Prepare

If last week’s text was weird, this text (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7), commonly called the fall , has baggage. It is the story of the original sin, which we all inherit. So maybe it’s a story about our baggage, but it also has some baggage of its own. It’s weighed down by readings that continue the blame game of 3:12, which, even in the story, seems to make everything worse. Specifically, some interpretations of this text blame women for the fall. I would assume that people who know this story are familiar with those interpretations. I would assume people have feelings about those interpretations. It is important to acknowledge both those feelings and those readings.

It is helpful to note that the blame game doesn’t help. In verses 12 and 13, the man blames the woman, and the woman blames the serpent, and God assesses consequences on everyone. Blame is an attempt at control; however, there is so much of life that is always beyond our control.

In the article, I talk about guilt and shame. Guilt says, “I did a bad thing,” while shame says, “I am bad.” Both are important for this text. So, too, is reconciliation, where relationships are repaired and forgiveness is shared.

Opening Exercise

Give participants a stack of scratch paper or some index cards. Read a word, and have participants write down or draw the first word, phrase, or icon (it’s okay to invent one) that comes to mind. Count to three and then have the group reveal their response. Ask if anyone would like to share and explore together what is similar and what is different. Go as many rounds as make sense for your group. (I’m grateful to Lyle Griner’s Really, Really Greats! for this idea.)

• Fruit
• Snake
• Guilt
• Shame
• Good
• Evil
• Forgiveness

Alternatively, break up into pairs and ask:

• What is the difference between guilt and shame? Is one worse than the other?
• How do you cope with feelings of guilt and shame?

Text Read Aloud

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

The Knowledge of Good: God’s Answer to Shame

Isn’t it strange that this story doesn’t say that Eve—and Adam—felt guilty for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of

Illustration by Kayla Shiao.

good and evil, but ashamed of their nakedness? Maybe it isn’t that surprising, because surely they had bumped into one another accidentally while gardening, or taken the last bite of something the other was hoping to savor? Guilt is the feeling we have when we’ve done something wrong—accidentally or purposefully—and we know it. Guilt says, “I did something bad.” But shame says, “I am bad.” When Adam and Eve eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what they know first is shame.

The family Madrigal in the Disney movie Encanto knows something about shame (for a quick plot refresher, you can watch the trailer here). The family is ashamed because Bruno’s gift doesn’t work the way they want it to. And they are ashamed because Mirabel isn’t given a magical gift like the rest of the family. Shame breaks apart their family’s home.

The knowledge of evil seems to be this: things are tangled up for us, and that tangledness makes it hard for us to do what is right. We live within systems that tell us because we don’t fit in just so, if we don’t look just so, if we don’t have certain things, then we should be ashamed. Adam and Eve realize they aren’t, in a sense, dressed properly, and now they know it, and it makes them ashamed. In other words, the first thing they learn from the tree is not some new sin; it is that they are exposed as inadequate. They’re ashamed. That is the knowledge of evil.

But if that’s the knowledge of evil, what’s the knowledge of good?

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The knowledge of good is the antidote to shame. Shame isolates, but reconciliation reunites. After the Madrigals’ Casita is destroyed by an earthquake, Mirabel runs away and her abuela finds her. They are reconciled. They work to repair their relationship and forgive one another. Think about the last big singing number. The family is all together, but the house is in ruins. Together, with their community’s help, they rebuild Casita. The knowledge of good is that God is always making things right, and we’re invited to be a part of it. That’s reconciliation. That’s the good.

Past the verses we read from this story, God gives consequences to the woman and the man and the serpent. They’re all going to have to leave the garden, but God takes the time to make clothes for them. God sees their shame and works to make things right, moving toward them, not away from them. God doesn’t abandon them.

It can be tempting to treat this story like humanity’s biggest mistake, but it certainly seems to me that this story is the beginning of God’s biggest triumph. The theologian Richard Rohr points out that Jesus is God’s Plan A, as in, Jesus isn’t the backup plan because we messed everything up so badly. Jesus is God’s ongoing pattern of reconciliation made visible. In Jesus, God is reconciling the world to God’s self (2 Corinthians 5:19). God isn’t counting our faults but working to restore relationship with us and with the world. This is the good.

