Looking into the lectionary - Is risk part of a pastor’s job description?

Romans 5:1-11 Third Sunday in Lent March 8, 2026 In the iconic comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” Calvin is handed a snow shovel and shunted out the door with the observation that he is building character. In response, Calvin quips, “Pretty convenient the way every time I build character, Dad saves a few bucks.”  If it seems old-fashioned to think about building character, perhaps it is because the institutions most known for character-building in society, namely the church and the academy, have fallen silent on the subject. In When Jesus Came to Harvard, Harvey Cox, a Harvard professor, remembers how the college noted that a disproportionate number of its alumni were being featured in the papers for financial scandal. To be sure, Harvard is a fine school. Its alumni tend to be successful. Yet success apparently was affording its graduates greater opportunities for moral failure. Acutely aware that their alumni were being indicted at a rapid clip, the faculty began to question the adequacy of their undergraduate curriculum: were they simply failing to teach such things as ethics and character. And if so, what should be done about it?  According to Cox, the institution’s answer, in part, was to throw Jesus at the problem. He began teaching a moral reasoning course that focused on the person of Jesus Christ. To his utter astonishment, the class became a runaway success. Cox writes of the experience, “These students, like increasing numbers of people in the modern world, sense – however vaguely – that there was something fundamentally inadequate about moral relativism. They were sickened by the devastation some technologies have wreaked on nature. They winced at the posturing of politicians and the deceptions of the media. They recognized that advertising is saturated with calculated sham… but when it came to sorting through real ethical choices in conversation with other people, they seemed awkward and stifled.” I wonder if the members of our congregations feel similarly ill-equipped to understand the ethical choices they face in their day-to-day lives.  ... Thank you to this week's writer, Baron Mullis. Read the rest of the commentary at pres-outlook.org. Want the worship resources for March 1, 2026? You can find them here. Order of worship — March 8, 2026 by Baron Mullis How one Houston church turned a childcare crisis into a calling by Lydia Griffiths Why Christian clergy see risk as part of their moral calling by Laura E. Alexander 8 days, 7 bikers. 500 miles. Awesome church people. Lots of Presbyterians. by Charlie Berthoud The gift of finding our finitude in a digital world by Michael W. DeLashmutt Faith leaders form rapid response network for migrants facing ICE detention in Dallas by Harriet Riley Did you miss our conversation with members of the PC(USA) Special Committee to Write a New Confession? Want to watch it again? You can view the recording here. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT... Lessons from a penguin and his caregiver Rubén Arjona writes on how empathy allows us to imagine the other person’s feelings, thoughts and experiences. Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story In "Marce Catlett," Wendell Berry shows how stories of land, labor, and loss shape generations and our sense of belonging. Chris Taylor offers a review. Horizons – The Woman Bent Over, Luke 13:10-17 Rosalind Banbury's seventh reflection on the 2025-2026 Presbyterian Women/Horizons Bible Study. Our faith calls us to share in letting empathy loose Alfred Walker shares how a 1989 letter from a man who was imprisoned opened a path for ministry. What we lose when confessions are treated as optional Keanu Heydari pens a response to Charles Wiley’s “Why the PC(USA)’s Book of Confessions is too long — and how to fix it.” ‘I am somebody!’: Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader who ran for presidency, dies at 84 'I don't think Jesse Jackson saw his political life as something different from his call from God as a preacher', said the Rev. Valerie Bridgeman. — Adelle M. Banks “Train Dreams” and learning to live with wonder "Train Dreams" asks how we endure loss, accept mystery and remain attentive to beauty, writes Brendan McLean. A daily Lenten devotional Explore how to live faithfully amid division and uncertainty through Matthew’s Gospel.