As promised, here is the video of Elephant toothpaste (linked to Matthew 20 and the disciples being dingbats again) with downloadable talk/instructions, and last week’s Thought for the Day from CtK.
You can use this demo for a lot of different topics, and it’s great for Messy Church or collective Worship. PLUS it helps to knock on the head the persistent myth that science and faith are opposites.
In addition, see below for a reflection on Hagar and Ishmael in Gen 21, and this week’s liturgy resources are at the bottom,
Blessings,
Fay xx
Click below to download the script and instructions.
An Unlikely Set of Ingredients
Reflection on Genesis 21:8-21
In the news this week was the heart-breaking case of a woman given a 28-month prison sentence for having an abortion over the 24-week limit.
I am not going to argue to pros and cons of abortion other than to note that the militarised stances seen in America are extremely unhelpful, as are the manipulative labels each side uses: ‘Pro-Choice’ and ‘Pro-Life’ each imply that if you do not agree with them, you are automatically ‘anti-choice’ or ‘anti-life’. I venture to suggest that the issues might be a little more complicated than that.
They were particularly complicated for the poor woman in the news this week. A mother of three, she had moved back in with her estranged partner at the start of lockdown while carrying another man’s baby. She hid the pregnancy for seven and half months before procuring abortion pills meant for pregnancies of under 10 weeks. She miscarried her daughter in hospital, five weeks short of full-term. Sentencing, the judge accepted that she had acted “in emotional turmoil” and was now “wracked by guilt”, and noted that her three children, one of whom has special needs, will suffer in her absence.
Absolutely nobody wins.
This is not a time for jumping on ideological high horses, for pointing fingers or telling a woman in an impossible situation what she should have done. This is a time for compassion and self-reflection. That poor woman. Those poor children. The poor baby.
There is no easy right solution here, and if anyone tells you there is, they have not understood the question. It reminds me of that appalling tale of Hagar and Ishmael, sent out to starve in the desert because Sarah now had a son, so she didn’t want the spare around anymore.
We see the heart-break of an unwanted child. We a family ripped apart by a child’s parentage. We see the anguish of a mother contemplating the death of her child. But we also see God’s compassion on the outcast, the unloved, the rejected. We see God following them into the desert, going with them through their valley of shadows. We see God’s provision of food, of future, of hope.
Let’s make sure, as we read the news this week, that we react as God does, with compassion and mercy, and ask not “What did they do?” but “What can I do to help?”
Image by Sefira Lightstone https://www.sefiracreative.com/
Liturgy for Proper 7
Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18 or Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17, Romans 6:1b-11
Confession and Absolution
be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.
Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
be gracious to me, O Lord,
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you,
for to you do I cry all day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.
May the God of all mercies turn to us and be gracious to us
You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Amen.
Or
Do not let the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the Pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress – make haste to answer me.
Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Draw near to me, redeem me,
set me free because of my enemies.
Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pardon and revive us and remake us in his image.
In the name of Christ,
Amen.
Blessing and Dismissal
May Christ, with whom we were buried in baptism
and raised to new life in glory
lead us walk in newness of life
that the life we live, we live to God.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
Father, Son and Spirit,
Be upon us and those we love
today and for ever,
Amen.
Go in peace to live to God.
Amen.
The Reflectionary 