This story can absolutely be the story about how sin entered the world. It can be the story about all the tangled-up realities of life on earth. It can be the story about broken relationships between God and humanity and between humans. And it can be the story about how God is committed—from the very beginning—to repairing, restoring, and reconciling. This is the knowledge of good.

Reflection Questions

Read the text again.

• What did you notice in the story this time that you hadn’t noticed before?
• Why do you think God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden in the first place?
• What happens to Eve and Adam after they eat the fruit? What was supposed to happen?
• How do you think God reacts to us when we mess up?

Closing Activity & Prayer

Say a confession and forgiveness together, such as the one in Setting 12 in All Creation Sings (pgs. 29-30), or one that is familiar to participants. Before you begin, encourage them to listen for words of reconciliation: where God is forgiving and making things right for us, for everyone else, and for all of creation.

Bio

Adrianne Meier is an ELCA pastor who serves among the people at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Indiana. When she’s not working—and even when she is working—you can find her furiously knitting.

Prepare

To begin, let’s admit that the Transfiguration is a weird story. We’ve got heroes from the Bible’s past. There are voices from heaven. People faint from fear. Jesus transfigures, whatever that actually means. This story is just weird.

There are a few things to keep in mind about Moses and Elijah that might be helpful for understanding this story. First, no one saw Moses and Elijah die. When Moses dies, God grants him, alone, a glimpse of the promised land and then God buries Moses, but no one knows where (Deuteronomy 34). Elijah ascends into heaven by means of a chariot, fire, and whirlwind (2 Kings 2). But here is more: both Moses and Elijah, in their time, meet God on mountaintops, in fact, it’s the same mountain – Mount Horeb. God calls Moses through the burning bush and later, on the same mountain, gives him the Torah, the law. Elijah meets God in the sound of sheer silence and receives instructions to anoint new kings and name a successor. 

Before and after this story, Jesus predicts his death several times, and he confronts his disciples with the truth about how hard it is to follow him: it is like taking up a cross. And, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John come down from the mountain, they’ll learn the other disciples have been trying, and failing, to help a little boy with epilepsy.

Transfigured means changed—not like a costume change, but a change in form. Yes, Jesus’ appearance changes, but there seems to be something more. Whatever it is, the disciples see him both more clearly and less so. Peter lacks the words to express the depth of this moment, but he knows what is true: it is good to be here.

Opening Exercise

• You’re hosting a dinner party for yourself and five other people—some you know now, some from history you wish you could’ve met. Who do you invite? Why? How do you introduce them to one another? What kinds of conversations would you hope to have?

Text Read Aloud

Matthew 17:1-9 

It is Good to Be Here

Winter is never mild in Ukraine, but it has been particularly harsh this year. Many people are without power for all or part of the day. A lot of people don’t have water in their homes anymore because of the war with Russi

BBC News. Watch: Frozen river hosts dance party in Kyiv.

a. It is easy for things to feel helpless. But the people have started to throw dance parties on frozen rivers and lakes. They’ve got little racing buggies that they run on the ice, and DJs set up full rigs in the middle of frozen lakes. In an interview, one person said, “It’s gotten so much harder to be happy, but we have the small flame of hope in our hearts that we try to keep burning.” When the way looks helpless, God kindles hope in our hearts within communities where we know it is good for us to be.

Peter sounds pretty ridiculous when he starts babbling about tents, but it has been a harsh journey to this point. He and his fellow disciples have been stretched and challenged in countless ways. They have seen incomprehensible things: Jesus walking on water, feeding thousands, curing all sorts of diseases. The disciples who followed Jesus had been criticized and scolded by Pharisees. And, while they had left home, left their jobs, and left their families to follow Jesus, he recently told them that that wouldn’t be enough. Jesus told them that disciples carry crosses, instruments of torture and death. 

And it wasn’t like things were easy before they followed Jesus, either. The Sea of Galilee was being overfished, the treasures of their lake exported to Rome. They had been taxed, tolled, and fined by the Romans, who occupied every inch of their homeland. 

So when Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain, and they see the heroes of their bedtime stories—Moses and Elijah—we can understand why Peter says, “It is good for us to be here.” Things were hard, and Jesus drew together this extraordinary community, renewing his disciples’ sense of hope.

