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Job 38:1-7,(34-41)

CORRECTION: Apologies but there is an incorrect reference to a drama in the magazine for this item..

The back story to this reading is important to help make sense of the story – use the précis ‘A brief guide to the story of Job’ to help with understanding. See also The Bible Project's Guide to the Book of Job.

Mark 10:35-45

At the turn of the 21st century, the BBC conducted a poll asking people who they thought were the greatest Britons to have lived. (If you are not in the UK, do a poll about who the congregation think are the greatest in your country.)

There were some surprises along the way – see full list here.

(The top 10 were: Churchill/Isambard Kingdom Brunel/ Diana, Princess of Wales/Darwin/Shakespeare/Isaac Newton/ Elizabeth I/John Lennon/Nelson/Oliver Cromwell.)

See if anyone can guess who the top 10 were. Explore why they think they were considered ‘great’.

Invite the congregation to listen out for Jesus’ definition of greatness in the Gospel reading.

The reading would be most effective if read with different voices, ideally three and a narrator. You could split the words said by James and John into two separate voices or they could speak together. After hearing the reading, pose the question:
Looking at Jesus’ definition of ‘greatness’, are there people you would take off the list or add to it?