New Years Day (Years A, B, C)

New Year’s Day Worship Themes

There are several New Year’s themes that run through all today’s texts: time, God’s powerful presence in the world, the ability to change, and hope.  Children can explore all these themes.

% Time feels different to children who have known so little of it.  For them years last forever.  They are just beginning to sort out the difference between how long a time period feels and the fact that an hour is always 60 minutes long no matter how it feels. 

After exploring the fact that the same amount of time can feel short or long, point to alpha-omega symbols in your sanctuary (paraments, windows, furnishings).  Explain that these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Note that saying God is alpha and omega is the same as saying God is A to Z.  Celebrate that God was before time began and will be after time ends and is with us in every bit of our time now.

Before singing “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” take time to review the words of one or all of the verses.

Start with verse 3 “a thousand ages in thy sight” putting it into your own words.  Point out that when you have lived long enough to celebrate only 6 Christmases, it seems a long time between Christmases.  But, when you have lived long enough to experience 86 Christmases, the time between Christmases seems to fly by.  It is strange (especially if you are 6) but very true.  Then, read the first lines of this verse and ponder the possibility that not a thousand Christmases but a thousand ages (hundreds of thousands of Christmases) are like one evening to God.

Verse 2 says that God (for whom a 100 ages is an evening) is with us at all times.  You might want to connect to the alpha and omega symbols in paraments, windows, or furnishings in the sanctuary.

Verse 1 is both the introduction and the summary.  I’d start with other verses, then return to God as our “hope” and “home” in all times. 

I’d focus on the first 3 verses with the children.  The adults will get the last two on their own and the children will grow into them.

% Change is possible.  We can never be totally stuck.  God gives us unlimited fresh starts.  Actually children will quickly point out that there are some things they cannot change, e.g. their size, their athletic or musical ability (or lack of it),the family they live in, whether they have enough money for what they need and want.  Acknowledge this and help identify what we can and cannot change.  Only then, talk about New Year’s Day as a good day to identify one change you can make, want to make, and will work on making.  Warn that change is not easy.  We have to expect to mess up and not quit when it gets hard.  We are not like toy transformers that change in a flick of a few levers.  Change takes time and work.

Invite worshipers of all ages to write one change they would like to make during the new year on a slip of paper (maybe some space left at the bottom of the printed order of worship) and to put it in the offering plate as a gift to God.  In the offertory prayer mention this gifts of commitments to changes.

St. Benedict, who founded the Benedictine order of monks, pointed out that every day (as well as every year) we get a fresh start.  Introduce the discipline of bedtime prayer as a good way to remember this.   Individuals or families think back over their day and identify things they want to tell God about the day.  With children identify the things for which we want to say “thanks” and the things about which we need to say “Help”.  Together tell God about these things in prayers.  (At first parents will have to voice the prayers, but soon older children can take turns voicing the prayers.)  Many parents end this by drawing a cross with their finger on each child’s forehead as they say, “Remember, God loves you and I love you ALWAYS.”  (On the radio this morning I heard an expert on insomnia touting very similar bedtime practices in which adults let go of the day and settle in to sleep.)

% The epiphany theme “Arise, Shine” resonates with children as they return to school in a new year.  Especially if you need to combine New Year’s and Epiphany themes go to Epiphany Year A for ideas.

% The response to all these themes is hope for the new year – and all of the future.  Sing the Argentine “Canto de Esperanza” (Song of Hope) which appears in many recent denominational hymnals.  It is a prayer for the new year that could be sung at the benediction.  If it is new to the congregation, read through the words before singing it.  Because it is short, it can be sung two or three times and guarantee that worshippers will be humming it all day.

 

Doors Are BIG on New Year’s Day

% Doors are good images for New Years Day.  We have closed the door on the last year and opened the door to a new door.  When you walk through a door things change.  When you go from outside to inside, you use a quieter voice, you wipe off (even take off) your shoes, you expect to do different things.  Walking through doors tells us where we are and who we are.  There are several ways to use doors in worship on New Year’s Day. 

