Genesis
22:1-14
 |
| From The Family Story Bible, by Ralph Milton. Used by permission. |
> 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
Jeremiah
28:5-9
> The message in this passage is too
complicated for young children. But
older children and youth benefit from this story in which people must choose
between two prophets who claim God is about to do opposite things. Young people today also face conflicting claims of what are
the good and right things to do and be.
> This is one lection I would
enlarge. Read verses 1-16 following the
two prophet script below. Briefly
introduce the two prophets, Babylonia, and the significance of wearing a yoke. As you do, remember that the value
of this story is less knowing ways in which Hananiah and Jeremiah disagreed, and more in
realizing that people in the Bible were confronted with hard choices about who
to believe. Stand the prophet readers near the
middle of the chancel where they can face each other as they read, going “toe
to toe.” Direct the Jeremiah to face the congregation to tell his story and face Hananiah when speaking to him. Challenge the worshipers to
imagine themselves in the crowd hearing what these two prophets said.
:> <: :> <: :> <: :> <: :> <: :> <:
Jeremiah 28:1-17
Jeremiah (facing the congregation): In that same year, in the fifth month
of the fourth year that Zedekiah was king, Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet
from the town of Gibeon, spoke to me in the Temple. In the presence of the priests and of the
people he told me that the Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, had said:
Hananiah: “I have broken the power of the king of
Babylonia. Within two years I will bring
back to this place all the temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar took to
Babylonia. I will also bring back the
king of Judah, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, along with all the people of Judah
who went into exile in Babylonia. Yes, I
will break the power of the king of Babylonia. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Jeremiah: (Facing congregation) Then in the presence of the priests and
of all the people who were standing in the Temple, I said to Hananiah: (Turn to face Hananiah) “Wonderful! I hope the Lord will do this! I certainly hope he will make your
prophecy come true and will bring back from Babylonia all the temple treasures
and all the people who were taken away as prisoners. But listen to what I say to you and to the
people. The prophets who spoke long ago,
before my time and yours, predicted that war, starvation, and disease would
come to many nations and powerful kingdoms. But a prophet who predicts peace can only be
recognized as a prophet whom the Lord
has truly sent when that prophet’s predictions come true.”
(Turn back to the congregation) Then Hananiah took the yoke off my neck, broke it in pieces,
and said in the presence of all the people:
Hanaiah: “The Lord
has said that this is how he will break the yoke that King Nebuchadnezzar has
put on the neck of all the nations; and he will do this within two years.”
Jeremiah: (face congregation) Then I left. Some time after this the Lord told me to go and say to Hananiah:
(face Hananiah) “The Lord has said that you may be
able to break a wooden yoke, but he will replace it with an iron yoke. The Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, has said that he will put an iron yoke on all
these nations and that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. The Lord has said that he will make even the
wild animals serve Nebuchadnezzar.”
(Almost as an aside to the congregation) Then I told Hananiah this, and added, (facing Hananiah) “Listen, Hananiah! The
Lord did not send you, and you are
making these people believe a lie. And
so the Lord himself says that he
is going to get rid of you. Before this year is over you will die because you
have told the people to rebel against the Lord.”
TEV
:> <: :> <: :> <: :> <: :> <: :> <:
>
If you are going to explore the yoke, display a yoke or a picture of a yoke and
explain both how it is used and what it meant to say God will put a yoke upon
your neck before reading the scripture.
> The Romans text for today also deals
with recognizing the difference in the good and evil choices we encounter. Look there for ideas about exploring such
choices with children.
LOVE HAPPY
WORSHIP REJOICE PRAISE
GOODNESS
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
> I’d let these verses stand apart from
the rest of the psalm and other texts for the day. On their own they are a hymn filled with
praise words. Write each praise word on
a poster. Give each poster to one child
talking about the word as you do. Then
challenge children to put their poster over their head every time they hear
their word as the psalm is read. (In the
TEV the words include love, faithfulness, happy, worship rejoice, praise, and
goodness.) Let the children keep their
posters to decorate with markers or crayons during the rest of the service.
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 advertised 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 Hosannas for a script for a children’s time which explores what
it means to see God in another person.
> 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Click on Comments below to leave a message or share an idea