Communications. Creative. Sample. Of Lent. The Parables. Leader s Guide TZU. A Series of Services for the Season of Lent

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1 The Parables Of Lent RECEIVE JUSTIFICATION THE PARABLE of the PHARISEE and the TAX COLLECTOR RECEIVE MERCY THE PARABLE of the GOOD SAMARITAN A Series of Services for the Season of Lent RECEIVE THE WORD THE PARABLE of the SOWER and the SEED RECEIVE GRACE THE PARABLE of the workers in the vineyard RECEIVE THE TREASURE THE PARABLE of the HIDDEN TREASURE and the PRICELESS PEARL Leader s Guide RECEIVE FORGIVENESS THE PARABLE of the PRODIGAL SON TZU

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3 THE PARABLES OF LENT A Series of Services for the Season of Lent Leader s Guide TZU 3

4 THE PARABLES OF LENT A Series of Services for the Season of Lent Index About The Parables of Lent Newsletter/Bulletin Notices Ash Wednesday Service Week One Service Week Two Service Week Three Service Week Four Service Week Five Service Music Guide By Dean Nadasdy and Tom Eggebrecht. Art and design by Lindsay Galvin by for the Parish, 1564 Fencorp Dr., Fenton, MO All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Purchase of this kit gives the purchaser the copyright release to use the material in any format for use in worship. 4 TZU

5 THE PARABLES OF LENT A Series of Services for the Season of Lent About The Parables of Lent Each service in this series focuses on a biblical parable that connects to Lenten themes. Sermons by renowned preacher Rev. Dean Nadasdy reveal that within each parable s plot is woven a unique message about what we receive through the crucified Christ. Parishioners can take the message with them to enrich their own stories of faith in Jesus as they journey through Lent. For each service the kit contains: sample bulletins with complete orders of service sermons prayers music for the accompanist. Ordering Information Additional resources are available from for the Parish. Contact us for current pricing and availability. Call us at Or visit our website: TZU 5

6 Bulletins For The Six-Week Kit: Code TZP Pre-printed bulletins 8.5 x 11 Code TZ2 Blank bulletins 8.5 x 11 Code TZR Blank bulletins 8.5 x 14 Holy Week Services To Complete The Series: Those who desire may supplement this series with other services that continue the series format and theme. Each is ordered separately and includes all the Leader s Guide features described above, except the CD. Or, order all four service kits together. As a bonus, orders for all four kits include a CD-ROM (Mac/PC) with text of services and of bulletins in.rtf (rich text format). All four kits Code TZ9 Palm Sunday Receive Love: The Lost Sheep Luke 15:1-7 A shepherd leaves his 99 sheep to find the one who is lost. We who are lost in sin are found by our loving Shepherd, who heads into Jerusalem amid praise and palm branches. Code TZZ Kit Code TZT (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZW (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZX (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Maundy Thursday Receive the Meal: The Great Banquet Luke 14:7-24 Those in low positions are invited to a place of honor by the host. We who are humbled by our sins and outcast by the world are welcomed by Christ to dine at his Holy Supper. Code TZ4 Kit Code TZC (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZG (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZM (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins 6 TZU

7 Good Friday Receive the Sacrifice: The Landowner and the Tenants Matthew 21:33-45 Tenants in a vineyard kill the son the master sent to gather the harvest. The Son of God is killed that we might receive the kingdom. Code TZ5 Kit Code TZD (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZH (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZN (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Easter Sunday Receive Eternal Life: The Wise and Foolish Builders Matthew 7:24-27 When a storm hits, the house built on the rock remains while one built on sand is washed away. We build our lives on Christ the Cornerstone. Code TZ6 Kit Code TZE (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZJ (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZO (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Ash Wednesday Alone Receive Justification: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Luke 18:9-14 The tax collector who repents goes home justified, while the proud Pharisee does not. We, too, who repent are justified through Christ. Code TZ3 Kit Code TZB (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZF (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code TZK (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Other Resources: Code TZ1 Bookmark 7 x 2 1/2 TZU 7

