Description
The theme for this week of the season of creation is animals. Again there is no direct link to animals in the lectionary. In this group of resources activities have been provided to help the congregation focus on animals during the Prayers of the People.
The other resources are focused on James 5:13-20 and Mark 9:38-50.
The reading from Mark 9 is a collection of sayings that give instructions to the followers of Jesus on how to behave. They are to celebrate those who work for good in Jesus’ name. Then Jesus warns his disciples about putting stumbling blocks in front of those who want to follow him. The question for us is ‘What stumbling blocks do we put in front of people?’ and ‘How do we discern between stumbling blocks and expectations?’ Then we hear about salt losing its saltiness. When we lose the reason why we exist as communities of faith, why do we exist at all?
In the reading from James, we are encouraged to pray and rejoice, even in suffering. And the example of Elijah’s prayer is given to help us persevere in prayer. The question that we ask ourselves may be ‘Why are my persevering prayers not answered?’ Most of us would have had experiences of praying for healing of a loved one and not have that healing prayer answered. What do we do in these circumstances? This is one of those passages that it is good to talk about in further bible studies.
