Year C - Third Sunday in Lent (March 3, 2013)

Some Sundays in Lent this year have a clear unifying theme.  This is not one of them.  I can imagine worship services going all sorts of directions.  That makes it hard to identify one heart for the heart series.  The best may be adding hearts to the communion table as a way of celebrating God’s loving gifts (see below).  If you can find heart shaped confetti (shop before Valentine’s Day!), it could be spread on the floor around the Table or sprinkled over children gathered on the steps as a reminder of all God’s abundant gifts.  If you build on the repentance theme, finding a heart that makes sense to children is harder.  Actually, using these texts to explore repentance with children is hard.  I’d save repentance for other texts from the prophets or John the Baptist.  If you create a repentance heart, do tell the rest of us about it!

Both Isaiah and Paul insist that God showers us with an abundance of gifts, all we need.  If you will celebrate communion this week, there are connections that suggest a little on-the-job worship education.

U The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Communion liturgy is generally known as “that long prayer before communion” by children.  They are quickly lost in all the images and big words.  To help especially older children listen take time just before the sacramental liturgy to walk through the prayer with them.  Point out that the prayer names all the gifts of love God gives us.  Explain the pattern that lies behind this list of gifts, i.e. God created the world and us, then kept loving us when we messed up, and finally sent Jesus to love and forgive us.  Read version of the prayer you will use today stopping for a child to place a red paper heart on the Table for each gift named.  Leave those hearts in place during the sacrament.  Encourage the children to listen to the prayer today and to listen every time it is prayed for the gifts God gives us.  Choose or create a Great Prayer of Thanksgiving today using as child-friendly language as possible.  Below is my stab at it.  (I separated the lines to show the points at which a heart is added to the Table.)  If you write one, share it with the rest of us.

            

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 

A Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

 

We praise you God because you created the whole universe from the tiniest bugs to the largest stars.  

You created people.  Unlike all the other living things you created, you created us in your image.  You gave us the power to choose and decide.

When we made selfish choices, decided to hurt others and chose to be unfair, you did not give up on us.  Instead you sent prophets to point out what we were doing wrong and call us to do better.

When we did not listen to the prophets you came among us as Jesus.

For all these gifts we join all your creatures everywhere singing... SANCTUS

Jesus taught us about all your loving gifts to us.

Jesus showed us your love by healing people who were sick.

Jesus told us stories about how to love.

Jesus showed us how to love each other when he made friends with people no one liked.

When people got angry with him, deserted him, and finally killed him on cross, Jesus did not get even with them.  He forgave them all.

RESPONSE

So on this day we share this bread and cup…..

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

U Or, focus on the phrase “the gifts of God for the people of God.”  Have the communion loaf baked in a heart shape.  (Go to Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for step by step illustrated directions for shaping a heart loaf.) Show it to the children (or all worshipers).  List all the gifts God gives us culminating with the gift of Jesus’ love and forgiveness.  Note that we remember all of these gifts, most especially the gift of Jesus every time we eat bread and drink from the cup together.  Then, practice the phrase and invite worshipers to repeat it with you.

 

U When I first connected phrases of the Lord’s Prayer to the texts of each Sunday of Lent this year, I suggested, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done…” for today.  After digging more deeply into the texts, “give us this day our daily bread” seems a better choice.  Start by listing all the things we need to survive.  If children are helping with this list, avoid getting into a discussion of the difference in what we want and what we need.  Allow a few “wants” to be listed, but redirect the list to things like air, water, various kinds of food, etc.  Then note that when we pray “give us this day our daily bread,” we are praying for more than just bread, we are praying for everything on the list.  

U For fuller emphasis on this, create a responsive prayer in which the leader names some of the items from the list with all worshipers responding, “give us this day our daily bread.”

One:  We do need bread, God.  We need sandwich bread and muffins and pizza crust and pitas and bread sticks.

All: Give us this day our daily bread

One:  But bread is not all we need.  We need air to breathe.

