> Next Saturday is
Halloween, a high holy day for children on which they work on facing fears. Most children
are just beginning to think about it, but it will be THE topic of conversation
as the week goes on. So, invite children
to join Job praising God who is greater and more powerful than any monster,
evil or scary thing they will encounter this week. Also pray with them for help remembering that
even in our costumes and behind our masks we are still ourselves. We are still God’s children and often need
God’s help to act like that. Find a few
text-specific Halloween connections scattered below.
> This is also Reformation Sunday. That is a lot
less interesting to children than Halloween is!
Still there are a few suggestions here that might be useful in a service
celebrating that day.
> There is a lot of talk about seeing in today’s texts. Blind Bartimaeus is healed after he outshouts
a crowd that is blinder than he to who Jesus is. Job “sees” God in a new way. This will lead to lots of metaphoric talk
about seeing. Since such “seeing” is
often part of worship this is an opportunity to introduce it to children. Several ways of seeing include
Ø Being physically blind then getting healed – like
Bartimaeus
Ø “Now, I see” as in Job saying to God, now, I
understand or I get it
Ø “I see you” even when others are ignoring you – like
Jesus hearing Bartimaeus through the crowd that was telling him to be quiet and then calling him forward
Ø “I see you” – the real you. I know who you are and see past what people
are saying about you or what you just did that was not really like you
Ø “I see what you mean” means I understand with my mind
what you are saying with your mouth.
Ø “I see why going to the beach with your friend is
important to you” means I understand with my heart why going to the beach with
your friend is important to you.
> To help children watch for “seeing words” in the readings, songs, and prayers of the day, try
some of the following.
Ø Display a poster or banner with a pair of eyes on it
at the beginning of worship.
Ø Before the call to worship introduce “I see” as the
sponsor of today’s worship ala Sesame Street’s sponsoring letters and numbers.
Ø List some of the words related to vision that will
appear in today’s worship and explore some of the literal and metaphorical
meanings of seeing. Or, create a word
search of these words for children to work with during worship. Urge them to re-circle each word every time
the hear, sing, say or pray it.
Ø Give children a row of eye stickers with which to mark
their printed order of worship every time they hear a vision word.
Texts for
This Week
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
> This is a somewhat complexly presented conversation
between God and Job. Job is actually the
only one speaking but as he speaks he is recalling what God said to him. The TEV offers a much clearer translation of
the verses, but blunts this internal conversation. Choose the TEV for clarity or choose the NRSV
to emphasize the conversation using a narrating liturgist and two readers (God
and Job). The dialogue reading offers an
opportunity to explore the text by reading God’s voice several different ways.
Ø A disembodied voice from “up” in the sound system.
Ø A person standing right beside Job as if sitting with
Job on the ash heap
Ø A voice from inside Job (maybe a person reading just
behind Job)
As you hear it read in these
different ways talk about what each one says about how close God is to Job (and
to us) and how each one feels to Job (and to us). There are no right or wrong answers just a
chance to explore different ways we sense God with us.
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Job 42:1-6
Liturgist: Then
Job answered the Lord:
Job: I know that you can do all
things,
and that no purpose of yours can be
thwarted.
God Who is this that hides counsel
without knowledge?
Job: Therefore I have uttered what I
did not understand,
things too wonderful for me,
which I did not know.
which I did not know.
God: Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare
to me.
Job: I had heard of you by the
hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore
I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.
(Liturgist may read verses 10-17.)
NRSV
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> If you have been reading Job for the whole month, talk
about what Job has learned about God as the story unfolded. At the beginning of the story Job thought God
rewarded people who were good and punished people who were bad. After he endured lots of bad experiences, he
knew that understanding was mistaken.
After God spoke to him, he knew that he did not know the answer to why
bad things happened to people – even good people like him. He understood how little he knew about how
the world works AND he knew that God understands exactly how it works and is in
charge and can be trusted. Those are
important things to know.
> Older children find the ending as odd as adults
do. If they are reminded that this is a
made-up story that people created to ask an important question, some of them
appreciate the possibility of a
storyteller who added to the ending “to make it better.” Children often encounter stories that offer
several possible endings from which to choose, so multiple endings are
familiar. Suggest that this story teller
wanted a happy ending for Job and since it was a made-up story, he or she made
up this one. Get a show of hands on who
likes the happy ending and who thinks it is better off without that
ending. Again, no right answers, but
another chance to talk about the issues in the story.
