March 1, 2026 Second Sunday of Lent

The best-selling vehicle in the United States for the past 45 years is not a sedan. Not a van. Not an SUV. It’s a pickup truck: The Ford F-150.

With over 2.1 million full size pick ups sold in the USA in an average year, over 820,000 of them is the F-150. About 33,000 of these were the electric variation.

According to Motor and Wheels website, the F-150 is popular because it has an all-aluminum body, and available 10-speed automatic transmission and turbocharged engine. The truck has great fuel efficiency and incredible hauling capacity.

Yes, the Ford F-150 is now available in electric.

Given the sales history of this truck, you might wonder why Ford would want to mess with success. You know the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Ford executives knew that they would need to win over some serious skeptics with the electric version. “We wanted to make sure that we built a truck that would be accepted by truck owners today,” said Linda Zhang to Fast Company magazine. She’s the chief engineer for the new electric truck.

Speaking of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” that’s what a lot of folks were saying about good works back in the first century. Within the Jewish faith, there was a long tradition of people being “justified by works.” They would study the laws of the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, and then do their best to follow these laws by remembering the Sabbath day, honoring their father and mother, and refraining from murder, adultery and stealing. When they did these good works, they would be justified — which means being put in a right relationship with God and their neighbors.

The model for being justified was Abraham, a righteous man who was the ancient father of every Jew. He was held up as the symbol of Jewish righteousness, just as the Ford-150 has been “the symbol of American tenacity.” Those who followed Abraham saw him as the finest example of being justified by works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

But then the apostle Paul came along and saw something that needed to be fixed.

Paul made an important discovery when he studied the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis. He realized that it was simply not true that Abraham was justified by works. “What does the Scripture say?” he asked in his letter to the Romans. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Yes, Abraham was made righteous by believing God, not by following the law. He was justified by his faith, not by his good works.

This was a radical innovation, along the lines of a pickup truck going electric. No one saw it coming, but then it revolutionized the industry. If we are going to follow Paul, we need to choose a new kind of vehicle, one that could be called: A Faith-150.

When we jump into this truck, we discover that our “faith is credited as righteousness.”.

Paul’s focus on faith is a world-changing idea. Suddenly, a person can be made righteous by believing God, not by following religious law. Anyone and everyone can be justified, not just the people who follow the law and do good works. “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world,” says Paul. That was the old F-150.

No, Abraham and his offspring received the promise “through the righteousness that comes by faith.” That’s the new Faith-150.

It’s a world-changing idea, and it is available to us all.

If we climb into the Faith-150, we become “Abraham’s offspring.” We don’t have to be Jewish. We don’t have to be circumcised. We don’t have to follow every religious law. All we have to do is show “the faith of Abraham.”

And what exactly is this faith? Paul says that Abraham believed in “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” He believed in the same God who raised Jesus from death to new life, the same one who calls into existence what may seem to be impossible. In Abraham’s life, this means that he trusted God to give him a child, even though “his body was as good as dead.” He believed in the promises of God and was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

Abraham had faith in the God who gives life to the dead. He trusted God. He believed in the promises of God and that God had the power to fulfill those promises. And because of this, his faith was “credited to him as righteousness.” So, what would it mean for us to move forward in this faith?

For starters, we believe in the God who gives life to the dead, the God seen most clearly in Jesus Christ. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther made Paul’s insight the center of his theology, one that asserted we are saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus. Luther wanted to be a good and righteous person, so he confessed his sins frequently, often daily, and for as long as six hours at a time. (Seriously!! Can anyone actually be that sinful that they would need to go to confession daily for six hours??!!) But after confessing his sins, he would leave the church and remember other sins that he needed to confess. He tried the path of good works and discovered that he could never do enough to save himself.

Then Luther read the line in Paul’s letter to the Romans that says, “the righteous will live by faith.” In a flash, he realized that he was not made righteous by his good efforts, but by his faith in Jesus Christ. “I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise,” said Luther. “This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.”

On a personal level, Luther was reborn by this insight into the power of faith. He was touched by the God “who gives life to the dead.” But on a historical level, the Protestant Reformation began when Luther made this discovery about faith. “If you have true faith that Christ is your Savior,” he said, “then at once you have a gracious God, [and] you should see pure grace and overflowing love.” Luther was inspired to go out and preach the Gospel, a word which means “good news,” because he saw that the Gospel was “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

After we trust Christ to be our Savior, we make every effort to support God’s work in the world. As Luther himself said, “Good works do not make a [person] good, but a good [person] does good works.” Good works are naturally going to flow out of a person who has been saved through their faith in Jesus. Having faith in Jesus does not give anyone permission to sit back and refrain from doing good.

