Fifth Sunday in Lent- Week of March 21, 2021

Begin your devotion time by praying this prayer: Gracious God, your promises are with us each day. Help us remember to share these promises with all people. Amen.

Reflect on the Way of Love together: This week’s practice on the Way of Love is BLESS. The promises of God’s love are always with us, and our lives are blessed by this love. In what ways have you been blessed by the love of God, and how can you share this blessing with other people?

Adult and Small Child

Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Reflect: Jeremiah was a prophet – someone who helps share God’s message to God’s people – and he had something very important to share about God’s promises. Jeremiah wanted to make sure that everyone understood that they are all God’s people and that God promises to be with everyone and to love them. Jeremiah even told all people that God would “write� this promise in our hearts.

Do you know what that means? It means that inside all of us, we know that God loves us and that God wants good for us. Sometimes we have to sit quietly and listen to hear and remember that promise in our hearts. Sometimes when we feel very happy and joyful and our hearts feel like they are as big as our smiles, we are reminded that God promises to loves us. Sometimes when we feel sad or scared, it helps to have other people make us feel safe. We remember that is part of the promise - God gives us those adults and friends to help us know that we are loved.

Respond: Paint some special “heart� rocks to help others know how God promises to love everyone. Gather some smooth stones – maybe you’ll even find a few that are naturally shaped like a heart! Then use paint to decorate the rocks with hearts and other symbols of God’s love. Once the paint is dry, have an adult help you write “God’s love is written on your heart� or a similar phrase on the rock. Then, hide the rocks for others to find – either around your own home or somewhere in your town or neighborhood. When someone finds your rock, you will have been like the prophet Jeremiah – you will have blessed them with a message of God’s love!

- Katy Denning

Adult and Elementary

Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Reflect: How well do you know your parents? What about your grandparents or other seniors in your community? When I began high school, I became really interested in my grandparents’ lives. I wanted to learn more about them. I had a lively discussion with my grandparents about their upbringings. I learned that they spent part of their childhoods in the South, but then they both came to Harlem (a neighborhood in upper Manhattan, NY.) This dialogue was a blessing to our entire family. I am glad to have in-depth knowledge of the elders of my community. Please take a look at verse 34 in our reading where God assures us that we can have a great relationship with Godself. Every one of us has access to God. This is the ultimate blessing!

Respond: Try to become a journalist for a day or a week. Find some seniors that you can talk to, possibly your grandparents or your neighbors. Ask them about their childhoods and the things they did for fun. After your discussion, thank them for letting you get to know them better. Then, think about what it means to know God. Do you have questions for God? Then, ask God those questions in prayer.

- Imani Driskell

Adult and Youth

Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Reflect: Today’s reading is the renewed covenant of God with God’s people, the people of Israel. They broke the covenant God made with the people after God brought them out of Egypt. But God is all-loving, all-merciful, and all-forgiving. This covenant has three important parts. First, it reunites the two kingdoms (they had separated into Judea and Israel—lots of fighting.) Second, it is engraved on the people’s hearts. They can carry with them wherever they go the confidence that God loves and forgives no matter what. And third, this guarantees that ALL will know God. Every single person is equal before God.

Have you ever been let down by someone you love and trust? How did that feel? If the person apologized and asked for forgiveness, were you able to give it? What would it look like to forgive even if the person doesn’t ask for it?

Respond: God is gracious, compassionate, loving, and forgiving. God asks us to be the same. Take some time and think about your relationships. Is there one that needs to be healed? Write the person’s name down and keep it in your wallet, or in another place you will see it regularly. Pray for the person and for yourself. Is this a relationship that can or should be healed? If so, perhaps find a way to talk to the person. If not, ask God to bless you both as you move forward in your lives.

- Katherine Doyle

Adult and Adults

Read: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Reflect: “So, written on our hearts...� No matter how many times I read these words from Jeremiah they always have a loud effect. Not “just� another covenant with the nations, but a covenant written on individual hearts. This is loud because I can’t run from this covenant, can’t blame others for not seeing that the work is done; I can’t even wait. The message is there, the tug is there, the reminder is there, and it’s personal. I was in a seminar once and the instructor discussed prayer and how it was a conversation with God. Attendees had questions about hearing answers to the questions they might ask of God. I wish I’d remembered these verses then – perhaps the answers they were seeking were already written on their hearts.

Respond: Spend some time journaling, using these prompts as a guide: God’s covenant with each of us individually is an opportunity to think about something, or some things, that you believe deeply. How did you arrive at that certainty, how did you conclude that this was your all-in-all? In what ways do you express your most heartfelt beliefs? How does your family and other people know where you stand? How does something rise to the occasion of being thoroughly meaningful to you?

- Mallard Benton