Some of these texts share
themes that are especially appropriate for children.
Sometimes people are not going to like you and that is OK. Your job is
not to make everyone like you. Your job
is to use all your gifts and talents to be the person God created you to
be. Your job is also to live as one of
God’s loving people. God told Ezekiel
that even if the people did not like his message from God, after hearing
Ezekiel they would know there had been a prophet with them. When Jesus tried to teach in his hometown, no
one would listen. He had to leave and go
to other towns. When Paul preached some
people did not like what he said and made trouble for him. The same is true for us. We cannot expect that if we live as God’s
people, everyone will like us all the time.
There is nothing to do about it but know it is true and suck it up when
we have to.
You can’t just sit there.
God has something for everyone to do. God
had a message for Ezekiel to tell the people.
Jesus sent the disciples out to tell other people what they had seen
Jesus do and say. Paul spent his whole
life starting new churches. Each of us
needs to keep our eyes open for what God needs for us to do.
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| This may be used for non-commercial purposes with credit to Carolyn C. Brown at Worship With Children.blogspot.com |
If either of these themes lead you to sing “God of Grace and God
of Glory”, give young readers (or all readers) a color-coded
word sheet. Before singing the hymn,
point out that the first and last verses are prayers asking God to be with us
always and the middle two verses which describe some of the hard parts of being God’s
people feel like we are singing in a dark cloud. Whether they are focused on the dark problems or the prayers, all the verses end with “Grant us wisdom grant us
courage”. Note that the key words in
each verse are in bold. The goal is to
help children understand the hymn and help older worshipers pay more attention
to the details.
The Texts
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
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| Add the appropiate prop to your David figure or banner |
David
spares Saul’s life and cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe when Saul stops to go
to potty in a cave unaware that David is hiding in the cave. (1 Samuel 24)
David
spares Saul’s life again, this time taking the spear beside Saul when David
sneaked up on him sleeping in his tent.
(1 Samuel 26)
Abigail
negotiates peace between David and her foolish husband – a wonderful, strong
story about a woman who was a peacemaker.
(1 Samuel 25)
> The one peripheral theme that interests children is that
David was probably 9 or 10 years old when he was anointed and 30 when he was
crowned. That means he waited 20 years for God to keep the promise! 20 years is forever for children. During that time David was patient and
trusted God’s promise. Some things just
do not happen quickly in life.
Psalm 48
> The TEV offers my favorite version of this psalm for
children.
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| http://www.icml2010.org/images/jerusalem1.jpg |
> Display at least one picture of your nation’s capital
and point out the similarity in your feelings about that city and the feelings
of David’s people about Jerusalem. Or,
compare this psalm to one of your nation’s patriotic songs. In the USA on the Fourth of July holiday
weekend I’d compare it to the first verse of “America the Beautiful.”
Such conversations help worshipers of all ages see
Psalms as the song book of God’s people at that time. They also set the stage for more adult
conversation about the problems in blending religion and nationalism both then
and now.
Ezekiel 2:1-5
> Make a big deal of “O mortal, stand on your feet
and I will speak to you.” God was
calling Ezekiel to literally stand in respect in God’s presence. But, was also calling him to take
responsibility for God’s message – to stand on his own two feet. Older children both appreciate and can be
challenged by this IF both meanings are pointed out. With a reminder about the manners of looking
at someone when they speak to you and standing up to meet someone, they get the
literal “stand up.” Help them get the
other meaning by reminding them of times when they were little and wanted to be
carried rather than to walk. Often
parents say, “you can stand and walk on your own two feet.” They say the same thing when encouraging
older children to make their bed or put their dirty clothes in the hamper
without being asked. God says to Ezekiel
and to each of us that we are to stand up and be God’s people just like we
stand up and walk on our own two feet.
If
you explore this in a children’s sermon conclude by asking all the children to
stand and addressing the phrase to them something like “O mortals, stand on your
own feet. Be God’s person everyday
wherever you go.”
> To emphasize the “O mortal, stand on your feet and I
will speak to you” with the whole congregation read
the entire passage at least twice. The first time invite worshipers to stand
imagining themselves in Ezekiel’s sandals.
Take time to explore what that encounter with God meant to Ezekiel and
what he did in response to it. Later
reread the story challenging worshipers to imagine God speaking to them
today. The second reading could be near
the end of the sermon or it could be the Charge before the Benediction at the
end of the service.
> Use the call to stand up as an opportunity for a
little worship education about when and why worshipers stand during your worship service. Point out
the way standing is indicated in your printed order of worship. Be sure to point out that standing in worship
is good practice for standing up as God’s people all week at home, work, etc.
> Today the Communion Table becomes the place God’s
people find nourishment for doing God’s work in the
world. If possible,
invite people to get on their feet and come forward to partake. In the invitation include the words “stand on
your feet” along with come to the Table.
> Stand with Ezekiel and sing your response to God’s
call with “Here I Am, Lord.” Have the choir or a soloist sing the
questioning verses and the congregation sing the “I will go” responses.
> Make up new verses for “Every
Time I Feel the Spirit” to fit this reading, maybe
I’m
gonna stand when the Spirit says stand…
I’m
gonna speak when the Spirit says speak…
I’m
gonna go when the Spirit says go…
(This idea comes from a
Comment on the 2012 “Singing from the Lectionary” blog post for today.)
