Year C - Proper 7, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 5th Sunday after Pentecost (June 23, 2013)

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8 – 15a

F If you already built the cave into an Elijah display, there is nothing to add today.  Elijah wished there had been something spectacular.  He would have preferred that God speak to him in the earthquake or maybe some fireworks.  But God was there in sheer silence in a desert cave.  The point for the children is that often God does not come in flashy or dramatic ways, but in the silence that surrounds us.  If you add the mountain cave today, note how simple it is.  There is no color or any special object to add, just the cave to which Elijah ran when he was feeling really, really bad and alone.  Point to this cave before reading the text to alert listeners to where Elijah had gone and why he had run there.

F Elijah was having a very bad time.  He was afraid that Queen Jezebel was going to kill him.  He felt like he was the only one left who loved God.  He worried that everything he had done was not going to matter.  All together it made him wish he were dead.  Children don’t have enough life experience to understand Elijah’s situation in the way adults do.  But, they do have similar experiences of hopelessness and loneliness.  Friends desert them.  They move and have trouble finding new friends.  A bully targets them.  There is trouble at home that is poisoning everything and that the children cannot fix.  Even though it may not be true, they feel that everyone else at home is more loved than they are.  Like Elijah they want to run away.  This story reassures them that God is with them even when they feel this bad.

F Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst, or at least a couple of pages from it would be a good introduction to a sermon about times when everything is going wrong.  You could start here, then proceed to list Elijah’s woes in a similar fashion.

F The “timeouts” that many children experience when they get too upset or tired or overwhelmed to keep doing whatever they were doing are a good comparison to this story.  God gave Elijah a “timeout.”  Elijah left the place where all the trouble was, ran to a quiet place where God could meet him, and thus was prepared to return to his work.  Just as children sometimes give themselves a timeout when they know they need one, Elijah ran toward Mount Sinai.  (Avoid using the term “running away” to avoid suggesting to unhappy children that running away is a good solution to whatever is making them unhappy.  Even though it stretches the text a bit, insist that Elijah was not running away but running toward help at God’s holy mountain.)  God helped Elijah along on his timeout journey and then sent him straight back into the work he had been ready to abandon.

F To explore “sheer silence” start by inviting everyone to listen carefully.  Together identify sounds they hear in the supposedly silent worship space – outside noises, utility sounds, conversations in other parts of the buildings, etc.  Have worshipers put their hands over their ears or their fingers in their ears, then note that we still hear the sound of our muffles.  Imagine the silence of floating in the space – assuming the space suit makes no noise.  Note that even near-silence can be either very comforting or rather scary.  Give the whole congregation one full minute of near silence to experience.  Then reread verses 11 ff.  How far you read depends on where you are going next.  You could stop with “what are you doing here, Elijah?” to ponder the question God often asks us in our silences.  Or read to the end of the chapter to ponder God’s sending Elijah back to work.

F It is tempting for those of us who are easing into summer to talk about summer as a timeout and to raise questions about how we use that time.  If you go this way remember that children, who have not cycled through the year very many times yet, don’t feel that cycle the way adults do.  For them time is a straight line.  Summer is a period between this year and last year.  It is what is next and what is now rather than a timeout.

Psalms 42 and 43

Psalms 42 and 43 together are too long to keep the attention of children.  So select only Psalm 42, as the Methodist lectionary does, or select a few key verses here and there.

F Psalm 42:5 and 11 are the same verse and are the heart of the psalm for children.  Much of the rest of it requires life experience and understanding that is beyond most children.  But, when they list together times when they feel hopeless – everything from playing on a team that ALWAYS loses to feeling no one at all loves you to feeling horrible things are about to get you – children can then hear these words as a prayer for such times.  Walk through the words with them, putting them into words that will make sense for your children, then pray them together.

F Enjoy the fact that this psalm was already around when Elijah lived thousands of years ago.  Suggest that he might have prayed it as he walked across the desert to the cave on Mount Sinai.

