There are choices
to be made by worship planners for this week because All Saints Day
falls on November 1, Tuesday in 2016.
Some
congregations will celebrate All Saints on October 30 and tie it to Halloween
or celebrate it at a mid-week event at which all the stops are pulled out. These congregations will want to use
the texts for this week on Sunday, November 6.
Other
congregations will celebrate All Saints on November 6. If you are one of them go now to All Saints Day for ideas for this Sunday.
The Texts
for the Day
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
> The NRSV says “have courage.” Several other translations say “be
strong.” Whichever words were
used, Haggai was encouraging the people who were trying to rebuild
Jerusalem. With Halloween stories of
facing monsters and villains fresh in their minds, children are primed to hear
that courage and strength are as necessary to stick with hard tasks that take a
really long time as they are for facing scary situations. Haggai’s listeners had to be strong and
courageous to rebuild an entire city.
Children today need to be strong and courageous when they work hard on
really difficult subjects at school or keep being kind to a person who is mean
to them or living through tough situations at home.
> Select one of these translations of Haggai 2:4b to add
to your display of quotes from the prophets or as a single banner for today. As you present it, tell enough of the back
story that children will know who the I is – not Haggai, but God – and insist
that the promise is there for them today when they need to be strong and work
hard.
Do
the work, for I am with you. – TEV
To
work! I am with you. – NJB
work,
for I am with you - NRSV
> The church over the ages has like the Jews Haggai
spoke to devoted time and money to repairing and rebuilding after natural
disasters, wars, and personal traumas.
It is one thing we do frequently and do well. Celebrate that today. Cite examples of ways your congregation has
been involved. Be sure as you do
to include projects in which the children are active. In my congregation that would include
collecting food for the food pantry, packing a variety of disaster response
kits, walking with families or classes on money raising walks and hosting
homeless men at the church during winter evenings.
Something to ponder:
Our local paper annually
recognizes a Distinguished Dozen, local people who are significantly involved
in serving others. One year they were
all teenagers. The article about each
teen cited serving experiences during their elementary years as the inspiration
for the teenage service. Many got their
start by working with their families on community care projects. Scientific studies validate their stories. So encourage children and parents to work
together repairing, rebuilding, and generally caring for their community.
> During the singing of Argentine folk hymn “Song
of Hope,” stage a processional of placards, each naming one way your
congregation is involved in repairing and rebuilding. The placards could be handed to children and
briefly explained just before the hymn.
The children then circle the sanctuary while the congregation sings the
song several times. (It is only one
verse.) Or, create a litany in which a
leader names and briefly describes one project and the congregation responds by
singing the song once. Feature as many
projects or groups of similar projects as time permits. Four or five is probably enough.
> Even non-readers can sing along on “Grant
us wisdom, Grant us courage” in each verse of “God of Grace and God of
Glory.” Before singing the hymn point
out these phrases. Briefly list times
when we need courage and wisdom today including times from the daily lives of
children. Encourage all worshipers to
sing that if they cannot sing all the other words. Doing this often leads parents to nudge their
children each time the phrase comes up and to smile at them as they sing it
together.
Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21
This psalm praising God begs
for dramatic reading that includes the congregation. It is an acrostic, an alphabet poem. Each line begins with the next letter of the
Hebrew alphabet. That means the verses
are independent praises. So,
> Arrange
the psalm for responsive reading between congregation and leader or choir or
between two sides of the congregation.
> Or to
enjoy the acrostic nature of the psalm invite the children
forward. Teach them the Hebrew letters
in today’s psalm then with them say the appropriate letter as the congregation
reads each line of the psalm. To
streamline this, work with one class of children in advance then invite them to
lead the psalm with you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
PSALM 145:1-5, 17-21
ALEPH
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
BET
Every day I will bless you,
and praise your name forever and ever.
GIMEL
Great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
DALET
One generation shall laud your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
HE
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
ZADE
The Lord is just in
all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
QOPH
The Lord is near to
all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
RESH
He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry, and saves them.
SHIN
The Lord watches over
all who love him,
but all the wicked
he will destroy.
TAW
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh will
bless his holy name forever and ever.
