The Third Day (Lent/March 23)

James Cathcart February 26, 2023 0

Lent/March 2023 (The six Sundays of Lent 26 Feb - 8 April) See the Resource Pack PDF for information on the weekly subthemes and the daily prompts and Bible readings which shape our Daily Worship. See the Bible Study Questions PDF to see the material adapted for small Connect groups or personal Bible study. Each week we will have a Lent Focus providing a suggestion of a reflective activity, find them in the Lent Focus 2023 PDF.

We are called to live in the light of His Resurrection

The Third Day is understanding the meaning of Lent from the perspective of the Resurrection. Jesus spent three days in the tomb and on the third day he rose again! Christ's Resurrection gives us an understanding of looking beyond time and into eternity. We are called to live in the light of His Resurrection and in the light of the Spirit that is at work in our day to day lives.

Over Lent we want to cultivate a real understanding of what it means to follow Jesus in today’s world. We move from the place of preparation in February’s theme Prayers for Living, and now as this new season begins we are out on a journey like Jesus’s first followers! But it’s not the same road, we cannot travel with the disciples the way they did, for their story has been and we have the perspective of the Third Day of Jesus’s resurrection to draw from.

This year we travel in parallel with the disciples, not so much going into their world as we are weaving them into ours! How can we move through Lent mindful that Jesus wants us to invite him into the here and now rather than escape into his past? What happens when we look through our lives with resurrection eyes, as we let the events of Jesus’s first followers unfold in our own world. As well as the Gospels we will have a particular focus on Psalms, poetry, and our relationship with God.

Each week we begin with a psalm as the Psalms help us to engage with all the passion of life from the depths of despair to the heights of joy. You could say that the eternal hope of The Third Day is almost written into them, the light of God that meets us in the midst of our complex lives. The resonance of the Third Day of resurrection and reconciliation is woven into human experience and is richly expressed through this ancient poetry.

Join us over Lent as we take time to reflect on place, passion, poetry, praise, paths, poverty, providence, pasture, patience, pardon, pain and presence! The journey to the resurrection is not one back in time, for the resurrection comes to find us wherever and whenever we are…

And on the third day he rose again!

Sanctuary First would like to thank Jock Stein who helped us in developing the framework for the weekly sub-themes focused around a different psalm each week and for all the words beginning with P!

SETTING THE SCENE: A visual motif for each week. An optional additional focus point for preparing worship services or multimedia inspired by the material.

SEEDS TO SOW: Open-ended prompts to inspire creative responses to the themes. Perhaps a song, some drawing, or creative writing! They are short and sweet, simply a starting off place for you and your imagination, be encouraged to tailor and develop as suits you. Often they take the form of a question, to encourage reflection.

Each week of the six week theme runs Sunday-Saturday and has its own subtheme, which contains daily Bible readings and prompts for thought (see the Resource Pack PDF for more information). See the Bible Study Questions PDF to see the material adapted for personal Bible study or small Connect groups and the Lent Focus 2023 PDF for reflective activity suggestions.