To accompany the lectionary readings on the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A — Psalm 119:33-40 and Romans 13:8-14
Supplies:
- a cross, towel and basin, and a soft (stuffed) animal toy set out on a table or other central focal point
- one heavy hammer and 2-3 large nails
- mop and bucket
- photos of children facing hardship: refugees, impoverished, aborigine
- table upon which to place the items for display
Reader 1:
Jesus, we recognize that your way includes the cross. We have picked up our crosses and we are following you. Surely you see the crosses we wear and the crosses of lovely wood which adorn our homes and churches? What more do you want from us?
Show the heavy hammer and large nails to those who are seated and set them out for display.
Pause in silence.
Reader 2:
Jesus, we recognize your call to be servants in the symbolic towel and the basin before us. What more do you want from us?
Show the mop and the bucket and set them out for display.
Pause in silence.
Reader 3:
Jesus, we recognize your call to us to be accepting of children in the soft toy before us. We welcome children into our midst. What more do you want from us?
Show the photo(s) of children (refugee, aborigine, impoverished), and set them out for display.
Pause in silence.
Reader 4:
Jesus surprises the world and surprises us. Arriving not as a powerful ruler but as a powerless baby in a cow crib. Not publicly honoured and revered , but humiliated and brutally executed by the State. Not finished and buried, but arisen and alive in the midst of community. With God’s help our lives can be re-orientated that we might step away from our expected trajectory, let go of our dreams of power and honour, and arise fully alive in the midst of this faithful community. We can surprise ourselves and follow Christ more closely, shining God’s light into dark places of suffering in our world. God wants this from us. May the Spirit strengthen us to make it so.
