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Showing posts with label Benediction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benediction. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Year A - Proper 13, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 31, 2011)

4:54 PM | Posted by jamila | Edit Post

Genesis 32:22-31

F Most children, especially most boys, are delighted by this story in which God appears as a wrestler.  The idea that God is willing to get down and tussle with Jacob is appealing.  The fact that the fight was a friendly one rather than a vicious one leads them to think God was on Jacob’s side (and our side) all along.  They are also pleased that God is strong enough and gentle enough to leave Jacob lame (with a reminder of God’s strength), but not horribly damaged.  They however will not tumble to all this simply hearing the text read, it will have to be pointed out to them and savored with them.  (If you have a teenage wrestler in the congregation, ask him to read this story after noting the that this text is appropriately read by a wrestler.)


F In the aftermath of all the Harry Potter mania, point young worshipers to The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis by comparing Aslan the Lion who represents Jesus in these books to God wrestling with Jacob.  In The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe  (the first book in the series) Susan and Lucy ask Mr. and Mrs. Beaver to describe Aslan. They ask if Aslan is a man. Mr. Beaver replies.


"Aslan a man?  Certainly not.  I tell you he is the King of the Wood and the son of the great Emperor Beyond the Sea.  Don't you know who is the King of the Beasts?  Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."

"Ooh!" said Susan.  "I thought he was a man.  Is he -- quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
  
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver.  "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about being safe?  'Course he isn't safe.  But he's good.  He's the King, I tell you."


F Celebrate God’s power by singing “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.”  Before singing point out a few of the examples of God’s power and encourage worshipers to listen for others as they sing.

Psalm 17:1-7

The images in this psalm will go right past children.  Let them.  The psalm will mean more to them later in life.


Isaiah 55:1-5

F Bring a piece of “how could I ever have gone out in public in this” clothing and if possible a picture of yourself wearing it, back when it was high style.  (If you were in college in the 60’s as I was, there are probably several excellent candidates for this deep in your closet.  I wore the one in the picture with bright yellow tights!  It is now part of a clown costume.)  Recall how important it was to you to have that item then and how ridiculous it seems now.  Then reread verse   2. 

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy? “

Put it into your own words discussing our tendency to go after things we think we have to have, things that we think will make us happy, things that years , or even days, later look so very foolish.

F Create a responsive prayer about the things we want that “do not satisfy” using “Give us this day our daily bread” as the congregation’s response.

Leader: God help us recognize the difference between what we want
              and what we really need.
All:         Give us this day our daily bread.



Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

Use the adapted version of this psalm (from TEV) as a responsive reading with the congregation reading THE LORD in each verse and the liturgist or choir reading the remainder of each verse.  (And, yes, there are lots of male pronouns referring to God in this psalm.  I tried to make it more inclusive, but failed.  If someone else creates or knows of a better one, please share.)

8     The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9     The Lord is good to all,
and God’s compassion is over all he has made.
14     The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15     The eyes of all look to The Lord,
and The Lord gives them their food in due season.
16     The Lord opens his hand,
satisfying the desire of every living thing.
17     The Lord is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
18     The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19     The Lord He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry, and saves them.
20     The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
21     My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.


Romans 9:1-5 

F Paul’s concern for the Jews is better taken up with children in other places and in other ways than these verses.  

F The Roman Catholic lectionary suggests Romans 8: 35,37-39 - last week’s list of all the things that cannot come between us and God’s powerful love for this week.  It could be an interesting match with God the wrestler in the Genesis story.


Matthew 14:13-21


JESUS MAFA. Jesus multiplies the loaves and fish,
from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of
the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48287
[retrieved June 21, 2011].
F The story of the loaves and fishes meal appears in all four gospels.  In only John’s is the food offered by a child.  Still, most people will add the child as they hear the other three accounts read.  So, ask an older child to read this text in worship.

F Consider creating the whole sermon around imaging yourselves as different people in this story.  Ponder what they might have been thinking, feeling, and learning as the meal came together. Children may lose you when you explore a more adult possibility for a character, but will be drawn back in when you move to the next character/s.  For starters…

Jesus
* Wanting a little quiet to mourn John the Baptist’s death, he is confronted by a large crowd who want his attention.  What was he thinking and feeling as he responded to their needs instead of his own. 
* Some see this as a turning point.  Jesus has been letting the disciples witness him in action.  Learning of John’s murder makes him realize more fully what is ahead for him and leads him to begin preparing his disciples for leadership.  How does that influence his relationships with his disciples?