All: Give us this day our daily bread

One:  We need water to drink and to wash ourselves with and to use cleaning our clothes and homes.

All: Give us this day our daily bread

     And so forth…..

U Or, point to the “we” in the phrase insisting that this is not a selfish prayer.  We pray not just that we have daily bread, but that everyone in the world has daily bread.  Connect this with one of the congregation’s efforts to make this prayer come true in a food collection or some other current sharing project. 

 

The Texts for Today

Isaiah 55:1-9

U The UMC worship website Lectionary Planning Helps for Sunday includes this call to worship based on Isaiah.  Make it even more visual for children by having Reader 1 pour water into the font or scoop out water for all to see and hear and having Reader 2 lift the loaf and chalice.  It already suggests that Reader 3 lift the Bible.

Reader 1 (standing at the font):
Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!

Reader 2 (standing at the table):
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Reader 3 (standing at the lectern holding up the lectern Bible or lectionary book):
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.

The assembly:
Lord we seek you; we return to you.
Have mercy upon us.
May your word bear fruit in us
and our spirits and bodies be refreshed in your nearness.

U Both Isaiah and Paul warn against our human tendency to wish for things we do not have or cannot do.  Children often express this in phrases that begin “If only…” such as “if only I had a bicycle or the latest electronic game” or “if only I could go to camp or make the travel team…”  The unstated ending of these sentences “I’d be happy.”  After identifying a few “if onlys,” read “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2a).  Discuss our disappointment when we get some of the things we want and they do not make us happy.  Point out the difficulty of figuring out what we really need and what we just want.  A bike can get you around the neighborhood more quickly.  But, do we have to have the latest game when we already have a bunch of them to play?  Children need to know that figuring out which of our “If onlys” are real needs will continue to be a challenge throughout life. 

U Ariel in The Little Mermaid collects stuff from the land. She loves this stuff and is obsessed by life on the land even though she is a sea dweller.  Eventually she makes the classic Faust deal selling her best gift to get what she wants.  For today focus just on the song at the beginning of the film.  I’ll post a link to the whole song and the words to the section to use in worship today.

 

Look at this stuff
Isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?
Wouldn't you think I'm the girl
The girl who has everything?...

But who cares?
No big deal
I want more

 

Psalm 63:1-8

This psalm praises God using images that do make sense to most children.  Read it for the adults.

 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

To follow Paul’s logic here the reader needs to know many details of the Exodus story.  Since most children do not, they cannot follow the text as it is read.  And, that may be just fine because if they did follow it they would likely jump to some unfortunate conclusions about what Paul was saying.  So, it is better for worship leaders to share in more child-friendly ways Paul’s message that God gives us many wonderful gifts and that it is our job to recognize, use, and enjoy them as  the gifts they are.  A discussion about “if onlys” or hearing Ariel’s song (see the Isaiah section) are better entry points.

Luke 13:1-9

U If you explore the question posed to Jesus about why bad things happen to good people, be aware that children generally do not ask the question in the same way adults do.  When horrible things happen to people around them, children ask not whether those people did something bad that resulted in this punishment, but whether they did something bad that made God punish a person near them.  Though they have trouble putting it into words they often feel something like, “Grandpa died because I did not want to skip my game last Saturday to go see him.  All this grief and pain is my fault.”  Children can hardly explore this before they feel it, so it is more helpful to prepare adults to be aware of the possibility and ready to take the question up should it arise.

U Parables are hard for children to understand.  Even middle schoolers have trouble sorting out which stories they associate with Jesus really happened and which were stories he told.  Once they do recognize a story as a parable, they have trouble figuring out what Jesus was trying to teach us.  Since the fig tree parable is hard for adults to figure out, expect it to be harder for children.  One of the simplest ways to introduce it is to compare the fruit of a fig tree and things people do.  Start with a picture of a fig tree.  Give children or all worshipers a fig newton to eat to make it more real.  Make a point that fig trees produce fruit that people (or at least some people) like to eat.  That is their job.  People take care of people and things around us.  That is our job.  List ways people do that – making dinner for the family, taking care of a younger sibling so parent can work, taking care of someone who is sick, etc.  Settling for just this entry to the story is about all we can give the children for now. 

