Joel 2:23-32
> Maybe the best connection for children is the visions
and dreams promised in verse 28.
Identify dreams as possibilities and ideas about what could be. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech
illustrates the importance of a dream in shaping life for both individuals and
communities. Read at least one of King’s
dreams and note ways we are doing better now than we were when he said
them. Explain that the dream words
become a way to measure how close we are getting to the dream. According to Joel such dreams are gifts from
God and therefore should be valued and worked with.
“I
have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character.” Martin Luther King
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| from Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain |
> Display a Native American dream catcher or a picture
of one. Describe its use as a dream
sorter. Bad dreams are supposed to be
caught in the web. Good dreams slip
through. We have to sort our dreams,
keeping only the truly good ones.
Encourage children to sort their dreams with stories of dreams you have
had during your life, some of which you have set aside (I dreamed of being a
ballerina, but set it aside when I realized I was way too tall.) and others
which you have held for years (I share the Habitat for Humanity dream of a
decent house for every person. It hasn’t
come true yet, but I keep working with other hoping it will one day be true.).
Two well-known hymns that
explore dreams and can be child accessible with a little help.
> “Be
Thou My Vision” offers a straight
forward prayer but stated in Elizabethan English. So, before singing it, read through the first
verse and put it into your own words:
Be
Thou my vision, O Lord (joy) my heart
Naught
be all else to me, save that Thou art –
Thou
my best thought, by day or by night
Waking
or sleeping Thy presence my light.
Becomes something like
God,
your plan for the world is my plan.
No
one is more important to me than You are.
You
have the best ideas to think about.
Whether
I am awake or asleep, You light up my world.
> Before singing “Open My Eyes That I May See” read
through the repeated chorus challenging young readers to join in on that for
sure. Point to “illumine me” putting
into phrases such as fill me up with your vision, let me hear your message, and
help me claim as my own your dreams for me and for the world.
> Read all or part of God’s Dream, by Desmond Tutu. To keep the focus on God’s dream rather than
our response and shorten the story a bit, start reading with “Do you know what
God dreams about?” stopping after “God dreams that we reach out and hold one
another’s hands an play one another’s games and laugh with one another’s
hearts” to skip to “God dreams that everyone of us will see that we are all
brothers and sisters…” reading from there to the end. (Today this not only explores God’s dream in
Joel but addresses the Pharisee’s judgment of the tax collector.)
> If you are displaying a growing collection of quotes
from the prophets, today add either a brief or more extensive quote from
Joel.
Stories about hope tend to be rather long and complicated, but this may
be a good day to read one in worship.
Storypath directs us to one historical story and one delightful
fable. Both will be new to and can be
savored by worshipers of all ages.
> Introduce
The
Librarian of Basra, by Jeanette Winter, by showing the dedication
page. Read the quote and identify the
figure as Alia Muhammad Baker, a librarian in Basra, Iraq. Read the whole book (3 - 4 minutes), then
turn back to the page “She waits for war to end. She waits and dreams of peace.” Reread Joel 2:28 adding “old women” to “old
men” who dream dreams. Review how Alia’s
vision for how important books are led her to do the amazing job of hiding
30,000 books with only the help of a few friends and neighbors. Celebrate what one can do with a dream even
when things are very bad.
> In Butterflies Under Our Hats, by
Sandy Sasso, the residents of unlucky, broken down Chelm find hope by putting
their hats over the butterflies that appear at dawn as a mysterious stranger
predicted. When it rains and they need
their hats, the butterflies escape and people feel they have lost hope. Following the instructions of the stranger,
they look carefully inside their hats and see a fine iridescent powder the
butterflies left behind and their hope is restored. (In order to keep the focus on hope, I tried
to figure out a way to edit out the pages about losing luck. I could not do it. The two stories are too closely
intertwined.) Read the whole book aloud
dramatically in a full five minutes.
> Canto de Esperanza/Song of Hope is a short, lively Argentine hymn. Ask a children’s class to lead the
congregation in singing it as a hope-filled benediction accompanied by rhythm
instruments
Psalm 65
> There are so many random praises in this psalm that it
is hard for children to follow them.
