Most of today’s texts lead us
to explore how freely we are called to talk with God. Whether you focus on the Lord’s Prayer or
more generally on how freely we are called to share our lives and ideas with
God, children are interested.
D Invite children to join you at the front before the
call to worship. Point out in today’s
worship we will be thinking together about prayer. Note that every Sunday we do a lot of praying
during worship. Give each child a
copy of the order of worship and either a colored pen or a strip of small
stickers. (Praying hands
stickers are available in many Bible bookstores.) Challenge them to draw a star around every
prayer we pray today after they have prayed it with the whole
congregation. Invite them to show you
their work as they leave the sanctuary.
Then, follow through with them asking about their prayer record if they
do not thrust it into your hand immediately.
Hosea 1:2-10
This is one tough text! The family images offer something to offend everyone. Adults are offended by the marriage
relationship. Children are offended by
the names given the children. “How could
God do that to a kid?” they ask. “It is
not the kid’s fault that the adults have not lived as they should. That is not fair!” To get from there to Hosea’s message about
God’s faithful love, one has to unpack the details of the images and set them
in the context of the whole book. This
is more easily done in adult classrooms than in sanctuaries. Fortunately, the Hosea text next Sunday
features the image of a parent continuing to love a very difficult child. That text may offer a better chance to
explore Hosea’s message of God’s unending love in a way that speaks to
worshippers of all ages. For today, go
with the some of the other texts in worship.
Psalm 85
This psalm is clearly linked
to the Hosea rather than the New Testament readings. It is also difficult for children to
follow. Go to Second Sunday of Advent (Year B) for a worship activity that does not really fit with the other texts for today.
Genesis 18:20-32
D This story is a conversation between God and
Abraham. So, have it read by two
readers – God and Abraham. A
narrator sets the scene explaining that Sodom and Gomorrah are two cities whose
people had been so sinful that God was considering destroying them
entirely. The readers then read straight
from the Bible excluding the he said phrases.
Use CEV or TEV for clearer language and choose an Abraham reader who
will give it lots of expression using his voice, his face, even his whole
body.
D This could lead to a sermon/discussion about being
honest with God in prayer – something children need to hear. Add to Abraham’s story other biblical
stories in which people tell God exactly “how it is” such as
Moses
talking God out of destroying the Israelites,
Various
prophets telling God why they didn’t want to be prophets,
Elijah
telling God how sorry for himself he was feeling,
Jesus
on the cross asking where God was,
Even
Psalm 137:7-9
.jpg)
Psalm 138
One commentator says this is
the happiest psalm in the Bible. In today’s
worship it might be introduced as a happy song for God. If you use the TEV translation, alert
listeners to all the “you”s for God and the “I”s for us. Encourage them to listen for what this
psalmist is saying to and about God.
Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)
The problem for the Colossians was people who were making it more complicated to be
Christian than it had to be. “Real
Christians” followed certain laws and cultivated a sophisticated
spirituality. Colossian Christians were
tying themselves in knots trying to do and be all these things. Paul tells them to relax. Remember who you are and whose you are.
For children today the problem is all the things people tell them they “gotta be”
and “gotta do.” They gotta be athletic,
smart, gifted, cute/pretty, popular, and more.
All these are fine things, but they are not the best thing, not the
thing that will make life abundant and “good,” not the thing, that will save
us. Paul tells these children to relax
and remember that God made them and loves them.
They belong to Jesus.
D With this as background, the part of this text that
preaches to kids is verses 6-7. These
verses use two images to direct readers toward a simple disciplined life:
Be rooted
in Christ
Build
yourself in Christ
Both images feature deep
relationship. If you must do a
children’s time, physically act out rooting.
Start by uprooting a potted plant to see all the roots and talk about
how they work into the soil looking for food and water. Invite the children to use their fingers as
imaginary roots digging into imaginary soil for food and water. Then snuggle with one child next to you and
remind them of the way they might root around with their parents at home. Finally, snuggle close together as a
group. Recall Paul’s instruction to “be
rooted in Christ.” Mention things you do
together as a congregation (worship, fellowship hour, church school, special
events) that keep you rooted together in Christ.
D For children, circumcision is simply a Jewish
ritual that welcomes boys into God’s family – just as baptism is a Christian
ritual that welcomes boys and girls into God’s family. Paul’s point is that if you are baptized you
are one of God’s people. No special
feats or disciplines are required beyond that.
D The liturgical link for this text is baptism. So,
Even
if there is no baptism for today, be sure the baptismal font is filled. At some point invite the children to meet you
there (or walk there to speak to everyone).
Speak about baptism as the one basic thing that shows who we are. Invite children (all worshipers) to dip their
hand into the font saying “I belong to God.
God loves me.” Conclude that because
this is true nothing else much matters.
Meet
the children at the baptismal font. Show
them an ordination certificate or some award or sign that you are special (I’d
show them the purple crocheted bookmark I won in the fifth grade for memorizing
more Bible verses than anyone else in the fifth grade) then dip your hands in
the water and tell the children that being a baptized person is more important
to you than the award. Talk about being
one of God’s people. Invite the children
to dip a hand into the font. As they do
say phrases like, “Remember, God loves you.”
“You belong to God’s people.”
Ask
worshipers to follow in their hymnals as you talk your way through a baptismal
hymn frequently sung in your worship.
Then sing it together.