Year B - Proper 6, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost (June 17, 2012)

One writer titled an essay about this set of texts, “Just a Kid, Just a Seed, Just a Church” and pointed out that the texts insist not only that God CAN use small things to do big things, but that God’s preferred method of operation is small things.  This is a welcome message to children for at least two reasons. 

First, children who are often sent to eat at the kids table and are shuttled aside at interesting looking events often feel over looked and undervalued.  They, like David, have been left behind when the rest of the family went off for a sacrifice and feast.  So they appreciate God’s making everyone wait until David can be included and God’s insistence (in front of all his big brothers and father) that David is “the one.” 

Second, children are growing up with superheroes and heroines who “save the world” with splashy deeds.  They admire real life people who make the big plays in sports and other parts of the real world.  They long to do something “special,” “important,” “big,”… .  They sense in the question, “what will you do/be when you grow up?” the need to have a plan or at least a wish to do something important that will “save the world.”  So they tend to devalue what they can do here and now, every day.  David's anointing and Jesus’ small-seeds-that-grow parables challenge them to value and to seek out opportunities to do small deeds of kindness and justice knowing that God will work in them to do big things. 

The Quarreling Book, by Charlotte Zolotow, seems rather mis-titled to me.  It is not so much about quarreling as it is the story of a day made miserable for everyone by a cascading series of little hurts people inflict on each other in turn.  The day changes when the dog licks the hand of a boy who has just pushed him off the bed.  That begins a reverse cascade of small kindnesses that rescue the day.  Read it in about five minutes to remind worshipers how small things can make a big difference for either good or bad. 

1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13

_On Father’s Day bring this story to life, by having it read and pantomimed by a group of men and boys.  The seven brothers can simply step out from the group and stand in place (maybe in the military “at ease” pose) as the brothers are called out in the story.  Old Samuel looks at each one shaking his head with surprise as God says, "not him."  Finally, young David is brought in.  Or, send Jesse to the side door to open it and whistle for David who then appears, kneels to be anointed, then goes back out the side door.  A rehearsal will be needed so all actors are sure of their movements and to work with everyone on using their faces to react to what is happening.  This should be a fun bonding time for the group. 

NOTE: As I write this the week after Mother’s Day, I am aware of all the sensitivity to women who are not mothers on that day.  I suspect there are also men who do not need another reminder that they are not fathers or who know they have been less than fine dads.  So, include among these readers some fathers, sons, and even grandsons, but also some men of all ages who do not have children.

_The story as presented in the Bible is fairly easy for children to follow if they are invited to listen with an introduction like, “Today’s reading is the story of a boy named David who has seven, count them – seven!, older brothers.” 

_If you want a shorter version of the story turn to “King David Is Anointed” in Children of God Storybook Bible, by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

_Hiccup (How To Train Your Dragon – animated summer of 2010 blockbuster movie from Pixar) is the son of a Viking chief, who expects him to be the next chief.  Because Hiccup is not the brawny warrior his dad is, Dad and everyone else looks down on him and belittles him.  Hiccup however is paying attention to the dragons who attack the town.  Rather than kill the young dragon he finds, he befriends it and uses what he learns about dragons from it to befriend all the dragons.  This could be useful today to explore a familiar runt who turned out to be special (like David, Hiccup is a future leader who will be great) or you might want to use it next week as a companion story to David and Goliath.  Next week it offers a young hero who wins the day by turning the enemy into a friend rather than by killing him - which is welcome, but more about that next week.  

_If your congregation uses anointing in worship, this is a good chance for some worship education.  Name and even walk through the different kinds of anointing you do.  Then, introduce anointing a king as practiced in the Old Testament.  You might even anoint children (or all worshipers) with a dap of good smelling lotion or simply olive oil saying to them something like, “God chose David to be a king.  God has work for you to do too.”  This could be done during a children’s time, as worshipers leave the communion rail, or as they leave the sanctuary.