Isaiah 65:1-9

This text is for the adult Bible students more than the children.  Listeners need to know about the return from Exile and all its problems to understand what Isaiah is saying.  The one possible connection for children is that Isaiah is telling the people to stop blaming other people or God for their problems, but to recognize the fact that they are responsible.  The problems are the consequences of their behavior.  Children struggle to accept that kind of responsibility for their own actions.  That said, this is a hard text with which to explore that fact with them. 

Psalm 22:19-28

Because this psalm is filled with so many unfamiliar images and references, it is not a good choice for children.  I’d go with the idea for Psalm 42:5 or 11 above.

 

Galatians 3:23-29

F As I’ve said before and will say again as we move through Galatians, children are not ready to hear Paul’s argument against living by rules.  They are currently living under the tutor of the Law and cannot see beyond it.  For them rules are good ways to understand what to do as they work their ways into the world.  Telling them that obeying rules is not the best way to live baffles them.  So, for them pick up on other aspects of this reading.

F To explore Paul’s insistence in verse 28 that all the everyday distinctions between people do not matter, get a show of hands on who supports which sports teams, goes to which schools, plays which sports or instruments, or was born in town rather than moved here from somewhere else.  Then note that all of that is interesting, but none of it is the most important thing about any of us.  The most important thing about each of us is that we are a child of God.  If you are sitting with a group of children to do this, point to individuals underlining this with phrases like, “John, I know you are a really big Eagles fan and that is cool, but even more important than that is that you are a child of God.”  Even, “John, you are an Eagles fan.  Erica, you are a Redskins fan.  But, you belong together because you are both children of God and that is way more important than what team you follow.”

F OR, reverse the process.  Start by putting a hand on each child’s head saying, “NAME, you are a child of God.”  After doing this with several children, interrupt yourself - “hey wait, you are an Eagles fan and you are a Redskins fan.  Can you both be a child of God?”  Talk your way back to the truth that all sorts of very different people can be a child of God.  Conclude by blessing the remaining children.

F Reread verse 27 and explore what it means to be “clothed in Christ.”  Laugh at the picture of wearing Jesus.  Then, point out some of the different clothes worshipers are wearing.  Have fun noting the differences and pointing out what clothes tell us about the person wearing them.  Finally, insist that it really doesn’t matter what we wear to worship or at any other time.  The most important thing about us is that we are the children of God.  In a way we are all wearing Jesus. 

F If you are exploring accepting all people for who they are, read the humorous story “Adam’s Animals” in Does God Have a Big Toe, Rabbi Marc Gellman’s book of stories about stories in the Bible.  It describes Adam’s failed attempts to name the animals, before a bear suggests that he asks the animals what they want to be called.  It can be read aloud in about 4 minutes. 

F If this text is leading you to talk about baptism, go to Dollar Store Children's sermons for an idea about using a birth announcement to talk about baptism as a sacrament of belonging. 

Luke 8:26-39

 

Instead of a sock use a frazzled
dust mop as a puppet to be healed.

F Scripture is meant to be enjoyed as well as just read.  So, retell this story with the children using lots of socks.  Before reading the story from the Bible warn the children to listen carefully because you are going to need their help retelling the story.  After the reading invite them forward.  Put a brown, black or beige sock over a hand on each child.  Tell them that they are the herd of pigs.  Imagine with them a very large lake in front of them.  Then put one sock for Jesus and one sock for the demoniac on your hands introducing them as you do.  Retell the story letting Jesus and the man do most of the talking.  Expect a little chaos when the pigs dive into the lake.  Enjoy it.  Then help children settle down, maybe dropping their socks in the lake then sitting down again.  This is one story all worshipers will remember.

Puppet note:  All the socks can just be socks.  But I would be inclined to weave some black yarn into the demoniac to form a wild appearance.  Jesus might be any other sock or could be a Jesus handpuppet, if you have one.

Cathedrale Sainte-Lazare (Autun)
from a 1970s trip postcard

F Demons are tricky.  What people thought about demons in Jesus’ day is largely replaced today by more metaphorical understandings and uses.  Since most children have little grasp of what mental illness is, explaining the earlier understanding is challenging.  At the same time for literal thinking children modern metaphoric uses are equally confusing.  So, if you are going to talk about demons at any length, introduce them with children in mind.  Show a picture of a demon from middle ages art.  Tell about the evil little things that people used to think caused mental illness and other problems AND about the way we talk about jealousy and greed or drugs and alcohol as demons today.  The connection between the two is that both refer to things that get us in trouble when we let them determine what we do and say.  And, in this story Jesus proves that he has power over the nastiest of demons.  So, we are safe.

