Pastor’s Corner – February 22, 2026
Transformation Continues – Matthew 4:1-11
Is the goal of our faith to become a little kinder, a little more polite, a little more informed? Or is it to truly be transformed? This question was asked by Rev. Ginger Gained-Cirelli from the pulpit of Foundry UMC in Washington, DC. She challenged the congregation “to move beyond surface-level change and confront the deeper work of dismantling white supremacy, telling the truth about history and harm, and reordering power in our common life. Following Jesus is not about better manners. It is about surrender. It is about relinquishing the small, defended versions of ourselves so that something larger and more faithful can rise. The world does not need a church that is slightly nicer. It needs witnesses. Witnesses who refuse to call injustice normal. Witnesses who understand that surrender is not loss, but transformation.”
This Sunday is our First Lent Sunday. It begins with the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. As disciples, we too are invited to the wilderness, where we are stripped away of possessions, comfort, status, power, or whatever we identify ourselves as in the world. We surrender ourselves to utter dependence on God as a vulnerable person. What is left when we set aside versions of ourselves that have defined us and who we are over the years? At the heart, we are left as those who are loved by God as beloved, and that alone is transformative. In the wilderness, we surrender versions of ourselves that are too small and are called to grow into identity as God’s beloved and witnesses of the gospel.
Indeed, Lent is a transformative journey, as we witness Christ’s ministry and his healing power with God’s love. What is revealed in the temptation story is Jesus’ resistance to substitute his relationship with God over power that the world offers. The question for him is not a choice between powerlessness and power but to enter a space of abundant grace and love offered by God, even in poverty, suffering, hunger, and oppression.
Come, let us worship God and journey together as disciples through the wilderness, empowered and led by the Spirit of God. The world is waiting to hear the good news. Let us proclaim together as witnesses of the gospel the transformative power of God’s love for the world. Amen.
Pastor Dae