session Call to prayer for leaders - Evangelisation...

4
glorifying Guidelines for leaders What you will need: purple fabric Bible large purple candle, matches or lighter a glass container of seeds What you will need to do: organise for sacred space to be created organise for comfortable seating to be arranged so that those gathered can see the prayer space and each other Invite members of the group to take on the roles of: lighting the candle reading the Gospel quote in the opening prayer. Welcome Leader: Welcome everyone to our Lenten gathering for the Fifth Week of Lent. This week we will again be invited to enter into times of stillness and silence, times of reflection and prayer and times of listening and sharing. We are reminded that these gatherings are an ‘unplugged time’ with phones out of sight and reach, turned off or on silent. We ask that you will respect times of silence, share only what is comfortable for you to share and respect the confidentiality of the group. These gatherings are a good opportunity for us to connect with different people so we encourage you to sit in different places each week. Light the candle Call to prayer A guided meditation is provided on the CDs. This centring meditation will prepare participants for prayer. Opening prayer Leader: In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus touches the hearts of listeners by using the image of a grain of wheat to show the necessity of death as a pathway or opportunity for new life. In the darkness of the earth, a seed is buried and then sheds its husk, germinates and leaves behind its old self. During this Lenten season we are invited to let go and leave behind all that stunts our growth and our relationship with God and others. We are called to allow the seeds of new life to break open within us so that we may joyfully spread the word of God through our words and actions as people of hope. Notice the shapes and colours of the seeds we have in our sacred space as we listen to these powerful words spoken by Jesus. Reader: I tell you most solemnly, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. (time for silence) Praying with The Sower Leader: Let us take time to sit with the artwork for this week, The Sower , by Vincent Van Gogh. Notice that the sower is letting go of the seeds. Notice the colours, shapes, shadows FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT SESSION 5 The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands) Used with permission. 6 47 SAMPLE

Transcript of session Call to prayer for leaders - Evangelisation...

Page 1: session Call to prayer for leaders - Evangelisation …evangelisationbrisbane.org.au/assets/uploads/lent-18...stillness and silence, times of reflection and prayer and times of listening

glorifyingGuidelines for leaders What you will need:• purplefabric• Bible• largepurplecandle,matchesorlighter• aglasscontainerofseeds

What you will need to do:• organise for sacred space to be

created• organise for comfortable seating to be

arranged so that those gathered can see the prayer space and each other

Invite members of the group to take on the roles of:• lightingthecandle• readingtheGospelquoteintheopening

prayer.

WelcomeLeader:

Welcome everyone to our Lenten gathering for the Fifth Week of Lent. This week we will again be invited to enter into times of stillness and silence, times of reflection and prayer and times of listening and sharing. We are reminded that these gatherings are an ‘unplugged time’ with phones out of sight and reach, turned off or on silent. We ask that you will respect times of silence, share only what is comfortable for you to share and respect the confidentiality of the group. These gatherings are a good opportunity for us to connect with different people so we encourage you to sit in different places each week.

Light the candle

Call to prayer A guided meditation is provided on the CDs. This centring meditation will prepare participants for prayer.

Opening prayerLeader:

In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus touches the hearts of listeners by using the image of a grain of wheat to show the necessity of death as a pathway or opportunity for new life. In the darkness of the earth, a seed is buried and then sheds its husk, germinates and leaves behind its old self. During this Lenten season we are invited to let go and leave behind all that stunts our growth and our relationship with God and others. We are called to allow the seeds of new life to break open within us so that we may joyfully spread the word of God through our words and actions as people of hope.

Notice the shapes and colours of the seeds we have in our sacred space as we listen to these powerful words spoken by Jesus.

Reader: I tell you most solemnly, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. (time for silence)

Praying with The Sower

Leader:

Let us take time to sit with the artwork for this week, The Sower, by Vincent Van Gogh. Notice that the sower is letting go of the seeds. Notice the colours, shapes, shadows

fifth Su

nd

ay O

f LEnt

session

5

The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands) Used with permission.

6

47

SAMPLE

Page 2: session Call to prayer for leaders - Evangelisation …evangelisationbrisbane.org.au/assets/uploads/lent-18...stillness and silence, times of reflection and prayer and times of listening

and textures. What do you see when you look more closely? What emotions or memories are evoked in you when you allow this artwork to touch your heart? What do you think God is saying to you through this painting? Spend time in prayer responding to what you have seen, heard or felt.

