(the first Sunday, and second sermon, in our Lent series)

“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32-33)

Jesus is not ignorant of the many troubles of the world—but, rather, he sees through the trouble and the pain toward the cosmic realities of the abiding presence of his Father who loves him and the assured victory he has over, and for, the world that he made.

In our Lenten sermon series, we look at Jesus as he deals with trouble in his own life and responds to it in the lives of others in his journey to the cross. How does Jesus speak peace to those who are struggling even as he prepares for the suffering he knows is before him? How might we receive Jesus’ words of peace in the difficulties of our lives, and how might we offer this peace to others who we meet in their suffering?

In this world there are many troubles: Loneliness, cultural expectations, sickness and mental illness, anxiety, deep sorrow – but, in the face of all these, Jesus invites us to take heart. He has overcome the world.

Series runs from March 6 - April 19