F Animal loving children ask why the pigs jumped off the cliff.  Possible answers include but are not limited to

1. The demons drove the pigs over the cliff to get even with Jesus for kicking them out of the man.  (They knew the pigs’ owners would be angry with Jesus.)
2. The pigs were so frightened by the demons that they jumped over the cliff to get away from them.
3. The pigs, being smarter than most people expected, recognized the demons and finished Jesus’ work by drowning them in the lake.

 F Commentators and preachers make all sorts of points with this story, but for children it is mainly a story of Jesus healing a man in a rather spectacular way.  They enjoy Jesus’ power and his way of getting rid of the demons.  Probably the best lesson in it for them (if it needs a lesson) is that Jesus did not send the man out to a new place to do something dramatic, but sent him back home to live like the healed man he was every day.  Children can be challenged to do the same this week.

Year B - Proper 18, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 15th Sunday after Pentecost (September 9, 2012)

Royalty free photo from Stockxchng

u It is hard not to use pictures of marginalized people in today’s worship.  They remind the adults of all the people they overlook everyday and they provide the children with specific examples of the general terms (the poor, the oppressed, etc.) that appear in many of the texts.  They also translate biblical terms such as “the beggar at the gate” into today’s images of beggars along the highway.  So, I suggest using pictures in a variety of ways and hope you will use one of them or be led to use such pictures in a different way.

u The central prop for this service is tattered clothing.  A set of tattered clothes could be hung on a hanger on a clothes rack at the center of the worship area.  Several sets of worn out holey shoes and boots for people of all sexes and ages could be lined up on the floor in front of the Communion Table.

u True confessions time!  I was almost ready to post this when I realized that September 9 may be Rally Day in many churches.  Care for the poor is not a great theme for that day.  But, Jesus’ command to the deaf mute man to Open Up! is.  I held off hitting the post button to add a few ideas that fit that situation.  So, if it’s Rally Day at your place, go straight to the gospel ideas and “Ephphatha!”

Proverbs 22:1-2,8-9,22-23

u This is a collection of sayings.  Today they might be tweets or sound bytes.  To separate them have each one read by a different reader.  The readers might be from a youth church school class or the members of the mission committee. 

James Henry Cafferty (1819 - 1869),
Sidewalks of New York, or Rich Girl, Poor Girl, 1859.
Public Domain

u Adults easily follow the threads connecting these sayings.  But since each saying includes details that must be explained to children, it is better to select one or two sayings to highlight with them.  Verse 2 is one good choice.  To explore it display the painting of the rich and poor girls.  Discuss the differences and similarities in the two girls.  Conclude with both being made by God, loved by God, God’s daughters. 

Psalm 125

u This psalm includes lots of historical references that need explaining and several theologically complex ideas.  I’d work explore the other texts for this day with the children in mind.

Isaiah 35:4-7a

u The TEV replaces the lines about “vengeance” and ”recompense” with “God is coming to your rescue, coming to punish your enemies.”  That change alone makes it the first choice translation for children to follow.

u Before reading this text, gather a small group of worshipers around you each holding up a poster size picture of a person who is marginalized today.  Then read the verses for the pictured people, the woman who insisted that Jesus heal her daughter, and the deaf man.  (This is probably more effective when done later in the service.)

Psalm 146

u The Roman Catholic lectionary suggests focusing the reading on verses 7-10 which is the list of ways God cares for the marginalized.  That keeps the focus on the theme of the service.  I would add verses 5 and 6 simply to complete the list without going into the description of human leaders in the early verses.

u Verses 5-10 list what God does with emphasis on the care of the marginalized.  To make the list even clearer, replace all the he’s with “The Lord” or “God.”  Include the congregation in reading the psalm by either having different halves of the congregation read alternating statements saying “the Lord” with great emphasis or having the congregation say “The Lord” with a leader completing each phrase.  To really share the psalmist’s praises, read the psalm early in a service exploring God’s care of the marginalized then reread it near the end of the service – with feeling.

d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d 

What God Does

Psalm 146:5-10

ALL:             Praise the Lord!