Borrow the Chalking the Door ritual which is associated with Epiphany but fits nicely on New Year’s Day too.   It is basically a house blessing.  Using chalk, members of the congregation or household write on the door frame the year’s date and the letters C, B, and M (the initials of the three wise men).  Prayer is then offered asking that the door welcome many visitors during the coming year and that all who come through the doorway be blessed.  Write on the church doors during the worship service with the prayers for all who will come through the doors this year (worshipers, brides and grooms, parents bringing babies to be baptized, families and friends coming to bury their dead, members of community groups which will use the facilities,….).  Then encourage households to repeat it in their own homes.  Print a simple blessing for use at both church and home in the order of worship and give out small pieces of white chalk for home use.  Below is a sample blessing.

God of doors and homes, bless this home this year and every year.

Bless all who come and go through this door, both those who live here and those who visit.

May all who enter through this door come in peace and bring joy.

May all who come to this door find welcome and love.

May the love and joy in this home overflow and spread into the community and the world.

 

If your congregation decorates the doors with blue streamers on baptismal days, hang those streamers today.  Point out that every time we walk through those streamers we not only celebrate the baptism of that day, but recall our own baptism and the fact that God loves us and forgives.  God gives us a endless new starts, a new start every day, and a new year today.  If you do not plan to do it on The Baptism of the Lord Sunday, do a remembering of our baptisms service today. 

Check out the Judgment Doors in the section on the gospel text for the day.

The New Year’s Day Texts

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

% To children Ecclesiastes says that life is full of all sorts of things and that all of them are good (in the sense of blessed).  Help the children catch the significance of the 14 rather general pairs of opposites by exploring several for them. 

Vs 2    We all are born and we all die.  Birth and death are simply part of God’s plan for our lives.

Vs. 2b There are seasons.  We can’t plant seeds during the winter or harvest them in the spring.

Vs. 6b There are times we need to save things carefully - like putting aside clothes to wear again.  There are other times when we need to let things go - like giving away old clothes or toys we have outgrown.  Sometimes it is hard to know which time it is.

Vs. 7b There is a time to keep silent and a time to speak.  Children are quick to list examples of these times.

Vs 4    (I’d save this verse for last even though it comes earlier in the list.)  There are times when life is sad and we cry.  There are other times when life is so happy that we laugh a lot.  Both of these times are good, blessed times.  We may prefer the happy, laughing times.  But, God is with us in both happy and sad times. 

% The Secret of Saying Thanks, by Douglas Wood, says to children what The Preacher says in verses 9-13.  The secret is that it is impossible to feel thankful and unhappy at the same time.  Indeed,

The more we say thanks, the more we find to be thankful for. 

And the more we find to be thankful for, the happier we become.

This is one of those children’s books that could be read at the conclusion of the sermon to sum it all up.  It could also be read with the children up front , sitting behind you so they can see the pictures over your shoulders.  Or, it could be read to the whole congregation having encouraged them to close their eyes and imagine each scene you read.

 

Psalm 8

% Read from Today’s English Version which uses vocabulary children understand more readily – “Lord” instead of “Sovereign,” “greatness” instead of “majesty,” and the moon and stars that you “made” rather than “established.”  Most adults will not notice the difference, but the children will.

Revelation 21:1-6a

% I do recall some years that began with a sense of promise for the world.  But, often we begin a new year with a sense of foreboding.  The children sense that even when they do not understand the details of that year’s fears.  The writer of Revelation insists that we need not worry about these things that make us feel like the world is about to end.  For one thing, only God knows when the world will end.  For another thing, the all powerful God who loves us is in control and moving all of history toward a good end.  Check the worship themes at the beginning of this post for ideas highlighting the alpha and omega, judgment doors in European cathedrals, and a song of Hope with which to celebrate the fact that we can face the future without fear.

 

Matthew 25:31-46



Last Judgment, from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
 http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=29327
[retrieved November 11, 2013].Add caption

% Medieval European Cathedrals made all the doors into the sanctuary Last Judgment Doors which illustrate this text.  Usually there was a stone figure of Christ the Judge over the door.  Often under him there were layers of figures with the saintly sheep on one side and the evil goats on the other.  Curved around these figures and the doors were gathered angels and biblical characters in worship.  Show pictures of these doors and imagine walking through them every week to worship.  If there are any special features of the entrances to your sanctuary, point them out and explain what it means to walk past/through them as you enter worship.  For example, many doors feature a cross.  So, say what it means to come through this sign of God’s love and forgiveness into worship every week.