_To focus on Samuel rather David, preface the reading with brief remarks about Samuel the great prophet who had anointed Saul the first king.  Read 15:34 – 16:2a.  Pause to reread “Saul will kill me!” with feeling and note why Samuel might have been scared to do what God wanted.  Read 16.2b -4.  Pause again to note why the town leaders were trembling. Read 16:5-6.  Stop and remind worshipers that Samuel was called “The Seer” and what that meant.  Read the remaining verses using your voice and facial expressions to emphasize the fact that “the Seer” was not seeing well here.  Then comment on God’s seeing and human seeing.  This could be a children’s time, the reading of the day, or the beginning of the sermon.

Psalm 20

Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king to be sung during a ceremony in the Temple.  For adults to dig through the details of royal liturgy and theology might be interesting and set the stage for preaching about governing leaders today.  But children will miss most of this.  For them I’d read Psalm 23, connecting the line “he anoints my head with oil” to David and imagining David singing this psalm when he is back in the field looking out for the sheep – and nothing much has changed yet.  In this situation it becomes a way for David to remember happily being singled out and wondering what the anointing will mean for him in the future. 

THINKING AHEAD:  We assume that everyone knows Psalm 23, but in this day that is not always true, especially for children.  This summer’s stories about David invite worship leaders to connect different verses in the psalm to events in David’s life.  You might even

-          give children small journals with one line of the psalm written on each page.  These pages could be illustrated or journaled on during the summer. Or,

-          challenge children to learn the psalm by heart during the summer.  Offer a small prize for any child (or any worshiper) who can do it.  If an older worshiper already knows it, invite him/her to recite it for the congregation and say briefly why they are glad they know it by heart.”

Ezekiel 17:22-24

This is a parallel to the parables about growth in the gospel.  For children it requires another round of explanations and does not add anything to the parables.  So, I’d read it for the adults or skip it entirely.

Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15

On a Sunday with so much rich material for children, I’d skip this psalm too.  Really Psalm 23 makes more sense for this day. 

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17

_This complex logic about life beyond death is for the adults.  Children’s ideas and questions about death tend in other directions.  If you plan worship around this text, click on "Death" in the word cloud to explore other resources and ideas about death that you may want to use with the children.

_Verse 17 offers children an interesting to them idea – “you are a new creation.”  For them it is the promise of endless second chances.  Tell stories of children who go off to camp or join a summer sports team where they know no one and become a different person because no one knows what to expect of them.  They can be “a new creation.”  Insist that God says they don’t even have to go to a place where no one knows them to be a new creation.  Every day they can get up with a fresh start and be a new creation, living as God’s person.  Create a litany in which the congregation responds to descriptions of situations in which we might feel stuck because of what people already think about us with “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new creation. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.”

Mark 4:26-34

_Celebrate the truth in these parables with the old children’s folk song “Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow.”  The song tells what the farmer does but admits in every chorus “you, nor I, nor anyone knows how….”  Below are links to ta video of children singing and a site with the lyrics.

Kindergarten class singing at Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow 

Find the lyrics at Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow.  

_There are several ways to explore the seed metaphor with children.  If you use any of them take time to work with both sides of the metaphor.  Children have trouble getting the “teaching point” in metaphors.

Show or give each child a seed of one of the flowers being displayed in the sanctuary today.  Ponder how such a small, dull little thing becomes such a colorful, wonderful flower.  Make Jesus’ point that just as the flower grows from the seed, God’s Kingdom grows from each of our little gifts and deeds.

Display a single mustard seed (found in the spice section of grocery stores) and a photo of a mustard tree.  Be amazed that such a small lump can turn into such a big shrub.  Make Jesus’ point that every small thing we do can make such a big difference.  Then, inform worshipers that one little mustard seed doesn’t just produce one 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.