Recently, I was at a reunion of sorts, an opportunity to bring together people who work in the same field. We get together once a year or so, and we look forward to it. But it seems like things have been especially hard for people recently: there’s a lot of bad news, and people are lonelier and more disconnected than they used to be. We were all feeling disconnected and discouraged. So, we were all in agreement when one of my colleagues walked into the room and proclaimed loudly, “It is good to be here.”

At its best, this is what church can be for us: that when we’re discouraged and disconnected, Jesus gathers together an extraordinary community, renewing our sense of hope. And this is what other communities—times of fellowship and time with our friends and family—can also be for us: gathered together, Jesus with us, hope renewed.

Reflection Questions

• Who can give the best impression of Peter on the mountain?
• What would you have said if you were Peter? 
• Where do you go when you’re feeling disconnected or discouraged?
• What are some things you do to help you feel more hopeful? What is something someone else has done for you?

Closing Activity

• Take a few minutes to draw or write about a place where you’ve been a part of a gathering that renewed you. Maybe it was a team meeting in a locker room before a big game, or during worship, or just getting together with friends. Invite participants to share their responses, if they’d like.

Final Prayer/Blessing

• Light a candle and place it on your drawing or writing, or carefully hold your work while you pray.
  • Encouraging God, you gathered Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John with Jesus on the mountain when they were feeling challenged, stretched, and even frustrated. When we’re uncertain about the future, disconnected from one another, or discouraged, put your hope within us. Fan it from a spark into a flame, that we may be sustained in community with one another, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Bio

Adrianne Meier is an ELCA pastor who serves among the people at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bloomington, Indiana. When she’s not working—and even when she is working—you can find her furiously knitting.

Prepare

As Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount, he shifts his focus from God’s character and wide blessing to the character of disciples. He proclaims they “are the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” and encourages them to act accordingly (Matthew 5:13-14, NRSVue).

Verse 16 is commonly used in Lutheran baptismal liturgies as a way of proclaiming that this same identity and calling, first given to Jesus’s earliest followers, now belongs to those who are newly baptized and to us as his followers today.

But Jesus also reminds his disciples (ancient and modern) that what he is preaching is nothing new. He did not “come to abolish the Law or the Prophets” (Matthew 5:17, NRSVue). He points us to the commandments, and not just the Ten! There are actually 613 commandments in the Torah. Jesus famously mentions the two most important in Matthew 22:35-40.

These two might be considered one because one can’t fully love God without loving your neighbor and vice versa. Martin Luther might agree, as he starts each of his commandment explanations in the Small Catechism with the same phrase: “We are to fear and love God, so that…” But regardless of how these are numbered, we are called to follow the guidance of the past.

Which brings us to today’s assigned reading from Isaiah. Chapter 58 is part of what scholars call Third Isaiah, which means its original historical context is the return from exile in Babylon. The people’s ancestors were sent into exile after they strayed from God and God’s ways, failing to live in accordance with God’s commandments. They did not heed the warnings of God’s prophets. So God “hit the reset button” by allowing Babylon to conquer them. Upon their return, they had to rebuild and make decisions about how to order their society, and here the prophet shares words of wisdom from God.

Opening Exercise

1. Icebreaker Question Options:

• Which of the five basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami) do you think is your favorite? And what is your favorite food that highlights that taste?
• Tell about a time when you fasted (it doesn’t have to be from food or for religious reasons).

Text Read Aloud

Isaiah 58:1-12
Matthew 5:13-20

Salt, Light, and the Life of Discipleship

This week’s assigned Gospel reading is a continuation of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, which began last week with the Beatitudes. In that opening passage, we heard about how wide, and at times seemingly illogical, God’s blessing truly is.

Now Jesus’s teaching shifts to focus more on the life of discipleship, that is, who we are called to be in light of who God is. Jesus tells his followers that they are salt and light. But he also warns them that one can be those things and not fulfill their intended purpose. You can be salt, but not preserve and flavor food, maintain healthy bodies, or melt ice.

Chemically speaking, any neutral compound made up of an anion and a cation held together by an ionic bond is a salt. But for simplicity, going forward, when I say salt, I’m going to be referring to table salt (sodium chloride NaCl). As the proud owner of a BS in Chemistry, I hope you will believe me when I tell you: salt CANNOT lose it saltiness.