New Revised Standard Version
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Psalm 98
> Psalm 98, a praise psalm filled with short simple
phrases that children understand, shows up several times in the
lectionary. Go to HERE and scroll down to the psalm for a responsive
reading script for a worship leader and two halves of the congregation.
> To capture the exuberance of this psalm gather all the
rhythm
instruments and noise makers you can.
Invite the children forward to help the congregation read the
psalm. Pass out the instruments. The children’s job is to make noise with the
instruments and shout Alleluia! each time you point to them. Practice once or twice. Then read verses 1-3 without pausing. Pause after each of the remaining verses for
the children to praise with their alleluias and instruments. The verses may be read by a liturgist or by
the whole congregations (much louder and more in keeping in the spirit of the
psalm!).
To
do a low key children’s choir promotion, ask the children’s choir director to
be the children’s conductor while you lead the reading parts. Include all the children, not just those in
choir. Who knows?! This might inspire the non-choir children to
try it out.
> Print selections from the psalm in the center of a
page. Give pages to the children and
invite them to illustrate the verses during worship. At the end of the service talk with children
about their illustrations as they leave the sanctuary.
! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Praise the
Lord!
Sing a new song to the Lord;
he has done wonderful things!
By his own power and holy strength
he has won the victory….
Sing
for joy to the Lord, all the
earth;
praise him with songs and shouts of
joy!
Sing praises to the Lord!
Play music
on the harps!
Blow trumpets and horns,
and shout for joy to the Lord, our king.
Roar, sea,
and every creature in you;
sing, earth, and all who live on you!
Clap your hands, you rivers;
you hills, sing together with joy
before the Lord,
because he comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the peoples of the world
with justice and fairness.
From Psalm 98 (TEV)
! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! !
> After reading the first lines of the first verse of
the psalm and pointing out that it is the chorus of a hymn, sing
“Earth and All Stars.” The
children enjoy the repeated phrases and the chorus and also enjoy all the
specific, modern items that are called to praise God. Give them a word sheet that highlights the
repeated phrases and challenge them to draw some of the things we call to
praise God around the edges.
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Job 19:23-27a
>
The story of Job is explored over 4 weeks in Year
B (Propers 22-25). If you are
going to focus on Job today, go to those posts for suggestions for
children. “The Story of Job” in The Family
Story Bible, by Ralph Milton, might be especially helpful as it condenses
the entire story into two pages that can be read in 5 minutes. If I were
reading it, I would edit it here and there to reflect my understanding of the
story. But, the basic format is solid.
> If “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth”
from Handel’s Messiah will be sung, point out the title phrase in Job
19:25. Briefly explain that Job was both
very sick and very sad. Even in all his
suffering he knew that God was on his side.
Define the word REDEEMER as the one who will stand with me in the bad
times and will save me, even get me out of this mess. That is as far as it is wise to delve with
children in the sanctuary. Discussions
of suffering with children are always specific and need to be held in private.
Psalm 17:1-9
> Even if you are building worship around Job, I’d use
Psalm 98 instead of this psalm for the sake of the children. For children Psalm 17 made more sense a
couple of weeks ago (Proper 24) when connected to the story of Jacob wrestling
with God. Though some children have
enough experience with suffering to share the psalmist’s prayer, there are
other prayers that state the concern in ways children can more easily grasp.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
> The message to children here is don’t worry about what will happen when you
(or people you love) die and don’t worry about what will happen when you grow
up or get to be a teenager or….
Instead, think about today. Live
as God’s person today. Do the best you
can and know that God is with you.
Fortunately, this is the default setting of many children anyway. They live very much in the present moment.
> Turn 13-17 into a charge and benediction using your
own words.
Remember that God
loves you. God chose you to hear about
that love and to know the stories of Jesus.
Do not forget them. Live by them
every day. And may God who created the
whole universe, Jesus who showed us how much God loves us, and the Holy Spirit
who guides us be with you giving you courage and strength to be God’s people
every day.
Luke 20:27-38
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| from Wikimedia Commons - public domain |
> The nasty trap the Sadducees set for Jesus and the way
is turned it back on them will go right past the children. Let it.
Instead explore what it says about what happens to us after we die.
Jesus
insists that life after death is different from life now. Debating to whom a woman who has had seven
husbands will be married is just plain silly.
