Year A - All Saints Day (October 30 or November 1, 2011)

I had two requests last week for All Saints ideas!  So, I’m putting off the September 5 readings to work on All Saints which is one great holy day for children.  There are three themes to explore:

-         What and who is a saint?

-         Remembering the saints who went before us

-         Trusting God in the face of Halloween fears

All SAINTS Day

With children we tend to turn All Saints Day into a celebration of Christian heroes and heroines.  There is value in doing that.  Children need role models and it is wise to offer them some specifically Christian ones. 

To do this (and take up on the Halloween costume interest) invite children (or worshipers of all ages) to wear costumes or carry a prop related to one of their Christian hero/ines.  Stage a processional in which worshipers stop at a microphone to tell in one sentence the name of their hero/ine and why that person is important to them.  Help parents get their children into this with advanced publicity that defines saint as a person who shows us about God, lists several well known saints, e.g. St. Patrick, St. Paul, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, at least one local saint and notes that saints may be living or may have already died.  In an oral announcement, identify one of your saints and tell what you would wear or carry to represent that person.  If there are churches named after saints in your community, encourage people to learn about one of those saints.  A light touch throughout will make this a fun and celebratory worship event for everyone.

Instead of wearing costumes, challenge church school classes and households to make a paper banner or poster about one of their saints.  Stage a processional of these art works and display them during worship.

The downside of celebrating saintly hero/ines is that it leaves most of us feeling less than saintly.  To avoid this, emphasize that all God’s people are saints.  We all learn about God from the saints around us.  To celebrate some of these saints (both living and dead) who are dear to members of the congregation create posters, banners, or table cloths decorated with their names.

Prepare several blank banners (possibly cloud shaped to refer to the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12).  Invite worshipers to arrive early enough to add names of their saints in fabric marking pens to one of the banners.  Just before worship slide the banners on to poles, process in with them, and display them prominently during worship.

Instead of creating banners create a table cloth for the central worship table.   Worshipers can write the names of their saints on a white sheet which is then draped over the worship table at the beginning of worship.  Candles, crosses, even communion elements can be added during a Call to Worship which summons all the saints, both the living and the dead. 

Two children’s picture books about quilts provide good back stories for these creations. 

In The Keeping Quilt, by Patricia Polacco, a woman immigrating to America creates a quilt that connects to memories of family in the old country.  The quilt is used as bedcover, a Sabbath tablecloth, a wedding canopy, and a baby blanket to wrap a new generation.  The book is too long to read in worship, but can be easily told turning to a few key pictures for illustration.

In The Name Quilt, by Phyllis Root, a little girl goes to sleep each night with stories about the people represented in her family quilt.  The quilt is destroyed in a storm, but the little girl and her Grandmother still have the memories, and start a new quilt that includes the little girl’s name in the middle.  (This book may be harder to locate than the other.)

A Little Easter

All Saints Day is also known as a Little Easter.  Children are fascinated by celebrating Easter in a different season.  So bring out all the Easter paraments and robes.  If you “buried” an Alleluia banner or poster during Lent, bring it out and refer to it in worship again. 

Talk about the difference in celebrating resurrection in the springtime when flowers blooming and in the autumn when everything is turning brown and dying.  Celebrate both the joy of knowing there is new life when you see it all around you and the importance of remembering there is new life when everything around you is looking dead.  Older children enjoy thinking about how different Easter feels in the different hemispheres. 

On this day many congregations remember all the members of the congregation who have died during the last year.  Children are keenly aware of the intensity of this reading.  Indeed, many adults have childhood memories of the occasion.  Ways to enhance this worship event for children ( and all worshipers) include:

-         Toll a handbell as each name is read.

-         Light a candle as each name is read and leave the candles lit throughout the service as a reminder of the continuing presence of the saints who have died.

-         One church in Maine projects the names on the walls – talk about being surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses!

-         Speak briefly about the connection between the living and dead saints.  At its best this can be a time when gratitude takes the center in the grieving process.

Selecting hymns for All Saints Day is almost a no-brainer.  But there are ways to make them more sing-able for the children.

“For All the Saints” is 6 verses long!  Rather than sing all of them at once, spread them throughout the service.  Everyone will pay better attention to the words.  At the beginning of the service point out the Alleluias and practice them so non-readers can join in.

