Call to Worship
Source: Spill the Beans, Issue 24
May our eyes and our ears be wide open this day,
may we see with clarity,
may we hear loud and clear,
may we be challenged,
inspired and awe-struck
as we worship God today
and all our days.
Amen
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Source: Spill the Beans, Issue 24
Parent God,
we gather here delighted to be your children,
sons and daughters loved and welcomed home.
Families can be wonderful, supportive, friendly
but sometimes they can be horrid,
filled with jealousy and dishonesty.
Happy families or unhappy families,
you love them all,
you support them all and guide them all.
Relationships are meant to be open,
to flow in both giving and receiving directions.
Jesus tried to show us this in his lifetime.
Bible characters reveal the reality of family living,
the ups and downs, good and not so good times.
Jesus reveals a way of service, of giving,
of allowing the flow to empty him completely.
Lord, we are frail and fickle and struggle to be like Jesus.
We are sorry for all the times we let you down,
for the times we let ourselves down or others down.
Forgive us, help us be humble and honest
and make amends, make things right.
Help us reconcile with our brothers and sisters.
Amen.
Readings:
Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Story: How The Twins Were Born
Source: The Growing In gods Love Storybible published by FlyAwayBooks
Story: The Brothers Quibble by Aaron Blabey
This is a great story about sibling rivalry and love by an Australian author and illustrator. The story of Jacob and Esau can be seen as a story of sibling rivalry, how you you deal with conflict at home?
The Questioner And God
Source: Spill the Beans, Issue 24
THE QUESTIONER:
Hey God, are you having a laugh?
This whole story of Jacob does not seem credible!
You seem to be rewarding deceit and cheating,
you seem to trash the law and family tradition
that elsewhere seems so important to you?
As for Rebekah, the wife and mother,
turning against her husband and oldest son?
Really!
Or perhaps you were you trying to punish someone?
Perhaps getting at Esau for selling his birth right
for a bowl of stew or sorting Isaac out
for some of his past mistakes?
Why do you show such favouritism to Jacob?
Why let his mother manipulate the family?
Why, oh why is all this okay?
Or is this all your doing God?
Is it really just part of your plan,
to have Jacob discover you?
Is this the only way you could have included him
and drawn him into your plans?
Surely, there could have been another way, God?
You could have used other means that seem more God like,
that seem more honest, trustworthy!
I am sorry to question your ways God!
You who call us to truthfulness
and to stand up for justice.
You who call us to love one another and to care for our enemies.
You who challenge us to walk in your footsteps
and to perform mighty deeds and wonders in your name.
Then you throw in a stunt like this,
that seems to suggest dishonesty is okay,
if it suits your ways and purposes?
Lord, do not strike me down dead for such questions,
I am confused, perplexed, befuddled by what I read,
to cheat a man out of his birth right,
to force a young somewhat naïve Jacob
to carry out his mother’s will,
to deceive a blind man with such cheap parlour tricks?
Really God, is that what this is?
And then when the deed is done,
you give Jacob a glimpse of heaven!
You open for him a gateway to Kingdom life.
You place a ladder,
that leads from earth to heaven and back again.
We see your holy angels going backwards and forwards,
from heaven to earth,
delivering your messages,
and bringing little bits of heaven to earth.
Yet much more than this,
you bestow a blessing on Jacob.
You make promises to make a great nation of Israel.
Promises that Jacob will be fruitful
and have many sons and daughters,
as many as the dust of the earth!
That he will become a father to the Nation,
and that you will be with him wherever you go?
GOD:
GRACE, MY SON, IT IS ALL ABOUT GRACE.
THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO EARN SUCH BLESSING.
REMEMBER, ESAU HAD ALREADY OFFERED HIS BIRTH RIGHT
TO HIS BROTHER, JACOB, FOR A BOWL OF STEW.
THE DEED WAS NOT REALLY MINE.
YOU CAN BE A CRIMINAL NAILED TO A CROSS
AND YOU WILL STILL DISCOVER
MY GRACE AND MERCY IS FOR YOU.
YOU CAN BE THE GREATEST HUMAN BEING ON EARTH,
AND BE LAUDED AND APPLAUDED BY MANY,
YET STILL FALL SHORT OF THE MARK.
WHEN IT COMES TO MY HAND
TOUCHING YOU, BLESSING YOU, MARKING YOU OUT,
AS MY CHOSEN AND LOVED AND HONOURED
I SPEAK AND ACT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
I TOUCH ALL MY PEOPLE,
EVEN DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES LIKE THIS ONE.
THEREIN LIES HOPE FOR ALL OF YOU.
Reflection – Rebekah And The Twins
A Conversation on Conflict
Have a conversation this week about how your household deals with conflict.
What happens when you disagree?
How could you work things out better?
Make some decisions on how you’d like to work through conflict in your house, write your decisions down, make a promise to work hard to live them out.
A prayer for the meal table this week.
Source: Spill the Beans, Issue 24
This would be a good prayer to pray every night this week, if you’re exploring this story with children perhaps this’d be a good prayer to pray as you discuss how you deal with conflict in your house/family.
Wise one,
why do people argue and fight,
why can’t we find a way to live together that is peaceful and loving?
Parent of us all,
we are all related, brothers and sisters, and yet we continue to disagree
and fall out with each other.
God of Jacob,
you revealed yourself in a dream, you showed Jacob that you
are as much his God as you are Abraham and Isaac’s,
as much as you are our God.
We love being your children,
we are sorry that we sometimes fight with our families,
forgive us and help us
get along more peacefully.
Help us learn from those
who have gone before us
and try not to copy their mistakes. May we love and care for each other as Jesus taught us.
Amen.