Sermon Tone Analysis

Love Stories

Introduction It’s St. Valentine’s Day “Won’t you be my Valentine?”

Would you ask if you know the cost?

It’s also Ash Wednesday… the beginning of Lent the gateway to 40 days of fasting, prayer and generosity What a perfect night for a “Love story”

Love Story 1: St. Valentine Cruel Claudius: Third century Rome was governed by an Emperor, Claudius the Second : also known as “Claudius the Cruel.” he was truly cruel, and mean-spirited, and was involved in some pretty gruesome wars.

Claudius was also quite powerful.

to maintain his power, he had to keep a pretty large army but his army was getting smaller getting small because men weren’t signing up not signing up because they were in love One day, Cruel Claudius thought to himself, “Maybe it’s difficult to recruit men because more and more men are getting married.

and because more and more men are getting married they are attached and committed to their wives and families.

and because they are attached and committed to their wives and families… they’re not so willing to risk being in the army?” Here’s Cruel Claudius’ Recruitment Plan He decided to ban marriages outright.

no weddings no engagements Heart-struck couples were forbidden from the ultimate affection and devotion… Romance was dead.

… OR WAS IT? Valentine Meanwhile… in Rome… there was a priest by the name of Valentine.

Valentine got wind of the wedding decree he thought the idea to be unjust Claudius was already persecuting the church and this overstepped his boundaries.

So Valentine became the go-to guy for weddings.

he defied Cruel Claudius’ decree and married young Christians couples anyway.

in secret Claudius eventually heard about what Valentine was up to He summoned Valentine and sentence him to what is called a “three-step death sentence: beating stoning finally, his head was cut off All for marrying Christian couples in love

Transition This is a perfect story for Ash Wednesday… because St. Valentine died for Love.

He put up his life in order that love prevailed over the violence of war.

The season of Lent helps us to contemplate the Cross.

It journeys us through repentance and leads us to the place where Jesus died Love Story 2: Jesus

Sin separates Sin separates us from God it makes our relationship with God incomplete God hates sin; and God can’t stand it’s presence.

Sin separates us from one another: Genesis 3.7-10 The woman is tempted and breaks God’s first command the man is tempted and breaks the command….

Gen. 3.7-10 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

and the woman blames the serpent, and the man blames the woman and from the start sin begins to separate.

The whole Bible, from this tree in Genesis to the “Tree” on which Christ died is an account of how God tries to reconcile us to him.

But we just don’t get it.

Until Jesus… But thankfully, this is a love story… And it is God’s love… by God’s own initiative that he sends God’s only Son of the Father, our Lord, to suffer the agony of hate and sin and war AND… by His sacrificial love, removes sin from the equation.

Because Jesus bears the punishment for our sin… he bears the burden he bears the consequences of our sin he atones for our sin He removes sin and makes our relationship with God complete.

Jesus died for love.

He gave up his life in order that love prevails over the consequence of sin in order that life prevails over death light blinds out darkness

And so, in the “fullness of time” there is a call from the wilderness that says, “Get ready!

It’s time!

God so loved the world that He gave of himself in the most profound way, so that whoever believes their sins are taken away.. their sins will be taken away.

— Repent!”

2 Chronicles 7:14 —- The Lord says: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin.”

Conclusion (What does it say again?)

So, tonight we move deeper into this love story: as recipients of God’s gracious and steadfast love for us We begin this season of repentance by reminding ourselves that we are mere dust in the world, and will return to dust into the earth.

Love means never having to say your’e sorry?

No. Actually it does… That’s why we are here this evening… to prepare our hearts for Lent… a season of repentance.

But we do this knowing that the greatest love story has happened.

Application (What do we do about it?)

God knows our sins.

So why confess them?

We must confess our sins for a couple of reasons it helps us to become more aware of our sins repeated confessions for repeated sins points to a repeated problem in your life it helps us identify persistant problem areas that need our attention Steve Bell - “There is something about the beauty, grace, and love of God that highlights the things that we are against it.”

the beauty and grace of God is magnified in the ashes we receive tonight… not simply a visible sign our sinful nature… but a visible sign of God’s magnificent love and grace We need to confess our sins so that we know that our sins are no longer against us acknowledging our failures and imperfections, our frail humanity, before God reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross.

confessing our sins proclaims Jesus.