SERMON, CHURCH OF THE ATONEMENT 1 LENT A FEB. 22, 2026 The Rev. Anne Wrider The Judean desert is a true wilderness. It is one of the hottest and most desolate places on earth. It isn’t a sand desert, but one of brown and gray rock. And it goes on for hundreds of square miles, a barren wilderness with no relief. It is also one of the driest places on earth. If you get lost in that desert without water, you will be dead in a day. This is not a place that makes any allowances

Dr. Richard Kieckhefer February 20, 2026 Did I kill Christ? Did you? Our hymnal gives one ferocious answer to that question. The hymn “Ah, holy Jesus” addresses the suffering Christ: Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee. ’Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; I crucified thee. [Johann Heermann, “Ah, holy Jesus”, trans. Robert Bridges, No. 158] The treason of Judas, the denial

Ash Wednesday The Rev’d Charles Everson Church of the Atonement February 18, 2026 On this Ash Wednesday [1] , as we kneel to receive ashes and hear the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the Church does not leave us in despair. She does not simply remind us that we are sinners and then send us home. She places before us concrete paths of repentance – tried and true paths that lead not to shame, but to life. Repentance is not a vague feeling of