When you grind salt, you break down its crystalline structure, but you don’t break the ionic bond. Crushing salt does not cause it to lose its saltiness. When you dissolve salt in water, you do break the ionic bond and are left with Na+ and Cl- ions floating around in solution. But when the water is removed—evaporated away—the ions simply recombine back into salt. Water does not cause salt to lose its saltiness.

What you can do is render salt not useful by mixing it with impurities. If you mix salt with the wrong things—for example dirt—then you aren’t going to want to use it to flavor your food or balance your electrolytes. However, it is still salt.

Same thing with a light. You can be light, but not usefully illuminate anything. A light doesn’t stop being bright just because you block the photons from getting to your eyes. Yet, what is the point? It is simply a waste of electricity or fire fuel.

Thankfully, Isaiah gives us some guidance on what exactly Jesus means when he tells his followers to be salt and light. God is not as interested in personal piety and ritual as God is interested in mercy and justice. God yearns for us “to loose the bonds of injustice […] let the oppressed go free […] share [our] bread with the hungry […] bring the homeless poor into [our] house,” etc (Isaiah 58:6-7, NRSVue).

That is how God wants us to shine our light. God’s word, including the commandments, are not meant to be a grading rubric for us to use against others to see if they measure up and are worthy of God’s love. All humans are beloved children of God, made in God’s image. We are all salt and light, and we are called to act accordingly. And when (not if, but when) we fall short, we can trust that God will still love us and welcome us into the kingdom, for the “least in the kingdom of heaven” are still in the kingdom (Matthew 5:19, NRSVue)!

Reflection Questions

• What work does Jesus call his disciples to be about?
• What does it mean to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”?
• What things get in the way of you being salt and light? What might we need to fast from?
• Which commandment is the hardest to keep? Which commandment is the most commonly broken?

Closing Activity

• Make a two-column chart. At the top of one column write “Fast” and at the top of the other column write “Feast.” Work as a group to fill in the two columns with specific examples of what God calls us to fast from (aka give up, avoid, divest from, spend less time/money/energy on) and what God calls us to feast on (aka prioritize, invest in, spend more time/money/energy on). If you need help getting started, look up William Arthur Ward’s poem “Fasting and Feasting.”

Final Blessing

• Give each participant a candle to hold or light one candle in the midst of the group (be careful around open flames). Then go around the group and say to each participant: “(Name), you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world.”
• You could have the whole group say it to each person, the leader proclaim to each, or pass the message from one person to the next, sort of like a game of telephone.
• End by announcing “(Local slang for the plural you ex: y’all or youse) are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” And the group responding “We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”

Bio of Author

Leslie Weber is a pastor, spouse, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and ally. She serves at Grace Lutheran Church (Chesapeake, VA) and Holy Communion Lutheran Church (Portsmouth, VA). Her favorite salty snack is soft pretzels served with warm cheese dip and her favorite sweet treat is a chocolate-covered caramel with plenty of sea salt on top.

Prepare

This week, the Revised Common Lectionary gives us four meaty texts. They relate to one another, but it is also important to think about them individually.

Micah 6:8 might be the best-known verse of the whole book, but it is important to read it within its literary context. Chapter 6 reads like a court transcript. God has dragged the people of Israel (ancient, not the modern-day state) to court. Creation acts as judge and jury. God starts to list all the ways that God has saved and delivered. The people then ask “How shall we say thank you? With sacrifices? Huge sacrifices? Over the top sacrifices?” And a voice responds, God has told you: “to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, NRSVue).

Psalm 15 echoes the high standards of living that God yearns to see from God’s people in Micah 6. Notice the focus on how people interact with others—their friends, their neighbors, the innocent.

The assigned passage from First Corinthians this week starts with the same verse that last week’s passage ended with. The cross is foolish; it does not make sense when selfish power-hungry human logic is applied. Through Christ, God provides to God’s people wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Like the other texts assigned for today, Matthew 5:1-12 shows us God’s character—one who saves, delivers, and defies human logic. The Beatitudes (as they are usually called) are not meant to encourage Christ’s followers to seek out/cause suffering for ourselves in order to get closer to God, but to see where and with whom God promises to be and invite us to come alongside them as well.

