We Celebrate Shavuot
"He Loves Us!"
SUMMARY:
Our service was held at our local park, we had seven stops, and at each stop we talked about a different part of the story:
Freedom from Egypt, we remembered how God delivered us, and brought us towards the Promised Land. We recall how he heard our cries and did not abandon us.
The desert, the children of Israel complaining that they are dying in the desert. They bemoan the fact that life was so much easier when they were in Egypt. Freedom is hard. There much we can say about how “easy” life was when we were under a tyrant. We bemoan this same thing when we complain about “adulting”, when we leave our parents home and have to do the hard parts of building our lives. We ate garlic cloves to remind ourselves of the tyranny of freedom we have all experienced.
Provision in the desert. We remembered the ways God let the desert time form us, because we were not ready, we had to go through this growing and maturing time. But he provided for us in the desert. And while he does not always remove the struggles and sufferings from our own lives he always stands with us and provides nourishment for us. We had gum to refresh us from that garlic.
Ruth. It’s traditional to read this story, as it happens at the right season (the wheat harvest) and also is about God’s provision for the foreigner and stranger. God is not just writing this story for the Hebrew/Jew, but for anyone who wants to join His people at the feast! Anyone can be a child of God, anybody can live his ways of freedom. We had communion.
We went half way up “Mt. Sinai” and as we ascended we acknowledged that as adults we recognize that we must take responsibility, that the law helps us live freely, independently. We are adults. We had water. Not a great exciting thing, but a necessary thing and the thing we need most.
We arrived at the top of Mt. Sinai. This is the place where God renews his covenant/ his relationship with us. This is the place God “marries” his people. We said marriage vows, because our salvation is less about me and God and much more about Us and God - as modeled between me and you. We enter this relationship with God as adults, much like marriage is only between free adults, not children. We received flower crowns (which were worn primarily by the little boys who thought they were super cool!)
We proceeded to the picnic, the land of milk and honey and we recalled how the law of God is not only freeing but beautifying. Our lives are not filled with drudgery but real goodness and beauty. We realize it’s a gift to live in community, in marriage, with children and that these things are wonderful! We are free under God’s ways of living - we model the Kingdom of Heaven!
At the end of each stop we shouted this refrain:
Leader: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
OUR FULL SHAVUOT PROGRAM
If you’d like us to email you a PDF version of this more formatted version for your use please let us know!
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION - (IDEAS: Describe the journey we will take. Introduce the readers, or invite everyone to read. Explain how to pronounce this holiday “shah-voo-oat”.)
PART 1: DELIVERANCE FROM TYRANNY
The sidewalk outside the east side of the park
Pastor: We will “travel” to Mt Sinai where we will receive God’s words of freedom, and the ways that will order our lives into beautiful pictures of God’s Kingdom – the ways that redeem our lives. God Himself will lead us, He will make the path and be with us as we go.
READER: “The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night.” (Exodus 13:21)
REVEAL THE CLOUD
Move through the gate and go into the park.
Pastor: Like the frozen barren wasteland that was winter, just a few months ago, we too were dead. We felt cold, abandoned, betrayed. ALL: We would have died.
READER 1: But God himself came to us, in our peril and suffering and he rescued us. Just as He rescued His children from Egypt and their harsh bonds of slavery - His rescuing and delivering work never stops.
ALL: He has delivered us!
READER 2: He has turned our cries into singing, He has shown the whole world that He had not forgotten His children. Our God is an awesome God, He will never forget us or leave us. He will deliver us from death, from slavery, from winter, from peril.
ALL: He loves us!
HOMILY - (IDEAS: Describe how we will live in the story of the children of Israel post Passover/deliverance. This is a story about God’s great love for us. Introduce the poem sung after they have watched God REALLY free them from the Egyptian army – no longer looking over their shoulders to see who’s chasing them down.)
RESPONSIVE READING: (Exodus 15:1-2 & 13-18)
Pastor: Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord
ALL: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
he has hurled both horse and rider
into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him—
my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
…
“With your unfailing love you lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your might, you guide them
to your sacred home.
The peoples hear and tremble;
anguish grips those who live in Philistia.
The leaders of Edom are terrified;
the nobles of Moab tremble.
All who live in Canaan melt away;
terror and dread fall upon them.
The power of your arm
makes them lifeless as stone
until your people pass by, O Lord,
until the people you purchased pass by.
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain—
the place, O Lord, reserved for your own dwelling,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
The Lord will reign forever and ever!”
REFRAIN
Leader: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
TO EAT: Crackers, which remind us of our separation from Egypt and bread – the unleavened bread of haste that we ate as we left our oppressors.