% Where Love Is There God is Also, by Leo Tolstoy, is a short story about a cobbler who hears Jesus promise to visit him the next day.  He is excited, but disappointed when the only visitors he gets are an elderly poor man shoveling snow who he invited in for tea, a young mother and infant to whom he gave his coat, and a boy who has been caught taking an apple from a seller.  That night Jesus reveals that he was with each of those people.  This story is presented for children in several DVD/Videos and books.  It may be titled The Shoemaker’s Dream or Martin the Cobbler.  It may be found in some public libraries.  It is often listed as a Christmas item in libraries or stores.

Year A - Proper 25, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 23, 2011)

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

X If you have been using the Moses Display (click on Moses Display), before reading this text place a fist size rock on the lectern.  Then read the text.  Finally, place the rock on the edge of the display to recall Moses’ burial in an unmarked grave at the edge of the wilderness.

X Pray for all kinds of leaders, remembering to include leaders in children’s groups – elected government officials, lay and ordained church leaders, class officers, team captains, patrol leaders, etc.

X Jump to 1Thesslonians below for a suggestion for connecting Moses, Paul, pastors of your church and the children.

Psalm 90:1-6,13-17

There are several ways to read this psalm that will draw the attention of the children.

1.      Note that this psalm is credited to Moses and invite worshipers to imagine Moses praying it as he looks out over the Promised Land before he dies.  Then invite an elderly man forward to read the psalm.

2.      Since this a psalm that speaks to God who is Lord of all generations, have it read by readers of at least two generations.  A white haired reader could be paired with an older elementary school reader with each reading alternate verses.  The older reader goes first and reads verses 5 and 6 as one reading.

3.      Or, to involve more readers of a variety of ages and sexes, use the five reader script below.  Include an older child, a teenager, a young adult, a middle aged adult, and an older adult.  It doesn’t matter in what order they stand and read, but I would mix them up rather than go youngest to oldest or the reverse.  They could stand around a central microphone each stepping to the mike to read from a script they hold or each could wear a lapel mike.  A rehearsal before the service is essential for all to feel comfortable and thus project the faith of all generations that underlies the psalm.

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Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

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 1:      Turn, O Lord! How long?

Have compassion on your servants!

Reader 2:      Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Reader 3:      Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us,

and as many years as we have seen evil.

Reader 4:      Let your work be manifest to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

Reader 5:      Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and prosper for us the work of our hands—

O prosper the work of our hands!

                                                                                                NRSV

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X If you have been working with the Moses display, sing “Our God Our Help in Ages Past” (based on Psalm 90:1-5) as the closing hymn.  As it is sung have each item on the display carried out down the central aisle. Follow the order in which the items appeared in the story.  In rehearsal assign who carries what and seat them in the correct order.  Instruct them to pick up their item and to walk slowly out holding it with great dignity in both hands at shoulder level.  The burning bush candle carrier, picks up the candle and steps to the side as the others leave.  When all are gone, that candle is placed alone in the center of the display again.  The benediction then refers to God’s presence with Moses through all the years in the wilderness and God’s continued presence with each of us during the coming week.  (The recessional of the items is one way an older children’s class can become worship leaders together.)

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

Point out places where the word HOLY appears in your sanctuary– in paraments, carved into the Table or other wooden furniture in the front, HOLY Bible, etc.  Explain that HOLY is here to point first to the fact that God is holy.  We meet the Holy God at the Table and in the Bible.  But the HOLY is also for us.  We are meant to be holy, to be like God.  Read Lev. 19:1-2.  Then jump to 18b.  Note that this is the Golden Rule.  (Enjoy the fact that you all now know exactly where it came from.)  Then summarize, “how can we be holy, like God?  We can follow the Golden Rule.”

Psalm 1

Psalm 1 is an almost over-simplistic comparison of “the good” and “the wicked.”  To make the comparison visual, have it read by two readers (perhaps both wearing dark shirts and pants or skirts).  One reads the verses about the good.  The other reads the verses about the wicked.  They begin standing back to back in the center of the sanctuary.  Each one turns to recite their verses facing the congregation then returns to the starting position.  This is most effective if the readers actually recite their verses from memory. 

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Psalm 1

Reader 1:      Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law they meditate day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

Reader 2:      The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

Reader 1:      for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

Reader 2:      but the way of the wicked will perish.

                                                                                             NRSV

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NOTE: I used the NRSV in the script because this psalm is well known in this version.  For a translation with an easier vocabulary for children look at Today’s English Version.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

X I doubt that it was intentional, but I think there is a connection between this reading and the story from Deuteronomy.  In Deuteronomy leadership was passing from Moses to Joshua.  In his letter to the folks at Thessalonica, Paul is recalling his ministry with them.  It would be possible to add to the mix stories of previous pastors in your congregation to explore the relationships between people and their leaders.  If you have photographs or paintings of past pastors that are usually hung in public spots, bring them to the sanctuary.  Tell stories.  Ask who knew, was baptized by or married by … the more recent ones.  Then move on to your points about pastoral relationships.  Children may miss some of your later points, but they will be more connected to pictures they hardly noticed before – and those pictures will connect them more fully to the church.

X The Stewardship Connection here is the way leaders use their talents and time to help the whole community.  Deuteronomy reminds us that it is not about Moses, fine as he was.  It is about God and God’s people in all times and places.  Similarly, it was not about Paul nor about any past pastors nor is it about us.  We are called to live for God where we are.   That is all.  This is a different invitation to leadership than is often offered to children.  Children are encouraged to become leaders because leaders are respected, well paid, etc.  Today’s texts insist that leaders are simply people during their part just as Moses, Paul, and past pastors did their parts. 

Matthew 22:34-46

X If you did not do it several weeks ago when the 10 commandments appeared in the Wilderness saga, prove to the children (and all worshipers) that Jesus’ 2 great commandments really do encompass the Ten Commandments.  Print each of 10 in large letters on separate pieces of paper.  Then sort them with help from the congregation into to two piles, one for “love God” and the other for “love neighbors.“  If the children are up front with you, you can do this on the floor.  Do it with the whole congregation using a tackboard or metallic white board or a flannel board.

To take it another step, turn the sets of rules into a congregational litany with one side of the room reading the Ten Commandments and the other responding with the correct one of Jesus’ Two Commandments.

X To explore the trap the authorities were setting for Jesus, identify some of the people who would have favorites among the ten commandments and would be upset if Jesus did not choose “their law” as most important.  For example, store owners might want to be sure “Do not steal” was most important.  Parents would definitely want “Honor your father and mother” near the top of the list.  And so on.

X Go to The Greatest Commandment Children's Sermon for a ready-made children’s sermon or interesting way to open the “real” sermon.  It addresses the difference in remembering 613 rules or 10 rules or 2 rules.

X Another Stewardship Connection:  Connect the two great commandments to specific items in the church’s budget.  If you sorted cards of the 10 Commandments into two stacks, return with cards bearing one budget item each and add them to the two piles.  The point with the children (and the reminder to the adults, maybe especially the budget committee) is that we use the church’s money to follow the 2 great commands.

New Year's Day for Years A, B, and C (January 1, 2012)

New Year’s Day Worship Themes

There are several New Year’s themes that run through all today’s texts: time, God’s powerful presence in the world, the ability to change, and hope.  Children can explore all these themes.

% Time feels different to children who have known so little of it.  For them years last forever.  They are just beginning to sort out the difference between how long a time period feels and the fact that an hour is always 60 minutes long no matter how it feels. 

  

 After exploring the fact that the same amount of time can feel short or long, point to alpha-omega symbols in your sanctuary (paraments, windows, furnishings).  Explain that these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Note that saying God is alpha and omega is the same as saying God is A to Z.  Celebrate that God was before time began and will be after time ends and is with us in every bit of our time now.

Before singing “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” take time to review the words of one or all of the verses.

Start with verse 3 “a thousand ages in thy sight” putting it into your own words.  Point out that when you have lived long enough to celebrate only 6 Christmases, it seems a long time between Christmases.  But, when you have lived long enough to experience 86 Christmases, the time between Christmases seems to fly by.  This is strange (especially if you are 6) but very true.  Then, read the first lines of this verse and ponder the possibility that not a thousand Christmases but a thousand ages (hundreds of thousands of Christmases) are like one evening to God.

Verse 2 says that God (for whom a 1000 ages is an evening) is with us at all times.  You might want to connect to the alpha and omega symbols in paraments, windows, or furnishings in the sanctuary.

Verse 1 is both the introduction and the summary.  I’d start with other verses and  then return to God as our “hope” and “home” in all times. 

I’d focus on the first 3 verses with the children.  The adults will get the last two on their own and the children will grow into them.

% Change is possible.  We can never be totally stuck.  God gives us unlimited fresh starts.  Actually children will quickly point out that there are some things they cannot change, e.g. their size, their athletic or musical ability (or lack of it),the family they live in, whether they have enough money for what they need and want.  Acknowledge this and help identify what we can and cannot change.  Only then, talk about New Year’s Day as a good day to identify one change you can make, want to make, and will work on making.  Warn that change is not easy.  We have to expect to mess up and not quit when it gets hard.  We are not like toy transformers that change in a flick of a few levers.  Change takes time and work.

Invite worshipers of all ages to write one change they would like to make during the new year on a slip of paper (maybe some space left at the bottom of the printed order of worship) and to put it in the offering plate as a gift to God.  In the offertory prayer mention this gifts of commitments to changes.

St. Benedict, who founded the Benedictine order of monks, pointed out that every day (as well as every year) we get a fresh start.  Introduce the discipline of bedtime prayer as a good way to remember this.   Individuals or families think back over their day and identify things they want to tell God about the day.  With children identify the things for which we want to say “thanks” and the things about which we need to say “Help”.  Together tell God about these things in prayers.  (At first parents will have to voice the prayers, but soon older children can take turns voicing the prayers.)  Some parents gather the family for this time.  Others pray with each child individually.  Many parents end this by drawing a cross with their finger on each child’s forehead as they say, “Remember, God loves you and I love ALWAYS. ”  (On the radio this morning I heard an expert on insomnia touting very similar bedtime practices in which adults let go of the day and settle in to sleep.)

% The Epiphany theme “Arise, Shine” resonates with children as they return to school in a new year.  Especially if you need to combine New Year’s and Epiphany themes go to Epiphany Sunday - Year A for ideas.

% The response to all these themes is hope for the new year – and all of the future.  Sing the Argentine “Canto de Esperanza” (Song of Hope) which appears in many recent denominational hymnals.  It is a prayer for the new year that could be sung at the benediction.  If it is new to the congregation, read through the words before singing it.  Because it is short, it can be sung two or three times and guarantee that worshippers will be humming it all day.

Doors Are BIG on New Year’s Day

% Doors are good images for New Years Day.  We have closed the door on the last year and opened the door to a new door.  When you walk through a door things change.  When you go from outside to inside, you use a quieter voice, you wipe off (even take off) your shoes, you expect to do different things.  Walking through doors tells us where we are and who we are.  There are several ways to use doors in worship on New Year’s Day.

Borrow the Chalking the Door ritual which is associated with Epiphany but fits nicely on New Year’s Day too.   It is basically a house blessing.  Using chalk, members of the congregation or household write on the door frame the year’s date and the letters C, B, and M (the initials of the three wise men).  Prayer is then offered asking that the door welcome many visitors during the coming year and that all who come through the doorway be blessed.  Write on the church doors during the worship service with the prayers for all who will come through the doors this year (worshipers, brides and grooms, parents bringing babies to be baptized, families and friends coming to bury their dead, members of community groups which will use the facilities,….).  Then encourage households to repeat it in their own homes.  Print a simple blessing for use at both church and home in the order of worship and give out small pieces of white chalk for home use.  Below is a sample blessing.

God of doors and homes, bless this home this year and every year.

Bless all who come and go through this door, both those who live here and those who visit.

May all who enter through this door come in peace and bring joy.

May all who come to this door find welcome and love.

May the love and joy in this home overflow and spread into the community and the world.

