Note: During the season of Lent you may want to have the following items available for your gathering space: a candle and matches, a cup of water, a roll or a piece of bread, a cut out of a heart, a cross and a piece of purple cloth.
Welcome
Invite those gathered to bring a designated item and use this liturgy as a way to begin your time of learning together.
One: This is the season of Lent, 40 days to remember and pray, worship and think deeply on the ways we can…
All: Follow in the ways of Jesus.
One: He came as a baby to bring light to the world and how us how to…
(Place a candle on a table in your gathering place and light it.)
All: Follow in the ways of Jesus
One: The Bible tells the story of the way he called disciples when he was on earth and how he still calls disciples today who will…
(Place an open Bible on a table in your gathering place.)
All: Follow in the ways of Jesus.
One: When people were hungry, he gave them food. When people were thirsty, he gave them water. When people needed love, he loved them — even those the world thought were unlovable and called us to do the same as we…
(Place the bread, the cup of water and the heart in your gathering place.)
All: Follow in the ways of Jesus.
One: When it became obvious that we still had trouble being faithful, he made his way to Jerusalem and to the cross so that through his grace we would be able to…
(Place a cross on a table in your gathering place.)
All: Follow in the ways of Jesus.
One: And so, each year, for the 40 days leading to Easter we remember what Christ did for us, pray for forgiveness for our unfaithfulness, worship the God who loved us enough send us the Son and think deeply on how we can…
(Drape the cross with the purple cloth.)
All: Follow in the ways of Jesus.
One: We are here, Holy Spirit, ready for your leading.
God sightings and prayer offerings
Invite each person to share where they saw or experienced God this week. Invite each person to share something — a person, community, experience, event, etc. – for which they want to offer prayer.
Good and gracious God, we thank you for all the ways you were and are present in our lives and in the world. [Invite each person to say aloud the sighting they named earlier.] We bring our prayers to you, prayers for… [invite each person to say aloud the prayer need they named earlier]. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Connecting with Scripture: Exodus 20:1-17
Read the Scripture aloud the first time using the New Revised Standard Version or the Common English Bible.
As you listen to the Scripture read a second time, listen carefully for which commandments are about God and which commandments are about people.
Connecting through story
Here’s a refresher on the backstory (which can be read in the first chapters of Exodus): At God’s command, Moses leads the ancient Hebrew people from their enslavement in Egypt. They come to the edge of the Red Sea with the Egyptian army in pursuit. Just before this clip, God parts the sea and the people walk across its floor to the other side before God returns the sea to its normal state, thus keeping God’s people safe from Pharaoh. Watch this clip of the final scene of “The Prince of Egypt.”
- Why do you think God freed the people from slavery?
- What did the people do when they reached the other side of the Red Sea and realized they were free and safe?
- Why were they worshipping God?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue:
- At the close of the movie clip, Moses is walking down the mountain carrying tablets with the Ten Commandments on them. Why do you think God gave the ancient Hebrews these commandments?
- Look at the all 10 of these commandments. What is different about the first four compared to the last six?
- Why do you think these commandments are still important for us today?
- If we are already in a relationship with God and God already loves us, why do we need these commandments?
- In what ways do you honor God and put God first?
- Where do you struggle with this?
- What is necessary for people to live well in community together?
- What gets in the way?
- Which of the commandments is the easiest for you to follow?
- Which is the most difficult?
- In what ways do these commandments inform the way you live?
Teaching points that can be incorporated into your discussion:
- The Ten Commandments are set within the framework of the covenant God made with the people mediated through Moses.
- God heard their cries from the bondage of slavery in Egypt and sent Moses to liberate them.
- God remembered the covenant made with their ancestor, Abraham, to give them a land of their own, to bless them and make them a great nation.
- While the covenant with Abraham was unconditional (Abraham did not have to do anything before God blessed him), the Mosaic covenant is conditional.
- God chose the Hebrews (later known as Israelites) to be God’s own people, delivered them from oppression and would give them the Promised Land, but the people had to be faithful to the covenant — they had to keep God’s commandments.
- While these Ten Commandments get a lot of attention, the covenant includes keeping all 613 in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).
- The Hebrews were enslaved for a long time (400 years) and that was the only life they knew. But God did not want them to live like slaves in the Promised Land. God wanted them to live as God’s own beloved and freed people. Thus, God gave them commandments to learn how to live faithfully to God and with integrity and dignity with one another.
- The first four of the Ten Commandments are directed at God.
- The final six commandments are about how we are to live together in community.
- God gives the commandments, but introduces them with a reminder of who God is and who they are in relation to God.
Last week, your family was invited to think about what each of you personally, or as a family, could “take on” during the season of Lent that would deepen your understanding of what it means to follow in the ways of Jesus. This is our weekly “check in” with one another:
- What Christian practice did you “take on” this week?
- Share a story or describe an experience from this week that invited you to consider how you are following in the ways of Jesus.
Prayer
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, community and the world.
REBECCA DAVIS is the associate professor of Christian education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. A teaching elder and certified educator, she served congregations for over 20 years before moving into academic teaching. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, her passion is child advocacy and ministry.
