Worship resources - The following resources can be used in an Act on Poverty service at any time of year. You are welcome to use or

Were they afraid that the man had already died and that approaching him might break religious rules around the handling of dead bodies? Were they concerned that the robbers may still be nearby and that they might become victims too? Did they fear that the man was pretending and that this was a trick of some kind? Whatever the case, the question that was at the front of their minds was: ‘If I stop. [...] The trouble with this interpretation of what Jesus says is that it misses the radical scale and scope of the promises of God that we see in our reading from Luke. [...] Throughout the Gospels, on the contrary, Jesus repeatedly stresses that the love, justice and joy of the kingdom are for everyone and that this kingdom is breaking into the world here and now, through him and his disciples. [...] The woman with the ointment is then perhaps a better witness to this vision because of the extravagance of her gesture, the recklessness of her love. [...] He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” As God’s people, let us reaffirm our hope and our task.