Psalm

Leader: As blessed and broken people, we pray together ancient words from Psalm 18. Tapping into the richness of our tradition, we will pray the psalm with alternate sides praying aloud the verses of the psalm.

Leader will indicate who will pray Side 1 and Side 2.

Leader: I offer my shattered spirit; a changed heart you welcome.

Side 1: Have mercy, tender God, forget that I defied you. Wash away my sin, cleanse me from my guilt.

Side 2: Creator, reshape my heart, God, steady my spirit. Do not cast me aside stripped of your holy spirit.

Side 1: Save me, bring back my joy, support me, strengthen my will. Then I will teach your way and sinners will turn to you.

Side 2: Help me, stop my tears, and I will sing your goodness. Lord, give me words and I will shout your praise.

Side 1: When I offer a holocaust, the gift does not please you. So I offer my shattered spirit; a changed heart you welcome.

Leader: With changed hearts, let us glorify our Creator God. Let us pray ...

All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Listen to the Good NewsLeader:

As we listen now to the Gospel we ask God to speak to us through this story. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells in the scene. Notice if a word or phrase moves you or evokes a response within you. Write this word or phrase in the space provided after the reading.

From the Gospel of John (12:20-33)

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’

Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This

voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

After a period of silence the leader invites participants to share their word or phrase. This period is not intended as a lengthy discussion. Participants may add a brief explanation for their choice.

7

4948

SAMPLE

Page 3: session Call to prayer for leaders - Evangelisation …evangelisationbrisbane.org.au/assets/uploads/lent-18...stillness and silence, times of reflection and prayer and times of listening

Break Open the Good NewsAs so often in the gospels, Jesus tends to stand prevailing human wisdom on its head. This week’s gospel reading challenges our human priorities and values. The deepest and darkest fear at the centre of human life is death. This is the one thing that is certain, the one thing that no one can bribe, cheat, dodge, or evade their way out of, good and wicked alike. Death comes for all of us. Yet, Jesus understands death in a radically different way.

For Jesus, death is not an end point; death is the beginning. He uses simple metaphors to help us understand this truth, telling us that the grain of wheat must die in order to give life to the many. Jesus’ death will bring the opportunity of eternal life to all humans through God’s grace. His journey through suffering, pain, and death are necessary for the lives of many. His death was the reason, the point of it all, because he knows that God will glorify him through that death. And through his sacrifice, he ‘will draw all people to’ himself. All of us have the chance to live eternally, to share life in God, because of Jesus’ death, once and for all time.

Yet, even more than this, Jesus tells us that being his servants requires from us that same dedication and sacrifice. We too must be ready to sacrifice our lives for God’s greater will; to act selflessly rather than in our own personal interests. For those that do, Jesus tells us, ‘the Father will honour’. We too will glory in eternal life with God, as long as we can understand that death in Christ is glorification.

One of the more difficult messages of the Gospel is found in this passage: ‘Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life’. Despite appearances, Jesus is not telling us to be ‘sourpusses’ to

quote Pope Francis in The Joy of the Gospel (paragraph 85).

In his encyclical letter On Care of Our Common Home (Laudato Si’) Pope Francis points to the life of St Francis as a perfect model of this message of Jesus. To many St Francis seemed to have lost his life, Pope Francis says however, that ‘He ... was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was ... a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. ... His response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection’ (paragraphs 10, 11). As Jesus tells us earlier in John’s Gospel (10:10) ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’.

We have to consider what it means to live to the full. If to be alive is simply the continuation of biological functions, and death is the termination of the same, then Jesus’ words make little sense. However, if being alive is more than this, and in fact, means living a life that is selflessly devoted to others, then his meaning becomes clearer. A selfish life, carried out by those who love themselves more than anything else, leads to ultimate death. But those who obey Jesus’ great commandment – first to love God, and then to love neighbour – are those who are truly alive in the Spirit, and, will be glorified with Christ. Love of one’s own life above all is death; but those who give away their own lives for others is life.

Jesus’ death was an act of pure selflessness. We are called to the same, to live selflessly and devote ourselves to God, to other people and to God’s creation. To do anything else will not only lead us to ultimate death; but in fact, would be to lead only a ‘half-life’ to begin with. As Albert Einstein once said, ‘Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.’

