Year C - Proper 22, 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, 20th Sunday after Pentecost (October 6, 2013)

World Communion Sunday

Children are fascinated by the idea of a day on which Christians all around the world celebrate Communion.  So exploring that reality might be the best entry to worship for the children on this World Communion Sunday.  There are many different ways to do this.

UInclude people of different racial, ethnic backgrounds as worship leaders.  If possible, include youth and children as well as adults.  When appropriate, invite them to say something about their church in that place or culture.  Some may want to wear what people in that church wear.

UTake time for worshipers to tell brief stories about their worship experiences in churches in other countries.  

UFeature breads from around the world during Communion.

Have children process in carrying loaves of sourdough, pumpernickel, pitas, Asian nan, Native American fry bread, cornbread, tortillas, etc.  They put their loaves in a big basket in front of the central table where they remain for the service.

If you use bread cubes or if people tear chunks of bread off loaves to share in the sacrament, use a variety of breads.  Older children can cut the cubes during church school the week before.  If the cubes are stored in plastic bags in a freezer until Sunday morning, they will be fresh for worship.

Bread, Bread, Bread, by Ann Morris, is a book of pictures of bread from all around the world.  It would be possible to read the whole book.  But, you could also just look at the pictures on the first pages.  Use the index to learn where each pictured bread is made.  Ponder with the children the fact that people everywhere eat bread and marvel at bread as a good symbol for God’s love for all of us at communion.

U Display chalices or crosses (Central American painted cross, Celtic cross, palm cross, orthodox cross, crucifix, etc.) from around the world OR cover the communion table with cloth from different continents.  Identify the source of each one and tell a brief story about Christians gathering for communion in that place.

UPray your way around the world using a map or globe.  Pray for groups of Christians with which you congregation has contact, groups who have been in the news recently, etc.

If space allows, spread a large world map on the floor or draw a world map on a huge mat of newsprint paper.  Invite worshipers to light a votive candle/tea light from a central candle and to place it on a country.  They then offer their prayer for the people who worship there this morning either silently or aloud.

In a more formal setting, the worship leader can pray his or her way from continent to continent with the congregation replying to each prayer, “Hear our prayers for Christians worshiping in NAME OF PLACE.”  If a world map is displayed or projected on a wall, an acolyte can point to each spot with a stick pointer or a pinpoint light.  (Rehearse this so the focus is on the praying rather than the logistics.)

U Select Communion hymns that sing of the whole world in ways that grab the attention of children.

Sing “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” inviting each worshiper to put a hand on the shoulder of or hold hands with the next person.  Encourage stretching across the aisles.

Before singing “I Come With Joy” read verses 2 and 3 with the congregation following along in their hymnals.  Note the appropriateness of singing those verses on World Communion Sunday.

As you sing “In Christ There is No East or West” project pictures of people from around the world.

Point to the Jamaican source of the music for “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ.”  If possible add Jamaican drums or simple rhythm instruments to the accompaniment.

USelect prayers, readings, and music from around the world for today’s liturgy.  Gifts of Many Cultures: Worship Resources for the Global Community, edited by Maren C Tirabassi and Kathy Wonson Eddy, is an excellent source.  Many of the prayers and liturgies are filled with every day references, but will still need introducing to the children .  There is also a follow up book titled Gifts in Open Hands: More Worship Resources for the Global Community.

UIf you can locate a set of paper flags in a school supply store, string them together to drape over doorways or in the worship center.  A children’s class can be enlisted to color the flags in advance if needed.

UGo to Jan Richardson Images  for a collage picture of people of all ages and ethnicities gathered around a table.  ($15.)  While you are there, take time to explore Jan’s other work.   I am a regular visitor at her lectionary based website at The Painted Prayerbook.

U Last year on World Communion Sunday Anita Lynn-Stuart in Pennsylvania used a clock with the children to talk about Christians all around the world celebrating at different times so that there is always someone praising God and celebrating communion on this day.

Saint Francis Day

Go to The Texts This Week - Saint Francis Day for lots of resources for Saint Francis Day.  It includes many plans for blessing the animals.  Some year (soon I hope) I will produce a post on it, but it will not be this year.

