Year A - Propers 16 - 25 Moses Display (August 24 - October 26, 201

We have ten Sundays of Moses stories starting from August 24th through the last Sunday in October.  One way to help young worshipers connect all these stories is create a display to which one significant object is added each week.  This could become a children’s sermon series or the objects could be added during the regular sermon or at some other time during worship.  Each week I’ll add suggestions for that week.  For now, an overview is in order.

The background is a large swath of desert beige burlap because Moses spent most of his life in the desert.  It could be draped over a table or up a section of the stairs or over several chairs or stools to give you surfaces at different heights on which to display the objects.  Rather than attempt to arrange the objects in chronological order, I would arrange them in any visually pleasing way.  The goal is for children to connect all the stories to one man, Moses.  I’d also try to place the burning bush candle near the center of the display and where it can be easily lit each week during the series.  It would be wise to plan in advance where each object will be placed. 

The current (it might change as we work through the stories) list of objects I would add is…

Aug 24       a doll baby in a wicker basket

        31      a short red pillar candle (the burning bush)

Sept  7        a hiking stick to recall all the plagues OR

Seder plate to recall Passover

        14        blue streamer or ribbon cut in half and 

                    separated to recall the Red Sea

        21       plastic piece of bread and chicken leg from

preschool food set for manna and quail

        28        a thinner blue streamer or ribbon flowing out

from under a rock

Oct     5       child-made air-dried clay tablets marked with

10 numbers

         12       plastic cow (from preschool farm set) spray 

                    painted metallic gold

         19       nothing new, refer to the burning bush 

                   candle to discuss God’ presence with Moses

        26        a rock to set at the far edge of the burlap 

                    recalling Moses death

The items in the display could simply be “stuff” gathered from the house and church.  Or, they could be carefully selected even created items that qualify as “art.”  Creating this display might be an opportunity to draw a person with artistic flair into worship leadership.