Year C – Proper 21, 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, 19th Sunday after Pentecost (September 29, 2013)

Hope is a common theme in today’s texts.  So fill the sanctuary with symbols of hope such as paraments featuring alpha and omega (God was in charge at the beginning and will still be in charge at the end), rainbow banners (God will not destroy the world again), Easter banners featuring bulbs and butterflies, maybe even an Easter lily.  Also point to the baptismal font (hope for God loving each one of us) and the Table (hope of God’s forgiveness and the coming feast).   Use them as sermon illustrations and introductions to parts of worship that deal with hope.  Or, point them out at the beginning of worship, note when they generally appear in the sanctuary, and encourage worshipers to listen and watch for signs of hope in worship today. 

Jeremiah 32: 1-3a, 6-15

u Most children know very little about the details of buying and selling of property and even less about the problems of impending conquest by foreigners.  It is hard for them to get from the details to any meaningful-to-them message.  So, for children, simply hearing the story and learning a little of what it meant to people in Jeremiah’s day is enough.  To do that, try one or more of the following:

u Introduce the props before reading the story.  Show two paper deeds (one to file publicly and one to keep for your own records), a check, and a glass jar big enough to hold the deed.  Explain what a deed is and why there are two of them.  Compare today’s buyer writing a check to give the seller of the property with Jeremiah’s weighing out gold coins.  Then, drop one of the deeds into the jar and put the lid on.  Note that Jeremiah used a clay jar because that is what he had.  But that either glass or clay the jar makes sure the deed will last a lot longer than just putting it in a drawer.  Then, read the story encouraging your listeners to listen for the props.  (This could be a discussion addressed to the whole congregation or a children’s time.)  If possible display these props for the remainder of the service. 
  

u Have 3 people act out the story as it is read.  The king (maybe wearing a crown) takes his place off to one side (verse 1).  A big man wearing a fierce expression with his arms folded menacingly across his chest takes his place in the center aisle (verse 2a).  And, Jeremiah stands beside a table (verse 2b).  Hanamel enters on verse 8 and he and Jeremiah act out the sale.  For added impact Jeremiah might speak verses 14-15 from memory.  If a response to scripture is your practice, all actors and the reader then say together, “The Word of the Lord” to which the congregation replies “Thanks be to God.”

u The closest I can come to putting Jeremiah’s message into terms that are meaningful for today’s children goes something like this:  Even when you get an awful teacher who doesn’t like you, even when you feel like you don’t have a single friend, even when you don’t make the team or get the part you wanted in the play, even when you feel ugly and dumb and hopeless, remember that is not the last word.  God is looking further ahead than you are.  God is planning for you.  You’ve got to wait and be patient and trust God.   It isn’t easy.
 

u Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst, describes such hopelessness in a series of things that go wrong for Alexander on a single day.  At the end his mother insists that some days are just like that.  It is possible to read some or all of the book including the ending then insisting that even on those days we know that God is in charge and God is planning good things.  So we wait, we are patient, we trust that better days will come. 

u Another short book is The Quarreling Book, by Charlotte Zolotow.  It is really not about quarreling.  Instead it recounts how a number of unhappy incidents in a family escalates the unhappiness until the dog responds to a shove off the bed with playful tail wagging and starts a reverse series of incidents that lead to peace and happiness.  It is a parallel for Jeremiah’s land purchase and calls us to imitate both Jeremiah and the dog in the book.  (Reads aloud in 4 minutes.  If I were reading it, I’d leave out all the “he thought she was UNPLEASANT ADJECTIVE” phrases which feel a bit heavy and unnecessary to me.)

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

All the unfamiliar words (snare, fowler, pestilence, pinions, buckler, refuge) make this a hard psalm for children.  Several familiar hymns communicate the message better.

u “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” is based on Psalm 90 instead of 91, but carries the same message.  Before singing it point everyone to verse 3 and note that God takes a much longer view of our lives than we do.  “A thousand ages are like an evening.”

u “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is also based on another psalm (Psalm 46), but carries the message of this one too.  The words are difficult for young readers, but the music communicates brave confidence and most congregations sing it with that feeling.  Before singing it, tell the story of its writing.  Powerful people wanted Martin Luther dead.  So, his friends were hiding him in a castle.  He and his friends were very scared.  While he was there he wrote this song to help his friends and himself remember that God was with them.

u “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again” sung at the conclusion of this service is an opportunity for a little worship education about benedictions.  Explain to worshipers that the benediction (the very last words in every worship service) is a reminder that we can trust God to be with us no matter what comes our way.  Put the words of the verses into your own words, something like: 

May God guide you.

