Tag: SSCSJ
The Sacred Steps: Lent
Ash Wednesday: March 5, 2025
Among Christians that observe this forty-day journey with Jesus, many use this time to connect to the suffering of Jesus, specifically his Jerusalem experience, by giving-up (doing without) something of significance to their daily life. Other followers choose to add something to their living, as a way to understand how Jesus lived and perhaps serve those with whom Jesus associated during his journey. Many communities of faith offer special studies or host mid-week meals during Lent, to build community and, though perhaps not explicitly state, to create accountability loops for those who have chosen a discipline to follow during Lent. Lent could be a time of intentional hospitality or invitation for your community to participate in a study, conversation, or weekly meal as an introduction to the practice of Christianity. If followed, a spiritual discipline can provide a person (believer, practitioner, or skeptic) with a foundation for personal growth. Like Lent, a spiritual discipline is about the journey, not the destination. It is a time to challenge a “belief” in, or a “belief” about, Jesus as a savior, by personally practicing the way of Jesus, which can lead to the Truth about God and give meaning to life, even a life of faith. John Dominic Crossan’s book, The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus, would be good for your individual study or for a small group to read together and discuss during Lent.
A favorite suggestion I offer to persons seeking a spiritual discipline during Lent, for the first time or as a seasoned follower, is to write your own gospel. Thomas Jefferson completed his The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth in 1820. This is a way to begin journaling, by spending thirty minutes each day writing your account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Like the writer of John, take the synoptic Gospels and some of the non-canonical writings as source material for your gospel. Weigh those accounts with your experiences. What would your gospel account include? What would be the focus of your telling of the story of Jesus? What does your gospel say about the person of Jesus and the character of God? Would you be willing to share your gospel account with the youth group or your Sunday school class? Can you imagine someone reading your gospel as scripture?
One option for the children’s sermons during Lent would be for you to choose the parables of Jesus you think are important for the children to know, and then use one each week as the topic for your time on the sacred steps. What five parables would you choose? That question would be good to ask in an adult Sunday school class and to explore during Lent. You might ask several groups in your congregation to identify their top five parables and see what parables are popular. Your process of choosing and studying these five parables could be your spiritual discipline, as well as the core of the gospel account that you would write. How will you journey with Jesus to Jerusalem this Lenten season?
Personal Thoughts / Planning for Lent
Spend some time journaling about your thoughts or goals for this Lenten season.
For whom will you be praying?
Will you take on a discipline during Lent?
Whom do you hope or want to be praying for you?
Does he or she know you seek their intercessory prayers?
The Sacred Steps this Sunday
Some time ago my companion and I created Sacred Steps: Children’s Sermon Journal. It is designed to help the person who will think about, prepare, offer the children’s sermon (message, moment) during worship each week. It contains thoughts, commentary, and ideas for this mainline moment in worship. Initially, it was a subscription service. Some subscribers used SSCSJ for adult Sunday school discussion. Some used it for youth bible study. After completing the three year cycle of the lectionary, we turned it into eBooks that contain the ideas for a small fee ($10). I think those are still on Apple books somewhere. If interested in receiving this pdf eBook, leave a comment and I’ll get in touch with you. If you have my email address, please email me. Along with the ideas, The Sacred Steps ebook contains what I think are best practices for the children’s sermon and information about the liturgical seasons of the Christian calendar. Though not designed as such, it could be a devotional. We do make some decisions about which weekly lectionary readings to explore, thus sometimes it is not specifically aligned with the calendar. I return to these ideas in my own study when preparing to preach or keynote. I trust they will be helpful to you.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, I’ll post ideas for the lectionary texts weekly (Wednesday morning) as part of my lenten discipline. Here is a sample for this week’s readings.
- This is an opportunity to talk with the children about prayer. This psalm is asking God to do or be many things. How often do the children do the same?
- If you created an “Images of God” list to use with the children, get it out and see if there are some to add from this psalm. God rescues, is a refuge, and a rock. What do those mean? How do we, you, or the children, experience God as refuge, rescuer, or rock?
- How are the children already a prodigy or marvel of God? What do they do that helps indicate that God’s love is happening in their lives or in the world?
- This is an opportunity to talk with the children about the prophetic writings in the First Testament, and why we continue to read the prophets today. Be ready to offer a simple definition for the word “prophet” for the children. Remember, prophets for the Jewish community are not future tellers or predictors of Jesus specifically. They are cultural and religious critics who told the people what they needed to hear, even when and especially when it was not what they wanted to hear. One might choose to create a list of the major and minor prophets in the First Testament and use it with the children each time you talk with them about one of the prophets.
- Jeremiah argued that he was only a boy. This scripture provides the opportunity to help the children understand their importance to the community of faith. They, too, have important words to share with, and can be leaders for, the community, just like Jeremiah. How might the children show your congregation God’s compassion, love, or justice?
- Children have had the experience of being chosen to read in class or to join a team at school, or they probably have divided up for a game on the playground. Rather than competing with the other children to be “picked” or “chosen”, this text would be a good way to help the children think about God’s choosing all of us.
- Verse 5 is an opportunity to talk to the children about God’s intimate knowledge of creation and of humanity as a religious confession rather than scientific fact.
- If you have an older group verse 9 is a good place to begin a conversation about how to know when the community of faith, or an individual, is “speaking for God.”
- This scripture could provide several weeks of conversation with the children if one chooses to talk about these different aspects of love. Are any of the characteristics of love more important to the community than others?
- Talk with the children about the aspects of love that are the easiest for humanity? Which are harder?
- Help the children understand that there is nothing wrong with being a child. Children have something to offer your community of faith. Pick one or two of these “childish” ways and highlight their importance to the community.
- This is an opportunity to talk with the children about how some of the stories about Jesus make us feel. Some of what Jesus teaches is hard for us to hear or understand, but if we study, talk, and listen to one another, we might come to a better understanding of what Jesus meant.
- One could focus on what it means to be accepted in your community of faith. Jesus spoke of not being accepted because he would not “perform” for the people. Are there times when the children have not felt accepted? How does your congregation accept people?
- If you have an older group, one could talk about the teachings of Jesus that upset us, or make us mad, because they are hard to understand and hard to follow. What do we do with the teachings about praying for our enemies or turning the other cheek?