Worship - 22 February 2026

Summary of this week's theme

In Genesis, Adam and Eve are given one task: to ‘till and to keep.’  To till is to serve; to keep is to protect, safeguard, and steward.  Their vocation is beautifully simple  to care for what God has made.  Yet surrounded by abundance, they begin to take it for granted.  Enter the serpent, who does not urge outright rebellion, but instead, reframes desire. The forbidden tree is ‘good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.’  But so was much else in the garden of Eden.  Desire, detached from trust, becomes distorted.  Control replaces communion.  The result is not freedom but shame and fragmentation.

This ancient story names a truth about us.  We, too, forget our purpose.  We see creation less as gift and more as resource - something to exploit for comfort or profit.  Rarely do we renounce God outright.  More often, we take small, reasonable steps that dull responsibility and quiet conscience.  Faced with climate crisis, conflict, and injustice, we compartmentalise. The problem feels too large, so we drift toward inaction - or toward grasping control in ways that betray humility.

At the beginning of Lent, the Church places alongside Adam and Eve the testing of Jesus in the wilderness, told in Gospel of Matthew.  The tempter again reframes legitimate desires: hunger, recognition, influence. ‘Feed yourself.  Be spectacular.  Take control.’  These are invitations to pride, power, and possession.  Unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus does not react impulsively.  He listens.  He refuses to satisfy good desires in disordered ways.  He chooses trust over control and worships God alone.  In doing so, he reveals true freedom.

Lent is not a self-improvement project.  It is a return to purpose.  It invites us into wilderness space - freedom from distraction and distortion - so that we may ask which desires shape our choices.  Where have we abandoned service, protection, and stewardship?  Where does hopelessness tempt us to do nothing, or pride tempt us to do too much?  Even in a wounded world, God still calls us to ‘till and keep.’  In small acts of restraint, solidarity, and care for creation, we rediscover coherence between faith and action - and the deeper freedom of belonging to God’s will.