Trinity Sunday is one of my
favorite Sundays of the liturgical year.
As I read blogs and preacher helps I was surprised to learn that not all
worship planners share this love. In
fact most worship leaders seem to rather dread it or knock it as “the only
festival of the church year that celebrates a doctrine.” I suspect the reason for this is that many begin
planning thinking about the sermon and so start by feeling the need to preach a
sermon on the Trinity that would wow their seminary theology profs and also be
meaningful to the people in the pews in front of them. Old tapes about impossible term papers start
playing - and it goes downhill from there.
Not having to preach a trinity sermon, I begin by saying “It is God
Sunday, the call is not to explain God but to celebrate God’s mysterious, more
than we can ever explain presence. What
could be better!” Of course it is a
chance to do a little worship education about the Trinity, but since even the
Trinity is an inadequate definition of God, I suggest that this may be a better week to
celebrate God to explain God.
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 those in your worship space. Identify the three separate parts that are
bound together, e.g. each circle of the intertwined circles. Name the three persons of the Trinity 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.
 |
| God is like a clover leaf??? |
p Warning: Images of the Trinity feature three things
that together make one thing, e.g. clover of 3 leaves, egg (yoke, white,
shell),apple (either tree, food, seed or peel, core, flesh), even Neapolitan
ice cream (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry).
Grasping these images requires the ability to transfer qualities of one
thing to something unlike it – which is easier for adults than for
children. Children have an easier time
exploring different names of a single person, e.g. a person who is Granny, Mama
and a Darling (wife). The transfer is
easier because children are asked to relate qualities of people rather than
qualities of inanimate objects to qualities of God who is more like a person
than like an inanimate object. One way
to do this is to identify all of your names, including your full name and your
nicknames. You may want to identify
times when you are called by different names and note that no matter which name
is used, you are still you. Also hear
the full names of several worshipers and make similar comments. Then ask if anyone knows God’s full
name. From there discuss the three names
for the Trinity.
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 fully understand.
As you do, 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 very old 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 notes that
after creation all animals and people had names. But God did not. So, each the animals and people came up with its
own name for God, none of which was complete without the others. The book is a bit long. To shorten it, read only pages 5 and
16-31. (Read only the names on page 29
that you have read aloud.)
p Invite children (or all worshipers) to write a poem about God during worship
using a simple format. You might offer
it on a worship worksheet and then invite folks to post theirs in a set spot
with or without their name or to take it home to post where they can read it
and talk with God about in the coming week.
p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p
God
2 words that describe God __________,
__________
3 ing words that God does _______,
______, ______
What you want to say to God
today _____________________
A name for God ____________
By
YOUR NAME by__________________
p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p
p Offer children a Trinity coloring sheet composed of a
big triangle divided into three sections titled something like -
Something
Jesus did.
A favorite
places in the world God created.
A
time I felt very close to God.
p Celebrate the three persons of the Trinity by singing
one familiar hymn about each one. “For
the Beauty of the Earth” or “This is My Father’s World” are good choices for
creator. (To stretch worshipers’
understanding of God, challenge them to sing this is my mother’s world.) “Jesus Loves Me” is of course the most child
friendly Jesus hymn. Select the Holy
Spirit that is most familiar and uses the simplest language. This might even turn into a lessons and
carols service honoring the Triune God.
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 more than we can
fully understand.
The Texts
for Year C
This year’s texts are mostly
beyond children. That makes it a good
year to focus more on celebrating God using the ideas above than on exploring
these texts. Still, a few words about
them….
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
 |
Reid, Robert, 1862-1929. Wisdom Mural,
from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library,
Nashville, TN.
[retrieved April 24, 2013]. Original source:
Wisdom-Reid-Highsmith.jpeg.
|
p If you want to stretch all worshipers’ understanding
of God, this is a great text with which to start. Before reading it display this image of Wisdom
noting that we all say God is neither a man nor a woman and that this is a
picture of God as a woman. Explain that
the reading from Proverbs that we are about to hear describes God as a woman at
work caring for the world. Challenge
worshipers to see God in this reading.
p After introducing Wisdom as a picture of God as a
woman, have a woman read the text.
p Big Momma Makes the World, by Phyllis Root, tells the creation story in its
biblical seven days featuring Big Momma with a baby on her hip as the Creator. It is a wonderful way to challenge worshipers
to think about God in the feminine. Though
it takes at least 8 minutes to read aloud, the easy dialect makes it will worth
the time. It would, however, be possible
to select just one or two days to read during the sermon to make your point. (FYI, I learned of this book by searching for
Trinity on Children's Literature: A Resource for Ministry and found a copy in my public library.)
Psalm 8
p This is the most child friendly text for today. The language
is simple and it enjoys God rather than explains who God is. That may make it a good day to preach the
psalm rather than one of the more esoteric texts.
p To respond to the psalmist’s call to celebrate God’s majesty, invite
the whole congregation to echo the worship leader in reading this psalm
with interspersed comments, song snippets, and hand motions. (It is improvisation based on the old
practice of lining out scripture readings.)
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Psalm 8 Echo Reading
O
Lord, our Lord,
your
greatness is seen in all the world!
“This is my father’s world”
(sing this )
Your praise reaches up to the heavens;
Praise the Lord! (LOUD)
It
is sung by children and babies.
Praise
the Lord! (LOUDER)
You are safe and secure from all your enemies;
You stop anyone who opposes you.
When
I look at the sky (sweep the sky with
arm),
which
you (look up) have made,
at the moon (form circle around your head with arms)
and the stars (sprinkle the sky with
stars with your fingers), which you set in their places -
What
are human beings, that you think of them; (make
a questioning gesture)
What are men that you
think of them? (point to boys)
What are women that
you think of them? (point to girls)
mere mortals, that you
care for them? (hands out to include all)
Yet
you made them inferior only to yourself;
You crowned them (make
yourself a crown with your hands) with glory and honor.
You
appointed them rulers over everything you made;
In
charge of everything you made
Responsible
for everything you made,
You placed them over all creation:
sheep
and cattle,
and the wild animals too;
the
birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.
Air
we breathe and pollute (take a deep
breath)
Food
for many or a few (lip your lips with
satisfaction)
Energy
to keep us warm and moving (hug self to
keep warm)
O
Lord, our Lord, Throw hands up toward the sky)
your greatness is seen
in all the world!
Amen.
Based
on the TEV translation
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
p If you focus on this psalm to explore the partnership between
God and people, read “Partners” from Marc Gellman’s story book, Does
God Have a Big Toe? “Partners” retells
the creation story ending with a conversation between God and Adam and Eve in
the garden in which they agree to be partners in “finishing the world.” When asked, God defines partner thusly…
"A
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. O the days you think I am not doing enough
and on the days I think you are not doing enough, even on those days we are
still partners and we must not stop trying to finish the world. That’s the deal.”
Romans 5:1-5
Children will not understand
this passage as it is read. They depend
on the worship leader to describe in their own words how God acts through Jesus
and the Holy Spirit. Even when this is
done, it is meaningful to children only as a summary of the three persons of Trinity. Connect it to Trinity images in the sanctuary
or to frequently-used liturgical responses that mention the Trinity.
John 16:12-16
This is another passage that
children will not understand until they are older. The language and ideas about the Holy Spirit are
simply too abstract for them at this point in life.
J J J J J J
J
J
J J J J J J
p And again, a reminder that the end
of the school year is coming up.
That event is hugely more important to your children than any ideas
about the Trinity at this point in their lives.
So, go to School Is Out!!!! for ideas for recognizing it in the congregation’s
worship on the appropriate Sunday.
