Reading the texts, prayers, and hymn lyrics with an ear and eye to what’s subversive, especially where it impacts gender norms and racial/class-based expectations, is a good starting point for lifting up parallels for today’s justice issues. Consider how the perspective of someone who has been racially profiled, belittled for their gender expression, or treated like an inconvenient untouchable for having a disability, might impact the interpretation of a text, a parable, a prayer. If you have not had the experience of being outcast for parts of yourself which are beyond your control, such as your gender, culture, disability, or sexual orientation (which are all reflections of the God who loves you), try to listen with the sense of one who has been pushed to the margins, told they do not belong or are not worthy. Perhaps this angle can provide for you a refreshed experience of Grace which you can share in your preaching and worship leadership. If you can choose when to be vulnerable, that in itself is a place of privilege to be mindful of.

In Lent we are also reclaiming the practice of repentance. Or, as Maya Angelou said, “when you know better, do better.” Many of our congregations do not have the first-hand experience of receiving the impact of racism or homophobia, and few openly address the abelism, ageism, and sexism prevalent in our culture. It can be a fine line to walk in bringing up an awareness of the suffering which impacts us all due to poverty, patriarchy, and race-based cultural assumptions that infiltrate majority-white spaces. We do not aim to shame anyone for not knowing something about someone else’s lived experience, but we do strive to believe someone when they tell us they have been harmed.

For Year C, we are primarily in the Gospel according to Luke, which includes many more women. The liturgical calendar also highlights some variety of justice heroes to learn from. The initial thoughts expressed below are meant to be sparks for your own curiosity, and not a directive for how to preach to your own particular context. You know your people best, though we hope through some of these perspectives we may surprise each other with newfound grace and depth of relationship.

When compiling this resources, I have had the following resources on my mind:

My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem
The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
Black Earth Wisdom, by Leah Penniman
My Body is Not a Prayer Request, by Amy Kenny

I would also recommend the YouTube channel “Crash Course” for various topics on history, literature, and religion, as we consider the ‘long arc of history.’

So, let us begin:

Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2025)

Already there is something to be said about class consciousness when we consider what some might call the ‘dirt on your face.’ Who is allowed to be dirty in public? How do dirty fingernails reflect the kind of work someone does, and impact the way they are or are not taken seriously in conversation when they voice their concerns? People spend extra money for jeans that are torn, but those who do the kind of work which would wear out a pair of jeans that way could rarely afford to buy them pre-torn.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 names a community which includes elders and children - how/do we respect all ages today?

Isaiah 58: 1-12 speaks of the injustice of exploiting workers.

Psalm 51:1-17 is said to have been written by King David after Nathan confronted him for his r*pe of Bathsheba and m*rder of Uriah, her husband. Considering the power differential between a king and his subjects, she was not likely able to turn him down when he made his advances. If you can’t say no, you can’t consent.

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 reflects some of the hardships that Paul went through to bring the Gospel to the early church. How many justice seekers have been criminalized, imprisoned, targeted for their insistence that justice be done? Reflect on American stories like the Freedom Rides of 1961 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Riders), the criminalization of Water Protectors at Standing Rock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline_protests), the k*lling of Tortuguita in Atlanta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tortuguita).

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 could be interpreted as speaking of performative allyship. When we talk about justice and get our pictures taken handing out money to the poor, but do not consider the poor as our neighbors. When we hang a rainbow flag but use slurs against the LGBTQ+ community (because our members are the ‘good ones’). What does it take to put our faith into consistent action, rooted in prayer and reaching beneath the surface appearances to a more sustainable, transformative community life together?

First Sunday in Lent - March 9, 2025

Deuteronomy 26: 1-11 could not be any more obvious about immigrant justice. A great chance to lift up AMMPARO (https://www.elca.org/our-work/relief-and-development/ammparo). It’s also a great connection to the gifts of the land, and how we view our relationship with the land (which also links back to migrant workers, as well as local farmers).

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 - what does ‘the Lord is my refuge’ sound like to a refugee?

Romans 10:8b-13 - and if there is ‘no difference between Jew and Gentile,’ then why do we still let ourselves be divided? Note, it says ‘declare with your mouth’ and ‘believe in your heart,’ not ‘dress this way, speak English, sing this style of music, eat only this food…’

Luke 4:1-13 shows Jesus hungry and isolated. Where’s our breaking point, what might we give away or give up for a little food or comfort? Who might we throw under the bus to avoid discomfort? What are we really hungry for and how do racism, sexism, classism, ableism, patriarchy, capitalism, etc., promise to feed us but ultimately leave us hollow?

Monday, March 10 - Harriet Tubman & Sojourner Truth - also the local New York connection for each of these women. Just don’t use Sojourner’s ‘ain’t I a woman’ speech without noting that was how it was published, but not how she spoke. (see Crash Course video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAe7ETfQ_aA) And if you’ve got an opening to view the 2019 movie “Harriett,” it’s playing on multiple platforms (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4648786/)

Second Sunday in Lent - March 16, 2025

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 is missing a piece of the reading. Some may want to include it and wrestle with those verses which have been taken out. Is the promise any less faithful in times of such trial? Or is it perhaps in such times that we most rely on the faithfulness of that promise and those ancestral roots to remember who we are and where we come from and where we are going? Can majority-white congregations reach back into European ancestry where we knew hunger and violence and terror and learn to heal without passing that on? Have we ever dealt with the torture chambers of our ancestors, let alone the misery of imposed poverty? Where does the good news of God’s covenant meet us when we keep killing each other over land? Do we view “promised” land as inheritance or as betrothal?

