Finding Courage in Vulnerability
Week Two
Part of Live Differently—Lent 2025
March 16, 2025

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PRAYER

Holy One, who gathers us as a mother hen gathers her brood,
We come before you in this Lenten season,
Aware of the many ways we seek shelter—
Not under your wings but behind our carefully constructed walls.

In a world that rewards strength and certainty,
We confess our reluctance to appear weak or unsure.
In our relationships, our work, our faith,
We have chosen safety over authenticity,
Control over surrender,
Appearance over truth.

Compassionate God, whose power is made perfect in weakness,
Remind us again of the courage of your Son,
Who set his face toward Jerusalem
Despite knowing the pain that awaited him there.
Who wept openly over a city that rejected his love,
And still chose the path of vulnerable compassion.

As we journey deeper into this season of reflection,
Grant us the wisdom to recognize our self-protective habits,
The courage to lower our defenses,
And the trust to believe that in our vulnerability,
We might discover your strength.

In our families and friendships,
In our workplace decisions,
In our questions of faith and doubt,
May we find the courage to be seen as we truly are.

For it is in our broken places that your light shines through,
In our emptiness, You make your home,
Under your wings, we find true refuge.

We pray this in the name of Jesus,
Who embodied love’s ultimate vulnerability,
And who taught us to pray,
Amen.

SERMON

QUESTION: Have you ever felt that to reach where you want to go in life, you need to embrace moments or seasons of discomfort and uncertainty?

FACT: A 2019 survey conducted by the Gottman Institute revealed that 67% of couples identified vulnerability avoidance as a significant barrier to intimacy.

FACT: MIT research indicates that curated personas on social media have led to a 31% rise in the perceived pressure to appear “put together” instead of authentic.

POINT: Our yearning for safety might be hindering meaningful

.

POINT: We overestimate the

consequences of vulnerability while underestimating the responses from others. We think being vulnerable will hurt us.

POINT: Jesus reveals a God who embraces vulnerability as the way to

.

Lament: a passionate and vulnerable expression of grief or sorrow when something is wrong.

LUKE 13:31-35 NRSV
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Jürgen Moltmann, “God’s power is not the power of the mighty and violent, but the power of self-giving love.” (The Church in the Power of the Spirit)

POINT: Our culture equates vulnerability with

, teaching us to shield ourselves from meaningful connection.

WORD: The Hebrew word for Egypt, Mitzrayim, literally means “narrow places” or “limitations.” מִצְרַיִם (Mīṣrayīm)

POINT: We must learn to create space for

, rather than doing; , rather than concealing.

Galatians 6:2 - “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

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