Year C - Thanksgiving Day (October 14, 2013 in Canada and November 28, 2013 in the USA)

General Thanksgiving Ideas 

 

R Involving children in community services is a good way to draw a crowd and to introduce children to their community’s religious base.  Anything that works on Sunday morning will work at a community service.  Particularly good ideas include:

• In advance get children (maybe in their classes) to draw illustrations of the verses or even phrases of one or more of the songs you will sing.  Scan them and project them while the song is being sung.  Probably the best songs to illustrate are

                           For the Beauty of the Earth
                           All Things Bright and Beautiful

• Include children’s choirs in the singing.  Either gather children in all the churches into one choir or invite several children’s choirs to sing at different points in the service.  The former requires at least one rehearsal which can be both a minus (another meeting) and a plus (chance for children to sing with friends in other congregations and to be in at least one of their buildings).  The latter requires no extra gatherings, but can turn into a choir competition – not terribly conducive to giving thanks.
• What have you seen well done?

 

R Thanksgiving music for children

• Before singing the Doxology, invite all the children to meet you at the front.  Note that you are about to sing a song that begins, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”  Define “blessings” as those things that are so good they make us happy to be alive.  Name one or two of your blessings, then ask the children to name a few of theirs.  (And, yes video games are blessings to certain people.  So, don’t let the congregation laugh at them!)  Then send the children back to their seats to join the congregation in singing the song praising God for all their blessings.
• The old standard Thanksgiving hymns “Come, Ye Thankful People Come” and “We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessing” are not easy for children.  They are filled with unfamiliar vocabulary and metaphorical harvest images.  Older adults learned them at school when they were growing up.  Children today do not.  So, either devote some time in worship to learning them or select other praise and thanks hymns.
• “We Plow the Seeds and Scatter” is a better harvest hymn.  It sets concrete harvest images to a simple tune.
• “Now Thank We All Our God” is a more general thanksgiving hymn children can sing at least parts of.
• “Grateful,” a song by John Bucchino, is illustrated in a book of the same name that comes with a CD of Art Garfunkel singing the song.  One way to use it in worship is to scan and project the pages, teach the congregation the chorus, then listen to Garfunkel sing joining him on the chorus as the book is projected.  (The seminary professor I saw do this, said she felt she was OK on copyright grounds since she bought the book and absolutely refused to lend her power point of it – “even to my very best friend on a desperate night.”)  The third verse is the most child accessible.  I would start there to introduce the song and define “grateful.”  Many of the ideas in the other verses are beyond the experience of children.
• What songs would you add?

 

R Thanksgiving begins with noticing what is all around you.  It is easy to overlook our blessings.  Remind worshipers of Moses noticing the burning bush, stopping to look at it, and meeting God there.  Then read and discuss Elizabeth Barrett Browning famous poem.

“Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

                  ― Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Finally, provide paper and crayons or markers for children (and older worshipers) to write poems or draw pictures of where they see God all around them.

R In the congregation’s prayers include prayers for the long holiday weekend.  Some children are looking forward to seeing extended family members. Others are dreading a boring, nothing special holiday.  Those excited about family gatherings often face undesired seating assignments at “the feast,” uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, and long trips in cramped cars.  All are worthy of prayer.

R Especially if it is the beginning of Thanksgiving week, assign homework.  Encourage households or individuals living alone to take time once each day this week to list things for which they are thankful.  Suggest that they do it at the same time each day – before or after a meal, at bedtime, whenever works.  Households turn it into a prayer by saying together “we thank you, God” after each thing is named by each person.  Individuals can add the phrase as they identify their blessings.  (If you want, admit that you hope that by doing this every day for a week, people will decide to keep doing it.  You are encouraging a simple daily prayer practice.)

This Year’s Texts

R There are lots of groups in today’s texts.  Children instinctively understand what it means to define yourself by the group to which you belong.  When meeting someone new children start with their name and age but quickly begin naming the groups to which they belong.  The unstated assumption is that if you know which groups I belong to you know who I am.  Usually they name sports teams and activity groups in which they participate.  The trick is to help them look to larger groups of which they are apart – in this case the people of God.  All of today’s texts call us to rejoice and give thanks in the context of groups.  Deuteronomy gives thanks for being among God’s people and sharing their story.  Psalm 100 calls to “all the earth” and insists that we are “sheep of his pasture” (a flock).  Paul calls the Philippian Christians to rejoice because they are a part of church and belong with Christians everywhere.  Alert worshipers to these groups early in worship and challenge them to listen for other groups and to think of groups that make them rejoice.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

R Act out this scripture as it is read.  Either have children (or all worshipers) come forward placing baskets of fruit and vegetables on the Table or ask a single household to carry in one large basket on the Table or on the floor in front of the Table.  A single family might then turn to read or recite the creedal verses.

