The First Wednesday in Lent - February 25, 2026
Knock at Night
I began last night’s sermon by asking everyone to consider their relationship with God. How would you describe your relationship with God? I showed an image of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Painting, often referred to as God’s Hand and Adam. The image invites us to think about what kind of relationship we have with God. I noted the color differences—God’s hand being more white than Adam’s, signifying his heavenly position and Adam’s earthly one. I also pointed out how God’s hand is firm in its pointing, but Adam’s hand is somewhat limp. This already indicates a problem: man is ambivalent about relating to God as he does us. God is all-in, but are we?
I then showed the three images that offer different dispositions that we may have with God. They are not meant to be exhaustive but as examples. The first one showed a woman whose hand had painted on its palm, “Talk to the hand.” This disposition that we may have tells God that we really are not interested in what he thinks or says. The next image showed a man looking up to heaven, shaking his fist. He is angry at God. Maybe you are, too! The final image showed a woman with her hand on her chin, leaning back to the right with her left arm lying across her belly. She exexmplifies doubt. Maybe you doubt God, his promises, or his ways. Consider your disposition towards God.
I then showed an image of Luther’s explanation of the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven.
What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
I then recounted that Luther elsewhere asks us to consider this relationship like a child sitting on his father’s lap. I then told a story about when I was a little boy and had the opportunity to sit on my Grandpa’s lap. It was short-lived, though, as he would die within a few years of my first meeting him. Still, sitting on my Grandpa’s lap reminds me of his love, his interest in me, and willing to listen to me.
Finally, I showed a man knocking on a window of a sleeper’s room. The sleeper has his head looking towards the man in the window. He is still in bed, though, with a position of reluctance, expecting the man to go away. Yet, the parable of the impudent/persistent friend tells us that we are to continue to come to God with our petitions. The reason, he has made our relationship perfect with him because of Christ! Because it’s perfect, we approach him like a grandpa, confident that he’ll accept us and hear us!
The last image I admitted was a bit cheesy, but it conveys the point of the parable: Jesus invites us to come to him, again and again. Jesus stands with his hands open, and his arms reaching downward just off his waist. Surrounding Jesus’ head is the top of a cross, with a circular window filled with the sun. The crucified and resurrected Lord has made your relationship with him perfect, and he bids you to come to him no matter what!