1^st Sunday in Lent

Year 3: March 5, 2017

Preaching Text: Luke 10:25-42

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: When reading the familiar story we so often label The Good Samaritan, it’s helpful to point out to children and those less familiar with historical background that the people listening to Jesus’ parable would have despised Samaritans. They certainly wouldn’t have expected them to be the model of neighborliness and compassion. Polacco views her brother in a similar light: he is rotten and perfectly awful. She is surprised when he takes care of her after she falls from the carousel. Through this experience, their relationship is changed. This text and story invite us to wonder who our own unexpected neighbors might be and how viewing them through the compassionate lens of neighbor might change our relationship with them.

Thanks to Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Noell Rathbun-Cook for writing the Narrative Lectionary Links for Year 3.

Lectionary Links (NL): March 5, 2017 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.