Selfishness is one of the great faults of our current time, which is encouraged through our consumerist and individualistic way of life. Too many people today strive selfishly for their own gain, regardless of the hurt they cause to others. These are the people Jesus condemns for ‘loving their lives’. Jesus warns that this way leads only to death. But for those who place other people’s needs before their own, who seek to consume ethically, who give foolishly, sacrificing their own wants and desires for the benefit of their neighbour – these are the ones who appear in the eyes of the world to ‘hate their lives’.

And yet for Jesus, that is the way to eternal life; the path of faith, hope and love, the journey of the cross and resurrection.

Leader: After the group has watched, read or listened to, Break Open the Good News invite each person to contemplate quietly to hear the words echo in their heart.

Echo in the heartTake a moment to write down any personal insights, new ideas, questions or challenges you have from the Gospel reflection.

Share the Good NewsQuietly read the questions below. When you are ready share with the group your response to one or two questions.

• Wheredoyousee‘agrainthatfallsintotheearth’that ‘bears much fruit’... in families, communities, churches?

• InthefirstletterofPeterwereadthat‘allofyoumust clothe yourself with humility in your dealings with one another’ (1 Peter 5:5-6). This virtue is often viewed negatively as humiliation, a loss of identity. In light of the Gospel what are the positive aspects of humility (derived from humus, of the earth)?

• Whatdoyouthinkoftheeffectsofselfishness?Wheredoesitleadus,ourfamilies,andoursociety?

Blessed and givenThis week Caroline Grogan shares the blessings of her journey, experiences of brokenness, of giving and of gratitude.

• Whataremyresponsestothestorythisweek?Whatencouragedme,challenged me, inspired me?

8 9

9 10

5150

SAMPLE

Page 4: session Call to prayer for leaders - Evangelisation …evangelisationbrisbane.org.au/assets/uploads/lent-18...stillness and silence, times of reflection and prayer and times of listening

Closing prayerLeader: Let us stand to pray

the prayer that Jesus taught.

All stand.

All: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

(ecumenical text 1988)

Leader: Let us remain standing and sing the following verse of the hymn ‘Bread Broken and Given’.

Hymn:

Bread broken and given, wine poured and shared, now Christ’s Body and Blood. May we become what we receive: Jesus. And to all who thirst may we be refreshment. We are the presence of Christ, blessed, broken and given. Bread broken and given, wine poured and shared, now Christ’s Body and Blood. May we become what we receive: Jesus

Bread Broken and Given, by Trevor Thomson and Pasquale Talarico, copyright (c) 2015, 2016, World Library Publications, wlpmusic.com. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Leader: May we go forth to be the presence of Christ for ourselves and those who thirst for connection and hope.

All: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Extinguish candle and pause

10

• The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed the horrendous statistics and long-term damage caused to victims/survivors, their families and the community who had suffered abuse by priests, religious or lay workers in the Church. One of the goals of the Year of Youth is for a safe environment, physically, emotionally and spiritually for young people. The Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University has produced an excellent four page brochure, ‘What do children and young people think about safety’. Print copies for your group and parish. www.acu.edu.au/icps www.ncps.org.au

• At eighteen Ann Voskamp had left her mother behind the locked doors of a psychiatric hospital more than a few times. At church on Sunday she heard her pastor joke that he had once ‘lived next to a loony bin’. She writes in her book The Broken Way – a daring path into the abundant life:

‘I’d wanted to stand up and beg: When the church isn’t for the suffering and broken, then the church isn’t for Christ. Because Jesus, with his pierced side, is always on the side of the broken. Jesus always moves into places and moved with grief. Jesus always seeks out where the suffering is, and that’s where Jesus stays. The wound in his side proves that Jesus is always on the side of the suffering, the wounded, the busted, the broken’ (p 18)

Look for ways this week where you can walk beside ‘the suffering, the wounded, the busted, the broken’. What steps can your parish take to raise awareness about mental health, suicide prevention, drug and alcohol abuse?

• After Easter some Lenten groups choose to keep meeting – perhaps every two weeks. At the back of the book there are a number of options and resources to research. Ann Voskamp’s two books, The Broken Way and 1000 Gifts, are available as DVD and discussion guides for groups. See page 64 for more options and resources.

Live the Good News ... in the week ahead

5352

SAMPLE