Session 7: The City of Hailing

Materials
Hymnals or copies of the hymn “Were You There?”
Hymnals or copies of the hymn “The Old Rugged Cross”
A cross and three candles
Unleavened bread – Matzo (available in ethnic foods section of grocery store) or similar flat crackers
Simple meat or cheese spread
Prepared horseradish (found in cooler section of grocery store)
Copies of Ambrose’s prayer for group members

For Experiential Options
Hymnals
Wood for those who wish to make crosses

Opening Statement (Leader to summarize where indicated during session or to copy for group):
            “Are we there yet?” Children and adults can’t help but wonder if a long journey is nearing its end. If your journey through Lent has involved additional obligations – fasting, action, and/or this small group – you may be wondering if you are finally getting close to the end.   
            This session is called “The City of Hailing” for two reasons: First, Holy Week means we are within hailing distance of Easter and the City of God. Second, we celebrate the praise given by the people when they recognized Jesus as a king.  Someday, as is promised in scripture, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow.
            But in what way do we hail Jesus as king?  That is an important question. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul reminds us that Jesus did not consider equality with God “as something to be grasped” but poured himself out as an offering.  In our world where personal attainment seems to be everything, it’s hard to consider losing all or even losing a little, for the benefit of the king.
            Over the course of the next couple of days, your church or community may have special worship services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and of course, Easter Sunday. Holy Week is the center of the Christian calendar.  Those in criminal justice, the health industries, food services, and retail may find it difficult to take time off for all of these special services, but work together as a group to make sure you are all able to participate as much as possible in this most holy time.
 
Scripture Reading: Exodus 12:1-14; Philippians 2:5-11

Focus Statement: "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Gathering
            For this session, have subdued lighting in your meeting space. After the group gathers, sing “In the Garden.”  Then read Exodus 12:1-14.  Recite together the following prayer:
            All: Pack light, live right, clasp the suitcase tight, this night with the angel of death in sight, bite unleavened bread and prepare for flight. The moon is bright.  Let our enemies fight. All is well. God is might.  All is well. Pack light.
            Serve the matzo spread with meat or cheese spread and topped with a generous sprinkling of horseradish.  Tell the group that Jewish people serve horseradish – a bitter herb – as part of the seder meal. (The seder is the Passover meal that Jesus presided over in the upper room with the disciples before he was arrested). This bitter food reminds them of the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt.  The unleavened bread (matzo) reminds them of having to flee unexpectedly.  They had no time to bake bread made with yeast for their journey because there was no time for the yeast to rise.  Unleavened bread is part of the seder meal, too, as part of reliving the events of the Exodus and Passover.   As the group eats, ask them to talk about foods that symbolize hard times.  How did they learn of these foods, and do they eat them?  Ask them to imagine what it would be like to live “on the run” as the Hebrews did.  How can these imaginings help us approach Easter as the first disciples did?
            Set out a basin with a towel, as a symbol of the story in John 13 where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples.  Pray the following prayer of confession in unison.

All:  Come then, Lord Jesus. ... Pour water into the basin, wash not only our feet but also the head; and not only the body, but also the footsteps of the soul. ...  Wash the steps of my mind that I may not sin again. Amen. 
            ---Ambrose, Of the Holy Spirit, 1.13, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, X. 95.

Marking the Milestones (Daily Meditations from The Upper Room)
            By now, you know the drill.

Thursday, March 13, 2008
Rebuilding the Walls
How do we go about recognizing the King in the ruins?  Even though God had done great things in restoring the people to the land, they found it hard to rebuild the temple from the rubble.  We have all suffered loss, the writer reminds us, and we have all wept over the rubble of a hope or dream.  How do we find restoration after destruction? How can God’s people trust each other and begin to help each other reclaim and rebuild?   

Friday, March 14, 2008
Three Characteristics
Perhaps we have recognized the king, but do we recognize his kingdom?  The writer calls us back to the essentials: righteousness, peace, and joy.  Define these three according to your understanding.  What is the kingdom of God like?  How is it visible?  In what ways does it remain invisible?  Describe what would be for you a back-to-basics faith.  What would seeking such a faith do for us as a worshipping people?

Saturday, March 15, 2008
God’s Open-door Policy
Time doesn’t stand still.  Can we recognize the king in our crises?  The writer calls to mind a verse from Revelation about the open door that God has set before us.  Has there ever been a time when you failed to see the door that God was opening because it was so hard to let go of the past?  How long did you remain at the door that had closed?   Do you believe God works through crises once we create them, or does God sometimes cause them to bring us to belief or maturity? 

