“Who will we listen to?”
Matthew 4:1-11
Rev. Emily Labrecque, Westmoreland UCC
Feb. 22, 2026
Beloved, welcome to the season of Lent. Our theme for this season is Seeking: Honest Questions for a Deeper Faith. I thought it would be helpful, as I begin my tenure at Westmoreland, for us to spend this holy season exploring some questions of faith together. This is such a rich season for theological and spiritual reflection. While typically this season focuses on prayer and fasting, we also get to wade into the texts with a particular lens.
The creative team behind our theme and resources write, “The lectionary [this year] offers us many stories of Jesus encountering people who are seeking: Nicodemus comes to him in the veil of night, he approaches a Samaritan woman at a well, he heals a man born without sight. In these stories, each person is seeking a new beginning, a different life, a deeper faith. What unfolds is an exchange filled with questions and exploration. Often, an unveiling occurs – assumptions are disrupted, a new perspective is revealed, mystery grows.”
The characters in our stories are not the only ones seeking. We are too. Seeking solace, seeking justice, seeking answers, clarity, health, hope. This Lent we are invited to seek out loud together, in community, and individually through prayer and reflection. We are invited to enter into these stories with curiosity and openness. We are invited to let go of our assumptions and broaden our perspectives.
Would you join me in prayer as we prepare for the word preached? [Pray]
Today we begin Lent with the question “Who will we listen to?” Our gospel text finds Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Jesus had prepared for this test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger and exhaustion which Satan, or rather the evil powers that be, were ripe to exploit.
Individually, each temptation asks Jesus to turn away from God in a different manner. The first temptation Jesus is invited to prove his sonship through a display of power. The second temptation is to God’s faithfulness and protection. And in the third, which is more of a bribe than anything else, Jesus is promised “all the power and glory the earth can offer if he will give his allegiance and devotion to the Tempter.” (David Lose, Working Preacher, March 13, 2011)
Notice how each temptation is really about identity. “If you are the Son of God...” Turn stones to bread – prove yourself useful. Be productive. Earn your worth. Throw yourself down – force God to prove something spectacular. Demand certainty. Refuse vulnerability. Bow down – trade your integrity for influence. Secure power at any cost.
These are not ancient temptations. They are alive and well in our own lives,
Power, protection, glory. All of these things promised to Jesus if only he turns away from the God of his ancestors and listens to the evil powers that be. Sounds like not much has changed in two thousand years. We too are promised power, protection, and glory if we align with a particular ideology, buy specific products, or curate a certain image. The people behind these messages are just other tempters trying to get our attention.
There are a lot of voices out there demanding our attention. It is our task as faithful Jesus followers, to discern which voices to listen to. In the cacophony, how do we find the voice of the Holy One? How can we attune our hearts and minds to wisdom that God offers us? What are the messages we need to hear? What are the messages we pass along? How do we teach our children to listen to the still small voice rather than following the crowd?
Much like Jesus, we are all facing our own version of wilderness, if not in this moment, then we at least have been there or will be there again. And it’s hard not to lose focus in the midst of the wilderness. The wilderness is quiet enough to hear yourself think and loud enough to hear your fears.
One of the key practices of Lent is prayer. But prayer comes in all forms. Sometimes it’s sitting in silent meditation. Sometimes it’s saying words out loud to whoever is listening and hoping God picks up what you’re putting down. Sometimes prayer comes in the form of rage or grief or longing. There are a lot of ways to pray and I would venture to guess that some of us in this room don’t often pray because you don’t know how. That’s okay! We’re going to take the mystery out of it today. Well, not *all* of the mystery.
There’s a particular kind of prayer practice I want to draw your attention to. It’s called the Ignatian Prayer of Examen. For over four hundred years, people of faith have used it as a way to become more aware of God’s presence in ordinary life.
- At the end of the day, simply pause and ask God for clarity. Then gently walk back through your day – from morning until now.
- Notice what brought you joy. Where did you glimpse beauty, connection, or peace? Give thanks for those moments, however small.
- Then pay attention to your emotions. Where did you feel alive? Where did you feel drained, resentful, or anxious? St. Ignatius believed that God often speaks through our feelings. What might God be saying to you there?
- If you come across a moment when you fell short, receive it with honesty – but also with grace. Ask for forgiveness. Trust that it is already given.
- Finally, look toward tomorrow. Ask God to give you strength and courage for tomorrow’s challenges. Ask for help and hope. Remember that you are God’s beloved, and that nothing can take that away.
This is how we learn to recognize God’s voice in the wilderness – by practicing listening when life is ordinary.
As I begin to close my sermon I want to share with you a poem written by the Rev. Sarah Speed that encapsulates this theme of listening. She writes:
“Twitter or the BBC / the ads on late-night television / the wind as she blows / the echo of children playing / the quiet of snow / the ice bucket challenge / the phone when it rings / your pastor / your mother / your doctor / your gut / the tension in your shoulders / the restaurant singing happy birthday/ audio books / TED talks / the rhythm of the music / the coffee drip in the morning / your therapist / the wisdom of the enneagram / the way your heart comes alive when you’re being creative / the man on the corner asking for change / the kid on the subway selling chocolate / the labels on the makeup bottle that promise timeless beauty / the magazines that tell you you need timeless beauty /astrology / the Dow Jones / the hiss of the radiator / the pitter patter of little feet / financial advisors / the top 40 pop / the top 40 country / the New York Times / the rumor mill / the Book of Psalms / your sense of self / Jesus, when he says, “I am with you, always.”
The cacophony is loud, persistent, and persuasive. Do not be swayed by the voices that are not of God. Do not be swayed by the messages that tell you you are somehow less than a beloved child of God, deserving of dignity and love and wholeness. In the wilderness Jesus rejected the tempter and stood fast in the knowledge of God’s presence. In our varied experiences of wilderness, may we do the same. For Jesus says, “I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth.”
Amen.