The disciples
* How did they feel when Jesus told them to feed the crowd?
* What did they think when they realized that there was going to be enough? 
* What do you think they did with the leftover food? 
* How did this event change them?

The crowd
* How did it feel to be offered free food with no questions asked in a remote place in a time when food was not abundant?
* In that day who you ate with was important.  Jesus often got in trouble over the people with whom he ate.  How did it feel to sit down with huge numbers of strangers to share food?

Us
* What do we in OUR TOWN at OUR CHURCH like about this story?
* With which character/s do we most identify?
* What does this story suggest we need to work on a bit more?
     
F This story will lead many to speak about scarcity thinking in today’s world.  Children engage in scarcity thinking when they ask,
Ø  Will I get my fair share of the fries, the goldfish, the candies….?
Ø  When is MY turn?  And, will my turn be as long as theirs?
Ø  Do they (especially parents, but also other loved adults and peers) love me as much as they love them?  (If there is a finite amount of love, I want to be sure to get some of it.)

F Tie this story to a summer food drive.  Most emergency food banks need food during the summer months when there are fewer food drives, but people still need to eat.  So, after reading and exploring the story, give worshipers a shopping list (most food banks provide one) or a paper plate to remind them to bring food the following Sunday or during the week.  Encourage families to shop for the list together.    This could be launched during the sermon.  Or, the lists or plates could be handed out just before the benediction with Jesus' charge to the disciples “YOU give them something to eat” and followed with a benediction sending them out to do this in God’s presence.

F Do a little worship education about the phrases “Give us this day our daily bread” from the Lord’s prayer.  Point out that the pronouns are plural.  We can’t pray just for our own needs.  Identify things in addition to food that are physical needs for all people.  Then, pray a responsive prayer of intercession for the hungry of the world.  The congregation’s response to each petition is “Give us this day our daily bread.” 

This could be addressed to the whole congregation just before the prayer or it could be the a children’s time just before and during this prayer of intercession.

F Discuss the practice of saying a blessing or grace before meals.  Offer samples.  If you sense that many in the congregation have let this practice go, challenge individuals and households to try it at least one meal each day this week.  Suggest that they agree on a meal and the prayer they will say in the car on the way home from church.  Call it worship homework.

 
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Year A - Trinity Sunday (June 19, 2011)

6:40 PM | Posted by jamila | Edit Post
Intersecting circles
forming triangle in middle
Trinity Sunday calls us in two slightly different directions.  It is an opportunity to tell the children about the trinity which is often referred to in worship, but seldom explained.  Fairly simple introductions of the Trinity and highlighting its use in worship helps.  But, Trinity Sunday is also really “God Sunday,” an opportunity to celebrate the mystery of God that is more than we ever fully understand.  Both are important to children.

3 leaf clover
p Introduce the trinity.  Most children know “God and Jesus,” but fewer hear much about the Holy Spirit – unless they heard the word during Pentecost celebrations last week.  So the task is to add the Holy Spirit and to tie all three together.  One way to begin is with trinity images.  Point to trinity images in your worship space and/or show one or more of these images.  Identify the three separate parts that are bound together, e.g. each
Trinity candle with 3 wicks
leaf of the clover is a leaf and only together are they a clover.  Name the three persons and briefly mention things we know about each one.  Early in the service challenge worshipers to be alert for “father, son, and holy spirit” in your songs, prayers, and stories today.  Even fill your pockets with wrapped candies for anyone who can tell you as they leave the number of those references in today’s worship.  

p If you regularly use musical congregational responses that name the trinity (The Doxology, Gloria Patri), interrupt after they are sung today.  Ask, “What did you just sing?”  Then, briefly walk through the words defining difficult words and explaining the meaning of the whole song as sung where it is.  Then, invite the congregation to sing it again.  (Do warn the musicians of your plan.)

p Celebrate God who is more than we ever understand.  Many children assume that the adults all know everything there is to know about everything – including God.  If during their childhood they are told repeatedly that this is not true, when they begin asking important questions about God they will know they are not being outrageous, but doing what everyone does and has done for years.  That makes a big difference.  So, today celebrate both what we know about God and the God who is more than we can ever understand.  The Roman Catholic lectionary for the day offers God’s name, “I am who I am, I will be who I will be,” from the burning bush as the Old Testament reading for the day.  Today is a good opportunity to ponder that name.