The Texts

Faith is doing God’s will or trusting God’s plan and rules – even when you are not sure how it is going to work out.  Many of the texts for the day explore FAITH in different situations.  So, make FAITH the word of the day.  Display it on a banner at the beginning of worship and challenge children to draw a star in their printed order of worship every time they hear, sing or say the word today.  Explore FAITH as it appears in the very different texts for the day. 

Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26; Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-9 even Psalm 137

L Together the Old Testament texts are a sampler of people talking back to God.  These are deeply hurt, terribly sad, and totally angry people, and they are willing to tell God so.  We talk to children often about telling God the happy things, confessing our sins to God, and asking God for help.  But, we also need to give them permission, even encourage them to tell God when they are angry, when life seems unfair, when it looks to them as if God isn’t doing God’s job the way it should be done.  These texts and other stories teach us that God can take such straight talk and even wants it.  Indeed, all these writers seem to work through their outburst to a kind of peace or patience or hope in the middle of their mess.

L One way to explore this in either a children’s time or the day’s sermon is to present photos of people in horrible situations, e.g. portraits of children with harelips, pictures of people living in deep poverty, someone in a hospital bed, etc.  Add situations such as “your parents are getting a divorce.”  Explore the feelings of the people in these situations.  Say aloud some of the things they make you want to say to God and some of the questions you’d like to ask God about these situations.  Note that just as it sometimes helps to talk our feelings out with another person, it can also help to talk them out with God.  Sometimes, in the process of explaining just how horrible it is, we find something we could do to make it better, e.g. telling God how unfair it is for the children to be born with harelips may make you realize that there are ways you could help those children.  Other times, in the process of telling God how bad it is, we remember some of the good things we have too and that makes us feel better.  Or, we remember someone else who has a similar problem and begin to think of ways we can work on the problem together.  And sometimes, it just feels like we’re yelling and God is not listening.  That is the hardest time.  But even then lots of people tell us that if you keep talking to God about it, eventually, sometimes after a very long time, it helps.  No one can say exactly how or why.  But it helps.  So, we need to tell children that, when they are really, really angry and hurt and sad, they can tell God all about it. 

Lamentations 1:1-6 or 3:19-26

L The first Lamentations verses loudly complain about everything that is wrong .  The second set of verses (3: 20-26) manage to find hope in the bleak situation.  Ask six good readers of several different ages (maybe one or two families) to read the verses using the script below.  To make the difference in the two sets of verses clearer, give each reader a two sided round “face” poster on a short pole.  As they read the first set of verses, they each turn the sad face toward the congregation.  As they read the second set of verses, they turn the straight face with eyes looking up and a gold border toward the congregation.

JKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKL

Lamentations 1:1-6 and 3:21-26

 Readers hold sad face poster toward the congregation.

Reader 1:      How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.

Reader 2:      She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.

Reader 3:      Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

Reader 4:      The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the festivals; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter.

Reader 5:      Her foes have become the masters, her enemies prosper, because the LORD has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.

Reader 6:      From daughter Zion has departed all her majesty. Her princes have become like stags that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer.

As readers finish reading their second verse, they turn their face posters to the hopeful side.

Reader 1:      But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

Reader 2       The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,

Reader 3:      His mercies never come to an end;
                       they are new every morning;
                       great is your faithfulness.

Reader 4:      "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

Reader 5:      The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

Reader 6:      It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

                                                                                                 NRSV

 JKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKLJKL

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

L The CEV jumps many of the historical details to provide a message that makes immediate sense to adults and some older children.

Our Lord, how long must I beg for your help

before you listen?

How long before you save us from all this violence?

³                Why do you make me watch such terrible injustice?

Why do you allow violence, lawlessness, crime, and cruelty

to spread everywhere?

 

L This passage offers a model for lamenting.  Read verses 1:2-4 dramatically, letting your anger show.  Pause to note that it IS possible to talk to God this way.  Read 2:1 with arms folded across your chest waiting to hear from God.  Then, read 2:2b-4 stopping as you go to be sure everyone gets the message.  Ponder how it felt to get that message.  Finally, retrace the process and suggest that we can do the same thing today. 

