There is a website I go to every week with an assortment of liturgical starters – its subtitle is “the relentless return of Sunday” yeah! You can take a look here – Liturgy Link.
Here we are, it is, where I am, Thursday morning, my first deadline of the week is looming, and my head is full of mince. (That’s possibly a Scottish phrase! for mince substitute wool, cotton balls, dust bunnies etc…) I have the beginnings of an introduction; I have reflected on why on earth I committed to staying with the gospel readings through June (RCL) and I have imagined my mostly elderly congregation coming to grips with the story of the haemorrhaging woman. Then I had a strict word with myself!! This is important. “Women’s problems” have had far too long being tucked away in whispered corners. And so I am going to tackle it.
The working title I have so far, is the Power of Touch. I am intrugued by the fact that in this story the touch goes both ways: she was proactive, determined, and took the bold step of reaching out and touching. I am also intrigued by the way this story is placed in the Gospel narrative: bracketed as it is within the story of Jairus’ daughter. Almost as if the Gospel writer wanted to hide it away in the story of a child restored – which is somehow more palatable, more acceptable. It is a story where Jesus is the active one; whereas the woman – the bleeding woman – has the be proactive in her own story.
As ever, we have lots of great resources for you this week. If you are in RCL with me, do go and read this, it will open up some great ideas. If you are doing your own thing – let us know what you’re doing, share ideas, ask questions… If you are looking for prayer starters and ideas, here is a page for you!
Whatever your situation – we have this!! Sunday is coming, and whether you are in a building, or still recording or livestreaming to an empty room, we can do it together! Add your comments below, share links, ask questions. I’ll be here right through to Sunday.
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Julie Rennick is a Church of Scotland Parish minister workign in the central area of Scotland. She escapes the mundane with her spaniel and her beloved by running to the coast in their motorhome – visiting the sea keeps them happy!
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Julie – Sounds interesting. Well done on tackling difficult subjects.
We are also RCL but looking at the David stories so this week we have ‘lament’.
I’m struggling a little but only because we have a lot of ‘story’ to catch-up from last week’s texts [which is the story of David and Jonathan’s friendship that is key to understanding David’s lament]. I really want to use this Sunday to mark a time for lament for our past year of losses but that needs time and space – which I don’t really have if I am to fit in David and Jonathan’s story, David’s lament AND our lament in just 30mins of video/audio/live worship. [We keep to under 30mins to allow phonecalls to our audio service to be very low cost or free for listeners].
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Fitting all of that into 30 minutes is a challenge indeed! We are back to the full our for in-person worship which is livestreamed. For those without internet access we have kept to a printed sheet – which continues – which is delivered weekly on a Friday – so it has to be complete by Thursday afternoon! The sermon on the sheet is a shortened version of Sunday (or the printed version is expanded for Sunday…)
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Now I am wishing I had gone that way. This would be a good week for lament in my context as it is, we hope, our last livestream only week. Alas, I chose the gospel text, so I will return to ideas of hope and healing, which is, I suppose, also pertinent. –Wendy
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Thank you so much Julie for starting the conversation! This is helping me to expand on what I was already thinking. We are having an “Invite” Sunday as we near the end of Pride month, so I am planning to go with the idea of inclusion. Your thoughts stirred up experiences of working in the hospital setting for 20 years and all the ways families, clergy, staff, doctors, etc disenfranchise so many human ailments – death and dying, mental illness, the different other, etc… coupled with the characters in the story of seeking healing – taking a risk – being bold – breaking through the walls of tribalism and social norms and the status quo – knowing and envisioning the possibility of healing…
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I find myself once again writing on Saturday morning. I love the stories of this week’s gospel text, so I jumped at the chance to preach, but now I have to figure out what I really want to say. I looked at old bulletins, and it turns out we rarely actually preach this week, so these stories get a bit of short shrift even though we are generally a lectionary church. –Wendy
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