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Fifth Week after the Epiphany, Year C, Old Testament

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:1-8

Two themes weave together in today’s reading: an experience of God and a commissioning to ministry. Isaiah has a mystical experience and is in a state of awe. In this state, he is called to be a prophet to God’s people, to speak on behalf of the Lord. He answers with the famous phrase, “Here I am.” Too often these themes are examined separately, losing the power of one leading directly to the other. We first experience God, then we serve God. Divorcing the two leads to empty worship without service or empty service without worship.

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LPTW Epiphany 5, Year C, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Epiphany 5, Year C, Older Children, Old Testament

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C

Scripture: Luke 6:17-26

Last week, we hear about Jesus calling the first disciples. Today, Jesus introduces new teachings to his disciples and those who are gathered around him. In Luke 6:12-16, Jesus chooses and names his 12 disciples, so this is his first teaching directly to them. A teaching of blessing the poor, a teaching of reversals.

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LPTW Epiphany 6, Year C, Younger Children
LPTW Epiphany 6, Year C, Older Children
LPTW Epiphany 6, Year C, Adults

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C

Scripture: Luke 6:27-38

Jesus continues his teaching with disciples from last week. Instructing them on what this new way of life, this new way of being means. These are reversals and things that flip the current way of life on its head. As we near the end of Epiphany, I wonder what these reversals say to us.

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LPTW Epiphany 7, Year C, Younger Children
LPTW Epiphany 7, Year C, Older Children
LPTW Epiphany 7, Year C, Adults

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C, Old Testament

Scripture:  Isaiah 6:1-8

Two themes weave together in today’s reading: an experience of God and a commissioning to ministry. Isaiah has a mystical experience and is in a state of awe. In this state, he is called to be a prophet to God’s people, to speak on behalf of the Lord. He answers with the famous phrase, “Here I am.” Too often these themes are examined separately, losing the power of one leading directly to the other. We first experience God, then we serve God. Divorcing the two leads to empty worship without service or empty service without worship.

Download the Lesson Plans

LPTW Epiphany 5, Year C, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Epiphany 5, Year C, Younger Children, Old Testament

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C, Old Testament

Scripture:  Jeremiah 17:5-10

This reading is a standard, blessing and curse type saying, an oracle of judgment against Judah. Although it reads like other wisdom literature, it is written after King Josiah’s reform has failed and before the Exile. Jeremiah is warning the people to put their trust back in the Lord, and to stop thinking anything or anyone else can save them. Our approach for this class will be to build trust among the students and to explore the concept of placing our trust in God.

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LPTW Epiphany 6, Year C, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Epiphany 6, Year C, Older Children, Old Testament

All Saints, Year B, Old Testament

Scripture: Isaiah 25:6-9

This is the promise! This is the dream! Today’s scripture passage features Isaiah’s prophesy that God will provide a feast for all people, remove the shroud of death, take away all of our sadness, and bring us to God, “for whom we have waited.” Whew! If that doesn’t warrant an “Alleluia!” I don’t know what does. As Christians, we believe that this prophesy is a foretelling of Jesus coming to walk amongst us, teach us, and carrying our sins to the cross for us – eliminating the finality of death with his resurrection. This image of the heavenly banquet assures us on this All Saints Day that the saints who lived and died telling the story of Jesus are now sitting on the right hand of God, “rejoic(ing) in his salvation.”

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LPTW All Saints, Year B, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW All Saints, Year B, Older Children, Old Testament

Proper 29, Year B, Old Testament

Scripture: 2 Samuel 23:1-3

Final words carry power. Think back over your life and see if you can call to mind the last thing someone important said to you before they were no longer a part of your life. You remember, don’t you? Last words are important because they are our last opportunity to shape things or make an impression. It’s only human to wish that we could know when we were going to speak our last words, so we could make sure to say something profound. We could make sure someone was there to record and share our words with others. David uses his last words to make sure that we are reminded of the promises of God. If you could choose, what would you want to say with your last words?

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LPTW Proper 29, Year B, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Proper 29, Year B, Older Children, Old Testament

Proper 28, Year B, Old Testament

Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:4-20

Hannah is a lucky woman. She is beautiful and her husband Elkanah loves her more than anything. But Hannah desperately wants to have a baby. She has prayed feverishly, night and day, to the point that she seems to be loosing her sanity. Through it all Elkanah steadfastly proclaims his love and stands beside her. But Hannah’s mind is made up and she does not care how it looks to others on the outside, she knows the deepest desire of her heart and pleads with God asking for God to send her wholeness. While this verse can be challenging because it seems to suggest that God’s answer will always be “yes” to those who pray hard enough; it is also vital to our understanding of healing in the modern form. What if Hannah’s healing was not that she bore a child, but that she got up the morning after her tear-filled prayer at the temple and worshipped God despite her sadness?

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LPTW Proper 28, Year B, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Proper 28, Year B, Older Children, Old Testament

Proper 27, Year B, Old Testament

Scripture: Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

This week we continue the journey with Naomi and Ruth. The two women have arrived back in Naomi’s homeland; but the future for these two poor widows is still uncertain. Ruth’s heritage as a Moabite woman works against her, but Naomi’s claim of Ruth as her “daughter” acts as a talisman against the public perception. The passage for today is all about claiming our familial identity. Today’s passage is a story in two parts: In the first part, Naomi worries that they need help to provide for Ruth’s needs in the patriarchal society in Bethlehem. Naomi devises a plan to secure a husband for Ruth. In the second part, which takes place after we learn of all of the ways that Boaz was a kind and generous man, the reader discovers that Ruth married the exact right person for the continuation of the chosen line from Abraham. Ruth and Boaz’s son, Obed, became the father of Jesse – whose youngest son David was anointed by Samuel and became the greatest King of Israel. David is important in Christian lineage because the Messiah is prophesized to come from the line of David. Thus, Ruth, the Moabite woman who refused to leave the side of her mother-in-law, is named in Jesus’ genealogy at the beginning of the Gospels.

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LPTW Proper 27, Year B, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Proper 27, Year B, Older Children, Old Testament

Proper 26, Year B, Old Testament

Scripture: Ruth 1:1-18

As we head to our journey’s simultaneous ending and new beginning, Ruth and Naomi set out across the desert on their own path. The journey they are undertaking is the rebranding of their relationship: from mother and daughter-in-law to partners and friends. Ruth’s refusal to leave the side of her mother-in-law was social suicide. Ruth chose family and love over the chance for familiarity and comfort. It is important to note that Ruth is a Moab. In the Hebrew Scriptures there isn’t really a worse thing to be than a Moabite. In Deuteronomy we learn that the Moabites were not allowed to ever convert to Judaism. Marrying a Moabite was out of the question. The author of Ruth states over and over again that Ruth is a Moabite because it is essential to understand that when Ruth returns to Judah with Naomi, she is traveling to a place that despises her because of her heritage. In choosing Naomi, Ruth chooses the God of the Hebrews over the gods of her ancestors. Ruth chooses the unknown and possibly dangerous over the safe and predictable. This section of the text sets us up to begin the journey with these two women over the next couple of weeks and begs the question: would I have the strength to follow if God called me into the unknown?

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LPTW Proper 26, Year B, Younger Children, Old Testament
LPTW Proper 26, Year B, Older Children, Old Testament