My my my, what a set of passages this week! There are some juicy themes here. Click here for a thoughtful re-examination of the woman at the well – often held to be a sinful outcast. But is that what it says?
On that topic, here’s probably the funniest academic essay you’ll read today. It’s for my LLM course, the ‘Pastoral Care in Ministry and Mission’ module and features a depiction of John 4: if Peter had stayed behind instead of Jesus. Still sounds like a yawn-fest? How many essays have you read that have “Sod off!” at the start? (Oh yes, you have to click now, just to find out how I got that past the examiner.)
Also, in case you have not found them, the Lent / Holy Week Puzzle Pages are a great resource for following the journey through Lent. Links below. Plus your liturgy resources, as ever.
Puzzle Pages
These Puzzle Pages are printable double-sided A4 PDFs full of Bible puzzles to help us think about the season. They are great for a take-home after All-Age worship or Messy Church. You can use them in schools, week-day clubs or at home. You are welcome to distribute them for free in paper or electronic form.
There are specials for Palm Sunday /Holy Week and Easter Day with puzzles for a range of ages, colouring, speech bubbles to fill in, and reflective items. The first five go through the events of Holy Week over the Sundays of Lent (‘cos Holy Week is too jam-packed to look at it real-time), and have a count-down calendar showing progress through the 40 days.
This is NOT ‘shut up and do some colouring’! Puzzle Pages are NOT for keeping the kids quiet while grown-ups do church. Teaching and worship do not have to mean sermons and hymns. Different people engage in different ways, and these activity sheets are designed to work lots of different parts of our brains, while giving us space to mull over the story so far. And who said they were only for kids?
Click the links below to get your free PDFs
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First Sunday in Lent (Triumphal Entry)
Second Sunday in Lent (Last Supper)
Third Sunday in Lent (Garden of Gethsemane)
Fourth Sunday of Lent (Jesus’ trial)
Fifth Sunday of Lent (Jesus’ death and burial)
Liturgy Resources for Lent 3
Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 95, John 4:5-42
Confession and Absolution
He is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
“Today, if only you would hear his voice,
and not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah.”
Lord God, we confess that we have not heard your voice
And when we have heard, we have not obeyed.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
“They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.”
Lord God, we confess that our hearts have gone astray
and we have followed ways that are not yours.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
Lord God, we admit your righteous judgement, that we deserve not your rest,
but we plead the saving work of Christ, who gave himself for us.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
May God, who forgives all who come in true repentance,
pardon and forgive us, and restore us to life.
For he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Amen.
Blessing and Dismissal
May you know the gift of God and he who gives it.
May you drink deeply from the fountains of life
and may that water become in you a spring that flows out
and refreshes everyone you meet.
And the blessing of God the Father, God the Son and God the Eternal Spirit
be upon you and those whom you love
this day and forever.
Amen.
Go and take the news of Jesus to your neighbourhood.
Be blessed and be a blessing.
In the name of Christ
Amen.
The Reflectionary 