Year C - Proper 16, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, 14th Sunday after Pentecost (August 25, 2013)

Of all the Year C August sets of lectionary texts, this is the one most filled with Back to School connections.  If this is not Back to School Sunday in your area, you might want to consider using these texts on the Sunday that is.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

This is the first of NINE! weeks of readings from Jeremiah.  That is a long series!  The thread that runs through it is the story of the changing self-understanding of the Jewish people as they lived through Exile.  That leads to fairly adult discussions about judgment and what it means to be God’s people – not easy for children to grasp.  Furthermore, the readings include few stories or easy to display objects.  So, there is little to suggest an ongoing banner or display linking the Sundays of the series.  I’d let each reading stand on its own and explore their fairly unique messages.  There is more in those individual messages for children than in the series of them.

%  This reading is best read by a teenage boy.  It is a good challenge for a guy with a dramatic flair.  Rehearse with him so he will read it well.  He might even thoughtfully touch his lips as he reads verse 9.  Read from the CEV to avoid the blush-inducing word “womb” and for the clear description of what lies ahead for God’s people.

I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I

Jeremiah 1:4-10

⁴ The Lord said:

    ⁵ “Jeremiah, I am your Creator,

and before you were born,

I chose you to speak for me

to the nations.”

⁶ I replied, “I’m not a good speaker, Lord, and I’m too young.”

⁷ “Don’t say you’re too young,” the Lord answered. “If I tell you to go and speak to someone, then go! And when I tell you what to say, don’t leave out a word! ⁸ I promise to be with you and keep you safe, so don’t be afraid.”

⁹ The Lord reached out his hand, then he touched my mouth and said, “I am giving you the words to say, ¹⁰ and I am sending you with authority to speak to the nations for me. You will tell them of doom and destruction, and of rising and rebuilding again.”

                                                               from the CEV

I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I

%  At the beginning of the school year, God’s words to Jeremiah speak to children clearly.  Children are not to say “I am only a kid.  I’ll be a disciple when I grow up.  I am in school now, and not yet ready to do God’s work in the world.”  Instead, we can tell them that God needs them exactly where they will be – in classrooms, on the bus, at the lunch table, on the playground, etc.  They are to be God’s people in those places.  God is depending on them.  They are the only people God has to work there.

%  God tells Jeremiah “Do not be afraid of them” (verse 8).  Identify who the THEM might be at the beginning of the school year, e.g. demanding teachers, kids who are smarter than you are, kids who are better athletes, bullies, etc.  Then read the whole verse including God’s promise to be with Jeremiah and help him.  Insist that the verse is a great Back to School verse and use it as a prayer.

%  This text could turn into a Back to School sermon addressed directly to the children knowing that adults will listen, resonate with it, and apply pieces of it to their lives at work and in their communities.  To build Christ-based self-esteem in children (and older worshipers) explore the fact that Jeremiah did not feel ready to do what God wanted.  “I’m just a kid!  No one will listen to me!  And I don’t know what to say.”  Insist that God sometimes calls us to do things we feel we are not ready to do or that we are not feeling brave enough to try.  That happens in classes and just hanging out at school.  When it does, our challenge is to remember what God told Jeremiah – that God had given him everything he needed and God would be with him helping him know what to do and say.

Yes, we usually preach to the adults hoping the children will catch ideas here and there.  But, it is possible to do the reverse – and back to school time is a great opportunity.  Every adult in the room recalls back to school experiences and can adapt your message to the students to their adult situations.  Most adults enjoy an occasional such sermon.  And, families with children feel they are a very real part of the church when they hear them.

%  Especially if you have been blessing the backpacks and need a fresh twist on it, this year bless the child rather than the backpack.  A hand on the head with words such as “NAME, God made you and knew you before you were even born.  God is with you every day at school.  God loves you and calls you to love people you meet each day.” 