“I Sing A Song of the Saints of God” uses simpler language, names very specific recognizable saints, and asks the singer to commit to sainthood.  Singing it in the congregation suggests to all that children are also saints.

Singing “When the Saints Go Marchi’ In” in worship delights children and helps them understand the song in a new way.  I even heard of one congregation that sang “When the Saints Go Marchin’ Out” at the end of service.

If you will celebrate communion and use the reference in the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving to “joining with all the saints of all times and places,” point it out and talk about what it means before the sacrament.

The All Saints Texts

Revelation 7:9-17

U On Halloween children are confronted with scary images of death – ghosts, cemeteries, open graves with decaying corpses and skeletons.  The writer of Revelation offers a very different picture.  All the saints gather around the throne, singing and celebrating.  Though the worship images are a pleasanter vision of life after death, most children do not respond, “I want to be in that group worshiping constantly.”  They do however want to be part of those receiving the care of the Lamb described in verses 16-17.  So, after letting them in on the secret code (the Lamb is Jesus) read these verses as a description of heaven.  Older children are interested in identifying all the common pictures of harps and halos as just human guesses about what heaven is like.  They are open to hearing that we do not know many of the details about what happens after we die.  God has kept that as a surprise.  What we do know is that God and Jesus will be in charge and we will be safe and happy.

U Revelation was written in code during a time when a person could be killed for having a Christian book.  Children enjoy learning pieces of the code as they are read and in the process learn not be afraid of the book.  On the day before Halloween the most interesting piece of the code is the image of saints wearing robes made white by being washed in the blood of the Lamb.”  Laugh over the fact that if you wash anything in blood it comes out red, not white.  Then, explain the code.  Jesus is the Lamb and the blood of the Lamb reminds us that Jesus died to forgive us.  Finally, restate the decoded message something like, “the saints were completely forgiven by Jesus.” 

Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10, 13-14  (Episcopalian Lectionary)

U No matter which translation of this text you use, please make the language more inclusive, “let us now praise famous people.”  Consider Today’s English Version which has an especially clear to children rendering of verses 4 and 5.

There were statesmen (politicians?) whose policies governed the people,

rulers who issued decrees,

scholars who spoke wise words,

and those who used pointed proverbs,

poets, and composers of music,

rich and powerful men (people) living peacefully at home.

U After reading this list of saints, challenge worshipers to list others who could be saints.  (This would be a great lead in to singing “I Sing A Song of the Saints of God.”)

U Using the pictures in Peter Spier’s book People or a big book of photographs of people from many cultures, consider the possibility that any of these people could be saints.  Saints come in many shapes and sizes, live and eat in many different ways, and enjoy many different activities.  They are all God’s saints.  Peter Spier's book is too long to read and enjoy in its entirety during worship.  Choose several pages.   I would choose the pages of noses, ears and hair and the page of all the languages.  (The only complaint about Spier’s wonderful book is that it depicts some people living as they did years ago, e.g. native Americans living in teepees.  On All Saints Day this can be an opportunity to note that people from all times in history can be saints.)

Psalm 34:1-10, 22

U David was afraid that the King Achish/Abimelech would put him in prison or kill him, so he did crazy things like doodling on the city gates and drooling.  The king was disgusted and told his servants to send David away.  David went.  This alphabet psalm celebrates his escape, his sanity, and mostly God’s care for him in a tight situation.

To imagine him creating it with his men, briefly tell the story then have one person call out each letter to which David responds with the appropriate verse.  The alphabet readers could sit with a microphone on the first row or be gathered on the floor around David.  In the latter case, rehearse yelling the letters loudly enough to be heard.

U “The fear of the Lord” is an interesting phrase to explore on the day before Halloween.  For children Halloween is about facing fears (ghosts, gory stuff in haunted houses, even being out after dark for the youngest).  They fear the things that they think are too powerful for them.  The psalmist claims that the one to fear is God.  God is definitely more powerful that any of us.  Fortunately God loves us, cares for us, and is with us when we are in scary situations.  The underlying message is to fear (to acknowledge as more powerful than we are) the right things and people.  So we do not have to fear ghosts, the dark, walking past the cemetery at night, or anything else.  Instead we, like David, fear/trust God’s loving power.

1 John 3:1-3

U In an All Saints Day service focused on everyday rather than heroic saints, this short reading paraphrases for children.