LEADER:    Happy are those who have the God of Jacob to help them

and who depend on the Lord their God,

The Lord created heaven, earth, and sea,

and all that is in them.

The Lord keeps every promise;

The Lord judges in favor of the oppressed

The Lord gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free

The Lord gives sight to the blind.

The Lord lifts those who have fallen;

The Lord loves righteous people.

The Lord protects the strangers who live in our land;

The Lord helps widows and orphans,

but takes the wicked to their ruin.

LEADER: The Lord is king forever.

        Your God, O Zion, will reign for all time.

ALL:           Praise the Lord!

                                                   Based on TEV

d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d

Royalty free photo
from Stockxchng

u Find pictures depicting the people in each phrase.  Project them as the phrases are read.  Or, print them poster size and write the phrase that goes with the picture on the back of it for readers to read as they display the phrase to the congregation.  The reader could be a worship leader or a collection of worshipers of all ages enlisted as readers.

James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17

u The somewhat hokey choice of reader for this is of course a man dressed shabbily.  Adults will snicker and see past it.  But it helps the children get the point visually and clearly.

u The Hungry Coat: A Tale from Turkey, by Demi, is a colorful parallel to this story.  Nasrettin Hoca, a wise old man, stops to help people deal with a goat and so has no time to go home and change clothes before a feast.  When he goes to the feast in his patched, smelly coat, everyone ignores him and he is offered no food.  So he goes home, cleans up and dons a magnificent coat.  When he goes back to the feast and is welcomed in grand style and offered the best food, he begins putting pieces of food inside the coat saying “Eat coat, eat.”  Asked about this, he says that when he came in his old coat he was given nothing but when he came in this coat he was offered food.  He can only assume that his kind host felt that this coat must be hungry.  Everyone at the feast laughs at themselves and praises Nasrettin Hoca’s great wisdom.  The book is too long to read in its entirety, so briefly tell the simple story in your own words and start reading with “A servant ushered Nasrettin into the banquet hall, and his smiling host…” continuing to the end.  Even taking time for dramatic flair, this part of the book can be read in fewer than five minutes.  Though it could be shared in a children’s message, it is worthy of the “real” sermon and its presence there suggests to children that the sermon is for them too.

u A shorter but less precisely matched book is Is There Room on the Feather Bed?, by Libba Moore Gray.  On a stormy night animals one by one ask to be let inside to join a farmer and wife in their warm dry bed.  All are welcomed though the bed does get crowded.  When a skunk arrives and is admitted, all the animals and the farmer flee.  Back out in the storm, they decide to join the skunk where it is warm and dry.  (Reads aloud in 8 minutes).  Some adults will see the feather bed as a metaphor for the church.  But, most children will simply take in the wisdom of including everyone, especially in a storm.

u James is not so much encouraging people to buy the shabbily dressed man a new coat, as he is asking them to treat the man with the same respect they would offer a well dressed man.  Learning to do that in a culture that separates and creates fear between the richer and the poorer requires practice.  Highlight ministries of your congregation that families can share in to get this practice.  In my community all the churches take turns hosting homeless men overnight during the cold months.  Families are urged to cook and serve together and to stay to play board games and visit with the men.  It is scary the first time, but the fear soon evaporates.  Telling stories of such ministries in detail, maybe asking a family including children to tell about their experiences, prods others to get involved.

Mark 7:24-37

This is my preliminary sketch.  Give it to an artist
 to develop into a poster, banner, bulletin cover,  whatever else.

u If you are observing Rally Day or the beginning of programs for the academic year this week, this is your passage.  It includes two healing stories.  Both include the healing of Gentiles.  In healing the deaf-mute man, Jesus uses the Aramaic word “”Ephphatha!” which means “Open Up!”  Jesus was telling the man’s ears to open up.  But, Mark was telling his readers to open up to the possibility that Jesus was the messiah and that Jesus reached out to more than just other Jews.  It would also be possible to suggest that the Syro-phoenician woman was telling Jesus to open up to caring for her and her daughter.  All that leads to calling church members today to open up to new possibilities for learning and growing at the church and in other parts of their lives.