Think of the Ford Lightning truck. Yes, its electric engine makes it a truly innovative vehicle, one that can power a house during blackouts. But even though it is based on a world changing idea, the Ford Lightning still has to carry tools, building supplies, mulch and manure. If it didn’t tow heavy cargo up hills, it wouldn’t be a pickup truck.

Same for a Christian whose “faith is credited as righteousness.” Yes, our faith in Jesus makes us right with God, but still we are challenged to show each other compassion and justice and mercy. The heavy lifting of the Christian life involves feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, welcoming strangers, and visiting people in prison. If we didn’t do these good works, we wouldn’t be recognizable as followers of Christ. Our faith should inspire us to do good works. “….Whatever you did for one of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Let us pray.

In today’s Gospel, with the transfiguration, we get a preview of the glorious presence of Christ which awaits the faithful following the trials of this world. We pray for the grace to remain steadfast in our faith so that we can join with the apostles in that transfigured presence. We pray to the Lord.               

We pray for our Church, that it be a holy place where the spirit of Christ is always with us, and that all his people are joyful in his presence as were the apostles at His Transfiguration. We pray to the Lord.               

We pray that during this Lenten season, we commit to support the poor, the abandoned and the marginalized in our society. We pray to the Lord.              

We pray for the people of the third world where extreme weather and storms destroy crops and homes and leave families in situations of extreme hunger and need. May we listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. We pray to the Lord.                       

We pray for greater care on our roads so that all who travel may return safely on every occasion to their loved ones. We pray to the Lord.                        

We pray for those recently bereaved that they be comforted with the assurance that their loved ones are in the presence of the Christ who showed the infinite joy of his glorious presence to the apostles in his transfiguration. We pray to the Lord.

We pray most especially for the unnecessarily killed and injured in another unnecessary war that our leaders have put us in again. May those killed, Christian or not, rest in peace; may those injured be given swift and healing care: and may comfort be given to the those who are mourning those who have lost lives. We pray to the Lord.

We pray for new vocations to the priesthood. We pray to the Lord.

We pray that those with ample means, that they may be led to our parish where they be inspired to give generously. We pray to the Lord.

For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.

We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.        

Heavenly Father, when our wilderness journey ends and normalcy returns to our lives, remind us to look back and see where you carried us, deepened our faith and provided us with your loving care.

Be present, Lord.

Holy Spirit, when suffering is the result of our own sin, inspire us to turn around, ask for help, accept your forgiveness and live a new life in your grace.

Be present, Lord.

Holy Spirit, reconciling God, in Christ make us a new creation by forgiving our sins and sending us out with a mission to be your ambassadors of love, peace and new life.

Be present, Lord.

Almighty God, hope beyond hope, love beyond understanding, forgiver and forgetter of our awful sins, wait for us in patience, but needle us with the memory of your loving self, our loving home.

Be present, Lord.

Lord Jesus, as you told parables in order to make the Gospel clear, put us in a story of your choosing, and bring us to a deeper faith in you.

Be present, Lord.

We pray for those who need to be reminded that there is healing in your presence and homecoming, because there is a home.

Be present, Lord.

From every wilderness day, good Lord, deliver us.

Eternal God, we ask by the power of your Spirit that all that keeps us from you would be revealed to us this day. We seek forgiveness for any and all sin, pride and impurity in our lives. We relinquish all at your atoning altar in preparation for the Lenten season before us. Cleanse our hearts, O Lord. Help us submit to holy refining fire so that we might become clean vessels through which your Spirit can work to redeem a lost world.

Be present, Lord.

Lastly, Father God, we pause in prayer today for our nation that is not functioning as the democracy we are accustomed to, with some concerning actions. We ask that you protect our citizens and migrants from violent and illegal treatment, high cost healthcare, and unnecessary wars. And so, we ask:

Be present, Lord.

God Love You +++

The Most Rev. Robert Winzens

Pastor – St. Francis Chapel

San Diego, CA.

As a small parish, we come to you all as beggars! Your generous support also allows us to continue important projects that fuel the movement of progressive Christianity. Thank you and God bless you! +++