It is also a good day to cite the unanswerable questions people of all ages ask about God, such as but definitely not limited to

-          What was God doing before God created the world?
-          How can there never be a time before or after God?
-          How can God pay attention to each person in the world all the time?
-          Why did God create rattlesnakes and mosquitoes?

p If there is a conversational time with children, gather “I wonders” about God.  Begin by telling some of the things you wonder about.  Invite them to tell some of the things they wonder about.  Be sure all worshipers knows that no honest “I wonder” is too funny or too bad to be pondered.

p To explore the fact that our understanding of God changes and grows, share some of your “used to thinks” about God and tell what you now think and how the change occurred.  For example, I used to think God was a man but now think God is neither a man nor a woman.  Also, express the expectation that what you now think may become a “used to think” in the future.  (This could be done in a children’s time, but if it is done as part of the real sermon, children realize that you are talking to the adults too and expect their ideas about God to change and grow.)

p Sandy Sasso’s beautifully illustrated book In God’s Name tells that after creation all animals had names.  But God did not.  So, all the animals came up with their own name for God, none of which was complete without the others.

p “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” is filled with long complicated words that describe God who is more than we can fully understand.  If this is pointed out, children enjoy all the impossible words praising God who is impossible for us to understand.  Before singing, point out and define the first few words of verse one – immortal means God lives forever, invisible means we can’t see God.  Then ponder the meaning of the first phrase of verse 2 (“Unresting, unhasting and silent as light”).  Finally, challenge worshipers to pay attention as they sing to what it is trying to say about God.

p “Holy, Holy, Holy” is often sung.  Before singing it today, define the word holy (most special and important, awesome) and briefly walk through the verses.  This helps children learn the hymn and makes all worshipers pay better attention to what they are singing.
1.      We praise God
2.      Everyone in heaven praises God
3.      Even though we do not fully understand God, we praise God
4.      Everyone and everything on earth praises God


Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a

p In advance, ask the children to help you create a processional reading of this scripture.  Ask them to prepare large poster board illustrations of things God made and to mount them on dowels.  As the accounts of the days are read, children carry in the posters for that day down the central aisle.  At the conclusion of the day, those children say, “And there was evening and morning, the first/second…. day.”  Children remain at the front until the entire week is read.  This could be done by as few as six children or by as many as are available and fit in the space.  With fewer children the last day’s posters could include pictures of many kinds of critters.  If there will be lots of children, each child may make a poster of a single critter of their choosing.  Singing a creation hymn immediately following this processional reading gives the children time to return to their seats.
Day 1: day and night (blank black and yellow shapes)
Day 2: the sky (sky blue shape – with a rainbow if someone insists)
Day 3: division of land and seas (big planet earth) and creation of plants
Day 4: the sun and the moon and stars
Day 5: water creatures and birds
Day 6: animals and people
This is a project for several church classes for several weeks.  One week will be needed to make the posters.  One rehearsal will be needed just before the service.  And, adult help getting everyone started down the aisle in correct order is essential.  It is not a small effort, but both children and adults enjoy reading the familiar story this way and the children feel they are definitely part of the worshiping community.

p Give the children an In the Beginning God Created worship worksheet on which to draw pictures of each thing created on the day it was created. 

 
p There are several DVDs and even CDs available of James Weldon Johnson’s poem “The Creation” which retells the creation story from an African American perspective.  It is also presented in a picture book:  The Creation (ISBN 9780823412075).

p Pair the creation story with Psalm 8 to explore our place in the world at the beginning of summer and Ordinary Time.  During summer children generally spend more time outside.  Challenge them to take care of God’s world.  There are lots of things they can do, e.g. not toying with or hurting the critters and plants where they play, not leaving trash (dropped candy or gum wrappers!), leaving every place we go a little better than we found it, etc.  During Ordinary Time in worship we focus on learning and growing as disciples and a church.  This pair of texts tells us we are created in God’s image, said by God to be good, and are given the task of care for the world.  That is a good start for Ordinary Time.

p Hymns to God the Creator that children especially enjoy:  

-          “All Things Bright and Beautiful” may be familiar and is filled with familiar, concrete words about creation.

-          “Earth and All Stars” has a repeated chorus.  Children enjoy calling on very modern things to praise God.

-          “All Creatures of Our God and King” has a familiar tune, the names of lots of animals, and repeated “alleluias.”