If your congregation decorates the doors with blue streamers on baptismal days, hang those streamers today.  Point out that every time we walk through those streamers we not only celebrate the baptism of that day, but recall our own baptism and the fact that God loves us and forgives.  God gives us a endless new starts, a new start every day, and a new year today.  If you do not plan to do it on The Baptism of the Lord Sunday, do a remembering of our baptisms service today. 

Check out the Judgment Doors in the section on the gospel text for the day.

The New Year’s Day Texts

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

% To children Ecclesiastes says that life is full of all sorts of things and that all of them are good (in the sense of blessed).  Help the children catch the significance of the 14 rather general pairs of opposites by exploring several for them. 

Vs 2        We all are born and we all die.  Birth and death are simply part of God’s plan for our lives.

Vs. 2b    There are seasons.  We can’t plant seeds during the winter or harvest them in the spring.

Vs. 6b    There are times we need to save things carefully - like putting aside clothes to wear again.  There are other times when we need to let things go - like giving away old toys we have outgrown.  Sometimes it is hard to know which time it is.

Vs. 7b    There is a time to keep silent and a time to speak.  Children are quick to list examples of these times.

Vs 4        (I’d save this verse for last even though it comes earlier in the list.)  There are times when life is sad and we cry.  There are other times when life is so happy that we laugh a lot.  Both of these times are good, blessed times.  We may prefer the happy, laughing times.  But, God is with us in both happy and sad times. 

% The Secret of Saying Thanks, by Douglas Wood, says to children what The Preacher says in verses 9-13.  The secret is that it is impossible to feel thankful and unhappy at the same time.  Indeed,

The more we say thanks,

       the more we find to be thankful for. 

And the more we find to be thankful for,

       the happier we become.

This is one of those children’s books that could be read at the conclusion of the sermon to sum it all up.  It could also be read with the children up front , sitting behind you so they can see the pictures over your shoulders.  Or, it could be read to the whole congregation having encouraged them to close their eyes and imagine each scene you read.

Psalm 8

% Read from Today’s English Version which uses vocabulary children understand more readily – “Lord” instead of “Sovereign,” “greatness” instead of “majesty,” and the moon and stars that you “made” rather than “established.”  Most adults will not notice the difference, but the children will.

Revelation 21:1-6a

% I’m writing this post in August.  By the time we get to New Year’s Day we will have passed at least two well hyped dates for the end of the world – one in October and one in December.  Both come with lots of scary promises of a horrible ending.  Older children tend to be aware of these things, talk about them with each other, and worry about them.  The writer of Revelation insists that we need not worry about them.  For one thing, only God knows when the world will end.  For another thing, the all powerful God who loves us is in control and moving all of history toward a good end.  Check the worship themes at the beginning of this post for ideas highlighting the alpha and omega, judgment doors in European cathedrals, and a song of Hope with which to celebrate the fact that we can face the future without fear.

Matthew 25:31-46



Last Judgment, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=29448 [retrieved August 8, 2011].

Last Judgment, from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=29448
[retrieved August 8, 2011].



% Medieval European Cathedrals made all the doors into the sanctuary Last Judgment Doors which illustrate this text.  Usually there was a stone figure of Christ the Judge over the door.  Often under him there were layers of figures with the saintly sheep on one side and the evil goats on the other.  Curved around these figures and the doors were gathered angels and biblical characters in worship.  Show pictures of these doors and imagine walking through them every week to worship.  If there are any special features of the entrances to your sanctuary, point them out and explain what it means to walk past/through them as you enter worship.  For example, many doors feature a cross.  So, say what it means to come through this sign of God’s love and forgiveness into worship every week.

% Where Love Is There God is Also, by Leo Tolstoy, is a short story about a cobbler who hears Jesus promise to visit him the next day.  He is excited, but disappointed when the only visitors he gets are an elderly poor man shoveling snow who he invited in for tea, a young mother and infant to whom he gave his coat, and a boy who has been caught taking an apple from a seller.  That night Jesus reveals that he was with each of those people.  This story is presented for children in several DVD/Videos and books.  It may be titled  The Shoemaker’s Dream or Martin the Cobbler.  It may be found in some public libraries.  It is often listed as a Christmas item in libraries or stores.