Here we are, approaching the last Sunday in what I sometimes call “regular Lent”–Lent 5 is upon us. When we were doing our Lent worship planning several months ago, we discovered that all the good texts were on Lent 5…we rather wished we could just use the 5 texts from Lent 5 throughout the season. So…an embarrassment of riches this week!
Perhaps you’ll be focusing on the new covenant, written in our hearts.
Perhaps you’ll be causing the congregation to ask “who on earth is Melchizedek?”
Perhaps you’ll be praying together for clean hearts and new and right spirits.
Perhaps you’ll be seeking God with your whole heart. (this is where we built our entire Lent2012 theme, actually!)
Maybe you’ll be asking whether we really do wish to see Jesus, and what that means in 2012.
What images, words, or ideas are sparking your imagination this week? Let’s create together!
I’m starting to put the pieces together for this week – a little later than usual, but better today than tomorrow, right? – and thinking about Jeremiah’s call for a new covenant. We love to associate this with Jesus, but if we take this seriously, might he also be speaking to us too? Is he calling us to step beyond our religiosity and into a new way of life together? Is he calling us – maybe even ME – to put aside my assumptions about lawfulness and start to imagine a more abundant life? And what does it mean anyway for us in these days to have our sins set aside? I’m away from my hymnals this morning, so I’m not yet thinking about music, but that will definitely be on my list later today. Any thoughts?