%  Sing “God of Grace, God of Glory” to pray for the wisdom and courage to use our gifts to do God’s work.  Point out to the non-readers the repeated chorus “grant us wisdom, grant us courage” before singing.  Encourage all worshipers to sing it with Jeremiah and Jesus.

%  Before singing “Here I Am, Lord” teach the chorus to the children.  Then have the adults sing the verses and the children sing the chorus as a prayer for the new school year.

%  Turn Jeremiah’s call into charge and benediction –

Ask all who will be students to stand.  Say to them: Hear the word of the Lord.  I knew you before I gave you life.  I chose you before you were born.  I send you now to school.  Be my people there.  Share my love with everyone you meet there.  Stand up for my ways in classrooms, in locker rooms, on playgrounds, in lunchrooms, and on the bus.

Ask all who will not be students this year to stand.  Say to them: Hear the word of the Lord.  I knew you before I gave you life.  I chose you before you were born.  Do not say “I am only a housewife” or “I am the least important person where I work.”  Be my people.  Stand up for my ways.  Share my love with the people you meet every day.

Then addressing all worshipers say:  All of you, students, teachers, businessmen and business women, homemakers, remember God’s promise to Jeremiah and to you.  God says, “Do not be afraid.  I will be with you to protect you.  I will put my words in your mouth.”  So go in peace.  Amen

Psalm 71:1-6

%  These verses are filled with not-quite-everyday words about trusting God in dangerous situations.  To help children recognize the words and therefore follow the prayer of the psalmist, instruct the congregation to turn to the psalm in pew Bibles.  Point out the key words noting the change from the “help me” words and phrases at the beginning to “I trust you” words at the end.  Then, invite the whole congregation to read the psalm aloud together.

NRSV words: be my refuge, deliver me, rescue me, incline your ear (i.e. listen) to me, be my rock and fortress, rescue me (again), I hope, I trust, upon you I have leaned, and I praise

%  Introduce this as a prayer for all the students who are worried about going back to school.  Recall Harry Potter’s friends Hermoine who was an excellent student and totally excited about going back to school every year and Ron who was not a great student and rather dreaded the return to classes.  Note that most students are somewhere between Ron and Hermoine.  Read through the psalm connecting it to scary times at school and savoring the trust at the end of the prayer.  Then invite the whole congregation to read the psalm aloud together.

Isaiah 58:9b-14

This is one of those passages that requires so much explaining that by the time you get to the message behind all the words, the children have wandered off to more interesting thoughts.  So, I’d work with the other texts with them today.

Psalm 103:1-8

%  Hmmm.  I grew up saying “bless the Lord O my soul” and kind of understanding it.  But, I really like the CEV’s translation’s “With all my heart I praise the Lord and with all that I am I praise his holy name.”  So much easier for children!  Still the rest of that translation is filled with male pronouns for God.  The NRSV is so much better on that count!  It tempts me to read verses 1-2 from the CEV and 3-8 from NRSV.  Or, maybe it is better to simply read the CEV translation of verses 1 and 2 to clarify what the psalmist and we are doing here. 

 

%  Challenge young worshipers to follow the psalmist’s lead in order to create a psalm praising God for all the blessings of their summer.  Provide paper and markers.  Children begin by drawing a scribble pattern.  They then fill in each space with words and pictures about one blessing of their summer.  Brainstorm possibilities together – swim team, the vacation, a visit from friends or families from out of town, etc.  Then send children to their seats to create their prayers of summer blessings.  You could invite them to tape their prayers to the rail at the front (leave roll of tape handy) during the offering or simply talk with children individually about their psalms as they leave the sanctuary.
 

Go to Praying in Color, by Sybil MacBeth, for fuller directions for this method of praying with markers. 

%  Or go more verbal and provide a worksheet on which children can complete the phrase, “God I praise you for…” several times to create their own summer psalm.  Offer markers with which they can illustrate their psalm with summer scenes.  Invite them to post their psalm or to discuss it with you at the door.