Focus on gratitude for food. 

R Arrange a large cornucopia of fresh fruits and vegetables on a table at the front and pile canned goods for the local food bank around the table on the floor.

R Create a responsive prayer about all the phases of food production from growth to farmers to deliverers.  (There is a sample on page 192 or Forbid Them Not, Year C.)  The congregation’s response to each petition is “Give us this day our daily bread.”

R Invite children to come forward to share apple slices.  Before distributing them, with the children identify everyone who was involved in getting this treat to you.  Go all the way back to God who planned for the raw material and the process that produced the apples.  Then enjoy the apples with a prayer of thanks.

R All The Places to Love, by Patricia MacLachlan book, captures the connection to the land that underlies this text.  In it a boy tells about all the places he and members of his family love around their farm.  Read all or parts of it, challenging children and other worshipers to think of the places they love most and where what happens there makes all the difference in the world.  (It can be read aloud in a little over 5 minutes.)

Psalm 100

R Remember that children need to hear that God’s courts and gates are other words for God’s church.

R Turn the psalm into a congregational reading with many short lines that new as well as experienced readers can follow.  (The two groups could be choir and congregation or two halves of the congregation.)

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Psalm 100

Leader:          Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Group 1:       Worship the Lord with gladness!

Group 2:       Come into God’s presence with singing!

Leader:          Know this!  The Lord is God.

Group 1:       Know this! We belong to the Lord who made us.

Group 2:       Know this! We are God’s people,

                               and the sheep of God’s pasture.

Leader:          So, enter God’s gates with thanksgiving,

Group 1:       Come into the holy courts with praise.

Group 2:       Give thanks to God and bless God’s holy name.

Leader:          For the Lord is good;

Group 1:       God’s steadfast love endures forever,

Group 2:       God’s faithfulness is for all generations.

            Based on NRSV and Presbyterian Book of Common Worship

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

R If you sing “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” in the USA, have a soloist or the choir line it out for the congregation.  That is the way the pilgrims sang it.

Philippians 4:4-9

 

R The Secret of Saying Thanks, by Douglas Wood, insists that giving thanks makes us happy.  “We cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time.”  “We don’t give thanks because we’re happy.  We are happy because we give thanks.”  The book can be read in about 8 minutes.  With a small group sharing the pictures as you read is the way to go.  With a larger group, bring props (a big yellow paper sun, a flower, a tree leaf, a rock, a stuffed animal - a bird if you can find one, a shiny silver star cutout, a bottle of water, and a big red paper heart) to display or hand to people nearby as you read the pages about the things which lead us to be thankful.

R Jewish midrash includes several stories about how people responded to God’s dividing the sea for the slaves to walk through on dry land and then bringing it back together to drown Pharoah’s army.  It seems when they came out on the other side of the sea some of the newly free slaves complained that walking through the sea was scary and hard.  They could only think about how tired and dirty they were.  But Miriam and others, who were also tired and dirty, danced and sang songs praising God for the incredible miracle they had just experienced and their new freedom.  After describing the situation, ask which group was “right.”  Of course, both were at different levels.  Then ask who they would rather travel into the wilderness with.  Younger children will not be able to follow this.  But older children can be drawn into the possibility of rejoicing being more a matter of one’s attitude toward what happens than what actually happens.  They can be helped by parallel examples - maybe siblings who get similar sweaters from their grandparents.  One child is delighted and the other discards it as dumb.

R “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart” really needs a festal banner to be waved and walked through the congregation as the song is sung.  Make a flag banner featuring the word “Rejoice!” or select a praise banner from your collection.  Introduce it as a “festal banner.”  Before singing the hymn, practice the chorus once so even non-readers can sing along.  Also point out that the last verse is the same as the first and summarize the message of the two middle verses with reference to “in gladness and in woe” in verse 2 and the call to rejoice even at death in verse 3.

