5^th Sunday in Lent

YEAR C:  March 13, 2016

First Reading:  Isaiah 43:16-21

Beyond the Pond by Joseph Kuefler

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment:  “The Lord makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters”, says the prophet.  But looking at a vast expanse of ocean, a large, rushing river, God’s people might not see a way through.  God is about to do a new thing and the people cannot merely look, but must perceive it, must look deeper and more discerningly, because there is more than meets the eye.  In Beyond the Pond, Ernest has a pond in his backyard, deep and dark and murky.  Ernest is curious about what could be in the pond, knowing it is more than he can see, so he dives in and explores.  He discovers an entirely separate world below the surface, where he has a grand adventure.  Ernest’s belief that there is something more below the pond is validated.  His experience of perceiving and finding something more changes how he perceives everything afterward.  God is making a way through waters, wildernesses, and more, for us, and we have only to look and perceive that something more is going on, to find it.

Second Reading:  Philippians 3:4b-14

Edmond, the Moonlit Party by Astrid Desbordes

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment:  In Edmond, the Moonlit Party, Edmond has a good life, doing things he loves and enjoys. But one night, he meets an owl named George.  George invites him to a party, and thus, into a very good life:  a life with more parties and fun, more imagination and friends than he had before. Edmond had something good, but discovered something very good, and liked himself even more as a result. Paul, in our passage, declares that everything he has in Christ far surpasses what he had before, and he considers everything before as “loss” compared with the “surpassing value” of knowing Jesus.  But not everything he had before was bad.  Some of it was good.  He had reason to be confident in the flesh—he was circumcised, a person of Israel, the highest keeper of the law, righteous under the law.  But, what has come along now, the goal he strives for now, is very good.  Paul likes who he is even better now.  Like Edmond, like the apostle Paul, for the followers of Jesus, the choice may not be between bad and good, but between good and very good.  We take the chance on very good, order to find our very best selves in him.  We give up merely good goals, for a very good goal of surpassing value.

Gospel Reading:  John 12:1-8

Nerdy Birdy by Aaron Reynolds

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment:  It’s not easy to take a risk, and it’s especially not easy to do something risky which gets you made fun of or criticized by your friends even if it is the good and right thing to do.  Mary of Bethany takes that kind of risk.  She is bold to anoint Jesus, to show her love and devotion in such a public, vulnerable way.  And she is, indeed, criticized for it by someone who was supposed to be her friend and fellow disciple.  But she took the risk, anyway.  In Nerdy Birdy, Nerdy Birdy, already shunned by the ‘cool’ birds, discovers a group of other ‘nerdy’ birds just like him!  They all enjoy the same things and have the same interests.  He is so glad to have made a group of friends.  But a new bird, Vulture, moves to town, who is profoundly different, not only from the ‘cool’ birds, but the ‘nerdy’ birds, too.  The nerdy birds, therefore, shun Vulture as well.  Nerdy Birdy has to decide if he will take a risk. Having already been shunned by one group, and having finally found a group of friends, will he reach out to Vulture even at the risk of losing his new friends and being criticized?  He does reach out and declares, “There’s always room for one more.”  Mary  takes the same kind of risk.  And even with being criticized, she took the risk anyway, and her act is praised by Jesus.  We can be brave to do something loving and good, too, even at the risk of being criticized.

Thanks to Sara Anne Berger, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Nachitoches, LA and an alumna of Union Presbyterian Seminary, for writing the Lectionary Links this week.

Lectionary Links: Sunday, March 13, 2016 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.