8 Code TZ7 Promotional Bulletin Insert Code TZ8 Display Posters 11 x 17 Code PHTZ Cloth Banner Suitable For Worship Bible Study Resources: Code TZS The Parables of Lent Student Guide Code TZL The Parables of Lent Leader s Guide 8 TZU

9 THE PARABLES OF LENT RECEIVE THE WORD THE PARABLE of the SOWER and the SEED Week One Complete Script for Worship Leaders The Opening is sung by the congregation to tune Lasset Uns Mit Jesu Ziehen and spoken responsively by the pastor and the congregation: Let us ever walk with Jesus, follow his example pure, Flee the world, which would deceive us and to sin our souls allure. Ever in his footsteps treading, body here, yet soul above, Full of faith and hope and love, let us do the Father s bidding. Faithful Lord, abide with me; Savior, lead, I follow thee. Let us suffer here with Jesus, to his image, e er conform; Heaven s glory soon will please us, sunshine follow on the storm. Though we sow in tears of sorrow, we shall reap with heav nly joy; And the fears that now annoy shall be laughter on the morrow. Christ, I suffer here with thee; there, oh, share thy joy with me! Let us also die with Jesus. His death from the second death, From our soul s destruction, frees us, quickens us with life s glad breath. Let us mortify, while living, flesh and blood and die to sin; And the grave that shuts us in shall but prove the gate to heaven. Jesus, here I die to thee there to live eternally. 42 TZU

10 PPIn this holy season the Son of God humbles himself so that we receive mercy. CCHumble me once again, O God, that my life would be pleasing and acceptable to you. PPIn this holy season the Son of God spreads the seed of his Word over our hearts. CCMake our hearts the good soil, O God, that receives your Word and produces fruit that lasts. PPIn this holy season the Son of God enters into his Passion and death so that we are exalted. CCGrant me your grace, O God, that my faith in Jesus would be pleasing and acceptable to you. Let us listen to our Savior as his parables unfold, Learning what he has to teach us, bearing fruit a hundredfold. May the vast world s cares and pleasures, Doubts and lies from Satan heard, Never turn us from the Word. As this seed is sown among us, May our ears and hearts be found to be fresh and fruitful ground. The Confession and Absolution are spoken responsively by the pastor and the congregation: PPOur hearts are not always fertile ground for the planting of the Word of God. Let us confess the sins of our hearts and lives to our Lord who hears and forgives: CCMost merciful God, we confess that our very nature is sinful. Our hearts are too often the path where Satan comes and snatches away what has been sown. Our hearts are too often the rocky ground where trial and difficulty make us fall away. Our hearts are too often the thorns that choke God s Word and keep it from being fruitful. Our hearts are sinful and selfish, pushing away the grace of God and growing only sin and deceit. It is proven in our wicked thoughts, words and deeds. Forgive us, most holy God. PPThe Lord Jesus came into this world with a heart that was perfect soil. He never sinned and always adhered to the Word of his Heavenly Father. His perfect life, crushing crucifixion and glorious resurrection mean complete forgiveness for the sins of our hearts and lives. Because his heart and life were perfect soil for us, all of your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. TZU 43

11 The Hymn of Response is sung by the congregation to tune Der Am Kreuz : On my heart imprint your image, blessed Jesus, King of grace, That life s riches, cares and pleasures never may your work erase; Let the clear inscription be: Jesus, crucified for me, Is my life, my hope s foundation, and my glory and salvation! The Prayer of the Day is spoken by the pastor or other worship leader: PPHeavenly Father, you scattered the seed of your Word on the heart of your only-begotten Son. There it took root, sprouted and grew perfectly. Make our hearts the perfect soil where the fruit of faith is grown. Amen. The Old Testament Reading, Jeremiah 7:1-7, is spoken by the pastor or other worship leader: PPThe word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Stand in the gate of the Lord s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. The Epistle Reading, Colossians 1:3-14, is spoken by the pastor or other worship leader: PPWe always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing 44 TZU