R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

         My Summer Psalm

With all my heart I praise the Lord!

 

God, I praise you for

____________________________

God, I praise you for

____________________________

 

God, I praise you for

____________________________

With all my heart I praise the Lord!

R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Hebrews 12:18-29

%  According to this text, what we do not see in the sanctuary is more important than what we do see.  So, identify all the things you do see in your sanctuary.  Then begin identifying what you do not see.  Consider everything from God, the love you each have for God and for each other, the stories you carry in your hearts, etc.  In the end imagine all the saints of all generations gathered with you, singing with you.  Insist that it is these things we cannot say that make worship so special and important.  When we worship we become part of something much bigger than just what we can see in the room.

%  Especially if you celebrate communion today and your liturgy includes the phrase “with all the angels, archangels and…,” highlight it.  Point it out in the liturgy and in your own words explain that communion is about more than just us eating a little piece of bread and sipping from a cup.  It is about being part of God’s big story that started before the world was created and will last beyond when the universe is over.  What we don’t see is more important than what we do see.

Luke 13:10-17

%  Invite children to stand bent over.  Ask what they can see from there.  Imagine how hard it would be to go to the grocery store or fix dinner this way.  Ask one of the bent over children to talk to you while you are standing up straight to see how it feels.  Then have everyone stand up, wiggle, stretch, and hop a bit.  Finally, announce that today’s gospel is the story of a woman who had been bent over for 18 years. 

%  Usually at the beginning of the school year there is a good bit of name calling as groups of children establish the pecking order for the year.  Sometimes the names are not mean to hurt, but simply to label another person.  Still, most name calling makes people look “less” in the eyes of people around them.  Jesus reverses that process here giving the woman a name that makes her “more.”  Before she was “old woman” and did not even rate a personal name.  After Jesus spoke she was “a daughter of Abraham” and so worthy of Jesus’ time and healing.  Explore this with children identifying some of the names like wimp, bully, jock, baby, sissy, cry-baby, bird brain, smarty pants, etc. that are hurled at others and how differently people look when we say instead “child of God.”

         PEOPLE = MORE IMPORTANT THAN RULES

% This text explores some fairly adult issues about the function of rules.  Children will not understand them.  Though children are not too interested in the rule in question in this story, they are keenly interest in following rules.  Rules are important to children as they learn how the world works and what is and is not allowed.  They struggle to grow through several stages of living with rules.  Preschoolers accept whatever rules the biggest person in the room (usually an adult, but sometimes the oldest child) decrees.  Those rules are not debatable.  Younger elementary school children begin to understand that a group can make its own rules.  Many of their classes and clubs take time shaping rules they will follow together.  Children at this stage frequently spend more time arguing about the rules of a game than they do playing the game.  They relish the details of the rules.  Once the rules are set, they demand that they be obeyed to the letter in all situations.  That way “it is fair!”  It is not easy to accept letting a younger child get more turns or stand closer to the goal.  It is even harder to get from accepting that “just this once” to realizing that in general everyone having fun playing together is more important than following the rules exactly.  Another source of conflict in families is different rules for children of different ages or rules for a younger child that are different than they were for an older child when she was that age.  Jesus challenges all these children to keep working though how they use rules.  Jesus knew the rule, “don’t do work on the Sabbath.”  But he saw a woman who was crippled and he had the power to heal her.  He decided that it was better to take care of the woman than to follow the rule.  Telling the story in this context challenges the children to grow in their use of rules.

It is frequently suggested that Deuteronomy 5:12-15 be read instead of the other Old Testament readings suggested for this passage.  That is an especially good idea for children because it clearly identifies Sabbath keeping as a VERY IMPORTANT RULE, i.e. one of the Ten Commandments.  That makes Jesus’ breaking it even more surprising and questionable to rule loving children.

