Covenant: 2021 Lenten Sermon Seeds Series

The Christian life teems with the language–and promise–of covenant, the mutual, interconnecting, interdependent, if unequal, relationship between God and God’s people. Covenant recognizes that relationships benefit from having a shared understanding of how to be with one another. In the lectionary texts for this Lenten season, there is a distinct emphasis on the covenantal life, which we will explore.

— Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay

Below you will find the focus scripture and theme for each week of Lent along with a couple of inspirational quotes for the series.

“When the people of God abandoned the covenant of love and fidelity, drawn as we are by the appeal of shallow, empty pleasures, God removed every possible obstruction to the covenant by being faithful for us, by becoming like us and subjecting Himself to the very worst within us, loving us all the way to the cross and all the way out of the grave.”

— Rachel Held Evans

February 21, 2021

  • Sermon Seed
  • Theme: Signs of Promise
  • Focus Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17

February 28, 2021 

  • Sermon Seed
  • Theme: From Generation to Generation
  • Focus Scripture: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

March 7, 2021

  • Sermon Seed
  • Theme: Faithfully Living Together
  • Focus Scripture: Exodus 17:1-17

March 14, 2021

  • Sermon Seed
  • Theme: Choose to Give Thanks
  • Focus Scripture: Numbers 21:4-9

March 21, 2021

  • Sermon Seed
  • Theme: A Heart for God
  • Focus Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34

March 28, 2021

  • Theme: Hosanna!
  • Focus Scripture: Mark 11:1-11

“This kingdom of God life is not a matter of waking up each morning with a list of chores or an agenda to be tended to, left on our bedside table by the Holy Spirit for us while we slept. We wake up already immersed in a large story of creation and covenant, of Israel and Jesus, the story of Jesus and the stories that Jesus told. We let ourselves be formed by these formative stories, and especially as we listen to the stories that Jesus tells, get a feel for the way he does it, the way he talks, the way he treats people, the Jesus way.”

— Eugene H. Peterson

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Sermon Seeds Writer and Editor (lindsayc@ucc.org), is a local church pastor and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities.