Year A - First Sunday after Christmas (December 29, 2013)

On the Sunday after Christmas children who come to worship (not unlike the adults who come to worship) will not be many in number and will be coming in many moods.  Some will be basking in the rosy glow of a happy Christmas.  Others will be deeply disappointed either because they did not get what they wanted or gatherings were less than peacefully cheerful.  Some will have landed with a thud in post-Christmas and are waiting for things to get back to normal.  Others are just tired – and maybe cranky.  Christmas is so very over and won’t come again for a year.  But, because numbers are low and expectations are not what they were for earlier December worship services, it is a relaxed Sunday with the possibility to try a few somewhat different ways of praising God and responding to the Christmas story.

] The first task is to sort through available texts.  If you will celebrate Epiphany on January 5, you might want to use the Second Sunday of Christmas texts (i.e. the prologue of John) today, saving all the magi stories for Epiphany.  Or you might use the magi and flight into Egypt story as an entry into exploring “after Christmas realities” today and then retell the magi story to explore Epiphany calls to rise and shine next week.  OR, you might ignore all the Christmas Sunday texts and work with the New Year’s texts.  There are lots of good possibilities for children as well as adults!

 

] Some congregations devote this Sunday to an after-Christmas Day lessons and carol service.  Often before Christmas we focus on the details of the stories the carols tell.   Just after Christmas Day explore messages the carols give us to take into the year before Christmas comes again. 

Before singing “Good Christians Friends, Rejoice” point to the three reasons to rejoice in the last lines of the verses – “Christ is born today,” “Christ was born for this,” and “Christ was born to save.”

Interrupt the congregation's singing of “Joy to the World” after the second verse.  Note that we know the first verse and the second is a simple call to sing our praises.  Then insist that we often stop paying attention to the words of the later verses in a song.  Walk worshipers through the last two verses.  Verse 3 is another task (harder than singing) for us – “No more let sins and sorrows grow.”  Verse 4 is a promise to us as we work on verse 3 – “He rules the world with truth…and wonders of his love.”  This done, invite everyone to sing the song challenging them to sing from the beginning all the way through the end.

“Once in Royal David’s City” tells the big story in words that many elementary readers know.  Help them get the message by walking through the verses with open books (or the words on the screens). Go to Fourth Sunday of Advent (Yr A) for details. 

Sing “What Child Is This?” with one group singing the questions in the verses and another singing the answers in the chorus.  A choir could sing the verses with the congregation responding with the chorus.  Or especially if it is a choir-less Sunday, two halves of the congregation could be the two groups.

Direct children to the last verse of “In the Bleak Midwinter” that refers to the gifts the shepherds and magi brought Jesus and identifies the gift we can bring Jesus – “our hearts.” 

Today’s Texts

Isaiah 63:7-9

Isaiah’s poetic words are probably here today to connect to incarnation.  It seems to me other texts speak more clearly to children. 

Psalm 148

] On the Sunday after Christmas recall the Christmas story, then enjoy calling on everything in the universe to praise God for this amazing deed.  Instead of having one reader, invite as many as possible in the sanctuary to get involved in this call to praise.  Here are two potential scripts.  In the first one, the lines to be read are shorter and so easier for young readers.  The second one follows the psalmist’s division of calls to those above the earth and those on the earth with one group reading each set of calls.   In either, Group 1 could be the choir and Group 2 the congregation.  Or, Group 1 could be the left side of the congregation and Group 2 the right side.   Invite children especially to join in the reading since the words are words they are likely to know.

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Psalm 148 – Let all praise God!

All:                  Praise the Lord!

Group 1:       Praise the Lord from the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

Group 2:       Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his host!

Group 1:       Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars!

Group 2:       Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens!

Group 1:       Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for he commanded and they were created.

Group 2:       He established them forever and ever;

he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Group 1:       Praise the Lord from the earth,

you sea monsters and all deeps,

Group 2:       fire and hail, snow and frost,

stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Group 1:       Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

Group 2:       Wild animals and all cattle,

creeping things and flying birds!

Group 1:       Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

Group 2:       Young men and women alike,

old and young together!

Group 1:       Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his glory is above earth and heaven.

Group 2:       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:                  Praise the Lord!

New Revised Standard Version

 

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Psalm 148

Let All Above the Earth and On the Earth

Praise God!

All:                  Praise the Lord!

Group 1:       Praise the Lord from the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

                        Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his host!

                        Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars!

                        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.

Group 2:       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!

                        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:                  Praise the Lord!

New Revised Standard Version

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Feel free to copy this for use in worship.

 

] Give children a coloring page with words from the psalm calling all creatures on the earth to praise God printed in the middle.  Challenge them to draw around the “earth” things mentioned in the psalm and some ideas of their own.  (I added the mountains.)

] “All Creatures of Our God and King” sets the words of St. Francis of Assisi to music.  St. Francis was surely remembering Psalm 148 as he wrote it.  The repeated “Alleluias” are easy for even non-readers to sing and recall all the Christmas “alleluias.”  Other hymns based on this psalm are harder for children to sing.

Hebrews 2:10-18

] Children will miss this abstract text almost entirely.  If you want to explore the incarnation in children’s terms, go back to the suggestions for The Fourth Sunday of Advent.   Again check out the walk through guide for "Once in Royal David’s City.” That hymn might be a better way to explore incarnation than these words.  

Add Nativity and Easter pictures.  They had
been pulled from the box when I took this photo.

] Children often need help connecting all the stories about Jesus.  So, on the Sunday after Jesus’ birthday take time to connect the story about Baby Jesus with stories about the man Jesus.  If there is an old teaching picture file in the church school, dig out pictures of Jesus to show the children in order to remind them of familiar stories.  Basically you need a nativity scene and pictures of Jesus teaching, healing, and on the cross followed by a picture of the empty tomb.  (If you add pictures of events such as calling Zacchaeus down from the tree, be ready to take time to hear a young story teller tell a rather long version of the story with possibly garbled details.  Teaching and healing pictures can be identified without reference to details of specific situations and therefore move along a little faster.)  

] “Christ is Alive, Let Christians Sing” is an Easter hymn with words that older elementary children understand and can sing along on.  Today sing verses 2, 3, and 5 to celebrate the fact that the story of Jesus’s birth is not something that happened long ago and far away but affects our lives today.  Review these verses before singing them together.

2. Christ is alive teaching and healing today.  Name some of the healing and teaching your congregation does in Jesus’ name.

3. Jesus is not far away in heaven but is with us and among us every day.

5. The good news of Jesus’ birth is as much good news today as it was then.  The whole world in every time and place is called to respond to God with us.

Matthew 2:13-23

 

] Children hear this horrifying story most easily when the emphasis is on the flight into Egypt rather than the slaughter of the children.  One way to tell it is to work with a crèche.   Recall the Christmas story and how almost magical the night was.  Then announce that the story did not stop there.   Remove the angels noting that they went back to heaven.  Set the shepherds aside noting that they went back to their sheep in the fields.  Touch the three magi, noting that they did not sleep well that night.  They had a dream in which God told them King Herod was really jealous of the new king and was ready to try to kill the baby.  Given this God said they should go home without stopping off to tell Herod where Jesus was.  Move their figures off to another side and note that they did as God told them.  Now go back to Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  Tell the children that they did not sleep well either.  Joseph had a dream in which God warned him that Herod was out to get the baby.  So, they were to get up right then, in the middle of the night and head down the road to Egypt.  Move their figures away from the central place.  Explain that they stayed in Egypt for two years.  It was not an easy time for them.  After two years they started back home, but God warned them that the King who followed Herod was just as evil as Herod was.  So, instead of going back home, they settled in the little town of Nazareth.  PAUSE.  SIGH.  Admit that this is a sad follow up for such a wonderful Christmas in the stable story.  It would be nice if everyone had gone happily home and watched Jesus grow up safe and secure with angels watching over him and no problems for anyone.  But it didn’t work that way.  It doesn’t work out that way for any of us.  We all have all sorts of problems to worry about and work on.  The good news in this story is that God knows that.  Jesus’ family had to run away in the middle the night to escape an evil king.  So God understands when we and our families have scary problems.  God is with us and loves us not just when things are Christmas Eve wonderful but also when nothing is going right.  Right now, on the Sunday after Christmas, that is really good to know.  Christmas is over for this year.  We still have New Year’s Day to look forward to.  But, soon it’s back to school and all the old problems and people we will struggle with.  It’s a good time to remember that God was with Jesus and his family in the peaceful stable AND on the scary road to Egypt.



JESUS MAFA. Flight into Egypt, from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
 http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48313
[retrieved November 9, 2013].

] Look at this picture of the flight into Egypt and compare it with photos of current refugees from National Geographic or other sources.

] Especially if your congregation is active in ministry to refugees in your community, explain that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus became refugees.  Compare their experiences in Egypt where they were foreigners with the challenges refugees in your community face.  Talk about some of the ways your congregation reaches out to refugees.  Suggest at least one specific way that families can take care of refugees during the last days of Christmas vacation as an “after his birthday” birthday present for Jesus or a good New Year’s resolution in Jesus’ honor.

One church planned a morning service project for children and their families during the week after Christmas.  Families that were in town and needed to get out of the “what are we doing for the holidays next” mode really appreciated it.  This would be a good year to pack relief kits for refugees from the wars in Syria or Africa.

 

 

 

 

Year C - Proper 27, 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, 25th Sunday after Pentecost (November 10, 2013)

These texts fall on All Saints Day some years.  It all depends on the calendar.  The gospel especially fits that Sunday well.  It would be possible to use Luke’s discussion about life beyond death then and the Zaccheus story on this Sunday.

Haggai 1:15b-2:9      COURAGE

] The key word here is courage.  Comparing “courageous” and “discouraged” will help older children grasp Haggai’s message to the discouraged people trying to rebuild Jerusalem.  Since courage in many children’s stories is a matter of facing monsters and villains, children benefit from recognizing that courage is also sticking with it on really hard tasks that take a really long time.  They learn to define themselves as courageous when they work hard on really difficult subjects at school or keep being kind to a person who is mean to them or living through tough situations at home. 

] The church over the ages has courageously devoted time and money to repairing and rebuilding after natural disasters, wars, and personal traumas.  It is one thing we do frequently and do well.  Celebrate that today.  Cite examples of ways your congregation has been involved.  Be sure as you do to include projects in which the children are active.  In my congregation that would include collecting food for the food pantry, packing a variety of disaster response kits, walking with families or classes on money raising walks and hosting homeless men at the church during winter evenings. 

Our local paper annually recognizes a Distinguished Dozen, local people who are significantly involved in serving others.  One year they were all teenagers.  The article about each teen cited serving experiences during their elementary years as the inspiration for the teenage service.  Many got their start by working with their families on community care projects.  Scientific studies validate their stories.  So encourage children and parents to work together repairing, rebuilding, and generally caring for their community.

] During the singing of Argentine folk hymn “Song of Hope,” stage a processional of placards, each naming one way your congregation is involved in repairing and rebuilding.   The placards could be handed to children and briefly explained just before the hymn.  The children then circle the sanctuary while the congregation sings the song several times.  (It is only one verse.)  Or, create a litany in which a leader names and briefly describes one project and the congregation responds by singing the song once.  Feature as many projects or groups of similar projects as time permits.  Four or five is probably enough. 

] Even non-readers can sing along on “Grant us wisdom, Grant us courage” in each verse of “God of Grace and God of Glory.”  Before singing the hymn point out the phrases and encourage all worshipers to sing that if they cannot sing all the other words.  Doing this often leads parents to nudge their children each time the phrase comes up and to smile at them as they sing it together.

Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21

This psalm praising God begs for dramatic reading that includes the congregation.  It is an acrostic, an alphabet poem.  Each line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  That means the verses are independent praises.  So,

] Arrange the psalm for responsive reading between congregation and leader or choir or between two sides of the congregation.

] Or to enjoy the acrostic nature of the psalm invite the children forward.  Teach them the Hebrew letters in today’s psalm then with them say the appropriate letter as the congregation reads each line of the psalm.  To streamline this, work with one class of children in advance then invite them to lead the psalm with you.

& & & & & & & & & & &

PSALM 145:1-5, 17-21

ALEPH

I will extol you, my God and King,

and bless your name forever and ever.

BET

Every day I will bless you,

and praise your name forever and ever.

GIMEL

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

his greatness is unsearchable.

DALET

One generation shall laud your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts.

HE

On the glorious splendor of your majesty,

and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

ZADE

The Lord is just in all his ways,

and kind in all his doings.

QOPH

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

RESH

He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;

he also hears their cry, and saves them.

SHIN

The Lord watches over all who love him,

but all the wicked he will destroy.

TAW

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

         And all flesh will bless his holy name

         forever and ever.

                                    New Revised Standard Version

& & & & & & & & & & &

Psalm 98

] Psalm 98, a praise psalm filled with short simple phrases that children understand, shows up several times in the lectionary.  God to this link (yes, Psalm 98 shows up again on Christmas Eve/Day) for a responsive reading script for a worship leader and two halves of the congregation. 

 

] To capture the exuberance of this psalm gather all the rhythm instruments and noise makers you can.  Invite the children forward to help the congregation read the psalm.  Pass out the instruments.  The children’s job is to make noise with the instruments and shout Alleluia! each time you point to them.  Practice once or twice.  Then read verses 1-3 without pausing.  Pause after each of the remaining verses for the children to praise with their alleluias and instruments.  The verses may be read by a liturgist or by the whole congregations (much louder and more in keeping in the spirit of the psalm!).

To do a low key children’s choir promotion, ask the children’s choir director to be the children’s conductor while you lead the reading parts.  Include all the children, not just those in choir.  Who knows?!  This might inspire the non-choir children to try it out.

] Print selections from the psalm in the center of a page.  Give pages to the children and invite them to illustrate the verses during worship.  At the end of the service talk with children about their illustrations as they leave the sanctuary.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Praise the Lord!

Sing a new song to the Lord;

he has done wonderful things!

By his own power and holy strength

he has won the victory….

Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth;

praise him with songs and shouts of joy!

Sing praises to the Lord!

Play music on the harps!

Blow trumpets and horns,

and shout for joy to the Lord, our king.

Roar, sea, and every creature in you;

sing, earth, and all who live on you!

Clap your hands, you rivers;

you hills, sing together with joy before the Lord,

          because he comes to rule the earth.

He will rule the peoples of the world

with justice and fairness.

                                                                            From Psalm 98 (TEV)

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

] After reading the first lines of the first verse of the psalm, point out that it is the chorus of the hymn “Earth and All Stars.”  Sing the hymn.  The children enjoy the repeated chorus and also enjoy all the specific, modern items that are called to praise God.

Job 19:23-27a

] If “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” from Handel’s Messiah will be sung, point out the title phrase in Job 19:25.  Briefly explain that Job was both very sick and very sad.  Even in all his suffering he knew that God was his Redeemer and was on his side.  That is as far as it is wise to delve with children in the sanctuary.  Discussions of suffering with children are always specific and need to be held in private.

 

Psalm 17:1-9

] Even if you are building worship around Job, I’d use Psalm 98 instead of this psalm for the sake of the children.  The vocabulary and poetic images are too complicated to explain.  Though some children have enough experience with suffering to share the psalmist’s prayer, there are other prayers that state the concern in ways a child can more easily grasp.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

] The message to children here is don’t worry about what will happen when you (or people you love) die and don’t worry about what will happen when you grow up or get to be a teenager or….   Instead, think about today.  Live as God’s person today.  Do the best you can and know that God is with you.  Fortunately, this is the default setting of many children anyway.  They live very much in the present moment.

] Turn 13-17 into charge and benediction using your own words.

Remember that God loves you.  God chose you to hear about that love and to know the stories of Jesus.  Do not forget them.  Live by them every day.  And may God who created the whole universe, Jesus who showed us how much God loves us, and the Holy Spirit who guides us be with you giving you courage and strength to be God’s people every day. 

Luke 20:27-38

] The nasty trap the Sadducees set for Jesus and the way Jesus turned it back on them will go right past the children.  Let it.  Instead explore what it says about what happens to us after we die. 

Jesus insists that life after death is different from life now.  Debating to whom a woman who has had seven husbands will be married is just plain silly.  (This is a special relief to children whose parents have remarried and who therefore may upon hearing the story wonder about the fate of their family.)  The butterfly is a helpful symbol of this reality.  The caterpillar and butterfly are entirely different, but they are different life stages of the same animal.  Caterpillars crawl and eat leaves.  Butterflies fly and drink nectar/ pollen.  We will be as different after death as a caterpillar is from a butterfly, but we will still be ourselves.

We don’t know very much at all about what life will be like after we die.  God has kept it as a special secret.  We do know from Jesus that we will be with God and will be safe.

] Make a list of things that aren’t necessarily true about life after death, i.e. we may not walk on streets paved with gold, we may not all play harps (a relief to many), we may not have wings and fly (who knows how we’ll get around), etc.  Balance this with the list of things we do know about life after we die, i.e. we will be with God, God’s love and care will continue.

] If you live in the northern hemisphere, display autumn nuts (acorns in my area) and bulbs.  Note how dead they look and how hard it is to believe that they will ever be anything but rather dead looking “stuff.”  Talk about what each item becomes in the spring.  If possible give each worshiper a nut or bulb to plant at home.  Talk about how long it will be until we see the results and encourage patience.  Briefly ponder how it feels different to celebrate new life after death in the autumn rather than in the spring at Easter.

] If you live in the southern hemisphere, pull a blooming bulb or seedling out of the dirt.  Gently brush away the soil until you find pieces of the nut or bulb from which it grew.  It may also help to have an unplanted nut or bulb to help find the decaying one in the soil.  (A smallish blooming potted bulb can be tidily un-potted over a bucket or small tub.)  Briefly ponder how it feels different to celebrate life after death in the spring when new life is all around you rather than in the autumn when all the plants are dying back for the season.

] The Next Place, by Warren Hanson, is a poetic exploration of things we know and do not know about life after death.  According to Hanson, it will be very different – no Mondays or months or body characteristics – but we will know we belong and will be close to all the people we have loved.  The whole book can be read aloud, thoughtfully in just under five minutes and is appreciated by people of all ages.  But, it would also be possible to select several pages/ideas to read and discuss mainly with children.  (Heads up: With fresh grief in my life I could not read the whole book aloud right now, but I could read and discuss a good selection of key pages.  There is something cumulative in reading the whole book that packs strong emotions.)

] If you are reading this text in connection with All Saints Day, explain the reason for reading the necrology before it is done.  Also if you have a columbarium, memorial garden or other place for cremains on your property, bring an enlarged photo of the area to identify it to children and talk about how it is used and why that spot is special to people in your congregation.  Point out any plaques identifying all the saints buried there.  (Though it is not the aim of this discussion, once children know what these areas are they treat them with more respect.)

] If your congregation regularly recites the Apostle’s Creed in worship, before reading it today, point out the phrase “(I believe in) the communion of saints.”  Define “saints” as God’s people.  Name a few famous ones, like St. Patrick and Martin Luther King, Jr., and some less famous ones like your grandmother (or other important person in your life) and someone in your congregation.  Finally, point to worshipers and identify each of them as a saint.  Then, repeat the phrase “communion of the saints” and explain that all saints belong to each other in the family of God.  That means we are connected to all God’s people who ever lived and all God’s people who are alive now and even all God’s people who will be born in the future.  We are family with them.  Repeat the paragraph in which it appears in the creed.  Then, invite everyone to say the creed together.

] Either within the sermon or just before the celebration of communion, do a little worship education about the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving.  For most children (and more than a few adults) this is generally thought of as “that long prayer before communion.”  They are more likely to join in on the sung responses if they are explained and rehearsed.   So, point to the prayer in your prayer book or worship bulletin.  Walk through the part that recognizes the communion of the saints putting it into your own words.  Together name some of the individuals or groups you want to be especially aware of at the Table today.  Take time to rehearse the parts the congregation says or sings.  Suggest singing it at every communion service imaging yourself singing and eating with people of all times and from all parts of the world.

Leader: Therefore we praise you,

joining our voices with the heavenly choirs

and with all the faithful of every time and place,

we forever sing to the glory of your name:

People: Holy, holy, holy Lord,

                    God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.