Psalm 8

p Read from Today’s English Version which uses vocabulary children understand more readily – “Lord” instead of “Sovereign,” “greatness” instead of “majesty,” and the moon and stars that you “made” rather than “established.”  Most adults will not notice the difference, but the children will.

p To explore our relationship with God and our place in the world, read “Partners,” a midrash about the creation story in which God introduces people to their role as God’s partners.  The final definition of partner is “…someone you work with on a big thing that neither of you can do alone.  If you have a partner, it means that you can never give up, because your partner is depending on you….”  Find this two page story (read aloud in 3 minutes) in Does God Have A Big Toe? By Marc Gellman.


2 Corinthians 13:11-13

p Paul concludes his letter to the Corinthians who tended to fight with each other about almost anything, “agree with one another, live in peace.”  That is good advice on Trinity Sunday when we celebrate the mystery of God.  The blind men exploring the elephant story fits well here.  If those blind men talked to each other about what each one had learned about the elephant rather than fight insisting that only what they knew about the elephant was true, they would learn a lot more.  Likewise if we talk about all the different things we know about God, we will learn more about God than we will insisting that only what we know is true.

p Use verse 13 just before the benediction to do a little worship education.  Note that Paul ends this letter with the same words we often use at the end of a worship service.  Read the verse, then put it into your own words.  My version would be
May Jesus Christ who forgives us, 
God who created us and loves us even when we don’t love ourselves, and the Holy Spirit who is with us always
      helping us and caring for the world through us
be with you all today and every day. 
As you do, define any words you traditionally use, e.g. the communion of the Holy Spirit.   (Children hear communion as a reference to the sacrament and miss the intended meaning of the phrase.)  Finally, offer the benediction as you generally say it so that worshipers will hear it with fuller understanding.


Matthew 28:16-20

p On Trinity Sunday point out that we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Invite the children to meet you at the font.  Using a doll or a person, demonstrate the use of water and say just the words that are said as the water is used.  (Do not get bogged down in all the words that lead up to “the event.”)  Take time to explain that this means each of us belongs to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Whether we are baptized as a baby or an adult, we don’t understand what that means when we are baptized.  Actually, we spend our whole lives learning what that means and never completely figure it out.  But, we still belong to God.

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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Year A - The Sunday after the Ascension of Christ (June 5, 2011)

6:10 PM | Posted by jamila | Edit Post
The Ascension is not one of the best known stories about Jesus, but it offers several rather diverse possibilities for children.  It…

1.      provides an “end” to Jesus’ story and answers the question “where is Jesus now?”
2.      clearly insists that Jesus “passed the baton” to his disciples and us
3.      is an opportunity to review Advent through Easter

So, I suggest using the Ascension texts on the last Sunday of Easter. 

Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53

R   Display pictures of Jesus’ birth, healing, teaching, Palm Sunday, Crucifixion, Empty Tomb, and Ascension.  With the children review Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  Then tell the story of the Ascension in your own words.  Stress that during his life on earth, his disciples knew Jesus as a very special person, after Easter Jesus was different.  He appeared and disappeared sometimes in locked but still ate fish and bread.  Thomas could touch him.  Since the Ascension, people have seen Jesus only in visions and dreams.  Jesus is still alive and is not just with God, but part of God. 

R   Instead of using pictures, bring out seasonal paraments from Advent through Easter.  If you have season banners, hang them all in sequence and walk your way through them.  Or, lay out your stoles in order and match them to their seasons.  Recall things you did during each season to remember that part of Jesus’ life.  Even add them (or let a different child add each one) to your robe as you talk about their seasons and then wear all of them for the rest of the service. 

R Both accounts of the Ascension make it clear that Jesus passes his ministry to his disciples.  Near the end of school many elementary schools have field days featuring, among other events, relay races.  Describe or ask some children to help you demonstrate the passing of a baton in a relay race.  Children could run the perimeter of the sanctuary, carrying a baton which they pass to the next child at the front of the sanctuary.  Then explain that though Jesus did not actually pass a baton to his disciples, he did tell them very clearly that they were to take up his ministry on earth.  His earthly part of the race was complete, but theirs was just starting. 

If you have a wood worker in the congregation, ask him or her to prepare a baton for each child or each worshiper.  Dowels can be cut into 8 inch lengths and the ends sanded.  Wood burn or draw with a marker a cross on each baton.  As you give one to each child say, “NAME, Jesus needs you to be his disciple.”  At the benediction raise a baton in one hand offering it to the whole congregation with words of challenge.  With the other hand bless them, reminding them that God will be with them as they carry their baton.

