February 22, 2026
Lent 1A
Matthew 4:1-11 "Led by the Spirit…Backed by the Word"

Call to Worship
Leader:	Then the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. 
Assembly:	Come, beloveds, into the wilderness 
of our heartbreaking and troubled days. 
Leader:	In the midst of our hunger for comfort, 
		provoked by lies of scarcity,
Assembly: 	this Lent journey promises bread and abundance. 
Leader:	In the midst of our longing for safety,
		enticed by promises of security,
Assembly:	this Lent journey promises angels and costly solidarity.
Leader:	In the midst of our clinging to power,
		lured by the ease of complicity, 
Assembly: 	this Lent journey promises prayer and turning around. 
Leader:	The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.
Assembly:	Come, beloveds, to worship,
venturing deeper and deeper into the wilderness
		of our broken and beautiful world.  

Invocation
In the wilderness and the wandering and the weariness, lead us, Holy Spirit. 
In the hungering and the holding and the humbling, accompany us, Holy Spirit. 
In the tempting and the testing and the turning, move us, Holy Spirit. 
In the resisting and the refusing and the recognizing, guide us, Holy Spirit. 
Ground in us, as we ground in you.  
Breathe with us, as we breathe with you. 
Turn with us, as we turn toward you.  
As the new way emerges, we pray.  Amen.   

Seeking Transformation and New Life
∙	Call to Turning Around
Leader: 	Our worship today invites us to dwell with the story of Jesus’ 40-day journey in the wilderness struggling with demons, one of the origin stories for the Christian season of Lent.  In this story, the tempter or the devil uses scripture to try and provoke Jesus into going against his calling to embody radical love.  Throughout history, many have used Christian sacred texts to justify and provoke unChristian actions, from the genocide of Indigenous peoples and the enslaving of people of African descent, to the oppression of queer and trans folks and the demonizing of immigrants and refugees. So in this moment, as we week transformation and new life, as we practice repentance or turning around, let us nurture accountability for the ways we and others have used our scriptures for unloving and unjust ends. 

∙	Time of silent reflection
○	[As a way to embody this moment of reflection, you might invite people to hold a bible in their hands as they reflect and pray together, especially if there are pew bibles nearby and accessible].
○	[If you wanted to foster deeper engagement, instead of silent reflection, you could invite folks to turn to their neighbor and share a story of a time when they have used Christian scripture in unChristian ways, or had it used against them].

∙	Prayer for Transformation and New Life
Leader:	For the ways our faith has told 
unChristian stories of Christian nationalism,
		and the ways they shapes us,  
Assembly:	God, have mercy. 
Leader:	For the ways our scriptures have told
unjust stories of white supremacy, 
		and the ways we perpetuate them,  
Assembly:	Christ, have mercy. 
Leader:	For the ways our traditions have told 
unloving stories of transphobia and stranger-fear, 
and the ways we have embodied them, 
	Assembly:	God, have mercy.
	Leader:	Compel us to learn and tell the truths of our Christian lineages. 
	Assembly:	Turn us around, Holy One. Amen. 

∙	Words of Grace
Leader:	Let your soul receive this rest*: 
God’s story of love surpasses even the most powerful human distortions.
Assembly:	Praise God who forgives us and frees us
continually inviting us to take up our role
in the unfolding story of redemption and new life.  

Re-storying Our Faith: Embracing the Lenten Journey 
The origin story of the season of Lent from the gospel of Matthew invites us to imagine a Lent journey that includes recognizing the way our Christian sacred scripture and stories have been used to perpetuate injustice and the ways those misuses continue to shape and impact us.  How might we, like Jesus, re-story our faith with new interpretations and understandings of scripture rooted in liberation and flourishing for all? This worship element invites participants to set intentions for their Lent journey of wrestling with and releasing harmful Christian narratives and receiving and embracing stories and scripture in new ways. 

Somatic Spiritual Practice
Consider a harmful story that Christian scripture and tradition has been used to support and that you want to wrestle with, turn from, and release this Lent. 

Now consider a different story that Christian scripture and tradition could offer you for this season. 

Remaining seated or standing: With left foot forward, palms curved softly downward, push your hands outward in a gentle arc.  As you do, imagine releasing the harmful Christian story you want to wrestle with this Lent.  

Then turn palms upward and draw them back towards the chest, breathing in a lifegiving Christian story you want to embody this Lent. 

Repeat with right foot forward. 
Breathe out your intention to release harmful stories. 
Breathe in your intention to embody lifegiving stories.

Ritual Practice
[Materials needed: large and medium sized bowls, salt, water]

Set up at least one station with a large bowl with water in it.  Place a pile of salt next to it (any kind of salt will work, but flake salt make the ritual especially expressive). Make sure you also have a smaller bowl of water and a small bowl of salt that a worship attendant can take around to those who may not be able to or want to leave their seats.  

Consider a harmful story that Christian scripture and tradition has been used to support and that you want to wrestle with, turn from, and release this Lent. 

Now consider a different story that Christian scripture and tradition could offer you for this season. 

When you are ready, come to the water.  Take some salt and hold it in your hand as you remember your intention to release the harmful Christian story you want to wrestle with this Lent. Then drop the salt into the water and watch it dissolve.  

Then remember your intention to embody a more lifegiving Christian story this Lent. Dip your fingers into the water use it to anoint your head, hands, or feet in the shape of a cross or other meaningful symbol as an expression of commitment to this Lenten journey.  

	Blessing Prayer for Re-storying Our Faith and Embracing the Lenten Journey
Assembly:	Holy One, Word-Made-Flesh, bless these Lent journey intentions. Give us the courage to reckon with ways the stories we love to tell have been used to harm. Reveal to us the life-giving ways your voice still speaks to us from our sacred texts and all creation.  Re-story us, Story-teller of Creation, with love and justice, in this season and every season.  Lead us by your Spirit to turn away from the temptations of despair, complicity, and apathy and toward the pathways of collective liberation.  Amen. 

Invitation to Generosity
Leader:	The season of Lent invites us to take stock of and deepen our spiritual practices.  How might God be inviting you to deepen your spiritual practice of generosity in this season?  Let us offer whatever gifts we have to resist the tempter’s lies of scarcity and turn toward abundant life and flourishing for all.  

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Leader:	Jesus resisted the tempter’s lies of scarcity by remembering 
we do not live by bread alone, 
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 
What are some of these nourishing words 
to which we can dedicate our offerings?
[invite and leave space for the congregation to say words out loud] 

Leader:	To these sacred stories, this holy work, these blessed words, 
		we dedicate ourselves and our offerings.  Amen. 

Benediction
Leader:	In the midst of our hunger for comfort, 
provoked by lies of scarcity,
may this Lent journey bless us with bread and abundance. 
In the midst of our longing for safety,
enticed by promises of security,
may this Lent journey bless us with angels and costly solidarity.
In the midst of our clinging to power,
lured by the ease of complicity, 
may this Lent journey bless us with prayer and turning around. Amen. 

* I am grateful to Cole Arthur Riley for teaching me this phrasing for expressions of forgiveness which she uses often in her book, Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human. 

Theme: Service Prayers for the Lent 1A was written by Dr. Sharon R. Fennema who serves as a free-range facilitator, ritualist, activist, teacher, and writer whose work lives at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and embodied spiritual practices. She is a founding member of the Liberating Lineages Collective.