Sin is a loaded word. For those outside the faith, it’s a funny and dated religious term. For Christians, we repeat it so often that it loses its bite. Scripture reveals that sin is worse than we know. Jesus is so serious about it that he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” What is it about sin that’s so fatal it would require Jesus to go to the cross?
This Lent we do a soul examination, studying all the ways God describes the complex of sin. Lawlessness, adultery, rebellion . . . The cancerous nature of sin means that we need to go deeper than surface confession. The problem is worse than we know, which makes our Savior greater than we can imagine.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, stay with me. There is evil all around me. I am so often attentive to it. It is beautiful sometimes, and sensible, and practical, and friendly – or so it seems. Lord Jesus Christ, stay with me. Amen. (from The Lutheran Book of Prayer, CPH, 1970)
Word
Hosea 1:1-2; 2:14-20; 3:1
The Lord spoke His word to Hosea son of Beeri. This was during the time that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. During part of this time Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
The Lord said to him, “Go, and marry a woman who will be unfaithful to you. She will give you children whose fathers are other men. Do this because people in this country have acted like an unfaithful wife toward the Lord.”
“So I am going to attract her.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
Then I will give her back her vineyards.
And I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
Then she will respond as when she was young,
as when she came out of Egypt.
The Lord says, “Then she will call me ‘my husband.’
She will no longer call me ‘my baal.’
I will never let her say the names of Baal again.
Then people won’t use their names anymore.
At that time I will make an agreement for them.
It will be with the wild animals, the birds and the crawling things.
I will remove from the land
the bow and the sword and the weapons of war.
Then my people will live in safety.
And I will make you my promised bride forever.
I will be good and fair.
I will show you my love and mercy.
I will be true to you as my promised bride.
Then you will accept that I am the Lord.
The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again. She has had other lovers and has been unfaithful to you. But you must keep on loving her the way the Lord loves the people of Israel. This is true even though the Israelites worship other gods.
Sending
In the face of evil, the Almighty God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – bless us now and forever. Amen.