March 18 – Fourth Sunday in Lent
Numbers 21:4–9
A bronze serpent heals the people.
Psalm 107:1–3, 17–22
(VU p. 831 Parts One
and Two)
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Ephesians 2:1–10
We are not saved by our own doing, but by grace.
John 3:14–21
For God so loved the world.
Spark
A heart, a valentine, or other symbols of love might be used in the bulletin and/or in decorating the foyer or sanctuary. People could be offered candy hearts as they enter church.
Theme Engagement Question
When have you experienced healing love from God or from another person/situation?
With Children
The focus is on healing. Have someone in the congregation who is recognized as a healer speak about healing as they live it out and it gives meaning to them. Healers are nurses and doctors, veterinarians, counsellors, healing touch practitioners, homeopaths, pharmacists, and psychiatrists, but also farmers, gardeners, parents, grandparents, and so on. Have the children describe or imagine how they are healers.
Sermon Starter
Address the distinction between healing and curing. The essential element of healing is love, as Lennon and McCartney put it in their song “All You Need Is Love.” Simply being present, being with others, is a significant way of healing. Mother Teresa and the Sisters of Charity offered to accompany those who were dying in the streets of Kolkata by being with them as they breathed their last—not being concerned with the right words or prayers, but with just being there.
What healing actions are each of us involved in as individuals? What healing ministry is part of the congregation?
Hymns
Hebrew Scripture
VU 613 “We cannot measure how you heal”
VU 619 “Healer of our every ill”
MV 12 “Come touch our hearts”
Psalm
VU 333 “Love divine, all loves excelling”
MV 31 “Pure love”
Epistle
VU 266 “Amazing grace”
VU 359 “He came singing love”
MV 144 “Like a healing stream”
Gospel
VU 296 “This is God’s wondrous world”
MV 103 “Ka mana’o ’I ’O” (“Faithful, faithful is our God”)
MV 145 “Draw the circle wide”