Cut open an apple. Slice it and core it with the children.  Together count the seeds in it to figure out how many trees could come from this one apple.  (There were five in the one I ate for lunch.)  Then point to one of the seeds and ask, ”If we planted this seed and it grew into an apple tree, how many apples would that tree produce?”  Enjoy wild guesses and the possibility of this many apples every season for lots of seasons.  Marvel at what comes from one little apple seed.  Then go to Jesus’ point that just as much comes from each of our words, deeds, and gifts.  If you have a small number of children, give each child an apple slice to eat.  (I got this idea from someone who couldn’t remember where it came from.  If anyone knows, let the rest of us know.)

_The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss, is the simplest of stories about a little boy who plants a seed a waits for it to grow.  Everyone tells him it will not grow, but he keeps tending it, and it does grow into a carrot.  The book can be read aloud in about 2 minutes, but enjoying the pictures might add another minute.  Today it is a child’s version of the growth parables and proof that when small things are done by small people with commitment, wonderful things can happen.

Year A - Proper 29, Christ the King, the Reign of Christ (November 20,2011)

This Sunday is New Year’s Eve in the church year.  We conclude the year remembering that Christ is the beginning and end of all life and remembering his story as we have followed it through the concluding year. Next Sunday we begin again.  That makes this a good opportunity to take the long view of the church year.

Bring out all the seasonal paraments and drape them over the central table in order.  Connect each one to its season. 

I would give this sketch  to an artist in the congregation for "slicking up"

Give the children a coloring sheet of the church year and crayons with which to color in the seasons adding important words and pictures that go with each season.

Devote the whole service or just the sermon to reviewing the year.  Read a key text, talk about the main theme, pray a prayer, and sing a song from each season.  Recall the ways your congregation has celebrated each season during the past year.  Praise God for the journey through the seasons each year.

Put the focus on the life of the Lord of the seasons.  Tell a story of Jesus and sing a song about Jesus for each season.  Children who often do not connect all the stories about Jesus into a whole especially benefit from the chance to connect them all.  Adults benefit from rehearsing the long arc of the story and placing it in both all of history and the cycle of the church year.

Christ the King

Go to Year C - Christ the King, Reign of Christ to read about how children understand kings and ideas based on the kind of king Jesus chose to be.

Christ the Cosmic Power

Children are intensely interested in power.  They recognize early that they have very little and aspire to have more.  The parents, teachers, and baby sitters have absolute power.  The biggest and oldest among them have certain power within the group.  They admire superheroes with super powers.  This Sunday says to them that Jesus has all the power in the universe, always has had it and always will.  But Jesus chose not to use that power to get all the good stuff for himself.  Instead he used it to take care of and love people.  He calls himself a shepherd king.  And, he calls us to use our power in the same caring, loving way. 

AUTHORITY   DOMINION   REIGN  RULE  POWER

Children need help with biblical power vocabulary.  Authority, dominion , reign (sounds like a weather event to non-readers), even rule are unfamiliar terms.  Choose one or two to use today.  Make one or all of them into a POWER POSTER printing the words in big powerful fonts.  

Christ, the Shepherd King

Sheep and shepherds appear in several of the day’s texts.  At the beginning of worship give children strips of small sheep stickers and instruct them to listen for the sheep in the songs, stories, prayers and sermon and to place a sticker in their printed order of worship each time they hear one.  (Younger readers will put their stickers anywhere on the page.  More proficient readers can be encouraged to place them at the correct spot on the page – and thus become more familiar with the printed order.)

During a children’s time make shepherd’s crook crosses to take home as Bible bookmarks.  Each child will need one pipe-cleaner to bend into the shepherd’s staff and a 2 inch piece of pipe cleaner to wrap around the staff forming the crossbar.