Opening Exercise

• Option 1: When you think of someone being “blessed”, who comes to mind? What do they look like? Who do you not think of as being blessed?
• Option 2: Look through the Salt & Gold Collection’s Foot Washing Series inspired by recent events in Minnesota:
  • What are your reactions?
  • Which image surprised you the most?
  • Which image will stick with you this week?
  • What images are missing?
  • You can find earlier iterations of the Foot Washing Series here.

Text Read Aloud

Micah 6:1-8
Matthew 5:1-12

Blessed by Presence, Not Circumstance

If you search #blessed on social media, you will most likely see a seemingly never-ending stream of personal achievements (especially of the athletic variety), the acquisition of material possessions, and the enjoyment of exotic vacation spots.

artwork by Salt & Gold Collection

It seems like today’s popular definition of “blessed” is almost the exact opposite of what Jesus had in mind at the Mount of the Beatitudes. A state of blessedness is not something that is earned or even something to be aspired to. It is a statement of promise—God promises to be with all God’s people no matter how bad things get.

Our God is about turning the world upside down—which is why Jesus speaks what seems like foolishness when he calls those in so many terrible situations “blessed.” The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted are not blessed BY their situations. Rather, they are called blessed because God remains with them amid their less-than-ideal situations, promising that things will ultimately be different. This presence and solidarity with those whom society would otherwise cast off is the heart of the good news—no one is out of God’s purview. All are invited into the abundant life of God’s kin-dom.

Too often, though, we lose sight of God’s plan for creation and make up our own. We lose sight of the communal for the individual, turning inward and gazing at our navels. It is this manifestation of sin that leads to the list of Solemn Reproaches that we confess as a community on Good Friday in the style of Micah 6.

Yet, as we confess our complacency with injustice and the ways we work against God’s plan and God’s people, let us also hear the good news that God continues God’s saving action despite us. We do not have to do anything or be good enough to receive “righteousness and redemption and sanctification” from our Lord. Instead, when we are given God’s free gift of grace, we are transformed to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” When our egos and selfishness are kept in check, we get to experience God’s kin-dom and true plan for creation—where there is more than enough to go around and abundant life for all.

Reflection Questions

• According to Micah 6:1-8 and Matthew 5:1-12, what do the actions of God tell us about the character of God?
• According to Micah 6:1-8 and Psalm 15, how does God want God’s people to live?
• Why do you think that Jesus mentioned the groups/kinds of people that he did in the Beatitudes?
• If Jesus were preaching the Sermon on the Mount today, what groups/kinds of people would he name in the Beatitudes today?
• How have you or could you actively work to bless the groups/kinds of people that Jesus included in the biblical Beatitudes or that are on the modern-day list y’all came up with?

Closing Activity

• Work individually or in small groups to design a visual representation of Micah 6:8 or the Beatitudes—think t-shirt, temporary tattoo, mural, or banner for your worship space. Give each person/group a chance to share about their design as they desire.

Final Blessing—by Sr. Ruth Marlene Fox, OSB

May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom,
and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really CAN make a difference in this world,
so that you are able, with God’s grace,
to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore. Amen.*

Bio of Author

Leslie Weber is a pastor, spouse, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and ally. She serves at Grace Lutheran Church (Chesapeake, VA) and Holy Communion Lutheran Church (Portsmouth, VA). She was born in California, but has lived most of her life on the East Coast, where she has lived in three of the four U.S. Commonwealths (MA, PA, and VA).

*“May God bless you with a restless discomfort…” A four-fold Benedictine blessing by Sr. Ruth Marlene Fox, OSB, 1985, as reprinted on WorldPrayers.org

Prepare

In today’s gospel lesson we find Jesus “withdrawing” to Galilee. This happens right after Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Jesus often withdraws in order to pray or be alone. This time, we can assume that this is not only a departure toward a new place, but also leaving a situation with Herod that may have been dangerous for him. By Matthew’s account, today’s reading is the introduction to Jesus’ ministry. Pay attention to his movement. What is Jesus up to, and how can we think about this in terms of our own ministry?

When we read scripture (or anything, really), we often imagine ourselves as the main character. There’s a temptation to read and identify as the “good” individuals, consuming good news as if it is the story of our own victory. In some ways, this may be true and helpful in times of deep sorrow. This week, attempt to read the lessons and listen for a story of someone else’s. Think of those in your community who are struggling. Maybe it’s unhoused neighbors you drive by, immigrants who no longer feel safe to go to work or school, or anyone who might be feeling hopeless. Imagine how the scripture this week might read to them.