R Another way to use this hymn is to have the congregation sing just the chorus in response to each verse of Psalm 100.

John 6:25-35

R Maybe especially on Thanksgiving when there are other symbols around, it is hard for literal thinking children to make sense of Jesus’ talk about being the bread of life.  I’d save it for other days when there is time to unpack it in some detail.  For today, the bottom line is that as good as bread/food is, God’s love and forgiveness are better and more important. 

Year C - The Fifth Sunday of Easter (April 28, 2013)

Acts 11:1-18

U Children are fascinated by this story.  It is however rather long and hard for them to follow as it is read.  To help them, prepare a class of older children to act the story out as Peter tells it reading from the lectern.  Simple costumes and props are a plus, but not essential.  The children bring the story to life by making visual all the moving around as the story unfolds.  In a more playful pantomime, a set of children might stand behind Peter and lower a small sheet (maybe a crib sheet) filled with stuffed animals or plastic food from the nursery.  In a more formal setting, the sheet may be left to listeners’ imaginations with Peter simply looking up, showing first puzzlement, then shaking his head “no” at the appropriate places.

U Another way to tell this story is to read “Cornelius Becomes A Christian” from The Family Story Bible, by Ralph Milton.

U No matter how you read or present this story, it is important to explain the problems between Jews and Gentiles in simple terms before reading.  It can be as simple as, “Today we are hearing a story about Peter and Cornelius.  Peter was a Jew.  Cornelius was a Gentile.  Jews did not like or trust Gentiles.  Because Gentiles would eat foods that Jews would not, Jews would not eat with Gentiles or even drink from a cup that a Gentile had used.  Knowing that, listen to what happened between Peter and Cornelius.”

I bought these balsa wood animals that may or may not be sources
 of food you want to eat at a local craft supply store for about fifty cents each.

U Children who are often very picky about what they eat, even what the people they eat with eat, are fascinated by this story.  It is an opportunity to help them be more open to people who eat foods they do not.  To start this discussion present a variety of foods.  They could be a collection of food samples from the grocery store, plastic foods from the nursery kitchen toys, a collection of pictures of foods, or wooden shapes like those in the photo.  Identify which of the foods children would or would not eat.  Talk honestly about how hard it can be to eat foods that look or smell very different from what you are used to eating.  Then retell this story insisting that God was asking Peter to eat whatever his Gentile host Cornelius served him.  Without going into details of kosher law, note that Peter had never eaten pork or ham and had been told since he was a little kid that good people just did not eat anything that came from a pig.  Imagine him tasting ham for the first time knowing with his head that God said it was OK, but ….   Wonder if he liked it, noting that sometimes we like new foods and other times we do not.  Then, talk about eating new food with refugee families from other countries.  Point out that being willing to eat someone else’s new food is one way we make friends with them.

If you are doing a series on Easter people, Peter is an Easter person who met new people and ate new foods to share God’s love with people.  We are called to do likewise.

U If you celebrate communion today, highlight phrases in the Invitation to the Table that welcome all kinds of people.  Take time to name specific people and groups who are included in this general welcome.  For fun, ask, “Is ___ welcome at this Table?” waiting for worshipers to reply before repeating the question with another name.  Start naming people like the worshipers in the room, but proceed to people with whom those people would be less comfortable.  Conclude by repeating the Invitation as stated in the liturgy.

 

U God’s Dream, by Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams, describes God’s dream of a world in which children of all colors and cultures live together in peace.  It is beautifully illustrated and has a rather complex story line.  So, especially with younger children, I’d read just a few selected pages.  Today I’d start with “God dreams that every one of us will see that we are all brothers and sisters…” and may or may not read the last two pages about God’s rainbow smile.  This allows you to explore the pictures and focus on one key idea.  (The whole book can be read aloud in just less than 5 minutes.)

U “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” with its repeated lines is the easiest song for younger children to sing in response to this story.  Older elementary readers can sing along on “Help Us Accept Each Other” if the words “accept” and “acceptance” are pointed out and defined as “be friends with” before you sing it. 