God must really love us.  God calls us God’s children, saints.

We know we are God’s saints now.  We don’t know what we will grow into or become. 
But, we do know that saints are like Jesus. 

So, we try to be like Jesus every day.

U Address each other as saints.  Give everyone name tags to wear that say “Saint NAME.”

Matthew 5:1-12

U On All Saints Day, The Beatitudes are a description of the saints.

U Though “happy” is more familiar to children than “blessed,” I’d go with “blessed” here.   “Blessed” can be presented simply as deeply happy about the most important things in life.  Illustrate the difference by comparing two situations.  One is sitting on your bed dumping out all your Halloween treats with delight.  The other is settling into your bed to sleep with hugs and kisses, knowing that you are safe and loved and OK.  The first is simply happy.  The second is blessed.  The trick is to acknowledge the happiness of the Halloween treats and yet insist that the snug tuck-in at night is the more important. 

U Many of the beatitudes require fairly detailed explanations to make sense to children.  Below is my stab at children’s versions of a few of them.

Blessed are the saints who trust God’s power and loving care,

for they are part of the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the saints when they are sad because the world is so unfair,

They have God’s promise that justice will come.

Blessed are the nobodies who know they are nobodies and still do God’s work. 

In God’s world they are the leaders.

Blessed are the saints whose greatest wish is to do what God desires.

God will give them what they want.

Blessed are the saints who treat other people gently,

God will treat them gently.

Blessed are the saints who get in trouble when they do what God requires,

For they are surely among God’s saints.

Year A - Proper 12, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 24, 2011)

Genesis 29:15-28

This is an outrageous story about outrageous people doing outrageous things to each other.  It has much in common with tall tales of folklore.  So, tell it in your best storyteller style or invite a good storyteller in the congregation to tell it.  It’s message for children (and adults too) is that God gave us free will and lets us use it as we will.  Even when we are using that free will in outrageous ways, God doesn’t give up on us. 

Psalm 105:1-11, 46b

In the middle of a summer when the news, the economy and the weather are all bad, Psalm 105:1-6 calls us to celebrate God’s glory, i.e. all about God that is so cool, so absolutely awesome.  There are several ways to revel in God’s glory.

>        Introduce the word GLORY that can be either a noun or a verb.  Either during worship or before, print it in big letters on a large poster – maybe using gold glitter pen.  Then add the other key glory words (thanks, sing, rejoice, seek, remember, tell) from these verses.  Take time to comment on each one as you add it.  Then read the verses in unison. 

>        The above could be done as the scripture reading for the day or it could done as the call to worship with the worship leader leading the conversation about the Glory words before reading verses 1-6 and the congregation replying with either verse 45b or “Let us worship God.”
 

>         Make the poster with the children as a children’s time asking different children to write each of the words, taking time to spell the words, and to talk about how they keep us in touch with God’s glory.  Display the poster for the rest of worship and encourage children to listen for the words in your songs and prayers today. 

>        Give children a worship worksheet with the Glory words already printed on it and invite them to illustrate God’s glory as they have seen, heard, tasted, even smelled it this summer.

>        If you regularly sing the “Gloria Patri” interrupt after it is sung to ask people what they just sang.  Walk through the words putting the song’s meaning as it is sung in your service into your own words.  Then, invite everyone to sing it again.  (Do alert the musicians of your plan in advance.)

 

>          To encourage the discipline of praise, send worshipers home with verse 3b printed on a bulletin insert.  Urge them to post it on the refrigerator door, bathroom mirror, or some other prominent spot and to read it aloud (as a household if possible) at least once each day this week.  As they do they are to remember how they have sensed God’s glory and to tell each other about those times.  Doing this often leads to thanking God for the glorious things they see, hear, touch, and feel that day. 

I Kings 3.5-12

*   Before reading this story, remind worshipers of all the stories of a genie coming out of a bottle offering three wishes.  Challenge them or work together to create lists of things one might ask for, e.g. the talent and height to play in the NBA, to be extremely smart, to be really rich, or maybe a cure for a seriously ill family member or friend, etc.  In the Harry Potter books Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort) wanted more than anything to live forever.  He used all his magical powers trying to get that.  Then, read what Solomon asked for when God offered him one wish.

