Lectionary citations

Jeremiah 31:31-34 with Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 119:9-16 and
Hebrews 5:5-10 and
John 12:20-33

Focus Scripture:
Jeremiah 31:31-34

Weekly Theme:
After the Flood: New Covenant

Focus Statement:
I will write it on their hearts.

Questions:
What are the tensions or competing loyalties in your life as an individual? What are the tensions or competing loyalties in your church’s collective life? How does these tension affect your relationship with God? With self? With neighbor? How does your relationship with God intersect with those other loyalties? What are examples of times when your head, heart, and hand seem to go in different directions? i.e., when what you think, feel, and do are inconsistent with each other? How does faithfulness to God temper the pain of straddling obligations to competing loyalties?

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

and

Psalm 51:1-12

Refrain:
Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my trangressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my trangressions,
and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgement.

Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be purer than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

or

Psalm 119:9-16

Refrain:
Teach me, O God, the way of your statutes.

How can young people keep their way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you;
do not let me stray from your commandments.

I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O God;
teach me your statutes.

With my lips I shall declare all the ordinances of your mouth.

I delight in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts,
and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.

and

Hebrews 5:5-10

So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you;" as he says also in another place,“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

and

John 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people£ to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 6, 2003
Jeremiah 31:31-34

BROOKLAWN

Although few people use the word any more, Matthew is an orphan. Whenhe was seven years old, his mother, father, and brother were killed in a collision with a drunken driver. So Matthew and his sister went to live with grandparents in western Kentucky. But they could not leave misfortune behind. Just as Matthew was bonding with his grandfather, the older man died of cancer.

At school, classmates made fun of the unhappy boy--and he lashed back in anger. Defiant and destructive, Matthew became a danger to himself and to others. So his grandmother sought professional help, and child care workers referred Matthew to Brooklawn, a United Church of Christ-related facility in Louisville, Kentucky.

The tragedies Matthew had endured would seem to have been more than enough to explain his behavior. But, as therapists at Brooklawn began to develop an individualized treatment plan for the boy, they noted symptoms that pointed to an even deeper problem. Matthew was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger's disorder.

That discovery dictated the therapy–and it is working. A year after Matthew came to Brooklawn, his grandmother acknowledges that the boy has come a long way--and that he still has a long way to go. "But I know he'll make it," she says.

Every child who comes to Brooklawn has a different story. But for each and every one of them, Brooklawn offers a place to overcome hurt, find a sense of family, and rediscover love.

Matthew's grandmother believes that a "higher power" brought her grandson to Brooklawn. As members of the United Church of Christ, we share that conviction–and more. Without the gifts inspired by that "higher power," we know that Brooklawn and the over three hundred other health and human service facilities and programs related to the United Church of Christ would not even be there to help.

In ecumenical liturgical practice, there are normally three readings and one psalm at each Sunday service, in this order:

First Reading: Hebrew Scripture
Response: Psalm (or Canticle) from the Bible
Second Reading: Epistle (or Acts or Revelation)
Third Reading: Gospel

The first two lessons are normally read by laypeople, the Gospel by a Minister of the Word or a layperson. In Roman Catholic, Anglican and liturgical Protestant churches, it is uncommon for an ordained minister to read all of the lessons.

The psalm is not a reading but a congregational response following the lesson from Hebrew Scripture: it is normally sung with a refrain or recited by the congregation as poetry. Occasionally, a canticle is appointed in place of a psalm; it is sung or recited in the same way. The New Century Hymnal provides a complete liturgical psalter with refrains and music.

A hymn may beeva,g as an introduction to the proclamation of the Gospel.

During Ordinary Time (seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost) two alternative sets of OT readings with responsorial psalms are provided. The first option is a semi-continuous reading through a book of Hebrew Scripture; the second is thematically related to the other readings.