U Let’s All Join In, a book of wonderfully illustrated poems by Quentin Blake, is a book to savor and discuss with a small group of children who can see the details in the illustrations.  For today, use only the last poem that notes that whenever the house needs cleaning, a mouse needs catching, granny is fainting, or a big cake needs eating “we all join in” and maybe the first poem about how much “better” things are when everyone adds their particular music or angry noise together.  Identify all the different ways people help in the last poem to celebrate the diversity of ways of doing things that Cornelius and his Gentile friends added to the lives of Peter and his Jewish friends in today’s story.

 

Psalm 148

U Help a class of older elementary school children prepare to read the psalm as the call to worship.  The parts of Readers 5 and 6 could be divided between 2 children each to allow for more readers if needed.  (This not only gives children a leadership role in worship, it also gets their entire families into the sanctuary during the long “after Easter, but still in school” season that can drag when Easter is early as it is this year.)

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

Psalm 148

All Readers:

         Praise the Lord!

Reader 1:

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

praise him in the heights! 

Reader 2:

Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his host!

Reader 3:

Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars!

Reader 4:

Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for he commanded and they were created.

He established them forever and ever;

he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Reader 5:

Praise the Lord from the earth,

you sea monsters and all deeps,

fire and hail, snow and frost,

stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

Wild animals and all cattle,

creeping things and flying birds!

Reader 6:

Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

Young men and women alike,

old and young together!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his glory is above earth and heaven.

He has raised up a horn for his people,

praise for all his faithful,

for the people of Israel who are close to him.

All Readers:

        Praise the Lord!

NRSV

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

U To keep the Easter praises going, display a colorful, even glittery poster of the word “Praise!”  (Perhaps a children’s or youth class could create one.)  Before the Call to Worship talk about and define praise as saying all the wonderful things that are true about a person.  Note how saying those things helps us remember how special that person is.  Then suggest that worshipers watch for times we praise God in worship today.  Give children gold or yellow markers with which to draw a star or smiley face in their printed order of worship each time they hear us praise God.  Older children will put theirs by the correct item in the order of worship.  Younger children will simply decorate their paper with stars or smiley faces.  If you do this also try one or two of the following:

U Point out that we start every worship time singing a praise hymn.  Briefly explain why and describe how the one you will sing today praises God.

U Sing “All Creatures of Our God and King.”  The Alleluias can be sung by even non-readers when they are encouraged to sing them.  It also recalls the Earth Day emphasis of the past week.

U Sing “Earth and All Stars” pointing out the interesting very modern call to test tubes (or maybe the scientists who use them) to praise God.  Older children delight in finding such “today” references in a hymn.

U If you sing the Doxology regularly take time to review the words together.  Say the words together inviting worshipers to clap each time they say the word “praise.”  Put each phrase into your own words identifying the beings who are called to praise God and the reasons for praising God.  Then sing the song together.

Revelation 21:1-6

For most children life is new every day, so the promise of a new heaven and new earth is not particularly important to them.  It is probably easier to explore specific sections of this vision than the whole image.

U There is no rainbow in this vision, but the vision and the rainbow carry the same message.  And, the rainbow may communicate the message more clearly to children.  Most children love to draw and wear rainbows, but few know that rainbows are codes/symbols for hope.  This is a chance to introduce that – without getting into the details of the Noah story.  Simply ask children when we can see a rainbow.  Can we see one on a sunny day?  No, we only see a rainbow after a storm.  When we see a rainbow we remember that no matter how scary a storm is, God is with us.  (Give out rainbow stickers or tattoos to make this connection more memorable.)

U This text is most often read at funerals.  To do a little worship education about funerals, describe a funeral as a sad - happy worship time held when a person dies.  Briefly describe the sad feelings we have when some has died.  Note that there are lots of tears at funerals as we try to let all the sadness out.  That is why we often read verses 3 and 4.  Read the verses and explain how they remind us that the tears and sadness are not the end.  Jesus has promised us that a day will come when no one will ever cry again and pain and death won’t happen.  It helps to remember that when we are crying now.  Knowing that can make us at least a little happy even when we are really sad.  Older children can apply this message to other times when they are reduced to tears.

NOTE:  Today children often hear about funerals long before they ever attend one.  Because they recognize the deep sadness that goes with them, they are often frightened when they attend one for the first time.  We prepare them for this experience when we talk about funerals when one is not eminent.