Psalm 27 could be the cry of anyone in distress. It is also full of language being misused by those who claim that Evangelical Christians are under attack. How do we lift up the voices of those who are Transgender (maligned), SA survivors (disbelieved), BIPOC (oppressed), and disabled and unable to access aid (suffering), and how do we use worship to build spaces where their stories are heard and believed?

Philippians 3:17-4:1 asks who our role models are today? Who in your community is already doing the justice work? What women, LGBTQIA+ siblings, people of the global majority, can you lift up in your preaching who live as citizens of heaven here on earth?

Luke 13:31-35 shows Jesus using the imagery of a mother hen to describe his love for Jerusalem. A gender-queering perspective. Could the ‘fox’ be considered an ‘alpha male’ in today’s cultural terms? What does this portion do to gender norms? How does the weeping hen triumphing over the fox challenge our ideas of power?

Third Sunday in Lent - March 23, 2025

Isaiah 55:1-9 speaks directly to the thirsty and the poor. A world that feeds people without making them pay for it! If that isn’t a justice issue right there, am I right? What is your community connection to food apartheid (what has been called a ‘food desert’ but is a choice of city planners)?

Psalm 63:1-8 speaks of food and shelter - who has it, and who doesn’t? How do they pray this Psalm, and how do the rest of us pray it for them?

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 can get extremely tricky in this reading, which might be interpreted to say we deserve what we get when it comes to suffering. Don’t shy away from how the church imposes high control to promise people comfort if they live in a very strictly pure way. Would they have thought of temptation on an individual or a communal basis? Does that change the way we read this text? What injustice is bearing the fruits of destruction among us, and how does Jesus provide the way out for all of us?

Luke 13:1-9 can read in a similar way to 1 Corinthians. Without background, without the full history, we might be tempted to think that those who suffer deserve it, to think those who live in ghettos are lazy criminals, rather than understanding they were pushed into those places and stripped of their resources. The whole community stands or falls together.

March 24 - Oscar Romero - According to Wikipedia: In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 March as the "International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims" in recognition of Romero's role in defence of human rights.

Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 30, 2025

Joshua 5:9-12 speaks of the rolling away of the disgrace of Egypt. Could we make a connection between those who were made slaves on a foreign land healing so much they could once again be sustained by crops they grew with the land freely? (https://blackearthwisdom.org/)

Psalm 32 also brings to mind the Zora Neale Hurston quote: “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” There are so many reasons our sin needs to be spoken aloud, from both the oppressors and the oppressed. We need not go along with a status quo which says that we are either more or less than human.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 asks us ‘what is real reconciliation?’ If you are in a Reconciling in Christ context, what did it take for you to get there, and how are you still activating those skills? When it comes to slurs, and the way people are lumped together in categories to be feared or dismissed, how can we make clear the distinction between the way the world uses our differences against us, compared to the way God revels in the variety God makes and celebrates with us?

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 frames this family story with two other illustrations, which are not included in the lectionary. Amy-Jill Levine has spoken and written about interpreting this in light of other scriptural sibling pairings, which I found a refreshing reframing. There is also the elder brother, living like a hired hand in his own home - what does this say about the way our society is structured to drain the joy out of living? How do sexism, classism, and white supremacy so set us against each other that we lose the will to celebrate being alive?

Fifth Sunday in Lent - April 6, 2025

Isaiah 43:16-21 references a defining myth, then admonishes us not to consider the former things, and looks forward to a new thing, which includes other animals within creation in celebration. What have we normalized, what has been ‘the way we’ve always done this’? How much liberation do we need from those former things?

Psalm 126 considers natural waterways as a restoration of fortune. Not rivers full of gold, but of water in the desert. How do we measure a restoration of fortune? When it is within the natural environment, it is not something anyone can own, but something which benefits the entire community and all of creation.

Philippians 3:4b-14 reminds us that Paul had a lot of access to education and other resources, but those are not where he places his hope. What are the riches of the Gospel in our community?

John 12:1-8 (surprise!) the poor are often accused of wastefulness when they invest in beauty. Women are often accused of wastefulness when they invest in acts of love and kindness. Do we allow men to receive love in non-sexual ways?

Palm/Passion Sunday - April 13, 2025

If you’re not already familiar with the song “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, give it a listen. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit)

If you’re not already familiar with the New Jim Crow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Jim_Crow) or James Cone’s “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cross_and_the_Lynching_Tree) or the way that Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera worked the streets to keep kids fed and off the streets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Transvestite_Action_Revolutionaries), we have no shortage of current stories about injustice, scapegoating, rigged juries, and innocents stolen. Our theology tends toward spiritual bypassing when we lean too hard on ‘God needed a sacrifice.’ Jesus wasn’t the only one crucified - Rome thrived on mass terror enforced by these public brutalities. To really know Jesus with us in our pain, we have to own up to the pain in the first place, get dirty, face it head on. This is not the time for skimming the surface to keep the peace.

May your Lenten journey richly bless you with discomfort where you have settled, balm for your wounds, fire where your heart has grown cold, and a deeper connection to the whole of God’s beloved community, ancestors and descendants.