Seven Week Lenten Sermon Series:
Jesus as a Template for Transformation
The Evolutionary Journey: The Shift from Ego to Essence
It will begin on the First Sunday of Lent, March 6
and ends on Easter Sunday, on April 17.
“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting;
it has been found difficult and not tried.”
~ Gilbert K. Chesterton
“You have to get out of the damn boat,
if you want to walk on water and follow Jesus.”
~ AR Pointer
Transform people transform others. This Seven Week Lenten Sermon Series is an invitation to follow the Way of Jesus Christ that will transform us. We will be exploring together the life and teachings of Jesus as a template for transformation, both personally and as a society. Jesus laid out for us the template for transformation in Mark 8:34-37:
“34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?” (NRSV)
Jesus cannot be understood apart from his crucifixion, but neither can discipleship. Without the cross, there is no Resurrection. Without Good Friday, there is no Easter. Following Jesus is thus fundamentally a call to die to imposter self and born anew to your true self in Christ. “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
We will also examine the various writings of Paul, Peter, and the apostles that support and illumine what Jesus has laid out for us for Transformation. At the end is the promise of Christ of risen life of love and freedom.
