Sermon Preview for March 8th March 3, 2026 Ru-Lee Weller Passman March 8, 2026 - Third Sunday in Lent Preacher: Rev. Anne J. Scalfaro Scriptures: Mark 6:32-44; Ephesians 3:20-21 Title: “The Good News is…Together, the Impossible is Possible” Third Sermon in the series: Tell Me Something Good: Grounding Ourselves in the Good News this Lent Sermon Direction: This week we continue in our series—Tell Me Something Good: Grounding Ourselves in the Good News this Lent—by expanding our imagination around what is possible when we work together rather than on our own. As the creatives of A Sanctified Art note: “Much of modern society ingrains in us the idea that we have to fend for ourselves. Tending to the needs of a whole community can seem too overwhelming a task…Yet [in the story of the Feeding of the 5,000] Jesus has compassion for the crowd and insists that they be cared for. Compassion is the energy source for collective care. The good news is…what the disciples have to offer is enough. The good news is…the crowd mobilizes into action. The good news is…the disciples’ limiting beliefs don’t limit what God does. The good news is...everyone is fed." Join us on Sunday as we explore how the Good News multiples with our collective creativity and care, and how we can join in the movement of God’s work through four familiar actions: Take, Bless, Break, Give. The “Tell Me Something Good” sharing prompt this week is: Share a time when you worked with others to make something good happen that you couldn’t have done on your own. Lent theme blurb: Calvary’s 2026 Lent theme comes from theologians and creatives at “A Sanctified Art"—Tell Me Something Good: Grounding Ourselves in the Good News this Lent. Lent was originally a season for new converts to learn and prepare for their baptism on Easter. During that time, they would study what was central to Christianity. This series focuses on what was central to Jesus’ life and ministry: radical welcome, love for neighbor, care for the vulnerable, nourishment for the hungry, nonviolence in the face of injustice. At the heart of Jesus’ teachings, we find liberation, love, mercy, and grace—all of which are meant to be very good news for us all. Jesus’ words are easily distorted and sanitized in our modern world. Following Jesus leads to a richer, more expansive life, but it’s not necessarily comfortable. Jesus’ ministry can be described as “radical” which comes from the Latin word “radicalis,” meaning “root” or “ground.” Therefore, the good news should bring us back to our roots. Emulating Jesus and embodying his teachings should ground us in who God created us to be. Can we be “good news” people in a world too often burdened by bad news? This Lent, let us remember that the good news really is good news. It is joyful—like fine wine saved for celebration. It grows like a mustard seed and smells like perfume poured from an alabaster jar. It tastes like bread passed endlessly through a hungry crowd. It sounds like laughter and feels like mercy. The good news is alive in the world. We hope this series will provide fertile ground for conversation and worship, rooting our hearts and lives in the expansive goodness of God. This Lent, let the teachings of Jesus lead us forward. May the good news inspire us to take action in a world desperate to hear, see, and taste what is good. Scripture Readings: + Gospel Reading Mark 6:32-44 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And all ate and were filled, 43 and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men. New Testament Reading Ephesians 3:20-21 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.