L Put the lament form into a worksheet with fill in the blanks as below.  Challenge worshipers to fill in the blanks from their last week or for the world today.  Collect all the laments in prayer baskets passed through the congregation or located on the Table.

God I can’t take it much more….

It makes me want to….

Still I remember that You….

So, I …..

 

L Read Alexander Who’s Not (Do you Hear Me? I Mean It!) Not Moving, by Judith Viorst, as an example of a lament from a boy who did not want to move but had no choice.

Psalm 137

L Introduce the angriest, meanest, maddest verse in the Bible – Psalm 137:8b-9.  Explain that invaders had conquered the psalmist’s city, burned all the buildings in it, killed most of the people, and taken the rest (including the poet) back to their country as prisoners.  Note that the psalmist had every right to be very angry and sad.  Then read the verses.  React with your face and voice to show how offensive this wish is.  State that it is rather surprising it is in the Bible.  Then, with a change of face and tone, note that you are actually rather glad this verse is there because it reminds us of something that we don’t like to talk about.  That something is that when we are mad and feel mean, no matter how bad it gets, we can tell God all about it.  God can take it.  God can even help us deal with it. 

2 Timothy 1:1-14

J Tell the back story about Timothy with the focus on his faith family.  Timothy’s mother and grandmother told him stories and led him to the Christian community.  There he met Paul who claims to love him like a son and who ordained him to be a minister.  Identify some of the people in your faith family and encourage worshipers of all ages to identify the members of their faith families.  This is great chance to explore the importance families and friends have in shaping each other’s faith. Encourage households to continue this discussion at home.

Challenge especially young worshipers (but also willing older ones) to draw pictures and/or write thank you notes to people who have helped them grow as disciples.  This can be sermon art to be displayed or cards to be delivered in person or mailed after worship.

J Explore Paul’s encouragement to Timothy to have more self-discipline.  Children long to be more and more “my own boss.”  Usually they mean that they want to be able to do what they want to do.  For Paul however, being your own boss means being able to control your actions and emotions, being able to not go along with the crowd, and being able to keep your own rules.  Paul encourages Timothy to have more self-discipline, he says that Timothy knows what he believes about God and Jesus and he knows what rules he wants to live by.  What he needs to work on is not letting other people lead him astray.  He, not other people, is to be his own boss.  He is to discipline himself. 

J As the Charge at the end of the service, address Paul’s words to Timothy to the congregation urging them to be brave disciples this week standing up for Jesus’ ways no matter what.

Luke 17: 5-10

J Children feel little and "not enough."  Jesus says to them that they are “enough” just as the tiny mustard seed is enough.  Remember that this is not the mustard seed parable in which the tiny seed grows into the big bush.  This is the mustard seed that even though it is tiny,  is “enough.”  So show the children a tiny mustard seed (spice section of the grocery store), note how much bigger (physically) they are than that seed, and tell them to get to work as God’s people.   Urge them to live as Jesus’ disciple where ever they are and whatever they are doing.  They can do it.  They are big enough.

J The other point in these verses that speaks to children is that doing what God wants is just our job.  We shouldn’t expect lots of praise and awards for being kind and forgiving and generous.  We just do it.  Illustrate this conversation with prize ribbons labeled MOST FORGIVING or THIRD PLACE FOR KINDNESS.  Laugh at them pointing out that such ribbons will never be awarded.  Those are things we just do because we are Jesus’ disciples and that is what disciples do.

Year B - Proper 22, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 19th Sunday after Pentecost, World Communion Sunday (October 7, 2012)

This week is World Communion Sunday in most congregations.  For children that means raising awareness that Christians all around the world are one big family.  We may have skin of different colors, wear different clothes, speak different languages, and do all sorts of different things, but we are all baptized and we all share communion.  Children enjoy imagining people in tropical jungles, way up in the mountains, on the beach, etc. all eating bread and drinking the cup to remember and honor Jesus.  Go to Proper 22 (Year A) for general ideas about drawing children into the congregation’s celebration of this day.