PART 2: THE DESERT & THE TYRANNY OF FREEDOM
The south side of the volleyball sand courts
READER: “…And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone…” (Numbers 11:4b-6a)
Katherine: “Remember when our mom washed our clothes for us?”
All: It was easier then.
“Remember when we were children and we made friends just by showing up at the play ground?”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we were in school and our teachers told us exactly what to do?”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we we had school break in the summer and didn’t have to work?”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we lived in our parents house and our dad paid the bills?”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we were young and single and didn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night for kids?”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we had that relationship and they yelled and manipulated us, but at least we weren’t alone?”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we had a job, even a job we hated in a toxic environment, but we made so much money.”
It was easier then.
“Remember when we were in prison and they cooked and gave us a free food?”
It was easier then.
HOMILY - (IDEAS: We humans do not really ever want to be free, it’s terrifying. Talk about leaving our parents home, only to live in a hovel, eating ramen missing “the good old days”. But while adulting is hard is will bring beautiful agency. We must go through the desert times in our lives. This is a transformative, maturing and growing time for all of us and the children of Israel. They, and we, are not ready to enter the promised land just yet. )
READER: “The Israelites, if only we had died at the Lord’s hand in Egypt, there we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. But you have brought us into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:3)
PERSONAL MEDITATION
When in your life have you experienced this tyranny of “freedom”?
EAT - garlic clove, may its bite remind us of struggle and suffering.
REFRAIN
Leader: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader: 3 and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
PART 3: PROVISION IN THE DESERT
Move to the north side of the volleyball sand courts
READER: “Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” (Exodus 16:9)
EAT - gum, even when things are bracingly sharp, God provides relief.
READER: “Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” (Exodus 16:11-12)
HOMILY - (IDEAS: We often hear or bemoan ourselves how God doesn’t deliver us from troubles, sickness, struggle, suffering, sadness. This is true. But he promises to provide for us during these times, discuss manna. He also promises to stand along side us, and never forget or abandon us – the cloud of his presence)
ACTIVITY: WAVE BREAD & WHEAT (hold the loaves high and wave. The congregation may wave breadsticks or wheat stalks)
This is commanded in Leviticus at the end of the wheat harvest. We remember and celebrate each year the ways God has provided for us.
READER: “Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Fill a two-quart container with manna to preserve it for your descendants. Then later generations will be able to see the food I gave you in the wilderness when I set you free from Egypt. Moses said to Aaron, “Get a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then put it in a sacred place before the Lord to preserve it for all future generations.” Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He eventually placed it in the Ark of the Covenant—in front of the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. So the people of Israel ate manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 16:32-35)
REFRAIN
Leader: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
PART 4: RUTH - THE INVITATION TO THE FOREIGNER
Move along the sidewalk to the next bench
HOMILY - (IDEAS: This book is traditionally read during this holiday. It features a story set in this season – wheat harvest, and is a story about God’s provision to the widow/orphan/foreigner. It also includes the ideas that God’s banquet wedding is for ANYONE and EVERYONE who will choose to participate and receive. So for this reason we participate in communion.)
READER: “The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.
Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.
But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.
“No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”
But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”
And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”
But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
(Ruth 1:4-18 )
Pastor: Everyone is invited to approach Mt. Sinai and be part of this relationship with God.
READER: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)
WORDS OF INSTITUTION & COMMUNION
(Rip the challah into pieces and dip into wine and distribute)
REFRAIN
Leader: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
PART 5: MOUNT SINAI - FREEDOM IN LAW
Move midway up the ramp to flag pole area.
HOMILY - (IDEAS: Adulting is hard, we struggle. But we are not children anymore, we recognize that we must take responsibility and make our choices. We are beginning the ascent into real freedom as we receive God’s ways of living.)
RESPONSE
Leader: “Now we wash our own clothes”
All: We are now adults.
“Now making friends is harder.”
We are now adults.
“Now there is no clear path for the skills we need, and we have to educate ourselves.”
We are now adults.
“Now we work hard to live in our own space and pay our own bills”
We are now adults.
“Now we have kids who depend on us to provide for them.”
We are now adults.
“Now we leave abusive relationships, even when we’re lonely.”
We are now adults.
“Now we understand that to survive, we must live together.”
We are now adults.
“Now we know that even when we don’t have what we want, we have what we need.”
We are now adults.
REFRAIN
Leader: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
RECEIVE: A bottle of water, water is not “exciting” but it is sometimes what you most want to sustain life.
