This week's lessons: Jeremiah 31:31-34 , Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm119:9-16, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33
This
week's lessons: Jeremiah
31:31-34
, Psalm
51:1-12
or Psalm119:9-16,
Hebrews
5:5-10, John
12:20-33
Emmanuel Community Church
Inter-generational Lectionary Study;
Sundays from 10:0 to 10:45 in the Board Room
Opening
Opening prayer by leader, or invite another participant to pray, or us:
Almighty God, who has caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, open our ears and hearts today to learn from your word and from one another, we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen
Set the calendar-clock to the right date. Lent is the season of preparation for the great feast of Easter. We spend 40 days in self-denial and solemn prayer, readying our hearts and minds to celebrate Christ's great Easter victory over Death and Sin.
Today, the Gospel reviews for us Jeremiah's prophecy of the New Covenant
Review of Last Week
What was the sermon on? -
What was the Gospel lesson? -
Did anyone have any insights about...
1.Who are some of the people that you have looked up to over the course of your life, and what made them admirable?
2.What do you think looking up to Christ entails – give three concrete examples.
3.Can you think of any areas in your life in which you have failed to look up to Christ? What sins might you need to confess in order to regain your freedom to look upward?
4.What are some tangible ways in which we begin to experience eternal life when we are looking up to Christ and living in accordance with God’s plan for our lives?
Readings for Fifth Sunday in Lent, 3/29/09:
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-12, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33
Jeremiah 31:31-34
"new covenant" - I wonder how many times in the scriptures God tries to renew a covenant with God's people. How many times would you try again with someone who had betrayed, neglected, hurt, or forgotten you?
"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This is God wanting a real relationship with people, for God to be the one to whom the people belong. Imagine, if God's law is on our hearts, within us, perhaps we can learn better to live by its spirit and not by its letter. God is trying a different approach in this new covenant - a law of love we carry inside of us.
"they shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest" - God is for all - not just for the knowledgeable and educated, who have power to teach others - God is for all.
Psalm 51:1-12:
Ah, a favorite psalm. And like Joel, an element of confession. This psalm is one I'm mostly likely to use if I'm feeling the need to come before God in a confessional mode. Do you have a confessional prayer in church every week? We do not, and I think as Protestants, we sometimes get nervous about confession, even corporate. But even if we don't share sins with a priest, confession is a necessary part of our relationship - any healthy relationship, really.
Where I disagree with the psalmist, (thought to be David writing after the sin with Bathsheba) is in his claim: "against you, you alone, have I sinned." Rarely do our sins only affect God - that's the worst about them - our sin hurts others. David's sin, for instance, resulted in a man's death, and a child's death, according to scriptures.
Hebrews 5:5-10:
Check out Genesis 14:17-20 and Psalm 110:4 for context about Melchizedek.
I don't usually think of Jesus as a "high priest." What priestly functions do you see Jesus filling? How is Jesus priest? The author gives his answer in verses 7-10.
:8 - I also don't think of Jesus as one who had to "learn" obedience, but as one who simply was obedient. But maybe there is more power in thinking of Jesus learning to obey God through his faithfulness to God's plan for him. What do you think?
John 12:20-33:
:24 - This verse is often used in funeral liturgies/readings. We probably don't think of grain dying when we plant it, but grain becomes something entirely different when it is planted. Are you willing to be planted, to be come something entirely different?
:25 - Compare this verse to Mark 8:35 - Is Jesus saying the same thing in each passage?
:27 - "Now my soul is troubled." I think the only other place Jesus makes a similar statement is when he is praying in the garden before his arrest. I think it can be a brave thing to share when your soul is troubled.
:27-32 - Jesus makes so many "grand speeches" in John's gospel, so different than his style as recorded in the Synoptic gospels. What do you think John is trying to communicate to us about Jesus?
“Pew-work” is like Home-work, except that it is done in the pews, instead of being done at home. Because it is focussed on the readings (as the sermon, presumably, also is) it can be done during the sermon to help the listener concentrate. Or, it can be done while waiting for everyone else to finish their communion. It isn't done during prayers, or hymns, or the readings, because
During Prayers, we pray
During Hymns, we sing
During the Readings, we listen
Middle-school Students' Pew-work
Elementary-School Students' Pew-work
Next week: Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16, Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11, Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39, (40-47)