Trust God to care for you like a shepherd.

May God protect you.

May God provide you physical and spiritual food.

When life gets tough may God’s arms be wrapped
      around you.

May God’s love be your motto and may God be with
      you at your death.

Encourage children to at least sing the repeated beginnings and endings of each verse.  Even older elementary readers will be able to read the short words of the verses.

 Amos 6:1a, 4-7

This echoes the teachings about the dangers of wealth in the other texts of the day but it a way that is not very accessible to children.

Psalm 146

The script for reading Psalm 146 below calls for 2 readers and the congregation.  It would be possible to use only one reader and the congregation for simplicity.  Point out all the “the Lord”s before reading it and challenge even non-readers to join in on them.

G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G

Psalm 146

Leader:          Praise the LORD!  Praise the LORD, O my soul!

All:                 I will praise the LORD as long as I live;

 I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

 
Reader 1:       Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals,
                                in whom there is no help.

 When their breath departs, they return to the earth;

         on that very day their plans perish.

Reader 2:     Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD their God,

who made heaven and earth, the sea,

         and all that is in them;

who keeps faith forever;

who executes justice for the oppressed;

who gives food to the hungry. 

All:                 The LORD 

Reader 1:      sets the prisoners free;

All:                 the LORD 

Reader 2:      opens the eyes of the blind. 

All:                 The LORD 

Reader 1:      lifts up those who are bowed down; 

All:                 the LORD 

Reader 2:      loves the righteous.

All:                 The LORD 

Reader 1:     watches over the strangers;

he upholds the orphan and the widow,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

All:                 The LORD 

Reader 2:      will reign forever, your God, O Zion,

                               for all generations. 

All:                 Praise the LORD!

                                                            NRSV 

G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G

u Go to Year B - Proper 18  for a shortened version doing Psalm 146:5-10 focused on “the Lord” verses.

1 Timothy 6:6-19

u Before reading this text, tell the back story.  Paul is writing to encourage Timothy, a young minister who is having a hard time.

u Paul’s message to Timothy is that he needs to remember what is important.  He needs to pay attention to what is important and ignore what isn’t that important.  One way to help children identify the difference between the important and the not important is to name some of the things that we feel we gotta have, gotta do, gotta be only to learn after a bit that they were really not that important.   Display an article that you thought you gotta have at some point, but quickly discovered wasn’t worth much (clothes or shoes that once seemed essential, a video game or gadget that I had to have, etc.)  Tell about wanting it, going to great effort to get it, and finding it wasn’t that cool.  Or, tell about some group you thought you had to be part of or some award you thought you had to win, but did not. 

u Check The Quarreling Book and other references for acting hopefully at the beginning of this post.

u If your congregation frequently sings “Be Thou My Vision” and your hymn book includes the verse about riches, walk through that verse before singing the hymn.  Point out and briefly define the wealth words (riches, inheritance, and treasure) and put the phrases into your own simpler words.

I don’t care about money or people thinking I am cool

Your love is all I will ever need.

I care about you more than anything else, God.

You are my real treasure.

Luke 16:19-31

u The rich man’s sin was that he ignored Lazarus and his needs.  Lazarus was right there in front of him, hungry, sick, plagued by dogs and the rich man did nothing to help him.  Psychologists tell us that infants perceive only themselves and their needs.  They see themselves not as the center of the universe, but as the whole universe.  Everything around them exists only in relation to them.  If all goes well, children grow beyond this throughout their childhood until they see themselves as one among many and as people who are called to help other people.  Our culture complicates the process because it allows us, even encourages us, to remain oblivious to certain others.  The challenge in this text is for listeners of all ages to identify some of the people around them who are regularly ignored, even treated as if they are invisible, and then to reach out to them.  For children these ignored ones include the outcast kids at school, at times even members of their own household, people of all ages in their neighborhood who are looked down on, people in certain racial, ethnic, or religious groups, etc.

u To help children (and other worshipers) follow this rather long story, prepare three male readers to read it while moving around the front of the sanctuary to follow the movement in the story.  Place their scripts inside black choir binders for esthetics.  Below is a script.

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Luke 16:19-31

Reader One (from center): There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

Reader Two (below and off to one side):  And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.  The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. (Move to opposite side and up a step or two if possible.)

Reader One:  The rich man also died and was buried.  (Move to side opposite Reader Two and down a step or two if possible.)  In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. (Third Reader stand beside Reader Two.) He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’

Reader Three: Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.  Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

Reader Two:   ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’

Reader Three: ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

Reader One: ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

Reader Three:  ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

All:  The Word of the Lord!

                                                       New Revised Standard Version

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u If you featured intercessory prayer last week, fine tune the emphasis this week by brainstorming together a list of “invisible people” at school, in the neighborhood, at work, and in the larger world.  Pray through the list together.  If you did not explore intercessory prayer last week, introduce it this week and do the brainstorming as a part of collecting prayer concerns.

Year C - Proper 18, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 16th Sunday after Pentecost (September 8, 2013)

In many congregations this will be Rally Day or the beginning of the church school year.  Even if it is not, everyone is still in the Back to School mode settling into new commitments and disciplines.  Many of the themes of today’s texts speak clearly to both children and adults at this time.  The people standing on the edge of the Promised Land are not unlike children and adults stepping into the beginning of the school year.  Everyone is beginning to realize that there will be choices to be made and that some disciplines will require more work than we might wish.  But, we also remember as we settle into all the work that God made us and is with us always.  In short, there is lots to work with this Sunday.

Jeremiah 18: 1-11

God did not decide we only need 2 arms and reshape us.

F Even with all their experience with clay, children – especially the younger ones – need a little help with this image.  Literal thinkers that they are, they imagine God punching and pulling us into the right physical shape.  (Visualize God pulling out three arms, then mushing one back in knowing that two in the right places are enough.)  The challenge is to help the children imagine instead God working grabbiness into sharing or meanness into kindness.  God has to work hardest on the invisible parts of us.  Also, be specific about how God reworks us.  God does not punch us down, but gives teachers, books, even experiences that help us learn and grow into the people God means for us to be.

F Working with clay is the best accompaniment to a sermon on this text.  Either set up a potter working at a wheel while you preach.  Or, give the children (or all worshipers) egg size lumps of clay to work with as you preach.  You might even work with a lump as you preach pondering the process as you work the clay. 

Playdough is probably clean enough for most sanctuaries.  But if you are worried about clay bits on plush pew cushions, get plasticene, polymer clay or sculpey at a craft store.  It costs a little more, so give out smaller lumps.  Whatever kind of clay you use, provide buckets to which it can be returned upon leaving the sanctuary.  Any of these clays can be recycled!

F “Have Thine Own Way, Lord” is an old hymn that is not in many newer hymnals.  But, if it is in yours it almost demands to be sung with this text.  Since the second verse adds the totally separate washing image and the third verse is about healing rather than molding, either delete them or introduce the hymn by focusing attention on the first and fourth verses.  Read through them and introduce them as an important prayer asking God to keep working on us.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

F Explain that when Middle Eastern people write poems they rhyme ideas rather than sounds.  A poem is a collection of ideas that may repeat each other or build on each other or say the opposite of each other.  Psalm 139 is a poem about how well God knows each one of us.  To help children hear each rhyming verse and to emphasize that God is with us at every age of our lives have the passage read by a collection of readers of all ages using the script below.  Readers stand in a line stepping up to a microphone to read their verses if amplification is needed.  There are enough verses for 11 readers.  Smaller groups of readers could read two or more verses each if needed.

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Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

Reader 1:       Lord, you have examined me and you know me.

You know everything I do;

from far away you understand all my thoughts.

Reader 2:       You see me, whether I am working or resting;

you know all my actions.

Reader 3:       Even before I speak,

you already know what I will say.

Reader 4:       You are all round me on every side;

you protect me with your power.

