good enough, you can’t trust anyone, and if you don’t
take care of yourself no one else will.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>There is in these metaphors no faith, no hope, no love and no joy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We are steeped in them every moment of
every day.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Only daily devotion to
the God of resurrection can begin to stave off the feelings of hopelessness and
futility with which we are bombarded.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">After a year of reciting the Kaddish, Wieseltier went
with his family to the cemetery for the dedication of his father’s grave.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Friends and family huddled in the
cold.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The rabbi asked him to read a
psalm.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“And he shall be like a
tree, planted by the rivers of water…” he began.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Then the rabbi asked him to read another
psalm.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Instead, he sang the “Lord
is my shepherd.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wieseltier said,
“My song grew, as if to make room within it for all the true and punished people
who gather around it, to shield them with its splendor and to seal them with its
peace.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With the service nearly
over the only thing left to do was to recite once more the Kaddish.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When Jesus was shown all the kingdoms of
the world in an instant, and the devil offered to make them his, it was his
immersion in the metaphors of faith that saved him from peril.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wieseltier’s year of devotion, had taken
hold in his being, the metaphors of faith had changed him and he prayed one last
time, “May God’s great name be blessed always and forever…”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">In
Lent we devote ourselves to a discipline in order that a new dimension of the
faith will take hold in our lives.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Like Jesus’ conversation with Satan, Lent is a battle of metaphors.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Our culture tells us that discipline is
a waste of time, self indulgence is where it’s at.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Don’t take time for prayer or study – be
productive.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Don’t fast – super size
it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Don’t give alms to the poor –
it’s your money, you worked for it, you deserve it and besides that poor people
are lazy, why should we help them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.’”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When the
devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune
time.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">* The account of Wieseltier’s experience is from William
Willimon (Pulpit Resource) and his account of Wieseltier’s 1998 book
“Kaddish.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>