Psalm 123
> In a worship service about being sent out by God or
Jesus, unpack the first two verses by exploring how masters and mistresses
communicate with their servants. Often
their closest servants know what they want by following their hands. Demonstrate by doing a come here gesture with
your hand and asking children what you are saying with your hand. Repeat with an open hand gesture that says “I
want…” and a pointing finger that says, “go, do….” Then read “so our eyes look to the
Lord our God” in verse
2. Identify ways we keep our eyes on God
such as reading the Bible to know what God wants, worshiping God with others
who are also keeping their eye on God and working with Christians who are
trying to do together what they think God wants.
>
Remembering Jesus as we share
in Communion today we “look to our master’s hands,” i.e. we remember what Jesus
did and taught. It would be a good day
to recall specifics children know from the crucifixion and resurrection stories
and note how those stories help us figure out what we will do every day.
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
> In a service on God’s call, this can be the “no excuses text.” Paul says there is something wrong with
him. He has a thorn in his flesh. Most children have experience with thorns and
know they hurt and can make it hard to think about anything else than that
hurt. Point out that we do not know what
Paul’s thorn was. Suggest a few
possibilities and invite worshipers to add their suggestions. Then point out that even with his thorn, Paul
keeps doing the work God sent him to do – starting new churches. Paul is amazed at what God can do through
him, even with that nasty thorn slowing him down. God can also use us even with our thorns IF
we’ll believe God can use us and try to do what we think God wants us to do.
> Tell the story in the movie “The
King’s Speech” so that children as well as adults understand
King George’s struggling with his stuttering so that he could give speeches
that gave all of England courage to face the bombing of World War II. He wished he didn’t stutter. He actually wished he was not the king. But he did stutter and he was the king. He had a job to do. So he worked hard to do it as well as he
possibly could and it made a big difference in how people faced the war.
> Children as well as adults need to know that some prayers do not
get the answers we want. When that happens
it is not because we are not good people or did not pray right. Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that
he not have to be killed on the cross, but he still had to do it. Paul prayed that his thorn be removed, but it
was not. We pray every Sunday for people
who are sick to get better. Some of them
do. Some don’t. That is something we don’t understand because
we are people, not God.
Mark 6:1-13
> The people in Nazareth couldn’t see God at work among
them in Jesus. They just saw ol’ Jesus
who lived down the street and was a carpenter.
Nothing special about him.
Challenge worshipers of all ages to be more alert than Jesus’ neighbors
in Nazareth were. Urge them to watch for
God at work in their world. One person
calls these “God sightings.” Cite
examples of God sightings – a big brother or sister leaving friends to take
care of a younger sibling, the youth working on a mission trip project,
etc. Encourage households to tell each
other about God sightings each day.
Challenge all worshipers to celebrate and support all the places they
see God at work in the world today.
> Sidewalk Flowers by Jon Arno Lawson, uses no words only pictures to
describe a walk on which a Dad ignores everything and everyone around him while
his daughter sees and picks weedy flowers growing in unlikely spots and
delivers them to people who need such a gift.
In many ways the Dad is like Jesus’ neighbors in Nazareth who didn’t
notice God at work among them and little girl is like Jesus who pays attention
to all the gifts God spreads around us and shares those gifts with those who
need them. The easiest and best way to
explore this book is to look through the pictures with a small group discussing
what you see in each picture as you go. In
a larger sanctuary, the pictures could be projected for the whole congregation. (Thanks to Storypath a blog at Union Presbyterian Seminary.)
> Because the people around him did not believe he could
do anything, Jesus could do nothing. God
needs us as partners to do the really big stuff. If you are exploring this, try reading the very
short story “Partners” from Does God Have a Big Toe:
Stories About Stories in the Bible, by Marc Gellman.
> Have someone enter struggling with a huge suitcase
filled with stuff they plan to take with them as they go to tell other about
Jesus. Let them unpack some silly stuff
like a toaster, lots of clothes for any kind of weather, maybe a skateboard,
etc. explaining why they think they will need that. Read the gospel instructions to the
disciples, then work through with that person what they really need and what is
really unnecessary. The bottom line is
that we don’t need any special equipment to be God’s people. (This idea comes from Ann Scull at her Mustard Seeds blog.)
>
Avoid packing the suitcase by
reading all or part of Not the Piano, Mrs. Medley!, by Evan Levine. Mrs. Medley and her grandson Max decide to go
the beach but get side tracked by an ever growing list of things she thinks
they need to take with them. When they
finally get to the beach, they find that they don’t need any of them. The beach provides everything they need and
want. Because it is rather wordy, you
might want to use the pictures and tell the story in your words. It would also be possible to leave out some
of the things they packed.
> The Biggest House in the World, by Leo Lionni, is a story within a story. In just over 2 minutes you can read the
central story which is conveniently printed in italics for the sake of
brevity. In 2 more minutes you can read both
stories (the whole book). The longer
version makes the message of the shorter story even clearer and leaves you with
a happy ending. In both stories snails
are confronted by the wisdom of keeping their shell house small so that they
can move around easily to find food and adventure.
> The sending out of the disciples is another
opportunity to sing “Here I Am, Lord.” Again, have a choir or soloist sing God’s
calls in the verses with the congregation singing the chorus in response.
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