Few urban or suburban children know much about sheep or shepherding.  For many a shepherd is a fierce guard dog and a staff is a group of people at the school or recreation center.  So display a cuddly stuffed sheep and talk about real sheep who do not smell very good, can’t find their own food, wander off if not watched constantly and  wade into water that can soak their wool and drown them.  As you talk slowly move from cuddling the stuffed sheep to holding it at an arms distance with disgust.  Talk with admiration about the shepherds and the job they do taking care of sheep.  Then, sitting the sheep in a prominent place for the rest of the service, note with surprise that Jesus compared himself to a shepherd and us as his sheep.  Ponder why that fits and point to a song or prayer you will use today that refers to Jesus as shepherd.

Sing “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” or your congregation’s favorite psalm 23 hymn rather than other shepherd hymns.  Most of the images in them are too complex for children to understand.

                   Today’s Texts

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

I was struck by the difference it made when these verses are printed as poetry rather than prose.  All the individual sheep images stand out more clearly.  Go to Hedwyg's Blog to see it.  Print it down the middle of a large sheet of paper leaving lots of marginal space.  Read through it with children talking about the sheep and shepherds, then invite them to illustrate it during worship and post it on the rail at the front of the sanctuary or in some other designated place at the end of worship or at offertory time, if that is appropriate.  Take time to look at and comment on any you see as children leave the sanctuary.

Matthew has Jesus dividing the sheep from the goats.  Ezekiel has the shepherd separating the lean from the fat sheep.  Children understand Ezekiel more readily.  Talk about the ways we push each other around to be first in line or get a good seat on the bus or get to the cookie plate first.  Take time to show where human flanks and butts are and how we use them against each other.  Children are delighted that the word butt is in the Bible and will remember Ezekiel’s message as they engage such shoving matches in the future.

Psalm 100

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

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

Psalm 95:1-7a

Psalm 100 may be more familiar to the adults (or some of the adults), but this psalm is filled with simpler references from the created world that children more readily understand. 

Ephesians 1:15-23

Paul insists that Christ is the most powerful force in the whole universe and that Christians can tap into Christ’s power.  Christ, not monsters, evil leaders, bullies, scary storms, or anything else is the most powerful power there is.  When we are connected to Christ and acting as Christ’s servants we also have great power.  The CEV translation of verses 19 -23 makes this clearest to children.

Beatrice’s Goat, by Page McBrier, describes the impact one goat has on a family in central Africa.  The goat gives the children milk to drink, extra milk to sell.  The money enables them to put a tin roof on their little house and to pay for Beatrice to go to school.  She excelled and won a scholarship to a New England prep school.  The goat, from the Heifer Project, was probably purchased by a church or Sunday School class.  Ponder the power of the gift these Christians gave. 

To highlight the last phrase of the Lord’s Prayer and celebrate Christ’s power and glory, create a litany.  Each entry reviews events or the theme of one of the seasons.  The congregation responds, “Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever.”  It could be an affirmation of faith following a sermon exploring Christ’s glory and power as seen in the seasons of the church year.  Point out the format before inviting the congregation to join in reading it.

Matthew 25:31-46

Because this is a rather long passage that can lose children in all the words, invite worshipers to join in reading it as a play.  The worship leader sets it up and serves as Narrator.  A second reader stands front and center as the King.  The right half and the left half of the congregation read the appropriate parts.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Matthew 25:31-46

Narrator:  When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with him, he will sit on his royal throne, and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him. Then he will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the righteous people on his right and the others on his left.   Then the King will say to the people on his right,

King:    Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world.  I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.

Narrator:  The righteous will then answer him,

Right Side:  When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?  When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?

King:  I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these members of my family, you did it for me!’

Narrator:  Then he will say to those on his left,

King:  Away from me, you that are under God’s curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!  I was hungry but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink;  I was a stranger but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of me.

Narrator:  Then they will answer him,

Left Side:  When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison,and would not help you?

King:  I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.

Narrator:  These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life.

                                                            The Good News Bible

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Copyright: Jan Richardson
Image available at
janrichardsonimages.com

Methodist minster-artist Jan Richardson created Christ in the Scraps from scraps of paper she had tossed aside while working on other projects.  Help the children find the face by looking first for the eyes, then the nose and mouth.  Ponder how hard it can sometimes be to see Christ’s face in the world around us – especially when that face is found in the trashed, tossed aside, discounted people and places.  For your own enjoyment and to fill out your understanding of this art, read Jan’s description of how she created this face on her blog The Painted Prayerbook.