U Sing ”Canto de Esperanza” (Song of Hope) which comes from Argentina in response to this text and in honor of the new pope who also comes from Argentina.

John 13:31-35

U The first verses of this reading only make sense when read in the context of the foot-washing and betrayal that proceed it and the predicted denials that follow it.  Children hear and explore their meaning most easily on Maundy Thursday.  So, today, I’d omit them and read only the new commandment (verses 34-35) linking it to the Peter and Cornelius story.  Peter learned to welcome and love Cornelius and other Gentiles who he previously thought were unworthy of his love or God’s love.

U If you create prayers about loving one another in demanding situations to which the congregation responds with the new commandment, be sure to include situations that will be familiar to children using words they will recognize.  For example, when everyone is mad at each other in the family…, when friends are fighting…, when someone at work or school is making your life really miserable…, or when a friend has done something that really hurt your feelings “on purpose”….

 

U If you did not do it during Lent, give out felt hearts for worshipers to wear in their shoes or carry in their pockets this week as a reminder to love one another as Jesus loves us.

U I am feeling odd about not adding all sorts of resources for exploring this command in general, but really do think that on this day it is an echo of the themes in the other texts.  So, I am going to leave it here – unless I hear from bunches of you saying that you are making it the focus of the day and want “love one another” resources.

Year B - Proper 12, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 9th Sunday after Pentecost (July 29, 2012)

There are two sets of oddly divided texts this week and next week.  So, the folks at the “Rumors” blog (and others) suggest combining the two texts about David and Bathsheba so that you read about both the sin and its consequence on one Sunday and combining John 6:1-21 and 24-35 to explore the event and its meaning on one Sunday.  The David stories would fall on July 29^th  leaving the feeding story and the beginning of the four week exploration of its meaning for August 5, which is a communion  Sunday in many congregations.  Not a bad at all! 

With today’s gospel we start a five week series of readings from John about the bread of life.  One commentator said that the synoptics tell us the story of the Last Supper.  John does not tell the story, but includes a whole chapter on its meaning.  That invites us to do a lot of worship education about Communion during August.  And, there is lots to point out and explain to the children with the adults listening in and learning, too.  I’ll make a Communion connection for gospel lesson.  These could become children’s times, be worked into the real sermon, or be practice sessions just before the Eucharist liturgy.

2 Samuel 11:1-15 (and maybe 11:26-12:13a)

D If you combine today’s story of David’s sin with next week’s story of God’s judgment, the story gets a little long.  To keep interest have it read dramatically by a David reader and a Nathan reader as follows:

David               2 Samuel 11:1-15

Nathan                               11:26 – 12:4

David                                 12:5-6

Nathan                               12:7-10  (I’d omit vss 11-12)

David                                 12:13a

D This story is heard very differently by people of different ages and sexes.  For children, David’s sin is not adultery, but stealing another man’s wife, then having him killed to cover up his theft.  It’s a matter of breaking the rules.  Young children assume that rules are made by the biggest, most powerful person in the room and are non-negotiable.  To them this story says that even great King David should have followed the rules.  No one is above Gods’ rules.  As children grow through elementary school, they realize that many rules are indeed negotiable.  Almost every group they are part of makes or clarifies its rules.  They empathize with David’s wish to choose the rules he did or did not follow.  In their own ways they follow his logic to get what they want.

“But the big kids do it, and I’m really a big kid now…I’m a fourth grader!...”

“But it’s my birthday…” and I thought the usual rules wouldn’t apply today

“But I wanted it sooooo much!”

“Sure, I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t think anyone would mind just this one time – I’ll never do it again, promise.”

Psalm 14 or Psalm 51:1-12

D Children will catch little of Psalm 14’s insistence that we are all sinners.  For them Psalm 51 is a much better choice.

D Most children have little grasp of their own sinfulness.  They know they do the occasional bad thing, but are not overwhelmed by it.  Few have had the opportunity to steal a wife or murder.  So, introduce Psalm 51 as the psalm David prayed after he had stolen Bathsheba and had her husband killed.  The children can begin to understand now why the images in the prayer fit David and thus be ready to claim those images and the prayer for themselves when they need them later.

