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We are excited to introduce our latest Lent study! In this book are a pair of reflections for each of six passages of scripture.  Sarah’s art and Gareth’s text are an invitation to engage in your own reflection.

The reflections we offer here are intended as the material for a group study over the six weeks of Lent.  However, this is your book, and you can use it in the way that makes the most sense for you. The passages from the Bible are those set down as the Gospel reading for the Sundays for Year C during Lent in the Revised Common Lectionary.

To be clear, Gareth’s text doesn’t describe Sarah’s art and Sarah’s art is not illustrating Gareth’s text.  We hope that you will have conversations that draw from all these sources.  Our prayer is that as we read and wrestle with scripture together, the Holy Spirit will guide your conversation and reveal God’s Living Word in Christ to you.

There are some questions for discussion provided with each chapter but if you don’t need these prompts to get conversation going, there is no need to use them.  Likewise, short prayers are offered to open and close but this is entirely optional.

Here is a small excerpt from one of the studies:

Jesus is at it again.  Mixing with the wrong crowd.  The scribes and the Pharisees know how to be holy men and Jesus is getting it all wrong.  His message is attracting the wrong sort of people and Jesus either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.  It’s just wrong.

So, Jesus tells them a story.  It starts off like a normal parable, a wicked son getting his comeuppance.  “Ah, good” they think, “this is a bit more like it.  Some moralising to show these sinners the error of their ways.  Evil is punished and the good prosper.  Maybe this Jesus bloke isn’t so bad.”  Then it all starts to go sideways again.

When the father runs to the returning younger son and embraces him, the parable stops making sense.  “How are these sinners going to straighten up and sort themselves out after hearing this nonsense?”  The holy men walk away, shaking their heads.  How long I wonder until they realise the parable was about them?

We wish you rich conversation!