Many of today’s texts focus
on wisdom – not a bad choice for a Sunday just before or as the school year
begins!
$ To help children sort out
vocabulary present a series of small posters each bearing a word. Include genius, brainy, smart, smart alec (or wise
guy) , wise, common sense, good judgment and/or others that are used
among your children. Compare the
similarities and differences in each one.
Finally set all but wise aside and announce that today you will be
thinking about what it means to be wise.
This could be done before the call to worship to set the stage. Or, it could be part of the sermon.
$ For children
wisdom is the ability to make
good decisions, to know right from wrong, to be able to figure out what to do
in difficult situations. It is important
to separate wisdom from intelligence.
Some people are just smarter than others. But, smart people are not necessarily
wise. And, people who may not be super
smart, straight A students are often very wise.
$ Two helpful
story books. Both are too long to read during worship. The preacher can however easily retell them in his or her own words. I found both in the public library.
In The
Empty Pot, by Demi, the Emperor gives all the children a seed to plant and
announces that the child who brings back the biggest healthiest plant in a year
will be the next emperor. Ping tends his
seed with high hopes because he knows a great deal about plants. When the seed does not grow in spite of all
his efforts he brings it back to the Emperor.
Other children bring all sorts of plants. It turns out the Emperor had cooked all the
seeds he gave out. Only Ping was wise
enough to bring his seed back and so he became the next Emperor.
After
he became Emperor Ping needed a very wise prime minister. So, he challenged all the children of the
kingdom to bring in The Greatest Power in the world. He said, "A
wise person must be able to see the unseen and know the unknown." Children
arrived with all sorts of weapons, beauty, technology, money, etc. A girl named Sing brought a lotus seed. She was wise enough to know that from that
one little seed life renewed itself every season and that life was the greatest
power. She became Ping’s Prime Minister.
$ “Fear of the Lord” shows up in several of today’s wisdom texts. Today’s children hear that phrase as “be
afraid of God.” What it actually means
is respect or be in awe of and obey God.
To help children get to that understanding talk about how one would feel
meeting a very important person – maybe the President or Prime Minister or a
sports hero/ine or a famous musician.
Note that you would not be afraid that any of these people would hurt
you, but you would feel very shy, hesitant to say anything, and just wow, happy
to be there standing right before them.
If the Olympics are still fresh in your memories, imagine how athletes
felt as they walked into the big stadium during the Opening Ceremonies. They were not scared, but they could hardly
believe they were actually there IN THE OLYMPICS. It was awesome. You might also recall Mrs. Beaver in The
Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, telling the children that they would be
frightened when they met Aslan. It would
be foolish not to be. But, she insisted
that Aslan was good and they should look forward to meeting him.
Is –
is he a man?” asked Lucy.
Aslan,
a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly.
“Certainly not. I tell you he is
the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of
Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!" said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man.
Is he – quite safe? I shall feel
rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That
you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can
appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most
or else just silly.”
“Then
he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?”
said Mr. Beaver. “don’t you hear what
Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything
about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
From
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, chapter 8
1 Kings 2: 10-12, 3:3-14
$ This story is interesting to children, but the
assigned verses are long. Children have
trouble following the story as the verses are read. To highlight the story have the story read by a
narrator, The Lord, and Solomon.
Use the script below to streamline the introductory material and focus
on Solomon’s prayer. Solomon should of
course be read by a young adult male. If
a woman will read some of the other wisdom texts today, The Lord might be by a
male. If a woman will not be reading
wisdom texts, cast a woman as The Lord to push worshipers of all ages to
imagine God as more than either male or female.
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1 Kings 2:10-12 and
3:5-14
Narrator: David lived to be an old man. Then he died.
His son Solomon became king. One
night shortly after Solomon became king the Lord
appeared to him in a dream.
The Lord: What would you like me to give you?
Solomon: You always showed great love for my father David, your
servant, and he was good, loyal, and honest in his relations with you. And you
have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who
today rules in his place. O Lord God, you have let me succeed my
father as king, even though I am very young and don’t know how to rule. Here I am among the people you have chosen to
be your own, a people who are so many that they cannot be counted. So
give me the wisdom I need to rule your people with justice and to know the difference
between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great
people of yours?