12 in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Gospel Reading, Matthew 13:1-8, 18-23, is spoken by the pastor or other worship leader: PPThat same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. The Children s Sermon is delivered by the pastor or other worship leader: (Needed: A pot full of rocks and a packet of seeds) PPI love gardening and I want to grow something. I have here a pot full of rocks and a packet of seeds. So I m going to empty this packet of seeds into this pot full of rocks. Then I m going to water the seeds and watch them grow. Do you think this is going to work very well? (Wait for answers.) Why not? (Solicit answers.) If seeds won t grow when I plant them on rocks, what do they need in order for them to grow? (Wait for answers.) That s right. They need good soil in order for them to grow and thrive. If I plant these seeds in good potting soil, then water them and put them in the sunlight, pretty soon I will see something sprouting through the soil. And if I TZU 45

13 keep taking care of it, pretty soon there will be flowers or vegetables. Our faith is like a seed that needs to grow so that it will bring forth what Jesus called fruit. The way our faith grows is by listening to Jesus. We hear Jesus whenever we listen to him speak to us in church, in Sunday School or in our devotions at home. The fruit of our faith is the things that we do because we are Christians. When we praise God, pray, help others and obey that is the fruit of our faith. We don t want our hearts to be like rocky soil where nothing grows and there is no fruit. We want Jesus love to grow in our hearts. That happens whenever we hear and listen to God s Word. And when we grow in our faith in love we help others to grow in their faith and love, too. That s a great harvest! Dear Jesus, plant your Word in the soil of my heart so that my faith will grow and I will bear fruit that shows itself in loving you and loving others. Amen. The Sermon Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Southwell SM: We listen as the Word like scattered seed is sown, For as each parable is heard Christ s kingdom is made known. On soil of every kind the precious seed we sow That in good soil the Word might find a place to thrive and grow. In ev ry time of need, before the judgment throne, Your work, O Lamb of God, I ll plead, your merits, not my own. The Sermon is delivered by the pastor: Theme verses: And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.... When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. Matthew 13:4, 19 PPIt is safe to say that every person here has at some point been misunderstood. Maybe you gave directions in such a way that the person using them ended up 15 miles from their destination. You re sure your directions were accurate. Now the other person is sure you can t tell north from south. Or maybe you ve been criticized for saying something that was rude or thoughtless, and you can t believe someone would have taken it that way, but they did, and they re angry or disappointed in you. It s not easy being misunderstood. I am not necessarily a fan of Jane Austen s novels, but there is a scene in Chapter TZU

14 of Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth says to Mr. Darcy, There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome. And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody. Mr. Darcy responds, And yours is willfully to misunderstand them. Sometimes there is a willful misunderstanding when we choose simply not to give the other person the benefit of the doubt. At other times, though, we misunderstand someone because what they say is so new or so challenging that we just don t get it. In Lent, as we follow our Lord through his Passion, it is amazing to see the role that misunderstanding plays as he moves toward his cross. All along the way of his ministry he is misunderstood. The scribes and Pharisees do all they can to trip him up and misinterpret his teachings. The people, Jesus says, lack the understanding to grasp his parables. They misunderstand Jesus as miracle-working Bread King able to feed people by the thousands and lead them into a new Golden Age of prosperity. But in the Passion story especially we see how Jesus own disciples run away, leaving him to suffer alone. Mark says at the end of the arrest scene in Gethsemane, They all left him and fled (Mk 14:50). And as you read the four Gospels story of his ministry, repeatedly we re told that his disciples did not understand him. They did not understand him, we re told, when he predicted three times that he would go to Jerusalem and there suffer, die and rise from the dead (Mk 9:32). When he used the figure of a shepherd to describe his relationship with them, we re told, This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them (Jn 10:6). On Palm Sunday, John tells us: His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him (Jn 12:16). When Jesus is about to wash Simon Peter s feet in the upper room, Jesus says to Peter, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand (Jn 13:7). Jesus was misunderstood all right. And the fact that his disciples deserted him when he needed them can be credited to the inescapable fact that they never really got Jesus. They misunderstood him and his mission. They were in their misunderstanding fulfilling the parable Jesus told of seed falling on the path and being devoured by birds. As Jesus put it, When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. It changed, though, for the disciples. After Jesus atoning work, they finally understood him. Afterward you will understand, he had said. At supper with the TZU 47