This week is also The Festival of Saint Francis.  Many congregations celebrate this day by blessing the pets on Sunday.  Next year (after I have completed the lectionary cycle J) I promise to do a post on this along with posts on the season of Creation.

Job 1:1; 2:1-10

L The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories, by Mary Batchelor, provides a children’s version of the story of Job in three sections that match the first, third and fourth readings in the RCL series.  (RCL has no account of the friends’ bogus comfort.)  These stories also fill in many of the details omitted by the lectionary readings.  I actually prefer this division of the story and would use it rather than the RCL divisions.  It would be possible to read them as the scripture lesson for each week.  It would also be possible to turn them into readers’ theater.  Create the script by assigning the paragraphs of it to the appropriate readers and omitting all the “he saids” and the one “she said”.  Staging could be as simple as readers standing in different spots in the chancel or include planned movements and a few simple props or costumes.  Presenting it is a good worship leadership assignment for a youth or adult class or a team of five thespians.  The Narrator, Job, God could be read by the same person each week.

“Troubles for Job” tells the story of all Job’s woes.  It can be read in 3 minutes and would need a Narrator, God, Satan, Job and Job’s wife. 

“Cheering Job Up?” summarizes the arguments of Job’s friends.  It can be read in 3 minutes and calls for a Narrator, Friend 1, Friend 2, Friend 3 (the fourth person) and Job.

“God Talks to Job” recounts Job’s conversation with God.  It can also be read in 3 minutes and would need only 3 readers – a Narrator, God, and Job.

L If you plan to worship around Job’s story only once, “The Story of Job” in The Family Story Bible, by Ralph Milton, condenses the entire story into two pages that can be read in 5 minutes.  If I were reading it, I would edit it here and there to reflect my understanding of the story.  But, the basic format is solid.

L Especially if you are going to make this into a worship series, children need to know a few things about the book of Job.

First, and most importantly, they need to be told straight out that this is not a story about real things that happened to real people.  It is a made-up story that people have told for thousands of years to think about why people suffer.  God would never kill children to test their father or make a person sick just to see what the person would do.  God is not like that.

One way to introduce this literary form is to point out that the Bible is a library of many kinds of literature.  There are letters, poems, court records, and important made up stories that people have told each as they try to understand the world. This is one of the latter.

Older children might understand the comparison to “The Tortoise and the Hare” or some other fable designed to make a point.

Satan needs an introduction.  To most children Satan is the same as the Devil and is evil.  Satan tries to lead people to do bad things.  Satan is also the “president of Hell.”  In Job Satan is not trying to lead people to do bad things.  Instead Satan is the tester, the evaluator.  He is like a sparring partner who boxes with an athlete to push him to do better.  His question in Job is whether Job will only love God so long as he has an easy life. 

Related point: Children see t shirts that say “the Devil made me do it” and recognize its claim that the wearer is not responsible for what he or she does.  The book of Job insists that the Devil can’t make us do anything.  We, like Job, are our own bosses and can decide what we do and say in any situation.

L Job knows what the writer of Hebrews also knows.  God/Jesus is awesome, bigger than anything we can imagine, and would be dangerous if God was not so loving.  Older children can be directed to this truth.  God is not like an over the top grandparent who will give whatever we want.  We don’t love God just when things are going great for us.  We can pray, “God I need…” and “God, thank you for…”, but must also pray “God, I don’t understand…” and “God, help me get through…”

L Children’s books that parallel Job’s story include:

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst, begins “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”  And, he was correct.  The book recounts all the awful things that happened to this little kid in a single day.  In the end his mother reassures him that some days are just like that.  Most children know this book and love it.  Though Alexander’s woes are not as serious as Job’s, they can be a good introduction to Job’s woes and to the question about why there are days like that.  It is too long to read in its entirety in owrship.  But, citing one or two pages, and listing in your own words all the other things that went wrong gets the point across and piques children’s curiosity to listen to what happened to Job on his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.  This book is almost surely available in your public library – if it is in.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket, bears a letter to the reader on the back cover of the first of 13 books in the series.  It is a good introduction to the series and parallels the situation of Job for children.

