In highly liturgical churches
the fourth Sunday of Lent is Laetare Sunday
(or Rejoice Sunday) because of its focus on God’s grace. To highlight this and look forward to Easter
in just three weeks,
1.
take a peek at
the buried “Alleluia!” and note that it is still there.
2.
practice an
alleluia song (Praise Ye the Lord Alleluia?) in whispers.
3.
with a washable
marker write “alleluia” in the palms of the hands of children. They can peek at the word but not display it
to other people as they remember that Easter WILL come. If children are expected on Good Friday, you
may want to save this for then. Scrolll to the end of Year B - Good Friday (2015).
 |
| I was going to write Alleluia in each hand. These second graders demanded theirs across both hand "in curseive please." |
When I first suggested
following “Jesus” around the sanctuary during Lent, I said this Sunday was all
about healing and suggested surrounding
Jesus with bandages, stethoscopes, and other healing props. After digging into the texts more recently I think
there are several other possibilities.
+
If healing is your theme
for the day, it would be possible
to use the medical supplies, look at pictures of Jesus healing, and finally a
picture of Jesus on the cross – Jesus’ biggest and best healing when he healed
everyone who had helped kill him by forgiving them. (I do worry that children will have trouble
making the jump from physical healing to forgiveness/spiritual healing.)
+
Place “Jesus” in a far
corner of the sanctuary, maybe even out of sight of many in the sanctuary. Before
reading the gospel go stand near “Jesus” and note that you know some people
can’t see you and that is the point.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night because he did not want anyone to see
him. He was afraid of what people might
think or say about him if they saw him talking to Jesus. Jesus was OK with that and sat down to talk
to him. This is what he told him….. Then
read the gospel from there.
 |
| Brazen Serpent Monument by Italian sculptor Giovanni Fantoni. Mount Nebo, Jordan. From Dawn Chesser's personal collection. |
+
If you are really brave… Place “Jesus” beside
a snake in a very stout cage (or maybe a big artificial snake for the less
brave). Before the Call
to Worship, point it out or invite children to come forward to see it
better. Explain that the snake is there
because there are lots of snakes in today’s stories. Briefly note that in the Bible snakes stand
for evil and doing what is wrong.
Display a picture of the bronze snake on the pole and Jesus on the cross. Urge worshipers to listen for snakes and for
the promise that God loves us even when we mess up or get snakey. Jesus can handle the snakiness in all of us
and still love us.
+ If you are following the Old Testament covenants
through Lent, this story does not introduce another Old Testament covenant but
points to the New Testament covenant of the cross. The snake suggestion just above works just as
well here. The bottom line of both the
snakes in the wilderness and Jesus forgiving from the cross is that God loves
and takes care of us even when we mess up, i.e. Grace.
GRACE
+ Make grace the word of the day. Put it on a poster or banner to present at
the beginning of worship and display throughout worship. Before the Call to Worship point it out. Clear out what grace is not here – a girl’s
name, the prayer we say before a meal, or ability to move beautifully. Then, define grace as loving someone even
when they don’t deserve it and God’s grace as the fact that God continues to
love us, care for us, and forgive us even when we really do not deserve
it. Challenge worshipers to listen for
the word in songs and prayers and to listen for one big example of grace that
involved lots of snakes.
The Texts
Numbers 21:4-9
+ This may be read as a very simple healing story OR
when combined with the other readings for the day it may be used as an
invitation to identify all the snakey
things in our lives.
Display a stop sign and a danger sign noting the meaning of each. Next, display
a picture of a snake and explain that for many people just seeing a snake is a warning,
a danger, a call to stop! Recall the
snake in the Fall in Eden and note that from then on snakes have been symbols
of bad things or evil. The snakes in
this story are sent by God because the people were not trusting God and were
complaining to Moses that God wasn’t doing enough for them. God sent snakes, symbols of evil, to remind
them of their snakey complaining.
Identify some of the snakey things we do to ourselves and each other
today. Then recall the end of the
story. God saved the people. He healed them from both the snake bites and
their complaining. That will set the
stage for John’s comments about Jesus being like the snake on the pole. Jesus saves us from all the snakiness.
Do
remember that some children, especially some boys, really like snakes. Assure them that snakes are not bad, but that
they are often used as a symbol of evil.
+ If you are exploring the Israelite whining, note that
they needed to learn what his mother told Alexander at the end of a day when
everything went wrong, “Some days are
just like that.” (See Alexander
and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst.) You could read the whole book and revel in all
the whining. Or, since the book is
familiar to many children and parents, simply refer to it citing one or two
examples of things that can go wrong in a child’s day. (The adults will quickly add a companion list
for their days!)
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
+ This is a psalm pilgrims sang as they climbed the long
steep hill to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple. It was like some of the songs we sing on long
car trips today. Point out the
introduction and the format of each verse.
Identify the people in each stanza: travelers lost in the desert,
prisoners, the sick, and sailors on the sea.
Then invite worshipers to read with you the
parts the whole group of pilgrims traveling together would have sung
with one reader reading the verse about the sick. To really get into the road trip aspect of
the psalm have the congregation stand and walk in place as they read.
All: verses 1-3
One: verses 17-20
All: verse 21-22
+ Read these verses after reading the
Numbers story. Suggest that some of the pilgrims might have
thought about the snake-bit people looking at the bronze snake on the pole and
being healed. It is also a psalm those
folks might have prayed after being cured.
Suggest this is a good prayer for us when we recover from illness, too.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Needless to say children will
not follow this as it is read. It is
filled with abstract words that are connected in long, complicated
thoughts. But there are ideas in it
older children appreciate when unpacked for them by worship leaders.
+ Even children know what it feels like to
be “stuck,” to feel like or wish you were dead, to be hopeless. They get stuck
in ongoing arguments with siblings, caught in the crossfire of changing
friendships, listen fearfully as parents fight, worry about finances if the
main money maker is unemployed, survive an endless difficult school year, and sense
that everyone else is somehow “more” than me.
Without being suicidal, they can say “I wish I was dead.” With help older children can even recognize
that their deadness is as much their own fault as the fault of those around
them. And, they can admit that they
can’t make the changes needed.
+
Try a confession in which ways
we are stuck in evil and feel dead are described one by one, e.g. the lies we
tell, the mean things we say without even meaning to, etc. After each one, the congregation responds,
“It makes us feel dead.” The assurance
is “God, loves us and brings us new life, new possibilities, ways out. Thanks be to God.”
+ GRACE is the key word.
For children it comes together in Ephs. 2:8. Check out the poster directions for grace at
the top of this page.
+ Three child-accessible hymns that capture this text
and the general theme of the day are:
“There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy” – This short hymn includes difficult words for
children. Point out the very similar
words mercy and love asking worshipers to find them in the song. Then put the verses into your own words and invite
everyone to sing. With this
introduction, children are able to follow and begin knowing this hymn.
“Help Us Accept Each Other” expresses Jesus’ and Paul’s ideas in terms of
acceptance rather than salvation. Every
child knows about the desire to be accepted by God and other people. Point out “acceptance” everywhere it appears
in the hymn. Or, direct people to verse
3 which summarizes the rest of the song.
Read it together and/or walk through it putting it into your words. With this help children will try to sing at
least verse 3.
“Let
Your acceptance change us.
So
that we may be moved
in living situations to do the truth in
love;
to
practice Your acceptance until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness and laughter’s
healing
art.”
It
is also a good day to sing “Jesus Loves Me
This I Know” which summarizes the Ephesians message in words
children know well. Children love
finding that it is in the hymnbook.
John 3:14-21
+ John 3:16 may be the most famous verse in the Bible,
but unless your congregation encourages children to memorize verses, don’t count on them recognizing it.
+ Today’s crosses are most helpful in
unpacking these verses for children.
 | |
|
+
A crucifix (cross with Christ hanging on it) reminds us that God
loved us enough to live among as Jesus and to forgive us when we killed Jesus. Every time we look at it we remember how very
much God loved and loves us and all people.
In many protestant congregations this is an opportunity to introduce a
cross that is important to Catholic and many other Christians. If you don’t have one, borrow one (crucifix
jewelry is an option) or display a picture of one (I found this one Googling “crucifix
images”). If the crosses in your church
are empty, compare them with their message that God raised Jesus from death to
the crucifixes noting the valuable message in each one.
 |
| Feel free to use my photo in worship. |
+
Artists in Central America
paint crosses with pictures of lots of people on
them. Display one of these crosses and
ponder John’s insistence that when Jesus was raised up (on the cross) he drew
all the people of the world to him.
+
Give each worshiper a paper
featuring a large empty cross shape.
(Maybe it is the back page of the printed order of worship.) During the sermon invite them to draw pictures of or write the names of people Jesus died
for on the cross. Identify
and challenge worshipers to identify a variety of people including themselves
and some people they don’t particularly like.
Near the end of the service, provide silence in which worshipers can
pray about the people on their crosses.
+ Children feel judged by many adults in
their lives – coaches, parents,
teachers, even worship leaders.
Especially this late in the school year students who do not do well in
school feel trapped and judged by many of their teachers. It is a very “stuck,” hopeless place to
be. John assures children that God is
not interested in judging them. That is
very good news. One reader took this
idea to another level with the following:
I ended up going with the "God
does not grade us" idea and I actually made "God Report Cards"
for all our kids (we have 6-15 each week, we had 8 this week). I asked the kids
how they felt about getting report cards (SCARED!) and told them I had gotten
report cards from God for each of them. They got all A's, of course, which made
them all so happy, in subjects such as Love, Peace, Joy, Forgiveness, Kindness,
Courage, ...etc. They just HAD to real quick show their moms. We read again the
verse-- God didn't send Jesus to Judge or Grade us, but to love and save us. We
don't have to be SCARED about God's grade for us! I was able to tie this into
the sermon as well. (Of course I told the kids God didn't really make the
report cards I gave them, and I invited them to fill in the rest of the card as
they thought was right. My own son added some plusses to the A he got on
kindness!)
Becky Ardell
Downs’ comment from Lent 2 (2014)
+ Children’s literature explores unlimited love in
several classic books in which children repeatedly ask a parent whether the
parent would still love them if they did a variety of bad deeds. The parents, like God, all insist that they
would love the children no matter what.
That is grace.
The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown, is a conversation between a young bunny and
his mother in which the child threatens to run away in all sorts of ways. To each plan the mother describes how she
would come after him. In the end the
child decides that he might as well stay home.
(Reading time: 3 minutes). I once
heard a fine preacher give a very erudite sermon about God’s grace which he
concluded by reading this story and saying “That is grace. Amen.”
In Mama, Do You Love Me? , by Barbara
Joosse, an Inuit girl describes all sorts of terrible things she might do and
her mother insists that she would love her.
The same story is told in the Maasai culture between a father and son in
Papa, Do You Love Me?. (For some reason, I prefer the Inuit version
– maybe because I read it first or love the art.)
+ Children understand about hiding under the covers or
in a dark closet to do something they should not do. In North America on the first Sunday after
the change to Daylight Savings time they are also aware of being able to be
outside in the evening light longer they could during the winter. All this gives them good
connections to the light and dark in verses 19-21.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Click on Comments below to leave a message or share an idea