Proverbs 1:20-33
> There are two texts about Wisdom
today. Because this one makes Wisdom
sound like a peevish teacher reaming out the class about not paying attention
and promising dire consequences, I’d go with the Wisdom of Solomon (an
alternate reading for Psalm 116). Go
there for several ideas about exploring Wisdom with children. If you do read this text, the TEV with its
“fools” is better than translations which speak of “simple ones” or “mockers.”
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 – 8:1
> Ask seven girls and women of all ages to
read these statements about Wisdom
relying on the TEV. Or, ask one older
woman and a young girl (maybe a mother - daughter or grandmother -
granddaughter pair?) to read alternate reader’s lines.
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Wisdom of
Solomon 7:26-8:1
Reader 1: She is the reflection of eternal light,
a perfect
mirror of God’s activity
and goodness.
Reader 2: Even though Wisdom acts alone,
she can do
anything.
Reader 3: She makes everything new,
although
she herself never changes.
Reader 4: From generation to generation
she enters
the souls of holy people,
and makes
them God’s friends
and prophets.
Reader 5: There is nothing that God loves more than
people
who are at home with Wisdom.
Reader 6: Wisdom is more beautiful than the sun
and all
the constellations.
Reader 7: She is better than light itself,
because
night always follows day,
but evil
never overcomes Wisdom.
Reader 8: Her great power reaches into every part
of the world,
and she
sets everything in useful order.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Thinking about Wisdom led me to search for wise characters in children’s literature. There is Jiminy Cricket to whom the puppet
Pinocchio learns to listen, Glinda (the Good Witch of the South in Oz), even Majory
the Trash Heap (Fraggle Rock). And there
are the sages of fantasy literature –Dumbledore, Gandalf, Galadriel, Yoda,
Merlin, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Question to ponder: Am I right that
though many older children’s stories feature a wisdom figure, few of the
current movies do. Instead the young
heroes and heroines figure it out on their own often trusting their own
instincts rather than the rather misguided ones of others (even parents) around
them?
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> Display this picture of a sculpture
of Wisdom asking a series of questions to explore what it is
saying: This is a person who stands for
Wisdom.
Is
it a man or a woman?
(When
artists paint or sculpt wisdom, they often depict her as female.)
How
old do you think this person is?
(People
of many ages can be wise.)
What
is she holding?
(Introduce
the flame as light which is a symbol for wisdom. Refer to such phrases as “Light shines in the
darkness” or “get some light on the subject.”)
> The Greatest Power, by Demi, tells of a Chinese emperor who needs a wise
prime minister and to find this person invites the children of the kingdom to
think for a year about what is “the greatest power.” Children come in with examples from Chinese
inventions, money, beauty, etc. Sing
brings a single lotus seed because the seed has the power to recreate life
every year.
> If worship will focus on Wisdom today, create a Word Search using wisdom words that will
be used in prayers, readings, and sermon.
Give it to children at the Call to Worship encouraging them to circle or
star each word every time they hear, sing, pray or say it. Go to Puzzlemaker Discovery Education to make a free word search using words of your choosing.
Psalm 19
> Heads up! Psalm 19 appears again in Proper 21 on September
27th.
> The RCL suggests reading the entire psalm today. With children I would start reading with
verse 7 to focus on the Law and would use NRSV which maintains the six different terms for Law. Print each of these terms on a separate piece
of poster paper. Read each one and pass
it to a worshiper who is invited to stand at the front. Give the more complicated words to older
worshipers – maybe “ordinance” to a lawyer – and simpler words to younger
worshipers. Point out that they are
synonyms, they are different words for the same thing. Instruct poster bearers to raise their poster
as they hear their word in the psalm. As
you read the verses, pause when you come to each poster word.
> If you regularly use the
prayer in verse 14 in your worship, point it out today and
explain why it is used in that place and what it means to pray it then. Finally, pray it together. Point out that when we pray this prayer we
agree to not just wait out the sermon, or even just hear it. We promise God to think about what is
said. It might be a good time to
introduce “sermon take aways” (ideas or stories we want to remember) and “windows”
(things the preacher says that lead us to crawl out an imaginary window where
we think with God about something that is important to us.)
Let
the words of my mouth and
the meditations of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O
Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
> In honor of verse 10’s claim that the Law is sweeter
than honey, give all worshipers a hard candy
(perhaps honey flavored) to savor as they listen to a sermon about wisdom and
the Law.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
> “I can take it because God is with me” is
the simplest summary of these verses.
Children quickly identify what Isaiah was facing (people beat him,
pulled the hair in his beard out, spit in his face). Because this text also appears on Palm
Passion Sunday, Isaiah’s woes can be compared to Jesus’ woes on Good
Friday. Both of these then lead to
identifying woes children can face today with God’s help. If you go this way, be careful not to suggest
that children should simply endure any abuse that comes their way. Bullying and most of the abuse children face
needs to be confronted rather than just endured. Isaiah
does insist that we not believe the bad things people say and do to us indicate
that we are bad or worthless people. God
loves us and takes care of us. God says
we are worth it.
Psalm 116:1-9
This is another psalm I’d
skip with the children today. There is
just too much else in the other texts and too many complications in this psalm. It is too easy for children to hear one
psalmist’s prayer of thanksgiving for getting what he prayed for as an
indication that they will get everything they pray for. They do test this out and learn it does not
work. Sorting this out with children is
most easily done one on one with all the specifics rather than in the sanctuary
with generalities.
James 3:1-12
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> Display this art depicting our dangerous tongues. Name each of the snakey tongues with ways we use our tongues to do harm – name
caller, angry mean yeller, teller of lies about me (to make me look good),
teller lies about others (to make them look bad), teller of secrets I promised
to keep, stick out (no words just stick out the tongue), explainer (trying to
prove I’m really OK when I really am not).