R Tell the story with movements which you invite the children to do with you.  Begin with hands and faces looking up (as Jesus ascends).  Drop your hands to your sides (as you ponder what the angels said).  Then, go into marching pose pumping your arms (as the disciples take up the task).  Repeat these motions and the angels words during the benediction.

RThe Ascension is about both endings and beginnings.  The end of the school year is also very much about endings and beginnings.  The school year just passed is over.  It is past, but everything children learned, the people they knew, and the things they did during the year will be part of them forever.  Jesus’ life on earth is officially over.  It is now in the past.  But Jesus is still alive in a new way.  Everything he said and did continues to matter.... 

The truth is I think this connection could be useful, but I also followed it to several really dead ends.  If you follow it a conclusion that really works, what about sharing it in Comments.

Acts 1:1-11

R   Have children bring pew Bibles with them to the front before the scripture reading.  Help everyone find the Table of Contents, then the list of New Testament books.  Together read the names of the first four books aloud.  Briefly note that these books contain all the stories about Jesus.  Then read aloud “The Acts of the Apostles” and introduce it as the story of the beginning of the church.  Without reading all the long complicated names of the letters, point out that all the rest of the books, except the last, are letters that people wrote to each other during the stories that are told in Acts.  Then, help the children find Acts 1:1 (give the page number) and read it stopping immediately after “In the first book, Theophilus.”  Identify Luke as “the first book” and introduce Luke – Acts as a two book set that was written for a friend named Theophilus (maybe Theo today).  Then read the rest of verses 1-5.  Briefly summarize the big change that is happening here as the disciples move from being with Jesus to becoming the church.  Send them back to their seats with their fingers holding the place to follow along as you read the whole text for the day.  (This will obviously work only when most of the children are readers.)


Psalm 47

R   Psalm 47 begins with a call for applause.  After pointing this out, teach the congregation a simple short clapping pattern which they then repeat after a worship leader or the choir says each verse or after verses 1, 4, 7, and 9.  You might try clapping the rhythm of the first line of “Peoples, Clap Your Hands!” (Genevan 47 which is # 194 in The Presbyterian Hymnal) or enlist the aid of a music leader in selecting another good pattern. 

R Tie Psalm 47 psalm to the Ascension by reminding people that Jesus was God in human skin.  That makes this a fitting praise for Jesus as he acends.


Psalm 93

R   Psalm 93 celebrates God who is more powerful than the flood waters or the sea surf.  If you have a sound team, work with them to produce a recording of powerful water sounds to play as the congregation reads the psalm aloud – loudly to be heard over the recording.  (Hint, hint: if you produce such a recording, could you post it, and let the rest of us know where to find it, the less technically able among us would be oh so grateful J.)

Verses 1,2,5    any water sounds
Verse 3            rushing water sounds (flood or big waterfall)
Verse4             heavy surf sounds

Ephesians 1:15-23

I think the Contemporary English Version (CEV) may offer the best translation of this text for children.  Today verses 19-23 can be heard as Paul’s comments to the Christians in Ephesus about the Ascension.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

19 I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used 20 when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven. 21 There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. 22 God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. 23 The church is Christ’s body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Verses 19-21 describe Jesus Ascension power.  Verse 22-23 then describe the passing of Jesus’ ministry to the church.  Jesus is the Lord of the church.  The church is Jesus body present to do his ministry in the world.

RSpin out specific examples of today’s “forces, authorities, powers, and rulers” and celebrate the fact that Christ is more powerful.  For the children, list all armies (whether ours or theirs); terrorists who kill people to get their way; all presidents, prime ministers, and kings (the ones we like as well as the ones we don’t), any bully, etc.

R   The church as the body of Christ is a metaphor.  To help children explore both sides of the metaphor detail how different people and groups in your congregation serve as different parts of the body.  This would be an easy way to draw children into the “real” sermon.  Laugh with everyone about the idea that the minister might be the mouth of the church.  Then, point out that your mouth will not be around at the swimming pool or at the office this summer when someone needs to stand up for Jesus’ ways or say Jesus’ kind, loving words.  Insist that each of them must be Jesus’ mouth where they are.  Then go on to imagine who are the hands describing what they do being sure to include children serving as hands and so forth.  (Hmmm, I wonder how Jesus’ feet would play soccer?)  Offer children a sermon worksheet with outlines of the body parts you will explore.  Invite them to write or draw in each part at least one way they can be that part of Jesus’ body.
 


Get someone to improve on this and to feature the parts of Jesus' body
discussed in your sermon. 
As a last resort copy it with my permission and print it "as is."


 
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