Dear Reader,

I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant.  It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children.  Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe.  From the very first page of this book, when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels.   One might say they are magnets for misfortune. 

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast. 

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

Psalm 26

If this is introduced as a prayer Job might have prayed while sitting miserably scratching his sores, children will catch an occasional phrase.

Genesis 2:18-24

AThis passage could be tied to the gospel discussion about divorce or to Psalm 8 and the Hebrews comments on human responsibility for the world. 

AIf you focus on human responsibility for the world, try one of two stories from Does God Have a Big Toe, by Marc Gellman. 

“Partners” describes how God got the world “almost finished” then told people to take over as partners.  Adam asked for and got a definition of partner that fits with the picture in psalm 8. 

“Adam’s Animals” is a somewhat longer story and explores Adam’s difficulties naming the animals with lots of comical missteps before he decides to let the animals tell him what they are.  Introduce this story with comments about how knowing a pet’s name gives you the power to call the pet and tell the pet what to do.  It also gives us the responsibility to care for the pet you named.  This story connects us to all the animals in the world in the same way.

AAsk young artists in advance to draw pictures of animals.  Make a collage of their pictures for the cover of the printed worship order.  You can even fill the margins of other pages with animals.

AIf you read this with Mark’s gospel, be careful.  Explain that this story tells what God’s plan for marriage is.  AND, note that we often fail to make that plan happen.  When we fail God still loves us.  More on this in the section on Mark below.

Psalm 8

Invite the whole congregation to echo the worship leader in reading this psalm with interspersed comments, song snippets, and hand motions. 

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Psalm 8 Echo Reading

O Lord, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

“This is my father’s world” (sing this )

Your praise reaches up to the heavens;

Praise the Lord!  (LOUD)

It is sung by children and babies.

Praise the Lord! (LOUDER)

You are safe and secure from all your enemies;

You stop anyone who opposes you.

When I look at the sky (sweep the sky with arm),

which you (look up) have made,

at the moon (form circle around your head with arms) 

and the stars (sprinkle the sky with stars with your fingers), 

which you set in their places-

     

What are human beings, that you think of them; (make a questioning gesture)

What are men that you think of them? (point to boys)

What are women that you think of them? (point to girls)

mere mortals, that you care for them? (hands out to include all)

Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;

You crowned them (make yourself a crown with your hands) with glory and honor.

You appointed them rulers over everything you made;

In charge of everything you made

Responsible for everything you made,

You placed them over all creation:

sheep and cattle,

and the wild animals too;

the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.

Air we breathe and pollute (take a deep breath)

Food for many or a few (lick your lips with satisfaction)

Energy to keep us warm and moving (hug self to keep warm)

O Lord, our Lord, (throw hands up toward the sky)

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Amen.

                                     Based on the TEV translation

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Hebrews1:1-4; 2:5-12

V This text about Jesus the Christ needs a little organizing and restating for the children.  Basically it is saying that…

Jesus was one with God at the beginning of everything and will be one with God after everything ends.

Jesus worked with God on creating the whole world and keeps taking care of it.

In Jesus of Nazareth God lived among us as a person and allowed himself to be crucified.

Jesus is God in human skin.  Everything we know about Jesus tells us what God is like. 

Jesus Christ forgives us.

V Do a little worship education.  Instead of just reading the Apostles’ Creed in unison, focus on the phrases about Jesus in the Creed.  Read through those phrases commenting very briefly on each one.  Then reread the phrases pausing after each one for the congregation to respond, “Jesus is Lord!”

V Use this text to connect the story of the Old Testament with the New Testament.  Hold a Bible open to the Table of Contents, even ask worshipers to open their pew Bibles.  VERY briefly, point out familiar Old Testament stories about how God spoke to people, e.g. in Exodus we hear how God saved the people from slavery.  Then, point to the four gospels that tell us about how God spoke to us in Jesus, Acts that describes how the first Christians tried to follow Jesus, and the letters that show us what people were thinking about God and Jesus then.  Finally, direct everyone to Hebrews 1 and read the text for the day.  Close lifting the Bible saying, “The Word of the Lord” to which the people respond, “Thanks be to God.”

