Welcome
Invite various persons to bring a designated item and use this liturgy as a way to begin your time of learning together.
One: The season of Advent is past and the celebration of Christmas is given way to a New Year, but the story of God’s faithful love continues in…
All: Jesus the Christ
One: The Magi followed the star to discover the light that overcomes darkness
(Place a candle on a table but don’t light it yet.)
All: Jesus the Christ
One: The light of the world is God’s own Son
(Light the candle)
All: Jesus the Christ
One: Baptized by water and the Spirit he was anointed by God as
(Place the bowl of water on the table.)
All: Jesus the Christ
One: We give thanks and remember, we too are baptized and made siblings with
(Each person touches the water)
All: Jesus the Christ
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: Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NRSV, CEB)
As the Scripture is read a second time, ask someone to read the narrator part, another person to read the words of God, and another to read the words of Jeremiah. Read them with inflection and intent as others listen in.
Connecting through story
Listen and watch this song and images
- What do you think God sees and hears in these images and why is it important?
- Why is the person asking to see as God sees?
- What difference would it make if one could truly see as God sees?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue
- Why do you think God called Jeremiah?
- What does God want Jeremiah to do?
- How in the world will Jeremiah do that since he is young?
- What does God see in Jeremiah?
- What does God see in the world?
- How will God bring together what God sees in Jeremiah and what God sees in the world?
- What does God see in you?
- What does God see in the world around you that you do not always see?
- What might happen if you saw what God sees – in you and in the world?
Teaching Points that can be incorporated into your discussion
- Jeremiah was a boy when God called him to be a prophet.
- He was to speak important words to God’s people as they were headed for the destruction of Jerusalem and exile by the Babylonians because they broke the covenant with God.
- Like Moses and others before him, Jeremiah resisted the call because all he could see was his own self-doubts including his young age. However, God saw Jeremiah for who he really was, and God wanted Jeremiah to be the one to speak a necessary word to God’s people. God created Jeremiah and God sees Jeremiah for who he is.
- Jeremiah’s age didn’t matter to God because God knew Jeremiah had everything necessary to serve God…because God gave Jeremiah all those things.
- God sees us for who we are, and God calls all of who we are.
- When we are called by God to serve, we are also called to trust that God has already given us everything we need to do that which God asks of us.
- Jeremiah was sure he wouldn’t know what to say and perhaps he might miss the things God wanted him to see so he could speak. But just as with Moses, God assured Jeremiah that God’s words would be in his mouth. It is God who would help him see so he could convey God’s faithfulness and sovereignty to nations and kingdoms. No small task.
- The last verse gives us a hint of what God will have Jeremiah say in this very expansive book of the bible – there will be destruction and rebuilding. There will be consequences for disobedience but always, there will be hope and God’s faithfulness. God has a purpose for Jeremiah and for all of God’s people.
- To be consecrated is to be commissioned … commissioned to do that which God created us to do. Jeremiah’s call to service was quite dramatic but not all calls involve the hand of God touching our lips and being commissioned to speak to nations and kingdoms. However, all calls do bring with them the assurance that God has chosen you for a purpose and God has already given you everything you need to say, “yes” and do that specific purpose God has in mind for you. God created you and calls you – all of you – and God commissions you to that particular purpose because God knows you are exactly what, and who is needed at that moment.
Return to the video and the song and consider this … where do you see what God sees? Where do you need to see what God sees? How will you live differently when you see what God sees?
Prayer
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, your community, and the world.