Sunday, March 16, 2008
Never Abandoned
Recite the Twenty-third Psalm together.  Name, if you are able, senseless tragedies in your life for which there seems to have been little or no healing.  Rather than seeking to provide answers or explanations, express or pray shared sorrow.  How do we go about recognizing the king in the midst of painful journeys? Why do we seek to ‘fix’ situations that are beyond fixing?  Does a ministry of presence help at all?  What, if anything, has brought light to you in dark places?  Where are you in your journey through the valley of the shadow of death?

Monday, March 17, 2008
Generous Heart
Shouldn’t it be easy to recognize the king in the cloud of witnesses? Who has set a good example for you as a disciple?  What did you learn?  How well have you done in following that example?  What excuses have you made for not following in the footsteps of those who have called us to great things?   It is easy to pine over the talents we do not have.  How can we instead claim and celebrate our gifts? 

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
God's Creation
Surely it is easy to recognize the King in the King’s creation. Name a part of God’s creation that is especially meaningful to you, and tell why.  What part of nature reminds you most of an aspect of God?  What part of nature seems most distant, to you, from the creator?  Do you consider humans an essential part of creation, or set apart from the rest of creation? Why? 

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Somber Time
            Humility can be seen in many aspects of the life of Jesus – the circumstances of his birth, the flight into Egypt, the return with his parents from Jerusalem to home, his fasting and prayer life, his struggles with temptation in the desert, his homelessness, his agony, his humiliating death, and his burial in a borrowed tomb.  What have you learned during your journey through Lent?  What insights have you gained?  What rituals do you look forward to over the next few days?  Which do you dread?  Which evoke no emotion at all from you?  Is it possible to think about being humble and still be humble?

Reflection:

           What would it have been like to be to the Lord’s Supper?

           What would it have been like to wait with Jesus in Gethsemane?

           What would it have been like to wait at the foot of the cross?

           What would it have been like to seal the tomb? What might the people doing it be feeling?

Connections
            Stand a cross on a table, and place three lighted candles around it.  Extinguish other lights. Invite group members to reflect on the sessions of the past few weeks and on the cross.  At intervals of three minutes, extinguish the candles, one by one. 
            Allow a minute of silence after the last candle is snuffed out.  Then sing a stanza of “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  Re-light the three candles and slowly restore light to the room.

Going Forth
           Some groups meet only during Lent.  Some will be doing the final session on Easter morning or the Wednesday after Easter.  If this is the last meeting, invite group members to say what they have appreciated about each member of the group, naming them one by one and addressing comments to each in turn.  After comments about the first person, pray a sentence prayer for him/her.  Do this for each person.
            Sing “The Old Rugged Cross.”
            Close with sentence prayers of thanksgiving for the group.

Experiential and Journaling options
            Those who are wood-wise might work together to create crosses.
            Have a hymn sing of Good Friday hymns.
            Work together to finish a sentence that begins “When I think about the cross …”
             
For a Children’s Session:
            Materials:
            Palm fronds
            Recipe and materials for communion shortbread (see below).
            Work together with children to bake the following shortbread. Depending on the time you have for the session, you might mix it in advance.  Let the children work together on kneading the dough. Here is the recipe.
            6 cups flour
            2 tablespoons sugar
            ½ lb butter
            ½ pint whipping cream
            Preheat oven to 400.  Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl.  Cut in butter until the mixture resembles meal.  Stir in whipping cream.  (Mixture will be very stiff and crumbly.)  Divide the dough into four parts and knead it on a lightly floured board or lightly floured foil or waxed paper. Spread the dough evenly about 3/8” thick on two cookie sheets.  Score the dough into ¾” squares and prick each section with fork tines.  Reduce oven temperature to 300 when cookie sheets are put in.  Bake at least 1 hour (it does not brown, so color is not a test for done-ness.) After removing the bread from the oven, cut it immediately along scored lines into squares.  
           
            While the bread is baking, and later while it is cooling, distribute flat straight palm fronds and explain how these are related to the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem.  Make a small slit in one palm and insert another at right angles through it to make a cross.  Teach the children to sing “Low in the Grave He Lay,” which mentions both Good Friday and Easter.  Eat the bread as you prepare to depart.