Narrator: The Lord was
pleased that Solomon had asked for this,
The Lord: Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly,
instead of long life for yourself or riches or the death of your enemies, I will do what you have asked. I will give you
more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had before or will ever have
again. I will also give you what you have not asked
for: all your life you will have wealth and honour, more than that of any other
king. And if you obey me and keep my laws and commands, as your father David
did, I will give you a long life.
Narrator: Solomon woke up and
realized that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then he went to Jerusalem and
stood in front of the Lord’s
Covenant Box and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. After that he gave a feast for all
his officials. PAUSE This is the word of the Lord.
Based
on the TEV
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$ This is such a great
story for the Sunday before school starts that I’d juggle lectionary weeks in
order to read it on the best week for the children. It leads to prayers for learning wisdom this
year at school so that we may become wise people of God.
Leader: God, as we go to school we want many things. We want to be with our friends and meet
people who will become our friends. We
want to be popular. We want our teachers
and the other children to like us.
Students: Help us also want to learn new skills and understand
new subjects. Make us your wise people.
Leader: Lord, as we go back to school we want to have
fun. We want teachers who make lessons
fun. We want to play learning games, act
in plays and do interesting projects. We
want time to play outside and in the gym.
We want school to be fun.
Students: Help us also want to learn new skills and understand
new subjects. Make us your wise people.
Leader: God we also want to do well. We want to make good grades. We want to win. We want to be first. We want to know we are special people.
Students: Help us also want to learn new skills and understand
new subjects. Make us your wise people.
Leader: So be with us at school this year. Guide us.
Help us be good friends. Help us
pay attention and learn and grow. Make
us wise. (If you are reading about
Solomon, “Make us as wise as Solomon.”)
For we pray in Jesus’ name.
$ It sounds like Solomon
got wisdom with one prayer. But the
story indicates that Solomon was working hard already to be wise (he was wise
enough to pray this prayer!) and we can imagine that he continued to work at learning
how to be a wise king. The rest of us
for sure get wisdom by working at it every day.
In the Neil Simon movie “The Goodbye Girl” a little girl does not want
to go the school one morning. Her mother
insists that she go saying this may be the day they learn brain surgery. Both mother and daughter roll their eyes knowing
that will not happen. But, the mother
makes her point that each day at school the daughter will learn skills that
over time will enable her to do amazing things – like brain surgery. Use this story to encourage children to work
at school learning skills (even the ones they would rather not learn) so that
they can do more and more amazing things as doctors, leaders, scientists, AND
disciples of Jesus.
$ Illustrate Solomon’s
wisdom with the story of how he figured out which of two mothers claiming the same
baby was the real mother of the child.
It is in 1 Kings 3:16-28 and does not appear anywhere in the RCL. For clarity and speed, tell the story in your
own words.
Psalm 111
$ Verse 10 is the key verse
of this psalm for children. Check the
comments about “the fear of the Lord” near the beginning of this post and
explain the phrase before reading the entire psalm.
$ This psalm is one of the
alphabet psalms. Especially on the Sunday
before school starts it might be titled “The ABCs of Praising God.” A group of school children (a class or
choir?) might read the psalm to the congregation with each child reading one
lettered line and the minister or other worship leader saying the letter of the
Hebrew alphabet before each line. Or,
the congregation might read the lines after a worship leader says each Hebrew
letter.
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Psalm 111
The ABCs of
Praising God
All Praise the Lord!
Aleph With all my heart I will thank the Lord.
Bet In the assembly of God’s people I will praise the Lord.
Gimel How
wonderful are the things the Lord does!
Dalet All who are delighted with them want to understand them.
He All God does is full of honor and majesty!
Waw God’s righteousness is eternal.
Zain The Lord does not let us forget these wonderful actions.
Het The Lord is kind and merciful.
Tet God provides food for those who honor him.
Yod The Lord never forgets his covenant.