D Children hear the poetic images in Psalm 51 literally.  So, “create in me a clean heart” sounds like “cut me open, take out my heart, scrub it down, and then stick it back in me.”  Ouch!  Point this out and then explore what it really means.  Describe how we feel dirty and yucky when know we have done things that are wrong and that have hurt other people.  We feel so rotten that we want to hide.  Then describe how clean and fresh and new we feel when we admit what we have done and do whatever we can to fix the hurt we have caused.  An unhappy family road trip with fussing over toys, food and space in the back seat might be a good illustration of these dirty and clean feelings.

D If you plan to use parts of Psalm 51 in the prayer of confession, gather the children before praying it.  Briefly tell the children the story behind it and put its meaning into your own words.  Then, pray it together.

The prayers of confession generally come early in worship.  It would be possible to pray them this week without comment at that time.  Then, pray them again after a sermon in which their meaning has been explored in detail.  During the sermon you might walk through that part of the liturgy explaining the sequence of confession, assurance, response, and passing the peace.  You might even practice any sung responses.  Repeating the whole process after this explanation will give it more meaning today and help worshipers of all ages participate in it more fully in the future.

D After exploring David’s story and prayer, use verse 11 in a responsive prayer of confession for the whole congregation.

h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h

Leader:  Lord of all the world, there are so many things we want.  We want to eat the best food, we want to wear stylish clothes, we want to do what we want when we want to do it.  We want to be popular and successful and rich and beautiful.  We want.  We Want.  We want.

All:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Leader:  God of justice, too often we will do anything to get what we want.  We will break any rule.  We will lie.  We will cheat.  We will steal.  We will even hurt other people so we can have what we want.

All:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Leader:  God, too often it seems that each of our sins leads to more sins.  To hide the shameful things we have done, we break more rules and hurt more people.  We lose our ways in half-truths and broken promises.  Sometimes, the whole world feels dirty and lost and hopeless.

All:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Leader:  Have mercy on us, O God.  In your steady love and your abundant mercy, forgive our sins.

All:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h 

2 Kings 4:42-44

Elisha’s feeding 100 people with very little echoes the gospel story, but adds nothing new and different.  Rather than add it, I’d focus on just the one gospel story for the children.

Psalm 145:10-18

G In connection with the feeding story, this psalm of praise becomes a meal time blessing.  Describe mealtime blessings, not as a way to change the food, but as a way to remind the eaters that all food comes from God.  Use this as an opportunity to challenge households to adopt this practice at least once a day.  Assign this as worship homework for the coming week.  Suggest several possible blessings, including Psalm 145:10, 15-16.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,

and all your faithful shall bless you.

The eyes of all look to you,

and you give them their food in due season.

You open your hand,

satisfying the desire of every living thing.

Psalm 145:10, 15-16

G My favorite book of mealtime blessings for families which include young children is Thank You for This Food: Action Prayers, Songs, and Blessings for Mealtime, by Debbie Trafton O’Neal.  Since it costs about $3.00 it would be possible to give a copy to each family with young children to encourage them in adopting this spiritual discipline.

G Get into the spirit of this psalm by inviting children forward to enjoy an apple slice or small cookie with you.  When they arrive, identify with them all the people who were involved in getting this treat to you.  Trace it all the way back to God who planned for the raw materials.  In a brief prayer thank God for all these people and their work and praise God for the raw materials.  Then give out and enjoy the treat.

Ephesians 3:14-21

F This is Paul’s prayer for the churches of Ephesus.  In children’s words, Paul asks that

- the Holy spirit give them power to be strong inside,

- Christ live in their hearts so that they may always act lovingly

- they will get at least a hint of the incredible, too-large-to-imagine love of God at work in the world.

F Children are more interested in the possibility of praying for the church than they are in Paul’s prayer for his churches.  Invite them to create a prayer for your particular church.

Brainstorm prayer ideas together, writing them down as you go.  Then, meld them together into one prayer you offer on behalf of the children.

Give children paper and colored pens with which to draw prayers for your church.  Before passing out the supplies, brainstorm together people or groups in your congregation for which they might pray and general things they might say to God about this congregation.  Show the children how to make a scribble prayer by drawing a large loose scribble, filling in the holes with names (or pictures) of people or groups, then decorating each hole while talking to God about that person or group in the church.  Invite the children to work on their prayers during the sermon and place them in the offering plates when they are passed.

