This is part of the worship series,
"A Table in the Wilderness”
Introduction
Letter of Invitation | Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4
Lent 5 | Palm Sunday | Good Friday | Easter Sunday | Communion Liturgy
Prayer Path: A Journey in the Wilderness
Series Introduction
Modeled after Jesus’ forty days in the desert, Lent is a time to become more open to God through the vulnerabilities of life. It comes with an especially poignant invitation to join with others in bringing our doubt, fear, sorrow, loneliness, and dryness before God, hoping to taste God’s promised provision in the deserts of life. Lent’s invitation to slow down was made especially poignant amid the long months of global pandemic. We already felt small and vulnerable, making the concern of ancient Israel resonate in our hearts: can God really spread a table before us in the presence of global and personal fears and sorrow? The answer, of course, is yes! God spreads a table before us in the wilderness, in the face of all our greatest fears (Psalm 23:5). This series highlights one biblical figure each week along with the way God provided food for them in their wildernesses.
This worship series includes a communion liturgy written by Rev. Wilma VanderLeek and sermon notes throughout prepared by Rev. Joan DeVries.
Series Outline
| Scripture | Figure | Food |
Bookmark for Households 
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| Lent 1 | Matthew 4 | Jesus | angel food cakes |
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| Lent 2 | Exodus 16 | Israel | manna and quail |
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| Lent 3 | Genesis 21 | Hagar | water |
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| Lent 4 | 1 Kings 19 | Elijah | bread and water |
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| Lent 5 | 1 Samuel 25 | David | raisins and figs |
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| Palm Sunday | Matthew 14 | Hungry Crowd | fish and bread |
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| Good Friday | Mark 15 | Our Savior | wine vinegar |
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| Easter Sunday | John 21 | Disciples | fish |
Visuals
For this series we moved our communion table to the center of the stage, where the pulpit is usually located, and set a music stand behind the table, where the preacher stood. Every Sunday during Lent the table was set for communion. We included a special dish in the center of the table representing the provision of food in the wilderness from that day’s Scripture reading. These special dishes included angel food cake, small pieces of bread (or marshmallows) in a basket representing manna, a jug of water, a platter of raisins and figs, and a basket of real fish and bread. On the steps in front of the table we made a “desert” with sand and three large cacti. For Easter Sunday we removed the cacti and made a fake fire (real stones, wood, and translucent orange paper flames) with real fish “cooking” over it.
For suggestions of images to use in connection with this series, see the prayer station art suggestions in the related resource "A Journey in the Wilderness."
Music
Our theme song for this series was “Speak to Us,” by Rachel Wilhelm and Wendell Kimbrough (see below), sung before the Scripture reading and sermon. The first few weeks it was introduced as a solo, and we added a verse each week. We closed each service with a journey song such as “We Are People On a Journey” DeMey (Background information and performance suggestions for this song can be found at ReformedWorship.org by searching by the song title. Other songs that work with the wilderness theme are listed here. Additional suggestions for congregational or choral songs specific to each service are found following each week’s sermon summary.
“O Give Thanks (Psalm 107)” Kimbrough
“Blessed Be Your Name” Redman
“All Who Hunger, Gather Gladly” Dunstan
“Desert Song” Fraser
“Guide Me, O My Great Redeemer” Williams
“All Who Are Thirsty” Perry
“Speak, O Lord” Getty and Townend
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” Chisholm
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Words and Music: Jeremy Geddert, Karin Simmons, Rachel Wilhelm, |
Call to Worship
Our call to worship each week came from the psalms, particularly those of gratitude for God’s provision. We also used these psalms as the focus of our midweek online contemplative prayer service.
Children’s Involvement
We wrote one-minute summaries of the Scripture passages and asked children in the congregation to record videos of themselves reading it (or part of it). Each week we showed the week’s video at the beginning of the children’s message.
Going Deeper
We invited our congregation and broader community to go deeper into this theme of God’s provision in the wilderness in a few ways during the season of Lent.
- A letter of invitation was sent out that outlined everything we were doing for Lent. An editable template can be found at "Letter of Invitation."
- An outdoor prayer path in the tradition of the Stations of the Cross was set up on our church’s property. For more information on the prayer path see the article “Journey in the Wilderness.”
- To encourage additional individual, household, or small group reflection, we provided bookmarks listing the Psalm of Provision and other Scripture texts we were using in our weekly worship services. [See example above by the series outline.] These were available at the back of the sanctuary and at the end of the prayer path and were also sent out with the invitational letter. A downloadable bookmark is located in the resources section below.
Reformed Worship readers are free to use the below image with the following copyright line: Frank Gutbrod © Reformed Worship 2022. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