Display photos of a grand variety of people from around the world.  Select some that are inviting and others that are threatening.  Ask worshipers “Can you see Christ here?”  After discussing which pictures are harder for us to find Christ in, reread all or part of the king’s conversation with the sheep and the goats. 

If you do this as a children’s time, guide the conversation carefully.  It is easy to fall into children’s cute comments about culturally different people.  Actually, this conversation is more powerful as part of the “real” sermon.  Children realize that adults have trouble seeing Christ in some of the pictured people too and the adults can’t write the exercise off as something cute with the kids.  

Year A - Proper 28, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (November 13, 2011)

Judges 4: 1-7

This year the Nobel Peace Prize is shared by three women from Northern Africa and the middle East.  They look and dress like Deborah would have looked and dressed.  Display pictures of them from the internet and briefly introduce them as you introduce Deborah who was a leader like they are.

Psalm 123

By the time you highlight the servant metaphors in the first part of the psalm and put the last part into words that make sense to children, nobody of any age particularly cares.  So, given the richness of the other texts for the day, I would pass over this psalm today.

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18

This dire outline of a frightening Day of the Lord is not for children, but adults.  The prophet’s message that people do not believe that God acts in history is beyond a child’s view of the world.  There are other Day of the Lord texts that make more sense to them.

Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12

F If you did not have this psalm read by readers of different ages on October 23, do so today to celebrate God’s presence in the lives of all the generations.  Enlist a child, a teenager, a young adult, a middle aged adult, an older adult and an elderly person, including readers of both sexes.  (I have omitted the verses about our vulnerability before God’s wrath because I think those verses require careful explanations to avoid fearful confusion among children.  The verses below bypass that issue, but still communicate the psalmist’s message.)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Psalm 90:1-6, 12

Reader 1:      Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

Reader 2:      Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Reader 3:      You turn us back to dust,

and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”

Reader 4:      For a thousand years in your sight

are like yesterday when it is past,

or like a watch in the night.

Reader 5:      You sweep them away; they are like a dream,

like grass that is renewed in the morning;

in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

in the evening it fades and withers.

Reader 6:      So teach us to count our days

that we may gain a wise heart.

                                                                                                NRSV

& & & & & & & & & & & & & &

F Use this psalm praising God to invite worshipers to flip through the section of hymns praising God in your hymnal.  You could simply point out a few of those sung often in your congregation and briefly highlight a key phrase in each one.  Or, you could have a singing sermon in which you speak briefly about the message of several hymns, singing verses or whole hymns together as you go.  Some that children can sing at least parts of include:

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

God, You Spin the Whirling Planets

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy

F The  hymn “Our God Our Help in Ages Past” is based on this psalm.  If you sing it, take time to point out the connection and put one or two verses into your own words.  Verse 3 about a thousand ages being like an evening to God fascinates children when it is pointed out.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

F Print on bulletin covers, project, or enlarge and display a copy of Gustave Dure’s version of the Last Judgment (it is in the public domain).  It is hard to see details, but point out the sweep of the image with God at the top surrounded by light and figures in the light, angels casting out those who have been judged in the middle and figures falling into the darkness at the bottom.  Point out that there are lots of such scary pictures and that they are truly frightening.  Even, by the time Paul was writing letters to his friends people had seen or heard about such pictures and were scared.  Then clearly state that Paul insisted that they need not be frightened or worried.  Paul told them that they would be at the top in the light near God in such pictures.  Introduce the terms “children of light” and “children of dark”, then read the text.

F Verse 11 probably offers most to children.  Paul says because they are children of light they can have hope.  They belong to God no matter what happens around them.  Given that, they can love and support each other.  A simple true example of this happened in my church school class last week. 