They are most likely to hear one or two that make sense to them. One way to focus their attention on one or
two of these phrases is to provide them with a page with the words of all or
part of the psalm printed in the middle.
(Choose a translation such as Today’s English Bible which uses words
children understand more easily.) Invite
children to illustrate the psalm by drawing in the margins things they
read about in the psalm or that the psalmist makes them remember with
praise. As they leave the sanctuary,
take time to talk with those who worked on this project about what they drew
and/or post their artwork on a special bulletin board near the worship space or
outside your office door.
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| This may be copied for non-commercial use. |
> Even non-readers can join in on all the Alleluias in “All
Creatures of Our God and King” – especially if they are specifically
invited to do so.
Sirach 35:12-17 and Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
These texts are for the adult
Bible students. Several of today’s other
texts speak much more clearly and easily to children.
> If you are feeling bold… Both
of these texts speak of national sin, a topic we do not often address with
children. The language of the texts is
too abstract for children. To explore
the truth behind texts simply tell the children that we generally talk about
sin as the bad stuff each one of us does on our own, but that whole nations
also sin. Illustrate this fact with one
thing about which your nation can take pride and one that is a sin. In the US one could start with “all men are
created equal” in the Declaration of Independence as a good idea in which we
can take pride and racism as a sin in which as a nation make laws and follow
practices that go against the good first idea.
After exploring this, pray together for the sin of the nation.
Psalm 84:1-7
> Halloween is only 8 days away. Use this psalm to compare Halloween haunted houses
to the house of God. Show a
cardboard silhouette of haunted house.
Together talk about what that house is like and how it would feel to go
into it. Then show a silhouette of a
generic church. Read verses 1-7
challenging listeners to identify what is different about the two houses. Enjoy the differences and identify which
house is better to live in.
2 Timothy 4:6 8, 16-18
> Tell the back-story before reading this text. Invite listeners to imagine Paul sitting in
prison in Rome knowing that he will probably soon be killed and writing his
young friend Timothy whom he helped get started as a minister. Then read the message thoughtfully, imagining
yourself writing the letter, pausing at points to search for the right words
for what you want to say.
> In Charlotte’s Web, by E. B.
White, Charlotte the spider speaks shortly before her death to Wilbur whom she
mentored very much as Paul spoke to Timothy in this passage. She speaks about why such relationships are
important. Read the excerpt below or
more from Chapter XXI of the book to explore the value of such relationships
between the generations. Charlotte said
”I’ve
always been rather quiet.”
“Yes,
but you seem ‘specially so today. Do you
feel all right?” (Wilbur replied)
“A
little tired, perhaps. But I feel
peaceful. Your success in the ring this
morning was, to a small degree, my success.
Your future is assured. You will
live, secure and safe, Wilbur. Nothing
can harm you now.”….
“Why
did you do this for me?” he asked. I
don’t deserve it. I’ve never done
anything for you.”
“You
have been my friend,” replied Charlotte.
“That in itself is a tremendous thing.
I wove my webs for you because I like you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of
a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift
up my life a trifle. Heaven knows
anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
Luke 18:9-14
> Two basic truths underlie the meaning of this story: God loves us and we are all
sinners. The Pharisee understands only
one of them – God loves me. He sees only
his strengths and good deeds and tells God all about them. It is a one sided conversation. The tax-collector however understands both of
them. He is well aware of his weaknesses
and sins. (Lots of people point them out
to him regularly!) If that was all he
knew, he wouldn’t be at the Temple at all.
But he also knows that God loves him in spite of his sins. So he comes to God to confess and leaves OK
with God.
> To
give the tax-collector’s prayer a physical reminder, put each truth in
one hand then fold the hands together in prayer. Either use your own hands or invite listeners
to use their hands. In either case, hold
one hand palm cupped up to hold the truth that God loves us. Briefly describe God’s creation of each one
of us with our special gifts and talents.