Luke 11:1-13
D There are three parts to this text: the Lord’s
Prayer, the parable about persistence, and the teachings about prayer. When
they hear the Lord’s Prayer (which most children are still learning) prayed and
discussed by the whole congregation, children realize that this is an important
prayer. It is not just a kid
prayer. Teenagers and adults, whom we
all assume already know and understand the prayer, benefit from exploring it in
the congregation because they can unravel some misunderstandings and confusions
without having to admit they have them.
This is the one time the Lord’s Prayer appears in the lectionary, so it
is hard to pass up making it the focus of the day.
D Worship planners could either build the entire worship service around
the Lord’s Prayer. Or, explore the
parables and teachings in the sermon and use the Lord’s Prayer in a special
time for children or feature it in the day’s liturgy. Or, peaking ahead to next week’s Psalm 107
suggestions, it would be possible to explore the Lord’s Prayer this week and
delve into the concerns of God’s response to prayer in the parable and
teachings in this text using Psalm 107 as a case study on next Sunday.
D Lord’s Prayer Words to Watch: It’s not just
the children who are puzzled by some of the phrases in the Lord’s Prayer. So work through them for everyone. Briefly.
Hallowed
means holy. So one translation of the
first line is “God, you are holy!”
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is
in heaven is one sentence, but when
it is prayed in public there is often a huge breath gap before on earth as it
is on heaven. I may have been in my
teens before someone glued those phrases together for me.
Bread is
food AND everything else we need for survival, even money which is slangily
called bread.
Forgive
us our debts, trespasses, transgressions,
sins. The new ecumenical version of
the prayer uses sins which makes most sense to children. Debts
are financial IOUs. Trespassing is going on someone’s property uninvited. And, transgressions
has fallen out of everyday speech entirely.
So, it is worth taking time to translate the term used in your congregation
and to point to the terms they will hear worshipers use in other churches.
Lead us not
into temptation but deliver us from evil
is another phrase that needs explaining as a whole. For children it means please don’t let us get
into situations that ask us to be braver and stronger than we are or situations
in which we can’t figure out what to do or situations in which we will be hurt
(deliver us from evil).
For thine is the kingdom, power and glory forever echoes the praise of the first. God you are the biggest most powerful, most
wonderful being and always will be.
D Read The Lord’s Prayer, by Tim
Ladwig, a picture book linking the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer to the
experiences of a father and daughter spending a day fixing the house of an
elderly neighbor. The clear message is
that praying the prayer leads us to living that way.
.jpg) |
| If anyone turns this sketch into a spiffy computer generated worksheet, I hope you'll share it with the rest of us. |
D Give each worshiper a Lord’s Prayer worksheet
with the phrases of the prayer written in 6 separate sections of the page with
lots of space around them. Encourage
worshipers to write or draw about each phrase as you work through the worship service. Their notes may be things they want to
remember about the phrase or situations in their own lives that connect to the
phrase or their own versions of that prayer phrase today. Near the end of the service, pray the prayer with
a leader stating each phrase leaving generous time for worshipers to pray the
phrase silently using their notes.
D Base the Prayers of the People/Pastoral Prayer/ Long
Prayer on the Lord’s Prayer. Use two prayer leaders - one to say each
prayer of the Lord’s Prayer, a second to offer prayers for the day related to
each phrase after the first leader prays them.
You may or may not follow each phrase with silence for individual
prayer. Both leaders may be adults. Or, the first might be an older child. This is powerful for both the adults who
cherish the sound of the young voice offering the traditional prayer and for
the children who hear one of their own as a worship leader.
D Scatter the phrases of the prayer throughout
the prayers of the day in some not too subtle ways. The easiest is to create responsive prayers
in which the congregation repeats a phrase of the Lord’s Prayer. At the beginning of the service introduce
this as a treasure hunt, give young worshipers copies of the Lord’s Prayer and challenge
them to check off each phrase every time they pray it today. Possible
matches are:
Call
to Worship Our Father who art in
heaven…
Confession Forgive
us….
Prayers
of People Thy kingdom come….
..daily bread…
..not into temptation…evil
Benediction Thine is the kingdom…
D Give each child a word search puzzle containing
key words (rather than a list of the phrases) from the Lord’s Prayer at the
beginning of the service. Challenge them
to find the words listed below the puzzle in the puzzle and to draw a star by
or circle each word every time they hear it in today’s worship.
.jpg) |
| This word search was made using http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/code/BuildWordSearch.asp# |
D The parable and teachings which follow are tricky for adults are even harder
for literal thinking, Santa Claus letter writing children. For one thing, pestering God repeatedly for
what you want looks even more risky to children who have fresh experiences with
how parents respond when pushed too often on a want. (The neighbor in the
parable may give you what you want to get rid of you. But, a parent is more likely to hush you with
threats or punishment.) For another, the text, taken literally, says
that if you ask for it, you will get it.
And even the youngest child knows that is not true. Children and adults together can separate the
prayer requests for a pony, a car for my sixteenth birthday, or an invitation
to that prestigious event from those for Grandpa’s health, the family’s income,
or stability in the marriage at the heart of the family. (Don’t credit the children with all the
former and the grownups with the latter!)
Once you wade into the questions of prayers that do not get the answer
you want, children and adults again have an equally tough time with putting
important things in God’s hands. The challenge
for the preacher is to use examples from all ages rather than just from
adulthood. The problem is the same all
through life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Click on Comments below to leave a message or share an idea