St Hughs Lent Day 29th March 2025

 This year instead of offering taize worship through Lent we had a Saturday together to look at two aspects of our life together worship and scripture. It was really good to see 19 people come to the day which began at 10.30 and ended at 2.30pm. With Iona style worship to start the day and finish, a fish and chips lunch and it was all in all a relaxed time.

The morning focussed on a simple worship game. Thinking about a Sunday service people were invited in small groups to deal out various cards with words which related to worship. They were invited to explain why they would put that particular word in a certain column, ranging from essential to not necessary. Of course there are no right or wrong answers. The important part was to listen to each other and gain an insight why somethings help one person to worship though not neccessarily everyone. The key thing was to talk, listen and smile, which I'm glad to say occurred, and those who were a little uncertain about the day began to settle and found the time helpful.

Each group came out differently though with many common views.

From worship we then turned to writing a gospel. Each person had to write down on one coloured sheet something Jesus taught. Then on another one miracle Jesus did. Then one person Jesus met and finally one fact about his life. 

Having completed this task they then formed pairs and eliminated two pieces of information ensuring they still had the four colours in their final selection. 

Then they formed fours before getting into groups of six.

Again they had to eliminate information and finally ending with a gospel story to tell.

Behind this exercise is the reminder of  how the gospel writers had to select and leave out information in their telling of the good news. While the results were interesting it was again the process and the conversation which was enabled that really counted.

The two groups told their story and of course information was added in the telling. To make sure we shared something of what had taken place on the Saturday we shared with the congregation the next day I quickly edited the two stories and read them out. See below. I hope you enjoy.

So by elimination people had 12 pieces of information for a gospel story.

 

Gospel 1

When Jesus was twelve he went to the temple with his parents, and while they set off home he stayed, and they rushed back to find him answering questions in the temple. When he was about 30, having been baptised he went into the wilderness for forty days. This was a time when he made choices about what kind of ministry he would undertake and he resisted the temptation to use his power wrongly. So at the outset of his ministry being at a  wedding his mum asked him to help out because the wine had run out which saw him turn water into wine. He went onto do many amazing things like feeding five thousand hungry people who had turned up to hear him teach, and he was concerned that their stomach needed filling as well. He had a special place for those on the margins of society. So he healed 10 lepers though only one came back to say thank you, a woman even touched his clock and she found that she was healed from her heamorraging, and he commended her for her faith.  Finding himself in Samaritan country he sat at a  well in the heat of the day when  a woman came to the well on her own, and in their conversation he turned  her life around, and she went and told everyone about this amazing man she had met. Well you would wouldn’t you, because he taught that you should love one another as he had loved  his disciples. But he really annoyed people especially those in power like the pharisees who were fixated on obeying laws and rules. So they conspired to bring him before Pontus pilate the roman governor who ended up ordering his death upon a cross yet three days later he rose again to life.

Gospel 2

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and when he had grown up he became a well known rabbi teaching people about how to live, like the way we should love one another as he had loved people. He could also annoy people because he said the last will be first and the first last so turning the world upside down, which did not go down well with people like the hIgh Priest. But it wasn’t just what he said that irritated but who he mixed with and welcomed. So a taxman became his host for a meal, a woman at the well found she was in fact loved and spread the good news about Jesus. He gave sight to a blind man putting mud on his eyes and praying for him. When teaching he found the need to ensure over 5000 were fed physically as well. He told amazing and memorable stores about what God was like, such as the prodigal son who the Father loves always and welcomes him home. God is like that says Jesus, really irritating the powers that be, that God’s grace is overflowing. Yet in spite of all the good things some wanted him shut up and he was crucified. But many have come to discover he was in fact God’s only Son and his love given was not wasted for he is alive still.