There are several Back to School ideas related to today’s texts described in this post.  For more general ideas for recognizing the return to school in the congregation’s worship, go to Back to School - 2013.

Year C - Proper 14, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 12th Sunday after Pentecost (August 11, 2013)

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

_ Before reading Isaiah’s message make two lists.  First list for worshipers all the worship terms in the text briefly noting how they were part of worship in that day: sacrifices, burnt offerings of rams, blood of bulls, Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and incense.  Next list things that are part of your usual worship: banners, music, choirs, beautiful prayers, scripture readings, offerings, even sermons.  Only then challenge worshipers to listen for what Isaiah was saying to people worshiping at the Temple in his day AND to us worshiping here today. 

To be more dramatic have someone interrupt after the reading from the Bible walking down the center aisle to deliver the same message replacing Isaiah’s list of what happens in worship with one reflective of worship today.

_ Isaiah’s message is that our lives beyond the sanctuary should match what we pray and sing inside it.  In a fairly outrageous description of people whose church going did not match their lives outside of the building, Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 18) tells of the Gangerford and Shepherdson families who brought their guns to church holding them between their knees while listening to a sermon about brotherly love and leaving to carry on their blood feud immediately after worship services ended. 

_ Forbid Them Not (Yr C) includes a prayer of confession in which the choir, ushers, preachers, and the congregation confess ways it is easy for them to fail to do in everyday life the tasks they perform in worship.  For example, the  ushers confess that they are not as polite and welcoming to people they meet during the week as they are to the people they greet at the door to the sanctuary.  Either get permission to use a copy of that prayer or create a similar one that particularly fits your congregation.

_ The Charge and Benediction are the gate between what we do in the sanctuary and the way we live in the world.  Point this out before pronouncing them at the end of the service.  List a few of the themes and events of the service.  Charge worshipers not to forget them when they walk out the door, but to remember them every day this week and to try to live like they believe them.  Then promise worshipers that hard as this is on some days, doing this is possible because God is with them always.  (This could be a children’s time at the end of the service with the children then echoing phrases of the charge and benediction as the worship leader says them.)

“Go Forth for God” would be a good final hymn leading to this charge and benediction.  Children will miss many of the phrases in the middle of each verse.  But if the phrase that is repeated at the beginning and end of the verses are pointed out even young children will sing them and catch any of the other phrases they can.

_ Verses 16-17 offer a series of generalities that make more sense to children when fleshed out with examples from children’s world.

cease to do evil

     learn to do good,

seek justice

     rescue the oppressed

The last two offer most potential for both examining the prophet’s teaching and building children’s familiarity with words they will hear often in worship - “justice” and “the oppressed.” 

To seek justice for children means to play fair.  Children are quick to cry “that’s not fair!”  That cry can be both affirmed and also directed.  Children can be encouraged to notice when someone other than themselves is being unfairly treated.  They can even be challenged to seek justice for others when it might not benefit them, e.g. when we are invited to sit with friends at lunch, but someone else is told to go away or insisting that everyone gets a turn before we get a second turn – even when we are the biggest and oldest in the group.

“The oppressed” who children meet regularly are the kids who are always chosen last for games, who everyone laughs at, who dress oddly, who bring different food to lunch, who have trouble with English, who are slow students at school, etc. 

Though your sins be as scarlet…

_ If your congregation frequently prays prayers of confession that use language about sins being scarlet, then washed white as snow, it is a good day for some worship education about that phrase.  Begin with talk about the color red.  Cite several other names for red being sure to include scarlet and crimson.  Since most children like red, they don’t understand “though my sins be as scarlet.”  To help them get it, talk about murder as maybe the worst sin you can do. Imagine with the children a murderer with blood dripping from his or her hands.  Then reread the phrase about scarlet going on to the promise “they shall be white as snow.”  Remind worshipers how white, white, white fresh snow is and how different it is from bloody scarlet. Then put the whole phrase into less colorful words, “there is no sin so bad, that I will not forgive you when you say you are sorry.”  If you will pray one of the traditional prayers of confession featuring this phrase, read the prayer and translate it into such words.  Then pray the prayer together.