Reader 5:       Your knowledge of me is too deep;

it is beyond my understanding.

Reader 6:       You created every part of me;

you put me together in my mother’s womb.

Reader 7/1:    I praise you because you are to be feared;

all you do is strange and wonderful.

I know it with all my heart.

Reader 8/2:    When my bones were being formed,

carefully put together in my mother’s womb,

when I was growing there in secret,

you knew that I was there-

you saw me before I was born.

Reader 9/3:     The days allotted to me

had all been recorded in your book,

before any of them ever began.

Reader 10/4:   O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;

how many of them there are!

Reader 11/5:   If I counted them, 

      they would be more than the grains of sand.

   When I awake, I am still with you.

 

                                                                Good News Bible (TEV)

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F To further explore this idea, share St. Patrick’s Prayer.  Children savor all the concrete places Christ is around us.  To emphasize them and the closeness of Christ, have worshipers follow hand motions you add as you read.  Turn your hands to the various directions as they are named.  Then point to the parts of the body as they are listed.  Because it is a simple prayer, print it on card stock, perhaps featuring a cross or picture of Jesus.  Give cards to children to put some place they will see it often – maybe in their backpacks or lockers at school or in their room at home.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

                      Christ Be With Me

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Saint Patrick

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Two somewhat similar ways to read this passage in worship:

F Tell the back story.  Imagine Moses with all the people on the edge of the Promised Land.  Recall the escape from Egypt, the 10 Commands, the 40 years in the wilderness.  Point out that Moses is old and has appointed a new leader to take the people into the Land God promised them.  This is Moses’ goodbye speech.  Then read the text, or ask an elderly man who is well known in the congregation to read it.

F Invite children forward and meet them on the steps with the big Bible.  Ask how many of them have been told to make good choices.  After briefly talking about what people mean when they give you “the good choices lecture,” point out that the first “good choices” lecture is in the Bible.  Briefly tell the story of Moses leading the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness.  Recall God’s opening the sea for their escape, providing food and water when it was needed, and giving them the 10 Commandments to show them how to live.  Explain that the people are now right on the border of the Promised Land.  Before he hands leadership over to Joshua, Moses gives the people some advice about living in their new homes.  Then read the Deuteronomy text using your voice and facial expressions to emphasize the choices Moses is offering the people.  This is better as the “real” reading of the text for the entire congregation rather than as a children’s time.

F Behind all this talk about making choices is the fact that what we do matters.  Children need to hear that message repeatedly.  It matters when they do good things that make life better for the people around them.  And, it matters when they do selfish, mean things that cause trouble.  What they choose to do and not do does make a difference.  Knowing this is one of the building blocks of self-identity and healthy self-esteem.

F The hard part about “choosing life” is that instead of making one big choice that you make once and then go about your business, you have to choose life in lots of little choices that you make every day.  For example, given the choice between getting an A or an F on your report card, most people would choose the A.  But to get that A requires lots of choices every day, like, "should I do my homework or play a computer game?"  The only way to get the A is to choose to study every day.  In the same way, if we want to live in a happy family, we have to choose to help out sometimes rather than do we want to do all the time.  Likewise, if we want to choose God’s ways, we have to make that choice over and over again every day.

Psalm 1

F The over simplification of the difference between good people and bad people in this psalm appeals to children who do not yet realize that almost no one wears a totally white or black hat.  So direct the psalm to children.  The adults, who struggle with the nuanced differences between the good and evil, will listen and get the psalmist’s point too.

F To make the comparison visual, have the psalm read by two readers.  Reader 1 (the “good” reader) wears light or white clothing and Reader 2 (the “evil” reader) wears dark clothing.  They begin standing back to back in the center of the front of the sanctuary.  Each one turns to read or recite their verses facing the congregation then returns to the starting position.  This is most effective if the readers recite their verses from memory, but good readings are OK too.

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Psalm 1

Reader 1:      Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper. 

Reader 2:      The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 

Reader 1:      for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, 

Reader 2:      but the way of the wicked will perish. 

                                                                      NRSV

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NOTE: I used the NRSV in the script because this psalm is well known in this version.  For a translation with an easier vocabulary for children look at Today’s English Version.