GLORY!

V To help the children grasp all the glory ascribed to Jesus in Hebrews begin a poster today that you add to each week you read from Hebrews.  Today’s word is GLORY!  This text summarizes Jesus’ glory.  Children often see Jesus mainly as their powerful friend and supporter.  This text insists that Jesus is also much bigger than just that.  Jesus was there at the beginning and will be there at the end, Jesus judges the whole world.  Print GLORY! in large letters somewhere on a banner or big poster in gold metallic pen.  Leave the center of the page open to add “LORD!” in the center in glitter pen on the last day of your series. 

Note from the end of this series:  If you try this growing poster/banner, look ahead now.  It got more complicated as I worked through all SEVEN weeks of Hebrews.  Here is what Lou Pennebaker ended up doing with it:

 

Last month I emailed you regarding your Hebrew Jesus poster idea. For the last 5 weeks I have been using one or two words each week for the children’s message in worship as we have followed the Lectionary through Hebrews. It has been a challenge and has taken me all 5 weeks to completely figure it all out! (I have changed the upcoming words several times.) Like you noted in your blog the verses get very repetitive. I appreciated all your notes each week in your blog and was able to incorporate some of them over the 5 weeks. I was able to use one or two words each week so that when we end this Sunday we will have spelled “Hebrews” (although I had to take a little creative license to do so).

For reasons specific to the life of our congregation we began a few weeks late with Hebrews 5:1-10 on 10/21 with High Priest. The following week (Heb. 7:23-28) we added Eternal. The third week was Communion Sunday (Heb. 9:11-14) so I used Broken (I had considered Blood but decided Broken was better for children and tied it into the words spoken at communion). After that I had to get creative. The 4^th week (Heb. 9:24-28) was foR Everyone. And this Sunday (Heb. 10:19-25) we will add Worship JeSus as our response to Jesus who is our Eternal High Priest who was Broken foR Everyone.

The final Poster looks like this:

    High Priest
    Eternal
    Broken
foR
    Everyone
   Worship
JeSus

Thanks for letting me share your plan, Lou!

V World Communion Sunday makes this a good day to point out that Christ is the host at the Table.  In the Presbyterian rite we say “this table is not my table, it is not your table, it is not the table of NAME OF CHURCH, it is not the Table of the Presbyterian Church.  It is the Table of Jesus Christ and…”  Perhaps have the children or the whole congregation echo each phrase with you.  Briefly expound on the privilege of the host to decide who to invite.  Name places and people around the world who are joining you at Jesus’ Table today.  If you use projectors in worship, project photos of people from all around the world as communion is served.

V “Come Christians Join to Sing” and “When Morning Gilds the Sky” are good ways to sing of Christ’s glory today.  Point out the repeated phrases and urge even non-readers to sing them.

V If you are worshiping around theme of the environment perhaps celebrating St. Francis, take time to point out and enjoy the connection between Hebrews and Psalm 8.  Read Hebrews 2:6 -8a emphasizing “as someone once said.”  Have worshipers hold one finger in their pew Bible and turn to Psalm 8  (I’d give them page numbers.)  Read verses 4-6 saying, "guess who is the someone who said that!"  Then invite the congregation to read all of Psalm 8 – possibly using the script above.

Mark 10:2-16

A This text includes two rather separate stories.  To emphasize that and to be sure both stories get heard, have them read by two separate readers.  Ask an older child to read verses 13-16 about Jesus blessing the children.

To add a visual element have several readers move through 3 scenes in the chancel.  Start at one side of the chancel with Jesus, a disciple or two, and a Pharisee or two for verses 2-9.  Jesus and the disciples then step to the center for verses 10-12.  A woman and some young children approach from the other side as the disciples step between them and Jesus.  Jesus steps through the disciples for verses 14-15.  A narrator speaking from the lectern can knit it all together.