*   Solomon did not ask to be different than he was.  He asked to be very good at who he was and what he had to do.  He was the king.  We don’t know whether he particularly wanted to be king, but he was the king.  He asked God to help him be the best king he could.  That may be a sign that he was already wise.  In any case, it is worth exploring with children (and probably a number of adults) the possibility that they, like Solomon, are called to be their very best self in the place they are rather than to dream about being someone totally different in a different situation. 

*   Before the congregation sings “God of Grace and God of Glory,” direct worshipers to the repeated chorus in their hymnals.  Point out that “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage” sounds a lot like Solomon’s prayer.  Then note the sentences that are sung twice at the end of each chorus.  Read each sentence twice and briefly comment on what it means to sing that to God.  Encourage even young readers to try to sing the chorus.  Point out that if they miss the final sentence the first time, they can get it the second time.  Then sing the whole song together.

*   Solomon’s story is the alternate reading for Jacob’s story.  But, it might be fun to pair the stories to explore the truth that God worked through both conniving Jacob and wise King Solomon.  If God loved and worked through two such different people, maybe there is hope for us.

Psalm 119:129-136




Hebrew Letter PE

 

      This section of Psalm 119 is not the easiest to share with children.  There is neither clear focus nor a key verse.  If you do use it, enjoy its alphabet poetry.  Each line of this section of the psalm begins with the Hebrew letter PE.  Show it to the congregation.  If you have not shown the children the psalm in a Hebrew Bible before, do so today noting that this is the language Solomon read.  Then have eight readers (either one  children’s class or readers of all ages – maybe one or two families) read one verse each. 

Today’s English Version offers easier vocabulary for child readers.

Your teachings are wonderful;

I obey them with all my heart.

¹³⁰     The explanation of your teachings gives light

and brings wisdom to the ignorant.

¹³¹     In my desire for your commands

I pant with open mouth.

¹³²     Turn to me and have mercy on me

as you do on all those who love you.

¹³³     As you have promised, keep me from falling;

don’t let me be overcome by evil.

¹³⁴     Save me from those who oppress me,

so that I may obey your commands.

¹³⁵     Bless me with your presence

and teach me your laws.

¹³⁶     My tears pour down like a river,

because people do not obey your law.

Romans 8:26-39

For children the heart of this passage is verses 38-39.

Read Paul’s list of all the things he worried could get between him and God’s loving care.  Then, make your own list of the things we worry about. 

Shel Silverstein provides a wonderful list of things that might be too much for God’s love.  

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Whatif by Shel Silverstein

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

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Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

      Point out that some questions have only one right answer, e.g. one plus one is always two.  Parables don’t have just one right answer or meaning.  When we pay attention and think about them they often have many different things to tell us.  Show a single mustard seed (found in spice section of grocery stores) and a photo of a mustard tree.  Be amazed that such a small hard lump can produce a big shrub.   Ponder what that says about every small gift making a big difference in the world.  Then inform worshipers that one little mustard seed doesn’t just produce one mustard bush.  Mustard bushes are weeds.  One quickly becomes several and several soon take over the whole field.  That tells us something else about God’s Kingdom – it is unstoppable.  It is going to fill the whole world.  Stress that parables are for thinkers and suggest that they will always be learning new things from the parables.

>  Laurel Dykstra claims the key to these parables is not the objects, but what people do with them.  They don’t just hold on to them.  The mustard seed gets planted.  The yeast is worth nothing until the baker kneads it into the dough.  “Everything I have” is sold to buy the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price.  The contents of the net are carefully evaluated and used.  So one call to preachers is to challenge worshipers to do something or take some risks or decisive action.  If children are to catch this point, you will need to walk through what the person in one of these parable did in some detail.  Then tell them directly that Jesus was telling us that what we do for God makes a difference.  It may seem small and ordinary, but it makes more difference that we will ever know.  It will help to name specific small things children can do - being kind even when you don’t feel like it, befriending those without friends, etc.

>  The Pearl of Great Price and Treasure Hidden in the Field have a Harry Potter connection.  The invitation to become a student at Hogwarts and the knowledge that he was a wizard were so valuable to Harry, that he left behind everything he knew.  True, he wasn’t leaving anything all the great given where he lived and who he lived with, but still it is not easy to leave what you know.  And, he had to walk straight into the brick column at the railroad station to catch the train to Hogwarts.  These parables challenge us to be as ready to step into something new for God as Harry was to step into that column and go to Hogwarts.