A note for the closing activity: you’ll need a ball or skein of yarn.

Opening Exercise

Think about a favorite saying, phrase, or quote and share it with the group. Is there a story behind why this stands out to you? How does it make you feel when you hear it? How have these words shaped you or impacted you, and why? Why do you think we are so deeply impacted by song lyrics, poetry, words, or sayings?

Texts to Read Aloud

Isaiah 9:1–4

Matthew 4:12–23

Repentance as Fulfillment

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is quite active. Jesus hears, travels, fulfills a prophecy, preaches, walks, calls people into ministry, teaches, and heals. For the author of Matthew, it is important to begin the story of Jesus’ ministry with a declaration of who this ministry is for. Maybe the traveling and Jesus’ call for repentance feel like a few dots on the plot line moving the story forward, but really they are a recalibration for the reader to understand what Matthew is setting them up for.

Professor Eugene Park describes this in his commentary in a helpful way. He explains that, “[w]hen this vision of the ‘Rule/Kingdom of God’ was not realized, and when the earthly rulers, be they Israelite kings or rulers of foreign empires colonizing Israel, abused their power and committed various forms of injustice against the people of God, prophets arose and proclaimed the forgotten vision of ‘What would it be like if God directly ruled?’ In this context, the kingdom of God has an inherently anti-imperial and anti-establishment ethos. It reflects an intense yearning for a sociopolitical order based on the will of God for justice and fairness.”*

In other words, Jesus was not a new king coming to overthrow and then keep business as usual. He was not interested in the status quo of power. Rather, Jesus brought hope and the promise of justice to those who were deep in the despair of injustice. This promise was not just for a specific people, but for everyone.

In the calling of the disciples, we witness a ministry that even Jesus could not carry on alone. We are reminded that on this faith journey, we need others—especially those who experience things differently than we ourselves do. We need their hurts, their celebrations, and their gifts. As Jesus began gathering his fellow leaders, who would continue bringing the “Rule of God,” he did not gather the community’s powerful, but rather their common folk and the often overlooked.

In previous weeks, we read about John the Baptist, who paved the way for Jesus’ ministry, and his call for repentance. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”—Jesus not only takes on John’s message, but also makes the shift into ministry. The light that John spoke about is now alight in the land and on the move.

Repent may feel icky or seem strange, but it doesn’t have to be. Consider how it is used in this lesson. It is a call of invitation. Come and follow. Come and join this community. Come and heal. Come and tell the good news. The disciples leave their families and sources of connection to go and start a new community, one that will change the world as they, and we, know it.

Reflection

• How does today’s reading change your perception of the word repent? Share why or why not.

• Who is someone, or a group of people, you think might find hope in the Isaiah and gospel lessons?

• Who might be intimidated by it?

• If you were to keep this story close to you this week, how might it change your actions?

• What is something about today’s reading that challenges you?

• What is something about today’s reading that brings you hope?
  

Closing Prayer & Activity

For our closing prayer, we’re going to “net” our prayers together. The person who opens will hold the end of the yarn and then toss the ball to the next person. When you receive the ball, you’ll hold the “end” before tossing it to the next person as we “weave,” or make, a net with our prayers.

Three rounds of sharing as prayer:

1. Something you’re thankful for

2. A prayer concern

3. Something you want to be a part of this week

At the end of the prayer, take a look around. We bring all kinds of things with us when we come into places of worship. Some of us bring doubts, and others bring joy. Some of us have had the best week, and others aren’t sure where we will find the energy for another one. When we share the load, and when we allow our joys, sorrows, and hopes to be woven together, we create a web of love that is stronger together. As we go into our week, may we be reminded that we are not alone.

Biography

Ashley Hamel serves as the Director of Discipleship at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church and runs the Young Professional group, The Epworth League, in Houston, Texas. She loves curating spaces of belonging where people can experience their belovedness. When not working, you can find her taking her dogs on walks around the bayou, scoping out antique shops, and taking photos of the beauty in the world around her.

*https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-matthew-412-23-7