(This is a special relief to children whose parents have remarried and
who therefore may upon hearing the story wonder about the fate of their
family.) The butterfly is a
helpful symbol of this reality. The
caterpillar and butterfly are entirely different, but they are different life
stages of the same animal. Caterpillars
crawl and eat leaves. Butterflies fly
and drink nectar/ pollen. We will be as
different after death as a caterpillar is from a butterfly, but we will still
be ourselves.
We
don’t know very much at all about what life will be like after we die. God has kept it as a special secret. We do know from Jesus that we will be with
God and will be safe.
> Make a list
of things that aren’t necessarily true about life after death, i.e. we may not
walk on streets paved with gold, we may not all play harps (a relief to many),
we may not have wings and fly (who knows how we’ll get around), etc. Balance this with the list of things we do
know about life after we die, i.e. we will be with God, God’s love and care
will continue.
> If you live in the northern hemisphere, display autumn nuts and bulbs. Note how dead they look and how hard it is to
believe that they will ever be anything but rather dead looking “stuff.” Talk about what each item becomes in the
spring. If possible give each worshiper
a nut or bulb to plant at home. Talk
about how long it will be until we see the results and encourage patience. Briefly ponder how it feels different to
celebrate new life after death in the autumn rather than in the spring at
Easter.
> If you live in the southern hemisphere, pull a blooming bulb or seedling out of the
dirt. Gently brush away the soil until you
find pieces of the nut or bulb from which it grew. It may also help to have an unplanted nut or
bulb to help find the decaying one in the soil.
(A smallish blooming potted bulb can be tidily un-potted over a bucket
or small tub.) Briefly ponder how it
feels different to celebrate life after death in the spring when new life is
all around you rather than in the autumn when all the plants are dying back for
the season.
> The Next Place, by Warren Hanson, is a poetic exploration of things
we know and do not know about life after death.
According to Hanson, it will be very different – no Mondays or months or
body characteristics – but we will know we belong and will be close to all the
people we have loved. The whole book can
be read aloud, thoughtfully in just under five minutes and is appreciated by
people of all ages. But, it would also
be possible to select several pages/ideas to read and discuss mainly with
children. (Heads up: With fresh grief in
my life I could not read the whole book aloud right now, but I could read and
discuss a good selection of key pages.
There is something cumulative in reading the whole book that packs
strong emotions.)
> If you are reading this text in connection with All
Saints Day, explain the reason for reading the necrology before it is
done. Also if you have a columbarium,
memorial garden or other place for cremains on your property, bring an
enlarged photo of the area to identify it to children and talk about how it is
used and why that spot is special to people in your congregation. Point out any plaques identifying all the
saints buried there. (Though it is not
the aim of this discussion, once children know what these areas are they treat
them with more respect.)
> If your congregation regularly recites the
Apostle’s Creed in worship, before reading it today, point out the
phrase “(I believe in) the communion of saints.” Define “saints” as God’s people. Name a few famous ones, like St. Patrick and
Martin Luther King, Jr., and some less famous ones like your grandmother (or
other important person in your life) and someone in your congregation. Finally, point to worshipers and identify
each of them as a saint. Then, repeat
the phrase “communion of the saints” and explain that all saints belong to each
other in the family of God. That means
we are connected to all God’s people who ever lived and all God’s people who
are alive now and even all God’s people who will be born in the future. We are family with them. Repeat the paragraph in which it appears in
the creed. Then, invite everyone to say
the creed together.
> Either within the sermon or just before the
celebration of communion, do a little worship education about the Great Prayer of
Thanksgiving. For most children
(and more than a few adults) this is generally thought of as “that long prayer
before communion.” They are more likely
to join in on the sung responses if they are explained and rehearsed. So, point to the prayer in your prayer book
or worship bulletin. Walk through the part
that recognizes the communion of the saints putting it into your own
words. Together name some of the
individuals or groups you want to be especially aware of at the Table
today. Take time to rehearse the parts
the congregation says or sings. Suggest
singing it at every communion service imaging yourself singing and eating with
people of all times and from all parts of the world.
Leader:
Therefore we praise you,
joining
our voices with the heavenly choirs
and
with all the faithful of every time and place,
we
forever sing to the glory of your name:
People:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
God of power and might,
Heaven
and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna
in the highest.
Blessed
is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna
in the highest.
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