>  In democracy we often say that the majority rules, but that is only half true.  The other truth is that one person or a very small group of people can change everything.  Rosa Parks sitting down on the Montgomery bus is an historic adult example.  The fable about the boy who said “the Emperor has no clothes” while the adults watched silently is a fictional example children enjoy. 

Year A - The Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 22, 2011)

In North America school schedules are all over the place, but many schools start summer vacation in late May or early June.  “The Last Day of School” is huge for children.  Starting with this week I’ll be looking for connections between specific texts and end of school for children.  Then, the week after Easter look for a more general post about how to raise this big event in the congregation’s worship whenever it happens. 

Today’s texts are filled with rocks.  Some are quite real – the ones hurled at Stephen.  Others are symbolic – cornerstone, living stones, and “my rock and fortress.”  Adults enjoy the plurality of symbols.  Children who have trouble getting the meaning of symbols can be overwhelmed.  On this day it does not help that the real rocks were weapons and the symbolic ones point to God’s steady trustworthiness.  So alert the children to all of the rocks, but focus for them on just one or two kinds of rocks. 

Googling rocks reminded me that
"you rock!" or rock music will be
the first rock in many  young minds.

Have a pile of rocks front and center.  Depending on

your focus it could be a big pile or be arranged as a wall, even intersecting walls.  A local landscaper may even loan you a pile of rounded “river rock.”

At the beginning of the service point to the rocks and urge worshipers to watch for rocks in scriptures, prayers and songs today.  You may even want to briefly describe some of the rocks you will feature.

 Acts 7:55-60

R This text assumes listeners know how Stephen got himself into enough trouble to be stoned.  Most children (and many adult worshipers) do not.  For them, expand the reading.   Start with Acts 6:8-15, offer a brief summary of his sermon, and then read Acts 7:55-60. 

R Children need to be told that stoning is killing a person by throwing rocks at them.  Note that it is a very cruel way to kill a person.  You may or may not want to note briefly that it is still practiced today in some countries.

R Stephen is a hero who stood up to the crowd.  Doing so cost him his life, but he thought speaking about Jesus was worth dying for.  Children often find themselves in situations in which they must stand up to their friends refusing to do something they know to be wrong.  Stephen’s story provides both a hero to emulate and a warning that standing up to the crowd often causes trouble – fortunately the trouble is not often lethal.  Still sometimes standing up to the crowd is the right thing do, even when the crowd fights back.  Martin Luther King is reported to have repeatedly told his children that a person “who had nothing that was worth dying for…was not fit to live.”  This is a sober conversation, but it calls children to eyes-wide-open, heroic living.

R If you explore Stephen as a hero, sing some new verses for “Lord, I Want to be a Christian.” 

Lord, I want to be a Christian…

Lord, I want to be like Stephen…

Lord, I want to be courageous…

Lord, I want to be forgiving…

Lord, I want to be like Jesus…

R If you will be focusing on the living stones in 1 Peter, consider replacing the Acts 7 reading with Acts 6:1-7, the calling of the first deacons.  If your congregation has deacons, this is a great opportunity to introduce some of them and describe their work to the children (and other adults).  Deacons are in this case examples of people who are serving in one specific way as living stones in the church.  Be sure to point to others as well.  (FYI - This text does not appear in the Revised Common Lectionary at all, but is the Roman Catholic reading for this day.)

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

R This prayer for protection is filled with rock images that are unfamiliar to children.  If you want them to “get it” introduce key rock words before the reading.  Rock of refuge and strong fortress need only a brief definition.  But, “my rock” needs fuller explanation.  Talk about what it means to say a person is a rock.  Remind them that Peter in Hebrew means “rock.”  Jesus told Peter he was going to be his rock.  End by noting that many prayers and hymns refer to God as our rock.  Only then, read the psalm. 

R Many rock images in hymns need explaining to children – even “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”  Point them out before singing.  If you sing “A Mighty Fortress,” get the congregation to look at the first line of each verse.  Put them into your own words.  This gets the rock message out.  Children may get lost in the rest of the lines, but they will catch the beginning key phrases.

1 Peter 2:2-10

The writer refers to God’s people as “a holy race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” and a spiritual house composed of living stones.  I’d go with the last one.  There are several ways to develop it in worship.





