Yr A - Proper 8, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 26, 2011)

As we move into Ordinary Time there are two streams of Old Testament readings.  My current plan is to work in the “semi-continuous” stream, possibly dipping into the other when the texts there are “better” for children.  That plan could be flexible.  So, if you follow the “complementary” stream and would like it included, leave a comment to persuade me.

Genesis 22:1-14



From The Family Story Bible,
by Raph Milton. 
Used with permission.



This story may be the scariest story in the Bible for children.  They hear it from Isaac’s point of view and ask, “Would God ask my parents to kill me and if God did would they do it?”  God looks really threatening.  Pondering this question makes it almost impossible for children to get to a positive message about trusting or obeying God.

If you must read the story in worship, introduce it as the scariest story in the Bible and promise a happy ending.  Even suggest that parents and children hold hands to hear it.  IMMEDIATELY after reading it, FORCFULLY point out that Isaac was never in danger.  God had other plans (there was a ram hidden in the bushes).  In fact, in those days other religions insisted that parents sacrifice their first child to their god.  God, however, does not, never did, never will.  Given that, this scary story is actually a wonderful, happy story.  Invite parents and children to give each other hugs and the whole congregation to say “alleluia!” or the usual congregational response (e.g. The Word of the Lord!  Thanks be to God!) with great joy.

Preachers generally use this story to explore the importance of trusting or obeying God.  There are better stories to do this with children, e.g. the Hebrew slaves walking away from slavery through the sea and into the desert with Moses or David facing Goliath trusting God. 

Psalm 13

Spend some time with this psalm as it is read.  Choose The Good News Bible (TEV).   Before reading it, introduce the complaint “how long?” citing times we say it today, e.g. when waiting for our turn, when waiting for a child to stop whining about something, when waiting for anything you don’t like to end, etc.  Note that this is a “how long” psalm with the psalmist asking God how long all the bad stuff will last, then asking God to help, and finally remembering that God does help us when there is trouble.  Invite the congregation to join you and the psalmist saying the “how long’s” like you mean them and reading the ending like you do remember that God is with you in the tough times.

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

Psalm 13

All:                   How long

Leader:            will you forget me, Lord? Forever?

All:                   How long

Leader:            will you hide yourself from me?

All:                   How long

Leader:            must I endure trouble?

All:                   How long

Leader:            will sorrow fill my heart day and night?

All:                   How long

Leader:            will my enemies triumph over me?

Leader:            Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me.

Restore my strength; don’t let me die.

Don’t let my enemies say, “We have defeated him.” 

Don’t let them gloat over my downfall.

All:                   I rely on your constant love;

I will be glad, because you will rescue me.

I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.

                                    Based on Today’s English Version

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

Romans 6:12-23

This is Paul at his long, complicated, repetitive, best.  Children are quickly lost as it is read.  But, Paul IS speaking to them.  They will however depend on worship leaders to present Paul’s message in a way that they can understand.

Paul’s bottom line is that people have to make choices between serving the good and serving the evil.  Their choices have consequences.  It is the old “choices lecture” that kids hear repeatedly this time on a cosmic scale. 

All fantasy literature (e.g. Narnia or Lord of the Rings) are built on heroic characters choosing to ally with good against evil.  Harry Potter is the most currently popular fantasy saga among older children.  Two boys Tom Riddle and Harry Potter are born with the same wizarding powers.  Tom chooses evil and becomes the monster Lord Voldemort.  Harry chooses good and becomes a hero who saves people.  In these stories evil and good are clearly forces with great powers at work in the world.  Each person must side with one of them.  Choices matter – a lot!  The challenge is to suggest to children that good and evil are as real in our world as they are in Harry’s world.  Just as it was sometimes hard for Harry and his friends to know who was on which side (Professor Snape constantly puzzled people), it is sometimes hard for us to know what is good and what is evil.  And, it is just as important that we recognize and choose to side with good.  As examples, try

Clothes, food, games are advertized to us as things we MUST have to be OK.  When we buy into that, we become greedy and jealous and spend our whole lives worrying about what we have and wear.  That is a bad choice and is a way of siding with evil.