 

F Alice in Wonderland is not all that familiar to children today.  But, Alice’s problems with choosing the bad advice of signs that said “EAT ME” and “DRINK ME” could be explored as examples of what happens when we follow the advice of the wicked.

Philemon 1-21

F Consider reading the whole book in worship for the sheer joy of having read a whole book of the Bible.  Invite worshipers to follow along in their pew Bibles as you read.

F Before reading the book, introduce it and set the stage so children can follow:

Name the characters briefly describing their relationships to each other -

Paul who wrote the letter.

Onesimus, the runaway slave who had become a Christian and a friend of Paul, and

Philemon, the Christian owner from whom Onesimus had run away.

Explain the punishment for runaway slaves

Then read the book with dramatic inflection to emphasize the greetings and all the ways Paul tries to get Philemon to do what he wants.

F Enjoy the fact that we do not know how this story ended.  List reasons Philemon might welcome Onesimus back but still as a slave or welcome him back and free him or punish him as a runaway slave.  Help children understand how much money Philemon would lose if he freed Onesimus.  Imagine what Philemon’s slave-owning friends might say to him if he welcomed Onesimus.  Be sure the children know that this was a very hard choice. 

F This story might be presented as a case study in the choice making called for in Deuteronomy or for the discipleship described in the gospel.  Just as Philemon is called on to make a hard choice, we can expect to face similar hard choices.  It is just part of being a follower of Jesus.

Luke 14:25-33

F Children hear little else in this passage as it is read beyond the call to hate your mother and father, wife and children, sisters and brothers.  That call scares them even more than it scares adults because children are so very dependent on their families – especially on their parents.  The challenge is to find a way to recognize their fear without saying “Jesus didn’t really mean that.”  One way to do this is to introduce the reading as one of the scariest things Jesus ever said.  Tell listeners in advance that Jesus said that if we want to be his disciples we must put Jesus first even first before our families, our own safety, or our stuff.  Admit that people have struggled with this ever since Jesus said it.  Suggest that everyone hold hands for courage as you listen to Jesus’ words.  Promise that you will talk together about what they mean.

F Use this passage to insist that being a disciple is not easy.  It is NOT about just being nice or sweet.  It is about loving people, even enemies, and forgiving people who do awful things to you and people you love, and taking care of people who are not nice to you.  Disciples must be brave and strong.  Sooner or later every follower of Jesus has to do something hard.  We don’t often tell children this.  But it is true and they need to know it. 

F It is a good Sunday to tell the stories about brave disciples making hard choices.

Rosa Parks sat down on a bus in Montgomery Alabama and went to jail for it.  For 382 days black and some white people refused to ride the Montgomery buses until the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was illegal.  Rosa, by Nikki Giovanni, is a Caldecott Honor book about this.  It takes about 10 minutes to read.  To shorten it, delete some of the early pages starting with “I said give me those seats” and shorten pages with extraneous details here and there.  (Another book that would be more appropriate with younger children is Rosa’s Bus, by Go S. Kittinger, which tells the story about the bus on which Rosa rode.)

 

Eric Lydell was an Olympic runner who refused to run the race he trained for because it was scheduled for Sunday morning and he believed running on Sunday would dishonor God.  His story is told in the film "Chariots of Fire."  The film is too long for worship, but the story it tells is not.

F If you did not do this on August 4^th, try today totally covering the Table and the usual symbols displayed on it with all sorts of stuff – clothes, hats, electronics, sports equipment, books, video/CD, board games, fast food containers and fancy cooking equipment, and whatever else are “hot items” in your congregation this summer.  Be sure to include things that appeal to worshipers of all different ages.  At some point in the service, remove the items one at the time discussing ways we get too attached to them.  Leave a clear Table dominated by the appropriate symbols.  Savor it publicly noting that everyone probably feels a little relieved to have it cleared of the stuff that got in the way of the symbols we love.  This could be done as a call to worship (a call to clear away all the stuff to focus on what is really important), the lead up to prayers of confession about our misuse of our stuff, a children’s time, part of the real sermon, even as a response to the scripture and sermon.  One worship leader did this at the beginning of the service by moving the entire sermon there.  All the liturgy then was response to the experience and conversation about all the stuff on the Table.