Kaph God has shown his power to his people
Lamed The Lord gave them the lands of foreigners.
Mem Everything God does is faithful and just.
Nun All the Lord’s commands are dependable.
Samek They
last for all time.
Ain They
were given in truth and righteousness.
Pe God set his people free
Zade The Lord made an eternal covenant with them.
Qoph Holy and mighty is God’s name!
Resh The way to become wise is to honor the Lord;
Shin The Lord gives sound judgment to all who obey his commands.
Taw God is to be praised for ever.
Based
on the TEV
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 |
| This is my sketch. Feel free to copy it. |
$ I just checked my own
Scripture Index and discovered that Psalm 111 appeared in Epiphany of Year
B. There I printed the psalm script
based on the New Jerusalem Bible.
Here I adapted the TEV to give each reader a full sentence and to make
the language for God a little more gender inclusive (seemed worth doing on a
Wisdom Sunday). Take your choice. Also go to this Sunday Fourth Sunday After Epiphany (Yr B) to find a coloring page on praising God.
$ The simple story of
Solomon’s prayer for wisdom is much easier for children to follow than is this
rich metaphor. But, if you do want to
explore it with children offer them a comparable image of wisdom standing at the
school door calling out to students. Share it as printed below or work with
worshipers to add their own lists of the resources at the school and what
students are called to learn.
Wisdom
has built her school house with many classrooms, libraries, stages, gyms,
learning labs, even cafeterias. She
calls out to children, “Come and learn from me and my teachers. Learn to spell and do math. Explore the worlds of science. Hear stories of the history of our
people. Learn skills that will help you
do amazing things all your life. It is
challenging work. But, it will make you
wise.”
Psalm 34: 9-14
$ Again I’d choose other
wisdom texts for the children. If I did
use this with children I’d use only verses 11-15 which offers two simple
questions and an answer to both of them that fits the beginning of school. Open by reading verse 11. Alert listeners for the two questions and read
them. Then read and explain the
answers. Finally reread the whole text.
Ephesians 5:15-20
$ In the TEV this may be
the most straightforward challenge to children at the beginning of the school
year. Simply walk through the
text verse by verse applying each one to school. Even verse 18’s warning against wine is an
opportunity to warn children against trying any drink, smoke, or drug that is
offered them. (It is frighteningly amazing
at what a young age children can encounter these things at school!)
John 6:51-58
$ Before reading this
passage, alert worshipers to listen for a big misunderstanding. Some of Jesus’ listeners thought he wanted
them to become cannibals! Enjoy the
fact that they were wrong. Jesus did not
want people to eat one of his arms or legs.
Then, challenge them to listen for what Jesus did want them to eat and
why.
$ Children will
need help getting from eating flesh to eating bread to the sustenance we get
from God’s presence with us. Start with what is said as the bread is
broken at communion, “this is my body which is broken for you” to connect flesh
to bread. Then, work with all the ways
we remember that God is with us in communion.
We remember what Jesus said and did.
We eat and swallow bread, taking inside our bodies the bread that stands
for Jesus. It becomes part of us just as
God becomes part of us.
$ Pass out
chunks of bread for worshippers to chew on during a sermon about Jesus as bread
of life.
$ Explore this text using
the saying “You are what you eat.”
Children often hear that as adults encourage them to eat healthy
food. To take it beyond food, present and
discuss three tables or trays each displaying samples of related “foods”
children eat every day.
1.
A table/tray of
fruits and vegetables AND cookies and sugary drinks. Point out which Olympic athletes eat and how
their bodies respond to their good choices in food.
2.
A table/tray of
video games, comic books, school books, a small TV set, etc. Discuss the importance of what we fill our
minds with.
3.
A table/tray with
Communion bread and cup and a Bible and/or Bible story book. Explore the difference it makes when we soak
up God into our lives. Knowing the Bible
stories helps us make wise decisions.
Humming songs about God gives us the power to do brave things for
God. When we worship and serve with
friends at church, God becomes part of us – every day.
$ “Become for Us the Living Bread” is probably the best bread song for today.
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