> The Job story helps us ask about one mystery – why
does bad stuff happen to good people. Halloween,
which is on Saturday of this week, is a holiday on which we think about all the
things we don’t understand about death.
We dress up as ghosts and skeletons.
We dare ourselves to go into graveyards and handle scary goopy
stuff. All this is a way to laugh at the
things we don’t understand and to remind ourselves that we can trust God who
understands all the mysteries and with us no matter what happens.
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> On the Sunday before Halloween, celebrate Jesus’
presence with us as we face all the scary stuff in the world by singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” To highlight it …
… introduce
it as song Job might have sung and that we might sing at Halloween. Point to the song sheet insisting that there
is a fight going on in this song. Point out the dark side words and the
golden “glory words. Admit that since this song was written 400 years ago
some of the words are hard, but insist that if they watch for the gold and dark
words they can follow the fight and see which side wins
Or,
since the words are challenging for children, call on worshipers to get out
their hymnals and follow along while you put the words of verses 2 and 3 into
your own words.
Verse
2:
If
we trusted in ourselves alone,
we would be in big trouble.
we would be in big trouble.
If
we did not have a strong person chosen by God
on our side we’d be losers.
on our side we’d be losers.
Who
is that strong person? Jesus, of
course.
He
is the Lord and will win every battle.
Verse
3:
Although
the world is full of really scary stuff
We
will not get TOO scared
because God is in charge of the world
because God is in charge of the world
We
don’t have to worry about even the worst villain
because we know that in the end God will
win.
> If you have not checked out the suggestions for the
previous readings from Job do go to Proper 22, Proper 23 and Proper 24.
Psalm 34:1-8, (19-22)
David
was afraid that the King Achish/Abimelech would put him in prison or kill him
so he did crazy things like doodling on the city gates and drooling. The king was disgusted and told his servants
to send David away. David went. This alphabet psalm celebrates his escape,
his sanity, and mostly God’s care for him in a tight situation.
> To imagine him safely back at his camp creating this psalm with
his men, briefly tell the story then have a different person call out each letter to which David responds with the
appropriate verse. The alphabet readers could sit with
a microphone on the first row or be gathered on the floor around David.
In the latter case, rehearse yelling the letters loudly enough to be
heard. For simplicity, I’d stick with
the first eight verses and eight letters.
> “The fear of the Lord” is an interesting phrase to explore the week before
Halloween. For children Halloween is about facing fears (ghosts, gory
stuff in haunted houses, even being out after dark for the youngest).
They fear the things that they think are too powerful for them. The
psalmist claims that the one to fear is God. God is definitely more
powerful that any of us. Fortunately God loves us, cares for us, and is
with us when we are in scary situations. The underlying message is to
fear (to acknowledge as more powerful than we are) the right things and
people. So we do not have to fear ghosts, the dark, walking past the
cemetery at night, or anything else. Instead we, like David, fear/trust
God’s loving power.
> If you celebrate communion today and use the phrase “O taste and see
that the Lord is good” in the liturgy regularly, point out the phrase in verse
8. Together list all sorts of things we
can taste and see that show us that God is indeed good – including the bread
and cup of communion. And, yes Halloween
candy does taste good and can remind us that God is more powerful than the
monsters and scary places.
Jeremiah 31:7-9
> Gather Us In is a lively, but very wordy musical version of this
message. For children, walk through only
the “Gather us in” phrases at the end of verses 1, 2 and 4. Together list all the people God gathers and
promises to love forever. Then as the
congregation sings point to them every time that phrase comes in the song.
Gather us in, the
lost and forsaken.
Gather us in the
blind and the lame.
Call to us now and
we shall awaken.
We shall arise at
the sound of our name.
Gather us in, the
rich and the haughty.
Gather us in, the
proud and the strong.
Give us a heart, so
meek and so lowly.
Give us the courage
to enter the son.
Gather us in and
hold us forever.
Gather us in and
make us your own.
Gather us in, all
peoples together,
fire of love in our
flesh and our bone.
Psalm 126
> Verses 1-3 praise God in a good time – when they are
returning home from being captives in Babylon for 70 years. Verses 4-6 praise God in a time when things
are not going well – when people weep as they sow seeds and there is not enough
rain. Point out these differences and
the possibility of praising God in both.
Then have one half of the congregation read the first 3 verses and the
other half read the last three verses.
BTW:
This psalm is one of the texts for Thanksgiving this year.
Hebrews 7:23-28
ETERNAL
> The poster word for today is ETERNAL, as in Jesus is
our eternal, lasting forever, always High Priest and Lord. Such unending dependability is important to
children. Especially if they must move
frequently or move back and forth between the homes of their divorced parents,
children place a high value on who/what is always there, no matter where, no
matter what. It is less important to
them that Jesus is the High Priest than that Jesus is eternal. He never ends. That is good news!
> If you have Alpha and Omega stitched, painted or carved into
your sanctuary, point them out. Identify
the first and last letters in several alphabets. Then explain the meaning of the symbol that
Jesus was there at the beginning and will be there at the end. Jesus is eternal, always….
> At Halloween we think about monsters and the scary parts
of death. The fact that Jesus is eternal
tells us that even after we die Jesus will be with us. We will be safe. So we can laugh at all the monsters and
ghosts and dead pirates we see this week.
> Before singing “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” walk through it
with open hymn books. Invite worshipers
to raise their hand whenever you read a word about time. There are lots of them – ages, years,
eternal, before, everlasting, endless, ages, evening, watch, time! Pause as you come to each one and put what
that phrase is saying about time into your own words.
> One job of the High Priest is to intercede for the
people. That makes this a good day to
feature intercessory prayer
in your worship service. Just as
Christ prays for us, we pray for each other.
If your congregation gathers prayer concerns, walk through the process
with the children just before doing it.
Hear their prayer suggestions and be sure to include them in the
church’s prayers near the beginning in simple words that they are likely to
hear.
Mark 10:46-52
> This story can be easily pantomimed by children
as it is read. The liturgist who
rehearses this with the children then reads for them in worship not only
invites them to one-time worship leadership, but builds a relationship with
them that will lure them into listening to their friend at the front during the
weeks that follow.
> Children enjoy the fact that Bartimaeus did what they
are constantly told not to do – and was rewarded for it. Bartimaeus called out his need even when people told him to be quiet. He was very determined. Jesus said his determination and trust that
Jesus could heal him were laudable and healed him. It is possible to both savor this with them
and to explore the difference in Bartimaeus’ determined insistence that Jesus
hear him and a greedy whiny insistence that you get your own way. Sorting this out is a lifelong
challenge. Children can begin to
understand it and start working on it now.
> If you are going to explore what it meant for
Bartimaeus to “throw off his cloak,” use a blanket to
demonstrate all the ways Bartimaeus used his cloak, i.e. sat on it as he
begged, used it to catch money that missed the bowl, wrapped up in it to stay
warm at night, put it over his head when it rained, etc. Remind the children of “blankies” or “loveys”
that they may have carried when they were younger (or still carry). Insist that his cloak was more important to
Bartimaeus than a “blankie” or “lovey.”
Doing this near the beginning of the real sermon as an introduction to
the story lets you do something visual to draw children into the story without
feeling the need to find a lesson in it and suggests to children that the
sermon might be for them too.
> Blend the story of Scrawny Cat, by Phyllis Root, with the
story of Bartimaeus. Begin reading about
the terrible life scrawny cat was living through “Poor shivery scrawny cat!”
(less than 2 minutes to read this part aloud).
The pictures are great, but not essential if you show the cat on the
cover. Begin saying that before you read
the Bible story, you want to read a story about a very scrawny, lost, hungry
cat. When you stop assure everyone that
is not the end of the story and announce that today’s Bible story is about a
man named Bartimaeus who was as scrawny, hungry and lost as the cat and on top
of it was blind. Read the gospel. Later in the sermon read the rest of the
cat’s story. Enjoy the cat’s and
Bartimaeus’ rescue. From there go where
you will. The point may be that Jesus
and God come for all the lost and hungry.
It could also be that we are called to rescue others as Emma and Jesus
rescued the cat and Bartimaeus. Or, it
might be something else. (BTW, my local
public library system had 8 copies of Scrawny Cat. It should be easy to find a copy.)
> This story leads to using words about being
blind and seeing metaphorically. (See the suggestions at the beginning of this
post.) If you introduce seeing at the
beginning of worship, return to it after reading the gospel to talk about what
Bartimaeus could see about Jesus even when his eyes were blind and what the
crowds around Bartimaeus were blind to even though they had seeing eyes.
> ”Open My Eyes
That I May See” with all its body
parts is the first choice hymn for this story with children. If you are paying attention to “seeing”
language in worship today, point out the first line and put it into your own
words before the congregation sings it.
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