Lent 2017 part 2

During Lent we are going to focus on the cross by thinking about some different objects that help us to understand Jesus’ last few days leading up to Good Friday, and what Jesus has accomplished through his death on the cross.  We shall take each in turn and consider them, both at our Sunday services and during a prayer time in the church each Wednesday lunchtime throughout Lent.  If you are able to join us on Wednesdays at 12noon, for about 20-30mins that would be great, if not why not join in by praying wherever you are.  Don’t worry if you can’t pray at exactly the same time.  To help you in this you will find a reading, song / hymn, the Lord’s Prayer and a reflection that we will be using during the prayer time.

Our focus this week is on the basin and the towel.

Song

From Heaven you came, helpless babe,
entered our world, Your glory veiled,
not to be served but to serve,
and give Your life that we might live.

This is our God, the Servant King,
He calls us now to follow Him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King

There in the garden of tears
my heavy load He chose to bear;
His heart with sorrow was torn,
‘Yet not my will but yours’ He said

This is our God…

Come see His hands and His feet,
the scars that speak of sacrifice,
hands that flung starts into space
to cruel nails surrendered

This is our God…

So let us learn how to serve
and in our lives enthrone Him,
each other’s needs to prefer,
for it is Christ we’re serving

This is our God…

Reading – John 13v1-17

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’

⁷ Jesus replied, ‘You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’

⁸ ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’

Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’

⁹ ‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’

¹⁰ Jesus answered, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.’ ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ¹³ ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Reflection – As we think about our Servant King, what does it mean for us to have the same attitude as Him? How do we serve Him and each other?

Pray for others (including 5 people you know who don’t know Jesus yet)

Finish with the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the
glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

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