Keep that cupped hand in place while raising the other hand up in the
same position to hold the truth that we are each one of us sinners. Move your hands up and down in relationship
to each other to note that on some days we feel more loved and lovable and on
other days we feel more sinful. Then
fold the hands together as if in prayer.
Jesus tells his listeners to be honest with God. When we come to God honestly admitting our
sins and trusting that God loves and forgives us, we are OK with God – and also
OK with ourselves and the people around us.
> Instruct
people to look at the other people all around them in the sanctuary - the
people in their families, their friends, the people they see every Sunday but
who aren’t friends, and the people they do not know at all. Then tell them that every one of those people
is a sinner. Each one says and does
things that hurt others, themselves and God.
Sometimes they mean to do those things.
Other times the mean words and deeds just pop out. Even they are surprised at what they have
done. Then direct everyone to look
again. Point out that God loves every
one of the people in the room. God made
them and knows them, even the awful things they do, and God loves them. When we are honest with each other and with
God about both the awful things we do and God’s love for each one of us, things
work out OK.
This
is more powerful for both the children and the rest of the congregation if it
is done as part of the Sermon because children are part of the whole rather
than a “we” looking at a “them.” It also
invites the adults to participate in the activity rather than observe it.
The unrecognized sin of the
Pharisee was that he saw none of his own faults and all of those around
him. The old word for that is scorn. The word is not familiar to children and
there are few better substitutes, but there is plenty of scorn in their
world. To explore this scorn or looking
down on others,
> Quote and discuss common phrases, labels and names as examples:
You’re
not as (good, fast, smart, pretty….) as
me!
You’re
just a (jerk, baby, …ask the children to add labels used in their school)
Names
that belittle – shorty, four eyes, pipsqueak, etc.
Be
ready to discuss what is hurtful about the names and labels and think ahead
about how you will handle terms with racial or sexual connotations.
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| JESUS MAFA. The Pharisee and the Publican, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48268 [retrieved September 27, 2013]. |
> Direct
attention to the Pharisee’s hands in this African artist’s illustration of this
story. One hand says “look at me. See how fine I am.” The other says, “Look at him. I am soooo much better than he is.” His hands explain the look on his face. This man thinks that he is always right, that
his ways are the best ways, and that very few people are as fine as he is. Jesus says that God is not impressed with
this attitude. Even though the man does
some fine things on God’s behalf, God is not impressed. (Either print this picture in the bulletin or
enlarge it and post it at the front of the sanctuary. Go to the link in the caption to use it with permission at no cost.)
> Read this scripture as readers’ theater with
male readers. The Narrator may read from
the lectern with the other 2 at center front.
Or, all three may stand center front with the Narrator in the middle of
the other two. Or, the Narrator may be
in the lectern, the Pharisee at center front and the Tax collector off to the
side. Practice together so that all
readers read with dramatic inflection that communicates their character’s
ideas.
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Luke 18:9-14
Narrator: Jesus told a story to some people
who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else: Two men went
into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Reader 1: The Pharisee
stood over by himself and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not greedy,
dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad
that I am not like that tax collector over there. I go without eating for two days a week,
and I give you one tenth of all I earn.”
Reader 2; The tax
collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to
look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his
chest and prayed, “God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.”
Narrator: Then Jesus
said, “When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the
Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be
put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.”
Contemporary English Version
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> Use the prayer of the tax-collector “God
have mercy” as an opportunity to look at the use of “mercy” in your
weekly prayers of confession. Practice
the Kyrie or whatever you sing at the conclusion of prayers of confession,
translating it if needed. Set it in the
pattern of ritual – I’m sorry, Forgive me, It’s OK (I won’t treat you as you
deserve given what you have done.).
Jesus
Loves Me does not use the word
mercy, but it is a song the tax-collector could have sung. Imagine him singing both the well-known first
verse and the less known verse below.
Then sing both verses - perhaps as a response to the confession and
pardon ritual today.
Jesus loves me when I’m good,
When I do the things I should.
Jesus loves me when I’m bad,
Even though it makes Him sad.
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