Ø  Enjoy the picture of a human tower.  Then point to one of the people somewhere in the middle of tower and ask what would happen if that person decided to go home.  After realizing the importance of each person in the tower, point out that the church is a lot like that tower.  If any one of us decides to quit on our job, it makes a big difference.  Cite specific examples, e.g. what if the organist decided not to come today?  What if the fellowship hour person decided not to put out the cookies and lemonade?  Then point to one child and ask what if NAME didn’t come today.  There won’t be any immediately obvious thing that will not happen, but that person will be missed.  Compare them to one of the people in the middle of the tower and recall their importance.  (Link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3d10_fm_de_vilafranca.jpg.)

OK, this is perilously close to an object lesson.  But, I think that taking time to carefully describe both sides of the metaphor (the people in the tower and the people in the church) will make it understandable to children.  I’d be curious to hear from anyone who tries it how it went.

Ø  Before deciding whether to use the cornerstone image, ponder how frequently you use it in worship and how clearly your congregation claims it.  There are 10 biblical references to the cornerstone.  Psalm 118:22 is read every year on both Palm/Passion Sunday and Easter.  One is read in Year A after Pentecost and 3 others are read in Year B after Pentecost.  That may place the cornerstone at the margins in some congregations.  Other congregations, especially those with a significant cornerstone in their building, may speak frequently about Christ the Cornerstone.   In the latter case it is worth your time to carefully introduce the image to children.  If you do, try one of the following:

R If you have a pile of rocks up front, be sure there is a squarish one.  Use that stone as a cornerstone and line up the other rocks as walls.  Demonstrate the function of the cornerstone in setting the direction of the walls and insuring the stability of the whole building by laying out good and not so good rock foundations on the floor.  Then, explain that the church often says that Jesus is our cornerstone.  He shows us how we need to live as God’s people and thus makes sure that the church is strong.  Offer specific examples of ways churches can stray from Jesus’ directions, e.g. not paying attention those around them in need.

R If you have a cornerstone in your building, tell

about it, show a picture of it, and encourage people to find it after worship.  Then introduce Jesus as the “real” cornerstone of you church, citing things you do because Jesus directs it.

R Sing “We Are the Church” by Avery and Marsh to celebrate all the living stones that make up your congregation.

R To illustrate the fact that the church is not a building, but people, lead the congregation in the finger play, “Here is the Church.”  This could be embedded in the sermon.

Here is the church

Here is the steeple

Open the door

See all the people.

You can have a church

Without any steeple.

But you can’t have a church

Without any people.

R If school is ending and your congregation is going into summer mode, this is an opportunity to point out that the church is not a brick or wood building, but a human building and that they are “living stones” in that building.  Describe some of the things the living stones in your congregation will be doing during the summer, e.g. mission trips, Bible School, camps, etc as groups and lots of other things as individuals and families.  In an informal setting, hear summer plans.  In a more formal setting, describe some plans.  You might even create a bulletin board and invite people to add pictures of their summer “living stone” activities.  Leave it in a place the congregation see frequently for the whole summer.

John 14:1-14

from The Family Story Bible,
by Ralph Milton,
illustrated by Margaret Kyle. 
Permission granted for
non-commercial use with attribution.

R Jesus' discussion with Philip in verses 8-10, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” is the heart of this reading for children.  It is a good Sunday to bring out pictures of Jesus in action.  Ask worshipers to tell the story in the picture.  Conclude each description with “God is like that!”  If this is a children’s time, close in prayer thanking God for sending Jesus to show us what God is like.

R Sing “Once in Royal David’s City.”  Enjoy singing it out of season.  Read through the second verse and even the fourth before singing it to help worshipers see why it makes sense to sing it during Easter season and how it goes with this reading.

R Many adults and most ministers associate this text with the many funerals at which it is read.  Hearing it brings an “oh that again” sigh.  But, it is new to children and few of them connect it to funerals.  Their inexperience invites worship leaders to explain to them what a funeral is and why these verses are so often read at funerals.  There is a lot we don’t know about what happens after we die.  God has kept that secret, maybe as a surprise.  Name some of the guesses people have made about harps, streets of gold, wings and halos.  Be clear that these are just guesses.  But we do know for sure, because Jesus tells us so in these verses, that God will be with us and take care of us after we die.  So we and every person we love who dies are OK.