_ If it is Back to School Sunday, blessing the backpacks is a great way to emphasize the connection between worship and daily living.  Go to Back to School - 2013  for specific suggestions.  One way to include more than just children in this is to invite everyone to bring something they carry every day (backpacks, briefcases, laptops, purses, even diaper bags) to this service to be blessed.  If this week is a little early for students to have book bags ready, consider swapping this week’s texts with those for the Sunday before everyone goes back to school.

Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23

This psalm is very like Isaiah’s message.  The way it is presented makes it harder for children to understand.  The omission of vv. 9-21 may work for those who know all about Temple worship, but it leaves children in the dust.  And, even if you read the entire psalm children may get the idea that God didn’t need the sacrificed animals, but they can hardly get from that idea to what it says about worship today. 

FAITH

FAITH is one of the big words in worship.  It is also abstract and hard for adults to define.  Introducing it well to children actually helps the adults well as the children.  The key is that faith is not something we think but the way we live.  It is more a verb than a noun.  Faith is a lot like trust.  When we trust our parents we jump into their arms in the swimming pool knowing they will catch us and we will be safe.  When we trust God we follow God’s rules faithing that God is in charge and is working things out for good in the world.  To explore this try some of the following.

_Present a big poster or banner featuring FAITH at the beginning of worship.  Before the call to worship give a brief definition of faith and challenge worshipers of all ages to listen carefully for what we sing, say and hear about FAITH in worship today.  Give children markers to write FAITH in their bulletin every time they hear it or strips of small star stickers to use in marking the word as they hear it.  Comment on well-marked or stickered bulletins as children leave the sanctuary.

_Talk about people we trust and don’t trust such as the people who make our cars or bicycles, teachers or coaches, people who make and deliver food we eat, the person who dares us to do something dangerous.  From there talk about trusting that God is in charge of the world and loves us and is working to make the world a better place for everyone.  Because we trust God to do those things we try to follow God’s rules and be part of building the better world.  That is living on FAITH.

Genesis 15:1-6

_ Many children today have little experience with sitting under starry skies.  There is just too much light.  But, they do have a keener sense of our place in a universe of stars than earlier children had.  So before reading this story, have a brief starry night experience.  Project pictures like this one that give a sense of the vastness of the universe and the numbers of the stars.

find this and more at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16884

 

_ Children (and many adults) need a fuller telling of Abraham’s story than these six verse provide.  Try something like this.

God told Abraham to pack up his family and leave his home for “a land I will show you.”  God also promised Abraham and Sarah that though they were

already really old they would have a son and that son would have children and those children would have children until there was a huge family that “would bless all the earth.”  With these two promises Sarah and Abraham packed up all their stuff, said good-by to their family and friends knowing they’d probably never see them again and started out across the wilderness.  God did give them one thing they could see as a reminder of the promise.  That was all the stars in the sky.  God told them, “Try to count to stars in the sky.  You can’t, can you.  Your family will one day have as many children in it as there are stars in the sky.”  Abraham and Sarah kept moving and waited for the baby.  It was hard to keep believing it was true.  When they were 100 years old and were told that Sarah would have the baby that year, Sarah laughed.  But, she had the baby and she happily named him Isaac which means “Laughter”.  They did love their little Isaac.  And, they still wondered about the children and grandchildren he would have.   Finally, they died.  While they were alive, they never owned the land God promised to their family and never saw more of the family than their one son.  Still, they still believed it would come.  They knew it deep inside themselves.  They counted on it.  They lived like it was true. 

_ After reading this story.  Give the children large metallic star stickers that they can put on the inside cover of their notebook, inside their locker, or on a flap on their backpack as a reminder that they are part of God’s huge family.  Insist that as such they are loved always (even when it doesn’t feel like it at the moment) and that they are called to live like Gods people/stars.