Ephphatha! Enjoy the impossible to pronounce but fun to say word.  Turn it into a large decorative poster or banner.  Use it as a congregational response in litanies or prayers about opening up to the world around us.

Use opened and closed motions in prayers.  Clenched hands, arms folded across chests, hands over ears (or eyes), frowny facial expressions illustrate ways we refuse to open up.  Open hands, arms opened out or forward, hands cupped behind ears to hear better or over eyes to see better, and smiling facial expressions illustrate ways we open ourselves to God’s word and each other.  These motions and matching prayers could become the prayer of confession or could be used to craft petitions for more openness.

“Open My Eyes That I May See” and “Lord, Speak to Me, that I May Speak” are the most child-friendly hymns for this theme.

Other familiar biblical stories about opening up that can be added to this theme are Peter eating with Gentiles, Matthew who left his lucrative, but lonely tax-collecting business to follow Jesus, and Jonah who was challenged to open up to the Ninevites.

u If you read both stories in this passage, have them read by two different readers, maybe even reading from two different places, to highlight their separateness.  Verses 24-29 are read by a woman, possibly a woman with different ethnic background than the majority of the congregation.  Verses 30-37 are read by a man. 

u If you work with both healing stories and are not following the Ephphatha theme, this is a good opportunity to highlight the ways your congregation makes its buildings accessible to people with handicaps.  We may not be able to cure them, but we can make sure they can be full participants in everything the church does together.  For the children demonstrate as well as simply name this accessibility equipment.  Put a child in a wheel chair and roll her to worship leadership area.  Ask someone using a hearing device to prove that he hears you from where he is sitting. 

Jesus heals the woman’s daughter

u Children need to be told that in Jesus’ day people had not yet learned about mental illness.  When people acted strangely and seemed crazy, they thought little evil demons had taken over their minds.  Today we know that our minds can get sick.  We are just beginning to learn about how that happens and how mind illnesses can be cured.  This mother’s daughter was doing and saying things that were not normal.  Imagine how happy she was to go home and find her child sitting up in bed and greeting her as any child greets her mother.

u Think about the woman and her daughter in this story rather than about Jesus.  This woman was fierce, she did not let anything or anyone get in her way to get her daughter healed.  She was on a mission.  Her fierceness and determination impressed Jesus.  They got her what she most needed and wanted – healing for her daughter AND they may have changed Jesus’ mind about who he was sent to save.  Fierceness and determination don’t always get you what you want, but they sometimes change the world.  That leads us to ask what we are willing to pursue with that sort of fierceness and determination and how we could change the world.

At a community Halloween gathering last year I saw a Grandmother - Granddaughter duo wearing matching Wonder Woman costumes and the most serene, self-confident smiles you can imagine.  They were African Americans and clearly knew themselves to be Wonder Women.  I suspect there is a connection between them and the woman and daughter in this story.  That biblical mother was definitely Wonder Woman for her daughter.  I suspect she also taught that healed daughter that she too was by nature a wonder woman and could rise to any situation needed.  They were fierce, capable wonderful women created by God.  And, of course they lead me to remember all sorts of Wonder Women I hear of around the world and know in my own life.  Little girls and mothers need to soak up these women.

u Horton the elephant in Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who is like the woman in that he persists in getting protection for the tiny whos only he can hear.  The biblical mother refused to let others discount and brush aside her and her sick daughter.  She knew that each of them were real live persons and that they counted.  Like that Mother, Horton does not give in.  Even when others tease him and then try to forcibly stop him, Horton fiercely stands up for the whos because “a person’s a person no matter how small”.  The book is too long to read in worship, so check it out of the library and tell it.  To set the tone and enjoy the verse read the first 5 pages (ending with “and placed it down safe on a very soft clover.”)  Describe the response of the kangaroo and her child.  Then, read the page “in the high jungle tree tops, the news quickly spread…”  Retell the rest of the plot in your own words.  Conclude by reading the last two pages starting with “Finally at last from that speck on the clover, their voices were heard!...”