This Sunday marks the third Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and making space for God in our lives.

One of the most unsettling things about the Bible is that it's stories, letters, poetry, and prophecy are always provoking towards a different way to be human than what we would normally expect. Jesus resists earthly ways of power: nationalism, military strength, manipulation, etc. and chooses the path of self-giving. 

In every time and every culture, Jesus upends cultural idols. Many of the religious systems in first century Judaism practiced a kind of exclusion that came from their ethnic identity as God's people and through keeping the law. They kept Samaritans, Gentiles, the sick, and sinners at a safe distance. For the Greeks, the idol was wisdom (1 Corinthians 1)--always looking to the latest fad teaching for personal enrichment.

Lent provokes us to get in touch with our own "idols," the false things which govern our lives and form who we are. Nashville is a land of experiences. Do we worship the last "moment" that we had or live our whole lives in pursuit of the next one? Or, are we driven by wealth, success, fame, approval, security, or knowledge? Here's a tough question: does our political ideology drive our lives rather than our identity in Christ?

Join us as we allow ourselves to be provoked by Jesus who literally upends the idols of our world (John 2).