A teacher leaned in to tell a very squirmy, wiggly first grader lying next to her that she needed to do something with her feet so she would not accidently kick and hurt the girl in front of her.  That girl turned around, scooted over a little on the floor and said, “You could come sit beside me.”  The squirmer smiled, sat up straight and scooted up.  The two later worked on a craft project together.  That is the kind of encouragement Paul is talking about.

F Go to Rumors: Sermon Helps for Preachers with a Sense of Humor and scroll about two thirds of the way down the blog to find “When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking” a poem about parents encouraging their children.  You might create other tributes following the poet’s format, “When you though I wasn’t looking, I saw… and I learned.”  You might even create some about what you have learned from the congregation.  Encourage worshipers to create some of their own for people who are shaping their lives.  Children might use this worksheet to write or draw their own verses.

F Before singing “God of Grace and God of Glory,” briefly identify it as a hymn the Thessalonian Christians could have sung after reading Paul’s letter. The verses sing of all the hard things people face.  The chorus is a response to those hard things. Point out the repeated words in the chorus and encourage young worshipers to sing them even if they can’t read all the other words. 

Matthew 25:14-30

F The Contemporary English Version of the Bible calls the money in this parable gold coins rather than talents and provides a good reading of this text.  If you use a translation that calls the money talents, take time before the reading to remind young worshipers that a talent was a coin in Jesus day – a coin that worth a very large amount of money.  Also point out that these talents are not the abilities and skills that we call talents today.  For added emphasis, present a collection of large golden coins (check a party store for Mardi Gras coins year-round).  After defining talent, count coins into the three piles of the beginning of the parable and encourage worshipers to listen for these piles as you read.   

F All the coming and going in this parable makes it ideal for younger children to act out during worship.  You need a minimum of four children, but can add others as the family of the master/mistress.  They will need to rehearse before worship with the reader. Costumes as simple as head scarves and head ties are grand additions for both the actors and the watching congregation.

Setting the stage:

Draw “$$$$” in green marker on 15 brown paper lunch sacks.  Pile 8 of them in one stack to one side for the master to give the servants.  Pile 5 in a second pile and 2 in a third pile.  (These could be in place at the beginning of worship or the reader could take the role of the stage manager putting props in place, briefly explaining what is in each bag, and introducing the actors before going to the lectern to read the story.)

The action:

The master or mistress or master’s family stands by the big pile with the servants in a line before him/her/them as verses 14-15 are read.  He/she/they give the bags to the servants, then move to the edge of the stage.

The first servant takes his/her bags to the pile of 5, adds them, stands behind the pile folding arms across chest and smiling broadly.  (verse 16)

The second adds the two talents to the pile of two and strikes the same happy pose.  (verse 17)

The third sneaks that bag off to one side, covers it with a square of brown cloth or an inverted flower pot, sits in front of it as if to hide it, folds arms over chest with a frown on his/her face.  (verse 18)

When the master/mistress/family returns…

He/she/they go to the first servant, put hands on hips and look at the servant for an explanation (verse 19).  The servant waves one hand over the big pile of bags with a smile.  The master/mistress/family shake the servant’s hand (verses 20-21). 

The process repeats with the second servant (verses 22-23). 

When the master/mistress/family comes to the third servant, that servant does not even stand, but sits scowling as verses 24-27 are read.  The master/mistress then takes the one bag (maybe dusting it off) from the third servant and gives it to the first servant (verse 28-29), then shoos the third servant off the stage (verse 30) and stands between the two servants a hand on each one’s shoulder smiling broadly.

F If it is stewardship season, after exploring the parable offer children (or all worshipers) wrapped hard candies.  You could give them small bags of 5 each or invite them to take two from baskets of candies as they are passed up and down the pews.  One is for them to enjoy now.  The remainder is/are for them to pass to other people to let them know that you care about them.  Suggest that they might want to share a candy with someone in their family to show their love.  Or, they could watch for people who don’t often get such attention – maybe someone at school or other place they go this week.  Tell them that they are stewards of the candies and are to use them to share God’s love.