Week Two

Part 2: Playing with boxes

Conversation Starter

This week we’re using boxes to think about creativity. Are there any boxes in your life that you could turn into something new or use for something new?

Read Jeremiah 31: 7-14

This reading offers a compelling vision of all sorts of people, from all sorts of places, in all sorts of ways coming together. Verse 13 gives a vibrant exuberant picture of worship:

“Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” (NRSVA)

We often use ‘worship’ as a shorthand for church services in general, or singing songs in particular. But there are many ways of worshipping together that don’t involve ‘a church service’. Thinking outside the box, and engaging all our senses, what are some different expressive ways you can offer exuberant worship to God?

Read Psalm 147: 12-20

Just as we play with and rearrange boxes, we can play with language (like the psalmist in verses 15-18 and indeed across the psalms) experimenting with combining different words to learn new things about our God. On your own, or in a group, have a go at writing your own version of verse 15 using different metaphors, similes or imagery.

“He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.” (NIV)

What’s a different metaphor from running swiftly? What is another way of describing how God’s word comes to earth? Something that resonates with your own experience perhaps.

Read Matthew 2: 1-12

The Wisemen bring a Baby Box with a twist... Scotland now offers every family expecting a newborn a ‘Baby Box’ full of practical things infants need in their first months, additionally the box itself is fitted with a mattress for the baby. But Jesus didn’t have a baby box or health visitors or a national health service.

If you were putting together a baby box for the infant Jesus — what would you put in it?