The vote of whether or not to sell the parsonage along with the vote of whether or not to continue the course of gleaning more information for a future building project comes today. From this pulpit's point of view, something more momentous greets today as this is the first Sunday of Lent. With these events coupled on one single Sunday, no one can deny that today truly is a day of significance in the life of this 210-year-old church, this 210-year-old home we love so dearly. And we love this home so dearly because, though just mortar and white-painted wood, though just plaster and beams, this house on this hill has enabled us to love God and to understand God more. Yes, with this vote aligning and uniting with what can be a Lent like no other this church has experienced—a Lent where we will RALLY ourselves to singularly RELY on God—there is no denying that whatever happens by the close of this service that this is a day—no, this will be a dawn—of new beginnings.

Let that dawn begin! Let that awakening your heart has longed to feel come to fruition! Realize you cannot live by bread alone and allow your life to be lead by the Spirit, the all-loving Spirit that welcomes not captivity but creativity, not grumblings but gratitude—true gratitude—for our God who was present to Jesus in his challenging times and is present to us in our challenging times.

The tempter did what he could with Jesus. He does what he can with us, too. This slippery, evasive character doesn't challenge us by turning cold stone to bread; he challenges us by keeping our hearts cold instead of warm and nourishing like bread. He doesn't entice us with the kingdoms of the world, he teaches us to worship the material world. He doesn't raise us to some high point of a temple; he tells us the high numbers in our bank accounts should stay where they are instead of being used to promote the word and the way.

Jesus was tempted yet triumphed. We are tempted to follow our own whims and desires. We are tempted to speak from our own positions rather than from the place where God would have us speak, and where God will have us speak—if we let Him—is not from a place of self-centeredness, it is not from a place where we selfishly serve our own interests; no, God will have us speak from a place where, like Jesus did during those three separate trials we just heard about, we know our Father's love.

Jesus was tempted yet triumphed because he knew his Father's love. We know our Father's love, or we can if we take Lent seriously, if we, as I preached Wednesday, don't talk with our mouths full but open to the Spirit. Here's the gist of today's message. Temptations stood in Jesus' way. Temptations stand in ours.

These temptations are a challenge we can handle because we are equipped with God's teachings, just as Jesus was. Look to verse eight in your scripture sheets. In the verse before that, the devil tempts Jesus to worship him. Here's how Jesus responds. Read with me that single verse with me now. Jesus answered, "It is written: Worship the Lord Your God and serve him only.

 Here Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy. Timeless as Christ is, he is also speaking directly to us today. Jesus is saying worship the Lord our God and serve only him.

We are tempted to serve our own whims. We are tempted to make our excuses, and we can be as sneaky at it as the devil himself.

But it's not about us. Jesus makes that clear today. It's about serving him.

As we move closer to the time where our votes will be tallied, as we come closer to once again exercising the authority instilled upon us by our own constitution whereby we, like any United Church of Christ community, have the say in our decision-making, let's get back to basics. Before we can get to serving God, let's turn to what we know, and what we know—unequivocally—is what brought us all here in the first place, and what brought us here in the first place is this covenantal (or two-fold) relationship: God loves us and we love God.

That's our first sermon point this morning. I encourage everyone to use our sermon notes because what may sound obvious needs to be stated, addressed, and acted upon not just today but through Lent and beyond. Here is point one again. God loves us and we love God.

As I shared last Sunday, love is not a feeling. Love is an action. Love isn't the Valentine card packet you bought at 50 or 75 percent off this week, love is action.

In this action, we just may bump into ourselves. We just may have differences of opinion. What am I talking about? We may have differences of opinion! Of course, we have differences of opinion. We will not agree on everything save this one unifying truth: that God loves us and we love God. That one truth is the cornerstone on which all things—both old and new—can be built.

We are different people. Our new members and our confirmation class will tell you these differences—these places where our viewpoints do not wholeheartedly align—are the work of the Holy Spirit in and among us. And the Holy Spirit (in and among us) works because of this fundamental truth that needs to be shared today: God loves us, and we love God.

We are in this scripture, folks. It's not about Jesus facing Satan—though it was a human experience for the Son of God—this scripture is about us facing Satan, and take this home with you. To move from temptations to triumph as Jesus did, love God. But do more than just love. Listen in your love. React in your love. Act in your love. Commit in your love. Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.

Defenses may be prickling along your neck, or they may surface in someone near you. Some may think to serve only him is foolish. To serve only him means I lose myself. To serve only him means I lose my identity. To serve only him means I become a doormat or an open door, an open door where anyone can take from me.

But the reverse happens. When you love God, you don't lose yourself, you find yourself. When you love God—and I mean love God with action—you don't wind up empty, you wind up full.

Here's a truth. When we love God back, when we serve only him, the death or decay inside us disappears. And there's been death and decay in each of us, and in this church.

But see, God's a builder. God's a user in the best possible sense and God does not use dead wood, but living branches. That's our second sermon point this morning. Again, our first is God loves us and we love God and our second is, God does not seek dead wood, but living branches.

Imagine for a moment that this church is one of thousands of trees in a forest. This forest is easy for all of us to imagine, as all of us Harford and Lenox Township natives.

Now, in this stand of woods, there are, of course, many trees of varying ages. Some are new shoots, just whippets in the wind. Others, of course, are majestic. Space for growth has been made around them and they tower in fortitude toward the heavens. Not only has space been cleared around them by natural selection, but they also grow so well because anything old or dead has been cut out, or, as we know from photosynthesis, has dropped out from lack of light.

You know exactly where I'm going with this analogy of the tree, don't you?

In this woods, a new family of birds arrives. Hey, it's late February now. Spring is coming. They are looking for a place to continue their lives in the glory of God. What tree will they choose? A little snippet, a stick, one so rotted and dead because it didn't see the light of God, or one that made some cuts and some sacrifices and decided—hell and high water—flood and fire—that it would keep going and keep growing?

We are going to lose dead wood here. As one of many diehard advocates from growth here, that thrills me. That dead wood may be a part of who you are today, but through prayers, conversations and abundant drive that can change. I've heard from you that this church, this tree, this wonderful, living place that has been stifled for too long is going to sink its roots further into the kingdom, stretch its life further to the Son, Jesus Christ, and as God has brought us to this moment, we will grow, grow, grow!

Point one. God loves us and we love God. Fact. Point two. God does not seek dead wood but living branches. Here's another fact. Life and living can be tough. Prudence would tell us that. And she, God love her as God loves you, would also say the following. It is what she knew and what she did, and we honor her with point three today. Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.

You cannot serve your own agenda.  You cannot serve your own fear. You cannot serve the devil who wants you to all sorts of things that will distance you from the Kingdom of God. We know today that the devil tried to get Jesus. He will try to get us. In fact, face it, he has had us. An email I received late this week sums it up for all of us. There's a force that has kept me from this church, this writer writes. That force has a name. That force has used all sorts of arguments in all of our heads.

There is a devil. Theologically, we need to move past the red-suited guy with a pitch fork and name the real threat that will keep this tree, this church, from light.

And in the face of the devil, we can use what Jesus used: scripture. And scripture liberates. Scripture motivates. Scripture invigorates. Scripture demonstrates that in the face of adversity—in our struggles with doubt or the devil—we can worship the Lord our God because He loves us and we love Him. And that love will enable everyone one of us to drop away dead wood so that we can worship the Lord and serve only Him.

We've been tempted in that we've been swayed from doing what God would have us do, and that's to expand his kingdom. But on this first Sunday in Lent and in this vote, act on and with our love for God, and triumph comes not for ourselves, but for our God.