A If you are going to speak at length about this hard teaching about divorce remember that children who have experienced divorce are listening too.  They are as hurt by divorce as the adults are – maybe more hurt.  And, they are even more likely than the hurting adults to hear Jesus’ statement as proof that they are no good.  So, it is critical to make two points to them.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.      <!--[endif]-->God intends for marriage to be permanent.  Refer to the marriage vows.  Help children aspire to permanent marriages for themselves. 
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.      <!--[endif]-->Divorce is a failure.  Children need to be constantly told that their parents’ divorce is their parents’ fault not theirs.  (Many children at some point feel they are to blame.)  Once they are clear that divorce is their parents’ failure, they then get defensive for them.  So, the church needs to help them understand and live with what their parents have done.  We can tell them that divorce is just one more sin – like greed and lying.  One way we know divorce is wrong is that it causes so much hurt for everyone involved.  But, we are humans and we all sin in lots of ways.  We know it is wrong to be greedy, but we all have greedy, grabby moments.  We know it is wrong to lie, but we all do.  All marriages start with high hopes of lasting forever, but some just do not make it.  That is sad, but true.  The good news is that God forgives us for being greedy and for lying and for our divorces. 

COMMENT: I am certain I’ve not got this last paragraph right for all people.  It’s my best stab at it.  I trust you to gather from it what looks right to you and go from there.  This is hard stuff in today’s world!

N Children hear in verses 13-16 that Jesus likes children.  They enjoy the fact that while adults tell them to grow up every day, Jesus tells the adults to be like children.  There is a lot more going on in the story for the adults, but for children it is that simple.

N This is a good day to pray for the children of the church – and to do so in a way that the children will hear.  A general prayer for the precious children of the congregation stuck in the middle of lots of other petitions will be missed entirely by those children.  So, in smaller congregations name all the children.  In larger congregations offer a prayer for each way or group in which the children participate in the church, e.g. “Lord, be with the children as they read the Bible with their teachers.  Help them listen and understand the important stories in it.”

N And of course, it is a great day to sing “Jesus Loves Me”  If you do, remember that older children consider it a baby song and resent being asked to sing it with just children.  So, invite the whole congregation to sing the song together from the hymnal.  Doing so helps them begin to reclaim the song as worthy of keeping as they continue to grow up.

Year A - Proper 22, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, World Communion Sunday (October 2, 2011)

               World Communion Sunday
                                         

Children are fascinated by the idea of a day on which Christians all around the world celebrate Communion.  So exploring that theme might be the best entry to worship for the children this week.  There are many different ways to do this.

U Include people of different racial, ethnic backgrounds as worship leaders.  If possible, include youth and children as well as adults.  When appropriate, invite them to say something about their church in that place.  Some may want to wear what people in that church wear.

U Take time for worshipers to tell brief stories about their experiences sharing communion in churches in other countries.  

U Feature breads from around the world during Communion.

Have children process in carrying  in loaves of sourdough, pumpernickel, pitas, Asian nan, Native American fry bread, cornbread, tortillas, etc.  They put their loaves in a big basket in front of the central table where they remain for the service.

If you use bread cubes or if people tear chunks of bread off loaves to share in the sacrament, use a variety of breads.  Older children can cut the cubes during church school the week before.  If the cubes are stored in plastic bags in a freezer until Sunday morning, they will be fresh for worship.

This file is licensed under the
 Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported license

U Pray your way around the world using a map or globe.  Pray for groups of Christians with which you congregation has contact, groups who have been in the news recently, etc.

If space allows, spread a large world map on the floor or draw a world map on a huge mat of newsprint paper.  Invite worshipers to light a votive candle/tea light from a central candle,place it on a country, then offer their prayer for the people who worship there this morning either silently or aloud.

In a more formal setting, the worship leader can pray his or her way from continent to continent with the congregation replying to each prayer, “Hear our prayers for Christians worshiping in NAME OF PLACE.”  If a world map is displayed or projected on a wall, an acolyte can point to each spot with a stick pointer or a pinpoint light.  (Rehearse this so the focus is on the praying rather than the logistics.)

