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Jeremiah 20:7-13
Display an image of a burning fire in the background as the following monologue, a version of Jeremiah’s words, is read.
Oh Lord, where are you?
Why have you tricked me?
Why have you abandoned me?
I’m done, I can’t do this anymore!
I am tired and weary.
All day long they laugh at me and call me names!
They hate me, God, they hate me!
It’s too much, God, I can’t do this anymore!
This prophet life is so hard,
Full of twists and turns
Risks and more risks.
I AM DONE!
Oh! But oh no!
There is a fire, yes, a fire burning in my soul,
it’s shut up in my bones (whatever that means?!)
Even if I don’t want to talk about you, Lord,
It’s there in me,
Bursting to get out. I cannot contain it.
My friends are waiting for me to fall and stumble
But you, God, you are with me.
You are holding me up and my friends will not win.
You, God, you will WIN.
I am singing to you, Lord, all day long.
You have delivered me and the needy
From the hands of those who hate us.
I will sing to you, Lord, even though sometimes it’s hard.
Matthew 10:24-39
In the Polish chapel at the third station of the cross in the Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem, there is a painting of Jesus’ followers taking up their crosses behind a ghostly figure of Jesus carrying his cross. It is a powerful image of the sacrificial and risk bearing cost of being a disciple of Jesus. Display the image to accompany the Gospel reading, along with words taken from the reading that change as the reading progresses to highlight the message: ‘What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light’, ‘Do not think I have come to bring peace’, ‘Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me’, ‘Those who lose their life for my sake will find it’. Allow a time of silence for reflection.
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