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The wedges driven into life

Commentary
First Sunday in Lent - A
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Psalm 32
As a teenager I split a great deal of firewood. You upend a log of the right length, setting it on the ground or, better, on a tree stump. You take a steel wedge and, with the sledgehammer held in one hand, you tap it carefully into the end grain of the log. Then you step back, and take a full swing. And if you have planned it right, if you have aimed well enough and set the wedge in the end of the log properly, if your eye is good, you hit the wedge with a deep clang of metal on metal, and the two halves of the log go flying apart.
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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started!

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Call to Worship:

The madman cried out to Jesus, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" In our worship today let us explore what Jesus has to do with us and invite him to heal our brokenness.

Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, we often find ourselves thinking, saying and doing things that we quickly regret.
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When Jill was five, she began to have headaches. The headaches were so severe she would throw up. Sometimes she would pass out. They usually came once a month. Jill could be playing, resting, or watching television when the headaches would come. Her only warning was a sudden pain in her head, then a blinding light would appear, and she would be rocked with pain. In her teenage years, they became debilitating, causing Jill to be in bed for three days at a time.
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I'm not sure when the term "burn out" ceased being only a description of what happened to a campfire when you ran out of firewood to a term describing the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest, usually coming immediately after an extended period of overwork, but the expression seems to fit that later situation, doesn't it? Exhaustion, deep weariness, all used up, nothing more to give, wiped out, burned out -- call it what we will, its symptoms are all too familiar to many of us.
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Zoos are no longer in people's good graces.
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Call To Worship
Leader: I'm so glad you're here! There are seats for everyone; there's slight air movement; the windows engender tranquility and imagination and words will stimulate fresh thoughts.

People: It's good to be here, in sanctuary. We're glad for opportunities to gather and to express our gratitude to God and our appreciation for one another.

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