Week Six

God’s Presence, Our Pain

SEEDS TO SOW: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE IN THE LIGHT OF THE RESURRECTION? *

Read Psalm 13

God’s Presence, Our Pain.... in the light of the Psalms.

A short sad psalm full of emotion.

Let’s imagine a verse 4.1⁄2. What’s going on between verses 4 and 5? Do you picture a long gap between those verses or do you imagine the lament all coming out as one tumble? This psalm has many questions but not many answers. The only reassurance in lament is a memory of the past and a hope for the future paired with God’s presence in our pain. How does our sense of our past and future help us move from despair to hope?

Read Luke 22: 54-62

My presence.

We return to Peter by the fireside, where we began Lent at Ash Wednesday this year. As we look over the ashes what has changed for us since then? What have we learned about ourselves and our God over the past few weeks?

What can we learn from Peter’s experience that we can apply to our own life of discipleship?

Read Isaiah 40: 27-31

God’s Presence, Our Pain... the light of the resurrection.

This is our chosen reading for Holy Saturday this year, that moment of suspended tension between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In that space of quiet contemplation we reflect on the relentless power and vastness of our God that sustains the universe — up to and including us!

To gaze upon the crucified Christ in Holy Week is not an easy thing to do. Here’s a quote of Martin Luther’s from The Heidelberg Disputation: “Now it is not sufficient for any, and it does them no good to recognise God in his glory and majesty, unless they recognise him in the humility and shame of the cross. Thus God destroys the wisdom of the wise.” Luther invites us to recognise God in the midst of our suffering. Yet we by nature want to turn away and hide from the disgrace and pain of a crucified God — why?

How does it feel to read this reading from Isaiah in the light of the Third Day? What difference does it make to these verses about soaring with God to know that Jesus has been with us to the very depths and returned for us?

* SEEDS TO SOW: These are open-ended and optional prompts and are designed for people wanting to develop their own resources in response to the themes. Perhaps if you are using this material as a group you could use these prompts to inspire a time of prayer, or drawing, or creative writing? They are a short and sweet, simply a starting off place for you and your imagination. Tailor and develop as suits your group.