Sermon and Worship Resources

Lent 1

Minister: "The Lord spoke to Moses: ... you shall set up the tabernacle ... And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:1, 2, 34). "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the people of Israel saying: ... lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of tabernacles" (Leviticus 23:33f).

Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today?

Reader 1: This is a model of the tabernacle, booth or temporary hut built by each Jewish family in Jesus' time for Sukkot or the Festival of Tabernacles or Booths. Every family took part. It was a holiday like Christmas - full of joy and excitement.

Reader 2: Over the years, the Christian Church lost sight of this important Festival. Yet signs of the Festival shimmer through the Holy Week events of Jesus' life.

Reader 1: The Festival of Booths was almost as important as Passover. Large crowds journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate it each year as they did for Passover. The Festival of Booths marked the end of harvest and it recalled the fragile existence of God's People during their 40 years in the wilderness after the Exodus.

Youth: In the Old Testament it says "You shall dwell in booths for seven days ... so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:42-43).

Reader 2: Each year every family in Jesus' time built a temporary hut. They lived in it as much as possible and at least ate meals there. It was built of wood and had to have three sides. It could be any size. The walls were decorated with green branches and flowers or fruit. The important part of the booth was the roof. It was covered with branches - enough to provide more shade than sunlight. Yet the stars had to be visible through it and the rain allowed to drip through.

Reader 1: The booth reminded the family of the fragility of their life and of their dependence upon God.

Reader 2: For Jesus and his disciples, the booth was also a reminder of the tomb in which he would soon be sealed.

Youth: Let us pray.

All: Holy God of the Booths, may our Lenten booth remind us of our own fragile life, of our dependence upon you and of your loving care of us. With your help may we learn to see our whole life as a temporary booth until we reach our permanent home with you. Until we reach that home, help us to care about our life here and now. Help us construct it day by day lovingly and creatively, like our booth. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Lent 2

Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today?

Reader 2: Over the years, the Christian Church lost sight of this important Festival. Yet signs of the Festival shimmer through the Holy Week events of Jesus' life.

Youth: After Jesus' burial, the Bible says, "The women ... prepared spices ... On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared" (Luke 23:55-24:1).

Reader 2: When a family had completed building their booth, they gathered in their house. The mother lit festive candles and spoke a blessing. Then carrying spices, the family paraded out to their booth and moved in for seven days or at least for a full meal each day.

Reader 1: The spices were called the etrog, a lemon-like fruit we call the citron. Often they were placed in a very fancy box. The etrog was a symbol of their feelings and gave a sweet-smelling fragrance to the booth. The etrog was used in family worship moments in the booth.

Reader 2: The Jewish people also paraded with the etrog to the Temple. During worship there, they waved the etrog in all directions, remembering the presence of God everywhere.

Reader 1: For Jesus and his disciples, the etrog was a reminder of the sweet fragrance of life lived in close harmony with God and of the fragrant spices wrapped around Jesus' broken body.

Youth: Let us pray.

All: Holy God of the booths, help us to be sensitive this week to your presence everywhere. May we honor you in our home, our school, our places of work and in our times of relaxation. As we grow in our faith, help us to sense the sweet fragrance of a life lived in a healthy close relationship with you. May others see your beauty in our daily living and in our dying. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Lent 3

Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today?

Reader 2: Over the years, the Christian Church lost sight of this important Festival. Yet signs of the Festival shimmer through the Holy Week events of Jesus' life.

Youth: The Bible says that when Jesus was getting close to Jerusalem, a whole crowd began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice ... saying "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!" (Mark 11:9-10).

Readers 2: During the Festival of Booths, everyone went to the temple in Jerusalem. As the crowds filled the huge, beautiful temple, the priests marched around the altar. The assistant priests or Levites danced before the priests, carrying flaming torches in hand, singing songs of praise to God.

Reader 1: Some of the assistant priests played harps, lyres, cymbals, flutes, trumpets and other instruments. The people hoped that amid their celebration, God would suddenly appear in the temple and begin the new Kingdom of God's reign. Psalms 113-118, the Hallel, were sung every day. So "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord" was sung often, just like we sing our carols often at Christmas time.

Reader 2: Jesus would have heard this verse sung many, many times in his life. He would have sung it himself every year at the Festival of Booths. When he knew his death was near and being very conscious of who he truly was, Jesus (and later the disciples) would realize how this verse and all of the Hallel applied uniquely to him.

Reader 1: Jesus is the one who comes in the name of God, bringing us the light of God, and showing us how the steadfast love of God endures. All these ideas are found in the Hallel, Psalms 113-118.

Youth: Let us pray.

All: Holy God of the Booths, help us to truly rejoice in you as Jesus did. Help us to experience your strength and love in our life, as Jesus did. And help us put our confidence rightfully in you, as Jesus did. Truly blessed is the One who came in the name of God! Truly blessed is Jesus the Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.