If the crowd is cutting someone out, calling them cruel names, and treating them badly, when we go along telling ourselves “it does not matter,” we are siding with evil.  On the other hand if we stand up to the crowd, we are siding with good.

Matthew 10:40-42

The Contemporary English Version provides the translation that makes most sense to children.  (NIV is a close second.)  Before reading it, tell listeners that Jesus was speaking to his disciples sending them out on a mission trip.  He has given lots of instructions, then says….

^40 Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me. ^41 Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person. ^42 And anyone who gives one of my most humble followers a cup of cool water, just because that person is my follower, will surely be rewarded.

In context this is comfort for disciples taking on a big task, i.e. the people who welcome you will be welcoming me, those who give you something as little as a cup of cold water will be rewarded.  In worship, however, these verses are often used to explore the possibility of seeing Christ in other people and treating them accordingly.  Work with this by

Ø  Projecting faces of people from around the world while reading these verses – or even just verse 40.

Ø  Instead of projecting pictures, give each worshiper a picture of a person to hold and think about as you talk about the verse.  Challenge them to see Christ in that person.  Urge them to keep the picture and pray for that person this week.  (Portraits, by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry, is a soft bound book of hundreds of postcard size photographs of people.  It is easily cut apart into a collection of individual portraits, each a prize winner.)

Ø  Or, instruct worshipers to look at the faces of people around them as you read verse 40.  Next ask them in their minds to recall the face of each person in their family before reading the verse again.  Finally, ask them to think of the faces of people they will see at work or wherever they will go this week before reading the verse a third time.

Ø  Go to Anna's Hossanas for a script for a children’s time which explores what it means to see God in another person.

In a lighthearted spirit, read verse 42.  Offer all worshipers (or children gathered at the front) a small cup of cool water.  After drinking the water and savoring it, point out that nice as that was, Jesus wasn’t telling his disciples to give people cups of cold water to drink, but to provide what they need.  Then, introduce the ministry of hospitality.

Identify a variety of hospitality ministries in which your congregation shares, taking care to cite some in which children participate.  In my congregation those would include:

Ø  Volunteers provide lemonade, coffee and cookies after worship services so people can get something to drink and so they can stand around and visit with each other.

Ø  The deacons organize the delivery of meals to people who are sick or have other problems that make it hard to get meals on the table.

Ø  All the churches in the community take turns hosting homeless people during the winter months.  Dinner and breakfast are served, beds provided, even laundry done.  Church members (including families with children) spend the evening talking, playing cards, and getting to know these guests.

Ø  Food drives for the local emergency food bank and an international disaster relief offering include children in giving “cups of cold water” in Jesus’ name.

Year A - Trinity Sunday (June 19, 2011)

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.

Year A - Day of Pentecost (June 12, 2011)

R Pentecost is a birthday party for the church.  Since children are the pros on birthday parties, it is a good Sunday for them to be involved in lots of ways.  Go to http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/sr-pentecost-celebrate.php for a list of 27 ways to do this – everything from everyone wear red that day to having readers scattered throughout the congregation read the Pentecost story in different languages at the same time.  To that list, I add:

1.      If you have birthday party at the fellowship hour, ask the children to host it.  Preschoolers add stickers (church buildings, flames, “Happy Birthday”) to the usual white napkins.  Elementary schoolers decorate a iced sheet cake or cupcakes.  (White cake is fine, but Red Velvet Cake is more liturgically correct J and interesting.)  Write “Happy Birthday Church” and add flames, crosses or other symbols with red icing tubes.  Older elementary children can serve the red punch.  Children can also lead the congregation in singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles.

2.      Children’s classes can prepare red crepe paper stoles for all worshipers to wear during worship.  Precut the red streamers and ask children to add a Pentecost sticker (church, flame, dove, “Happy Birthday”) to each end of each stole.  Children may give these stoles to worshipers as they enter the sanctuary or distribute them during the Call to Worship as a worship leader explains the meaning of wearing stoles and briefly introduces Pentecost.

