Third Sunday of Lent ~ Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin

One of the primary themes for the third Sunday of Lent is repentance. Repentance involves a recognition of past wrong and a commitment to turning around and going a new direction. When we repent, we express our sorrow for our past sins and a desire to change for the better in the future. This melds perfectly with the lyrics to It's A Sin. The song recognizes that each of us is to blame for our own faults; if we have done wrong, we are the ones in the need of forgiveness. And through our recognition of our faults, we find the courage to seek that forgiveness from those we have wronged. The great news is that even when we try to do good and fail, God still offers us forgiveness. Even when we fail to learn from our mistakes, God's arms are open to welcome us back.

Second Sunday of Lent ~ The Pretenders - I'll Stand by You

The primary theme for the second Sunday of Lent is God's faithfulness. No matter how much we screw up, God keeps welcoming us back. God does not give up on us. While thinking of a song to represent this, I heard this Pretenders song on another CD I had put together years ago. If we put the words of this song into God's mouth, we can begin to get some idea of what Gods' faithfulness really means. It the midst of our pain and doubt, we can remember that God knows exactly what we are going through. In Jesus Christ, God became human and lived a life here on earth. He was born, he grew up, learned a trade, made friends, and dealt with love and loss. I am sure that along the way, Jesus also experienced guilt and shame and sadness. God walks with us, even when we don't know which way to go, and God will walk with us through the darkness (Psalm 23). So remember, when you are feeling overwhelmed, insignificant, and unworthy, God's arms are opened in welcome, and you hear God say, "nothin' you confess, could make me love you less."

First Sunday of Lent ~ Carl Thomas Gladstone - Just a Tempter

One of the themes for the first Sunday of Lent is the temptation of Jesus. The gospel lesson looks at the end of Jesus' forty day fast in the wilderness following his baptism. This was a time of preparation for Jesus to begin the ministry that God had called him to. It is also one of the primary stories that the Church has used to create the forty days of Lent. As his forty day fast comes to an end, Jesus finds himself in the presence of the tempter. The tempter tempts him to feed himself, to test God, and to take power for himself. Jesus is able to resist these temptations. We enter the forty days of Lent seeking to resist our own temptations. As I was thinking of a song to use for this day, I picked Carl Gladstone's "Just a Tempter" because he does such a good job of helping us to see the temptation of Christ in a contemporary setting. What are the temptations we have to deal with everday? I can't fully comprehend what it means to fast for forty days; I don't know what it would mean to be that hungry. But I have been tempted in other ways. By retelling the story in the way he does, Carl helps to make the story of Jesus' temptation real for me.

Ash Wednesday ~ Hoobastank - The Reason

Sometimes, trying to put Jesus in as the subject of a song is more than just a little bit cheesy (or maybe it always is). But in this case, I couldn't think of a better song for Ash Wednesday. The whole point of this song is recognizing our imperfection and the pain we have caused another. For those of us who are Christians, we recognize our imperfection in the face of Jesus and we know the pain that we cause others everyday, whether intentional or not. These others see our imperfections on a daily basis. But it is also through Jesus that we find the strength to change our lives. In Jesus, we are made new. Jesus is "The Reason" that we are able to become better people, for I think that those of us who have tried have recognized our own inability to create lasting change for ourselves. We need a reason, a model, a source of strength. Fortunately, Jesus is there for us. So, as we enter this season of penitence and renewal, I hope that you can hear this song and feel yourself thinking that you, too, have a reason for changing "who [you] used to be, a reason to start over new, ..a reason for all that [you] do."