Lent 4

Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today?

Reader 2: Over the years, the Christian Church lost sight of this important Festival. Yet signs of the Festival shimmer through the Holy Week events of Jesus' life.

Youth: In the Bible it says Jesus sent two disciples on ahead of him saying, "Go into the village ... and you will find a donkey ... and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me" .... This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying ... "Look, your king is coming to you ... mounted on a donkey ...!" (Matthew 21:2-5).

Reader 2: During the Festival of Booths, the Old Testament book of the prophet Zechariah was read. This prophet tells of the coming of the Christ or Messiah to the Mount of Olives and of his ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Reader 1: According to Zechariah, the Messiah would remove the guilt of the people and bring in a new reign of peace with streams of living waters flowing out to all the world from Jerusalem. And in that reign, Zechariah says, everyone will come back to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Booths.

Reader 2: So the Palm Sunday crowd would have been an excited crowd, looking for a whole new era to begin, an era filled with peace, a new era centered in Jerusalem but extending in its influence into the whole world.

Reader 1: For Jesus, these prophecies of Zechariah would give him courage for Gethsemane, Jerusalem and Golgotha, Skull Hill. For the disciples, these prophecies helped them understand who Jesus was and is. Through Jesus, God was breaking in to human life and bringing about a wonderful new era.

Youth: Let us pray.

All: Holy God of the Booths, like Jesus' disciples, we long for Light and Peace. Yet we know the ride on the donkey is over. Our King has come on that donkey! Your new era is already here. In our dark moments and in our daily work for justice and radical love, help our faith to be like Jesus': firmly fixed on your ways. May we experience the Living Waters and Peace of Jesus Christ, our humble yet proactive Brother and Lord. Amen.

Lent 5

Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today?

Reader 2: Over the years, the Christian Church lost sight of this important Festival. Yet signs of the Festival shimmer through the Holy Week events of Jesus' life.

Youth: In the Bible, it says that while Jesus was riding into Jerusalem, many people spread their cloaks and leafy branches on the ground before him and that those who went before him and who followed after him shouted joyfully, "Hosanna ... Hosanna in the highest heaven" (Mark 11:9-10).

Reader 2: "Hosanna" is a Hebrew word that means "save us." During the Festival of Tabernacles, joyful cries of Hosanna were often heard in worship services. Hosanna was like a refrain in Psalm 118, one of the scripture lessons read during the Festival. The Levites (assistant priests) and the people processed around the Temple shouting, "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

Reader 1: The People of God at this time were thirsting for a special prophet to come, a leader inspired by God, someone who would come to them like a King. This leader would cleanse the temple of its religious corruption, and rid the land of its political oppression and lift the heavy burdens of those for whom life was very, very difficult. This leader would in that way help the Israelites be the great and faithful people of God they longed to be.

Reader 2: So each year at the Festival of Booths, they cried out to God, "Save us, Hosanna." They cried Hosanna joyfully because they knew that one day God would do just that. And God did - through the birth and life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Youth: Let us pray.

All: Holy God of the Booths, we are like the people in Jesus' day. We confess our imperfect church, our political and economic oppression, and our own feelings of guilt. So we cry out to you, "Hosanna! Save us!" Yet we know Jesus is already with us. By His life and death and resurrection Jesus shows us the Way. So we pray help us be faith-filled people of decision and action in our day. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Palm/Passion Sunday

Youth: Why do we have this decoration in our sanctuary today?

Reader 2: Over the years, the Christian Church lost sight of this important Festival. Yet signs of the Festival shimmer through the Holy Week events of Jesus' life.

Youth: In the Bible it says, "The great crowd who had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming ... So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him ..." (John 12:12-13).

Reader 2: When a family built their booth, branches of leafy trees were used to cover the walls and roof. On the first day of the festival, a lulav was also made. The lulav was a palm branch, a willow and a myrtle branch tied together. It was held in the right hand when the blessings were being said.

Reader 1: The lulav was also taken to the temple to be blessed and waved during the singing of the psalms each morning and during the temple processions. Even the people in the outermost parts of the temple could hear the psalms being sung and participated by waving their lulavs.

Reader 2: The lulav was made because in the Old Testament book of Leviticus God commands the people: "You shall take ... branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days" (Leviticus 23:40).

Reader 1: These particular branches were seen as symbols of understanding and truth, courage and action. As symbols during Holy Week, they apply so well to Jesus, our Palm Tree King: his understanding of God, the truth he tried to share with us, his courage in meeting death and his ultimate action of overcoming death for us all.

Youth: Let us pray.

All: Holy God of the Booths, around the world today Christians wave palm branches in honor of you. May our whole life be as a palm branch waving before you - filled with Christlike understanding and truth and revealing Christ-like courage and action everywhere. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

CSS Publishing Company, VISIONS OF LENT, VOLUME 2, by Betty Lynn Schwab