Psalm 33:12-22

This call to praise and trust God is simple and straightforward, but there is nothing in it that particularly grabs the attention of children.   

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

_ Paul assumes that all his readers know the story of Abraham in detail.  Most children (and many adults) do not and will need a condensed version of Abraham’s story maybe just before this passage is read in worship.  Use the one printed above in the Genesis section.

_ The secret that the fox told the boy in The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint Exupery) was “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”  That may be close to the heart of this text for children.  The things we cannot see are more important than the ones we can see.  It’s the invisible things (e.g. love and faith) that shape our lives.  

As an example, describe a sports team that believes it will win the championship this year.  They know they are good and love playing the games together.  Because they want to win that championship so badly, they practice hard.  When they win games, they cheer loudly not only because they just won a game, but because they are that much closer to the championship.  When they lose a game, they think carefully about everything they did wrong and make plans to avoid doing those things in the next game.  After all if they are going to be champions they must play like champions.  Nothing they can see or touch or hear or smell proves that they will be champions, but they hope they will.  They believe they will.  They work hard so that their championship will come true. 

_ Younger children will only grasp that things we cannot see are important and shape our lives.  Older children may be ready to explore the words “faith” and “believe,” something that is not seen, but shapes our lives in the most important ways.  The sports team believed they were champions.  That is faith.  Abraham and Sarah believed that God was going to make their family huge and make them a blessing to all the earth.  That is faith.  We believe that we are God’s children and that God loves us and has work for us to do.  That is faith, too.

 

Luke 12:32-40

_ The Roman Catholic lectionary offers as an alternate reading only verses 35-40 which focuses on watchful waiting, i.e. being ready to respond as Abraham did with faith.  This more focused reading is easier for children to follow.

_ To help children separate the three alert servants, ask three people to come forward with their props and stand facing away from the congregation.  As their turn comes each turns to face the congregation and follow the italicized directions below.

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

Luke 12:35-40

Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶ be like those (first person picks up lantern and steps forward watching out toward the congregation) who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves (second person lifts a candle and stands ready with a towel over one arm) whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸ If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “But know this: if the owner of the house (third person picks up big flashlight and shines it just over the heads of the congregation with a serious facial expression and maybe shading his eyes with a  hand) had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰ You (narrator points to congregation as this is read) also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

                                                                           NRSV

' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '

_ Most children are in their last days of summer vacation.  Summer no longer looks endless.  The return to school is on the horizon and many are focused on getting in as much freedom and “summer” as they can before it ends.  (This is true whether they are looking forward to or dreading going back to school.)  To them this text says, even at the end of summer, you are on the job as God’s disciples.  Just as God is with us always loving us, taking care of us, forgiving us when we need it, so God expects us to be with God always living like God’s children.  That means that at the swimming pool, in the back seat of the car on that last trip to the beach or mountains, even when there is nothing to do at home, you are still Jesus’ disciple.  You need to be Jesus’ hands and feet taking care of people around you, being kind and loving (even when you don’t feel like it), and even forgiving brothers, sisters and friends when they need it.

In the congregation’s prayers, include prayers for the last days of summer vacation.  Pray for safe and happy trips that draw us closer to each other.  Pray for alertness to the needs of people around us and the wisdom to find ways to take care of those who need our care.

 

_ The Greatest Treasure, by Demi, tells of a man who almost lost his treasure when he was given a hoard that was really not a treasure at all.  It reads aloud in 6-7 minutes and is a great meditation on Luke 12:34.  Go to Proper 13 (Yr C) and scroll down for a summary of the story. 

 

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There are several suggestions in this post connecting these texts to themes children focus on in the days when they are getting ready to go back to school.  Go to Back to School - 2013 for more general ideas about this important season in the lives of young worshipers.