PART 6: MOUNT SINAI - RENEWAL OF COVENANT
Top of stairs
HOMILY - (IDEAS: Describe how marriage is symbol of God’s desired relationship with humans. How He longs for us and desires us and wants us to be His bride, His church. We don’t enter into this individually as much as corporately. We enter as adults, freely, after our formative time in the desert. We recommit ourselves to this God each year.)
RENEWAL OF VOWS - Gather together in circle
Pastor: God has promised to be our faithful lover. Marriage models our relationship with the divine. It is not always perfect, but it gives us glimpses into what this union with God is like. And so as we renew our covenant with God, we also renew our covenant relationships with each other.
Pastor: Congregation, will you have this god to be your God; to live together with Him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love Him, honor Him, in sickness and in health; forsaking all others, being faithful to Him as long as you shall live?
All: We will.
Oh God, Rule of the Universe, will You have us to be Your people and your bride; to live together with us in the covenant of marriage? Will you love us, comfort us, honor and keep us, in sickness, difficulty and in prosperity and health; and be faithful to us as long as we live?
Yes! He has promised that He will!
Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two parties in this covenant relationship?
We will.
And so, knowing that God will always keep his covenant relationship with his people, shall we not keep our covenant relationships with each other? Reflecting and magnifying God’s love for us, showing all the world a small view of what a covenant relationship is and can be? Displaying the hope and promise of love, relationship and communion with our God?
We will.
God has taken us to be His beloved, His bride, His church, His lover, His friend. He will have and hold us from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are reunited with Him when the Kingdom of Heaven is fully remade on Earth. THIS is His solemn vow.
We, take you, God of all gods, Ruler of the Universe, great I AM, to be our LORD, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we die with the hope that we will see Your face again at the time of the resurrection when we will be reunited with You! This is our solemn vow.
Let us hold hands and pray together the words our Savior taught us.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, bless, preserve and keep us; the Lord mercifully with his favor look upon us, and fill us with all the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; that we may faithfully live together in this life, and in the age to come in life everlasting. Amen.
The peace of the Lord be with you always.
And also with you.
God and His people, having witnessed these vows to love one another, in covenant relationship, it is my joy to present you to all gathered here as God’s people who He has promised to dwell among, to draw close to. His love will never fail, and His presence will never depart from us.
Everyone kisses each other, as appropriate.
ACTIVITY - Flower Crowns
REFRAIN
Sierra: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
PART 7: THE LAND OF MILK & HONEY
Move to picnic place
HOMILY - (IDEAS: Describe how the journey has lead us to a life under the law, one that truly is free living God’s ways. Where we can trust our neighbors, our spouses, ourselves to live in true community and fellowship. A wedding isn’t the high point of a marriage but just the start. Our lives will continue to deepen as we mature in this relationship with God.)
ACTIVITY & RESPONSE: Skittles (or other small candies) eat one after each response, reminding us of the sweetness of this new understanding.
Katherine: “It’s a joy to do laundry because we love clean clothes.”
Our life is sweet.
“Our lives are filled with meaningful relationships.”
Our life is sweet.
“Learning new things fills us with wonder and excitement.”
Our life is sweet.
“We have fulfillment through meaningful work.”
Our life is sweet.
“We have homes filled with family, friends, laughter and celebrations.”
Our life is sweet.
“Our children bring more meaning, joy and love to our lives than we could have ever imagined.”
Our life is sweet.
“Marriage allows us to be known and seen in deep intimacy.”
Our life is sweet.
“Living in community is a chance to love and be loved even by people we would not have chosen.”
Our life is sweet.
READER: Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder:
“Praise the Lord!
For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
Let us be glad and rejoice,
and let us give honor to him.
For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,
and his bride has prepared herself.
She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”
For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:6-9b)
PRAYER
REFRAIN
Sierra: Yahweh! The Lord!
Reader 1: The God of compassion and mercy!
Reader 2: He is slow to anger
Reader 3: and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
All: HE LOVES US!
PICNIC
At this time we will share in God’s abundance and blessings. This is also a time to tell the story of how you met your spouse.
_____________________
We thank you for attending our very first ever Shavuot picnic! We hope it was a blessing to you. Please feel free to share this program, but please credit us. - Sierra Ward & Katherine Szutz, St. Jacobs 6/11/2024
Production Notes: We did our service in a local park, and ours features a hill we can ascend and descend. We used helium balloons for our cloud, and a wagon to carry all our supplies for each stop. The picnic featured lots of dairy products: cheese, cheesecake, homemade ice cream and summer fruits as well as honey cake. We asked everyone to wear white (or something white) to mimic the wedding feel, and to go along with the last verse about the final wedding feast!
For a commentary on this experience see Pastor Sierra’s substack