In an informal setting children can help you name the tongues and maybe
come up with some others.
> Use these tongues to create a
responsive prayer of confession.
The prayer below could be printed for all to read. Or, the congregational response could be
printed and the congregation instructed to respond when the leader pauses.
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A Confession About Using
Our Tongues
Leader: God,
angry words explode out of us. We do not
think about what we say or how it will hurt people. We only think of our own anger and putting it
all into words so everyone will know how angry and hurt we feel.
People: Forgive us for the way we hurt others with our
tongues.
Leader: We say things that are not quite true to make
ourselves look good to others. We add to
the truth, change the story just a little bit, even lie for our own good.
People: Forgive us for the way we hurt others with our
tongues.
Leader: We also say things that are not quite true
about others to make them look bad. We
change the story just a little bit and even lie so we look better and they look
worse.
People: Forgive us for the way we hurt others with our
tongues.
Leader: We know lots of names that are meant to hurt
and should never be said. We don’t
really intend to say them, but we do. We
spit them out hoping they will embarrass and humiliate.
People: Forgive us for the way we hurt others with our
tongues.
Leader: We promise we will never tell a secret. Then we do.
It is just too good to keep to ourselves, so we break our promise and we
tell.
People: Forgive us for the way we hurt others with our
tongues.
Leader: We
use our tongues to convince ourselves that all the wrong we have done and all
the hurt we have caused are not really so bad.
But we know in our hearts that they are.
We have broken your Law. We have
not loved you or others with our tongues or our lives.
People: Forgive us for the way we hurt others with our
tongues.
Leader: Lord
hear our prayers. Forgive us and guide
us. May the words of our mouths then be
acceptable in your sight. Amen.
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> Children can understand that the biggest problem with
our tongues is that we can’t unsay anything. Once we say it, it is out there. Apologies help, but the hurt is still there.
> This is also a chance to explore the old adage “Sticks and stones
may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” The fact is that names DO hurt. When people are called nasty, dirty names
they know what the name caller thinks of them – and that hurts. Those people can be strong, not believe the
name caller, and work to prove they are better than the name caller
claims. But, it still hurts.
>
There is actually a No Name Calling Week in many schools in
January. Go to No Name Calling Week to learn more about it and download some great
resources. There would still be time to
sponsor one in your community this January.
> I’d by-pass the
references to bits in horses’ mouths and rudders on ships. It is tempting to bring out the props and
demonstrate them. But, they are not easy
for children to turn into meaning. The
horse’s bit does involve a mouth, and is used to give direction to the
horse. But, the problem with the tongue
is not that it directs the person, but that it misfires when not controlled. The rudder is not familiar to many children
and its only point is that it is small but directs the much larger ship. Again, the tongue does not direct the
person. So neither helps children grasp James’
message.
> In our day of electronic communication, James’ message
about tongues applies to texts, tweets,
twitters, etc. as well as oral communication. It is really the words that come off our
tongues or through our fingers that are the problem. Once those words are out there, they and the
pain they cause can’t be called back.
For some reason many older children with their first devices seem
willing to say things on line that they would never say with their
tongues. They need repeated challenges
from a variety of sources to save them from “learning the hard way” how much
damage can be done with words on-line.
If you did not use them on
August 9 to explore telling truth, use these resources today to explore the
ways we use and misuse our tongues.
>
Read Being Frank, by Donna W
Earnhardt. In the beginning Frank tells it
like he sees it even when it hurts people. His grandfather helps him learn how to tell
the truth in a way that people are not hurt by it. Read the whole book aloud in 6 minutes or
select a few key pages to raise the key idea that honest words are “best served
with more sugar and less pepper.”
>
After reading this text, display a poster featuring the word WORDS in large print.
Note that tongues produce words and that most of what James is talking
about is being careful about what we say.
Then add phrases about specific ways we need to be careful about what we
say. This could be an illustration for a
sermon or a conversation with children/ all worshipers.
> O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing is a perfect match for this text. Hymnals include different verses chosen for
the 17(!) verses of the original. Many
verses begin either “O for a thousand tongues to sing” or “My gracious Master
and my God.” Point these out to
worshipers and invite them to use their tongues to praise God by singing this
song.
> Go to On the Chancel Steps for a
children’s sermon that celebrates the tongue as the strongest muscle in the
body (even during football season). The
ideas in it could easily become part of the real sermon and thus tempt children
to listen to it – at least a little bit.
Mark 8:27-38
> Most children think Christ is Jesus’ last name. This is an opportunity to reintroduce Jesus’
name as “Jesus, the Christ” and to
explore what the title Christ means. In
simplest terms, Christ is God’s special leader.
When Peter said “You are the Christ” he was saying you are the special
leader from God for whom we have been waiting for centuries.
>
Create a litany in which the leader tells events in Jesus’ life
ending with a statement about what people said about him to which the
congregation responds with “We say, you are the Christ.” For those of you who have copies of the Forbid
Them Not series, go to Year B, page 151 to find a complete script. Others can create their own version of this.
> Children hear calls to “take up your cross”
literally. They need to be told that
Jesus is not calling us to pick up a wooden cross. He is not even calling us to wear cross
jewelry or tattoos. He is calling us to
do hard things to love God and other people – even when they hurt us. Similarly, “deny
yourself” needs to be translated to mean think about others
first. Do not think about what I want,
but what they need. This starts with
everyday events like putting down your video game to play with your younger
brother so a parent can get some work done.
> Because children do not use the word cross
metaphorically, avoid hymns that do, e.g. ”Beneath
the Cross of Jesus”. Instead choose
discipleship hymns such as “Take My Life and Let it Be Consecrated.”
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