“At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgement.”
Joshua
Wandering in the Wilderness
Life and Worship at Mount Sinai
Escape From Egypt
Moses
Joseph: A Family Becomes a Nation
Jacob: Israel
Isaac
Abraham
Babel
Noah: A Story of Decreation
“… The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them 15 cubits deep.
And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. …”
Garden of Eden
In the Beginning
Draw In
The Draw In project is a way to tie the whole story of the Bible into the rhythms of our lives as a community. Over the course of the year, we will be reading God’s word, at home and together. We hope that as the year and the story unfolds we will find ourselves drawn in as a church and into our place in God’s big story.
On Sunday 16th we had a Service to launch the Draw In project, here you see people weaving their threads into the story we will create together this year.
We would love you to find a way to weave this project into your daily lives as a household. We have been inspired by Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
This week, before we launch into the beginning of the story, there is an invitation to consider how you might make your own ritual around reading this story and reflecting on it with those in your day to day life.
Some ideas to get you started:
Read the passage with a friend on a walk
Meet for a Sabbath meal
Tell stories about your weeks and tell the story of the passage.
Talk about the story in your household, Life Group, and at the Potting Shed on Sundays.
Try some different ways of listening to God through the scripture, you can find some practice sheets on https://www.thepottingshedchurch.org/ways-of-praying
Go to www.thepottingshedchurch.org/draw-in to find a liturgy and a prayer that you may wish to use to now and then throughout the year.
If you have children, make sure to include them in the project! Each week we will be including the page numbers of the My Big Story Bible (we have bought enough copies of this for each family to take one home, pick one up from church if you have not got one already!)
If you miss a week, or you want to look back over the story so far, head to our website: www.thepottingshedchurch.org/draw-in
Before we launch into our journey through God’s big story this year, you may find it helpful to watch this overview from the Bible Project:
Draw In Prayer
Teach us again the greatest story:
the One who made the worlds
became a little, helpless child.
Came and loved the least and lost,
took our betrayal and turned it into gift.
Created and recreated each of us.
Teach us to draw close,
as you sing our stories over us.
Clothe us in grace, as we lean in to listen and tell
our tales of wonder and pain.
Untangle the threads that are in disarray,
transform the tapestry unfolding before us.
Teach us to hear your story,
through each person that we meet.
To experience a sense of wonder,
at the beauty of this person you created.
And to give thanks,
that their life intertwines, even a little, with our own.
Draw In Liturgy
People of God, draw in, hear
People of God, draw in, listen
People of God, draw in, respond;
The Lord our God: Father, Spirit, Son; the Lord is one.
Let us love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength.
Lord, weave Your greatest story
Into the stories of our life together
Twist it into the rhythms of our ordinary days.
Bind us together
Make us into Your people
Weave us into Your story
People of God, draw in, hear
People of God, draw in, listen
People of God, draw in, respond;
Amen