Vocabulary note: Use God’s Spirit or Holy Spirit rather than Holy Ghost.  Holy Ghost conjures up Halloween images throwing children hopelessly off track.

R If the youngest children simply enjoy the birthday party aspect of the day’s worship, that is enough.  Older children are ready to hear a little about the Holy Spirit.  On Pentecost, there are two points:

1.      Even though Jesus has ascended, God is still with us.  We are not on our own. 

2.      God gives us power that enables us to do God’s work on earth.  God inspires us, gives us gifts (talents), and works through us.  God expects us to “do something in God’s name.”  This is a powerful self-image.  We are powerful and God has work for us to do.  Impress it on the children, encouraging them to identify and practice their gifts.  Tell stories about people and churches doing this.  Look forward to seeing what each of them do for God.  Celebrate that fact with amazed joy.

R The best Pentecost songs for children are often familiar short choruses.

“Spirit of the Living God Fall Afresh on Me”

“Every Time I Feel the Spirit”

 – Consider singing only the chorus since the verses refer to unfamiliar to children Bible stories and the River Jordan.

“I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing”

-          Make up new verses that match the ideas or illustrations in the service, e.g. I’m gonna serve, walk (fund raiser walks), etc.

R “Breathe On Me Breath of God,” even with its Elizabethan English, is one of the best longer Pentecost hymns for children.  They savor the repeated first phrase of each verse and figure out the rest of the verses over the years.

R It is a good day to sing hymns from different countries.  Many current hymnals include Spanish and Asian hymns with words printed in that language and English.  If each hymn is introduced with a simple “our next hymn comes to us from the Christians in NAME OF COUNTRY” children will enjoy all the variety and learn that the church includes people who speak many different languages.

Acts 2:1-21

R Before reading the story, alert worshipers to the list of the homelands of people in the Pentecost crowd.  Project or display a map of the region and point out where each named place is.  When possible name the language spoken in each place at that time.   Laugh about how hard it is to pronounce some of the names.  Get a show of hands from the congregation to learn who has visited which places.  Note the places , like Libya, that are in the news today.  The goal is not that the children know and pronounce all the names, but that they realize that these were real places and the people who lived in them were real people visiting in Jerusalem.

R Wind and fire are the two key symbols in this story.  The list at the beginning of this post offers lots of suggestions for using them in worship.  Especially on Pentecost, include the overwhelming power of wind and fire as well as the comforting ones.  Refer to the power of raging forest fires, exploding volcanoes, windy storms.  Tell stories of people acting powerfully to do great things in God’s name.  Encourage the children to see themselves doing the same.

Numbers 11:24-30

Moses’ “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them” is a birthday wish for the church.  It might be said aloud before the candles on the birthday cake are blown out or incorporated into a litany prayer of intercession in which it is the congregation’s response.

Psalm 104:24-34, 35

With so much else attracting the attention of children, the psalm may slide by.  To provide children with a worship worksheet, print the text in the middle of a page and frame it with empty blocks.  Invite children to illustrate a word and phrase they find in the psalm in each block.

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

R The CEV translates verse 7, “The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.”  Use it to tell children that each of them has been given one-of-a-kind (not “special” as in fancy, but simply unique to them) abilities. Their job is to recognize them, practice them, and use them to love God and other people.  Point to recognizable gifts among members of the congregation as examples.  Offer the children a worship worksheet with a big gift box on it.  Invite them to draw or write about their gifts in each section of the box, fold it up, and put it in the offering promising God to use those abilities well.

R With all the fire and wind images, it is probably wise to save the body of Christ image for a separate Sunday on which it can be the focus.

John 20:19-23 or 7:37-39

R Of the 2 John readings, John 20:19-23 is the first choice for children, even though it was read on the Second Sunday of Easter.  It provides a second story of the giving of the Holy Spirit.  However, since there is no way to explain why there are two such different accounts of Pentecost in the Bible, I would skip the gospel entirely this week to focus on the Acts Pentecost story.

R If you do read it, check out The Second Sunday of Easter for a way to link the passage to “forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors.”