Our Life with Jesus 20-21

  "Open my hands, Lord." It is a Lenten prayer, simple and powerful.  We can hang onto many things in life very tightly, including our familiar routines.  Many routines can help us, but when they become rigid, there is little room for anything else. When we are gripping something very tightly our hand is closed.  But if, with God's help, our hand can actually open--particularly if it has been closed, or we  have been closed, for a long time--the shape of our hand changes.  With an open hand, we become prepared to receive, and to be equipped for life that will be open-handed instead of closed-fisted. The season of Lent involves opening our lives to God repentantly, and doing some unpacking, unburdening, in order to move, to make breathing room, to create space for new life that is God's gift to us.  This is what the spiritual discipline of fasting about.  It is typically related to giving up food for a time-limited period, while entering into prayer.  Fasting can be a

artwork by Jan Richardson  

 Below are pictures of different locations in our church sanctuary.  Can you identify each one, and its purpose?  There is great symbolism and history in many of  the images.  What do they represent?  Take a careful look!  Answer the questions as fully as you can.  Don't be afraid to do some research!  

  What Jesus refers to as "the kingdom of God" (in the New Testament basileia: realm or dominion) is also referred to in the Gospel of Matthew as "the kingdom of the heavens."  At the outset of his ministry, Jesus announces, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."  The kingdom of God is the place where God's power of love transforms human lives.  This is a realm that can be "seen" and "entered into" (John 3:3-5).   When we pray the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus has taught us to pray, we pray that God's kingdom will come on earth and God's will be done on earth.  The way we live our lives in faith is an answer to the very prayer that we make.   In a Foundations of Faith Class, people shared some of their understandings of the kingdom of God, which included: --"God-with-us" --anywhere, everywhere that God is --the place where God's will is being done --th