F If Olympic fever is running high, talk about the pressure on the athletes to do their best and WIN and the secret Paul knows that God loves each one of them no matter how well they do.  Together pray for the athletes.

John 6:1-21

G See the note at the beginning of this post about saving this text to combine with next week’s John reading on a Sunday when Communion is celebrated.  To keep the focus on one story, I’d edit the reading to John 6:1-15 and 24-35 with the briefest of words about Jesus and the disciples getting to the other side of the sea between the sets of verses. 

G Include an older elementary aged boy among the readers today.  If you read only verses 1-15, have them read by the boy.  If you read verses 1-21 have the boy read verses 1-15 and a man read verses 16-21.  If you combine today’s reading with next weeks text, have a boy read verses 1-15 and a man read verse 24-35.  It might be a good father-son leadership responsibility.

G To explore the miraculous nature of the feeding and maybe Jesus walking on water, introduce either or both as surprises.  No one expected they would happen.  Wear something surprising – maybe tennis shoes or flip-flops under your robe?  Stand before the children asking what about you is surprising today.  Then ask them what question they asked when they first saw that.  With any luck, it will be “why did you wear THOSE?”  Congratulate them on asking a good question.  Tell them you wore those shoes to help them recognize the right question to ask when you see something surprising.  Go on to talk about Jesus’ feeding the crowd with one boy’s lunch.  The right question to ask is not “how did he do that?” but “why did he do that?” or “what does that mean?”  Briefly answer the “why?” question for Jesus’ surprising feeding of the crowd and encourage worshipers to ask the right question, i.e. the “why?” question, of other surprising things Jesus does.

G There are a variety of answers to the question, “Why did Jesus feed the crowd this way?  What was he trying to tell us?”  To spin them out for children try some of the following.

Jesus was telling us that he/God is very interested in getting people enough to eat.  That makes it a good day to feature feeding ministries your church supports.  Just as it was surprising that one’s boys lunch in Jesus’ hands could feed a crowd, so it is surprising how many people can eat when all of us pool our food and money.  Give out grocery sacks printed with lists of things the local food bank needs and challenge families to fill them and deposit them at the food bank or at a designated spot at the church during the coming week.

Another thing Jesus might have been telling us when he fed the crowd is, “Hey, there is enough food to go around.  All you have to do is share!”  With children this challenges their desire to get “their fair share of cookies, fries, gifts, EVERYTHING.”  Ponder what Jesus is saying to us when we feel like we have to fight to get our fair share? 

To help children understand the fact that Jesus was interested in feeding people more than just food, display pictures of people in several “feeding” professions, e.g. teachers who feed students knowledge, social service caseworkers who work to get people food AND clothes, housing, whatever they need to survive, even a doctor who give people medicine so that they will be healthy.  Discuss how each feeds people.  Offer prayers for people who feed others.

G If Communion will be celebrated this week, display the Eucharist loaf and perhaps a basket of many kinds of bread.  Point out that bread comes in many shapes and sizes and is one food that people all around the world eat every day.

With very young children, display a basket of many kinds of bread common to your community (hot dog buns, tortillas/wraps, pizza crust, sliced sandwich bread, dinner rolls, etc.)  Enjoy naming all the breads.  Then point to the bread on the table.  Remind the children that Jesus said to eat bread and drink from the cup at communion to remember him.  Suggest that today they remember that Jesus fed people.  Also urge them to remember Jesus every time they eat bread.

OR

With older children, display a basket of breads from around the world (pitas, Russian pumpernickel, French baguettes, Indian nan, cornbread, tortillas, etc.)  Identify the different breads and the people who eat them.  Note that all the people in the world eat bread every day.  Point to the bread on the communion table and briefly ponder the possibility that Jesus chose bread as his symbol very carefully.  He wanted his symbol to be something we all recognize and share every day.  When we come to the Table we can imagine people all around the world eating bread with us.

G Allison Bauer, a minster and blogger in Pennsylvania, claims that there is more to inviting children to the Table than just handing them the bread and cup.  So one Sunday she gathered the children around the Table to talk about who is invited to the Table.  She then had them issue the invitation with her by echoing each phrase of the Invitation as she said it to the children and the congregation.  Cool idea!

G Invite worshipers to imagine themselves in the crowd Jesus fed as they sing “I Come With Joy.”