U Select Communion hymns that sing of the whole world in ways that grab the attention of children.

Sing “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” inviting each worshiper to put a hand on the shoulder of or hold hands with the next person.  Encourage stretching across the aisles.

Before singing “I Come With Joy” read verses 2 and 3 with the congregation following along in their hymnals.  Note the appropriateness of singing those verses on World Communion Sunday.

As you sing “In Christ There is No East or West” project pictures of people from around the world.

Point to the Jamaican source of the music for “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ.”  If possible add Jamaican drums to the accompaniment.

U Select prayers, readings, and music from around the world for today’s liturgy.

U If you can locate a set of paper flags in a school supply store, string them together to drape over doorways or in the worship center.  A children’s class can be enlisted to color the flags in advance if needed.

U Go to Painted Prayer Book for a collage picture of people of all ages and ethnicities gathered around a table.  ($15.)  While you are there, take time to explore Jan’s other work.   I am a regular visitor at her lectionary based website at http://paintedprayerbook.com/.

The Texts for the Day

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

U My kids’ version of the Ten Commandments or God’s Ten Rules.   (Yes, I know they are similar to Ralph Milton’s version in The Lectionary Story Bible, Year A, p 214.)

I am God.  I brought you out of slavery in Egypt.  I opened the sea for your escape.  I am the one and only God.  Don’t worship or pray to anything or anyone else.

I am bigger than anyone or anything you can imagine.  So don’t make pictures or statues that you think look like me and worship them.  You’ll get them wrong.

Say my name with respect.

Work six days of the week, but keep one for rest and for remembering that you are my people.

Treat your father and mother with respect. 

Don’t kill anyone.

Be loyal to your family. 

Don’t take what is not yours.

Don’t tell lies about other people.

Don’t wish that you had things that belong to other people.

U Most children get at least some exposure to the Ten Commandments.  Today’s texts offer the opportunity to tell them the back story on the commandments.  They are not just a set of rules that someone found in a book.  They were rules given by God to the people in the wilderness to help them know how to live together as God’s free people. 

If you have been following the Exodus stories, take time to review the story to date.  Use the items in the Moses display if you have one to recall each step of the journey. 

If you have not been tracing the Exodus story, briefly tell it today before reading the commandments.  You could even set up a Moses display (Propers 16-25 Moses Display) just for today and use the items on it to tell the story.

This wire cutter was used to cut
these blocks for a smaller project.
They would work fine cutting slabs.

U Make the fabulous tablets to save for future use by cutting a box of air-dry clay (available in local craft stores) into two rectangular slabs then cutting clay to round off the top of each tablet.  A children’s class can cut shape the tops with butter knives a week ahead.  Then today add numbers from 1 to 10 in two columns one down each tablet with a black marker. 

Twist a long piece of wire around two pencils to make a clay cutter with which to cut the slabs. 

U Make simpler tablets by cutting them out of a large piece of grayish paper.

U If children are involved in making the tablets, be sure to read the commandments from the Bible with them in class as they prepare the tablets.  Then invite them to bring the tablets to the front during worship.  Have the children call out the numbers and the rest of the congregations read the commandments as printed in the order of worship.  Then place the tablets in the Moses display or in a special spot up front for the rest of the service.

U KIDS and RULES:  Children like rules.  Knowing the rules means you know how to act, how to play the game, what is expected.  As they try to figure out the world around them, rules are very helpful.  For this reason, most children are more upset when rules are changed or are broken with impunity than when rules are enforced strictly.  As they become teenagers and their focus shifts to claiming their own space and being their own person, this will change.  Rules will be seen as impediments to their freedom.  Until that happens children understand and appreciate the fact that God gave the freed slaves a set of good rules to live by.

For preschoolers rules are non-negotiable and are set by the most powerful person in the room, usually an adult but occasionally the most powerful child in the play group.  For them knowing that these rules come from God is all they need to know.  During early elementary school children begin to learn that rules can be negotiated.  They vote on rules in their classes and clubs.  They sometimes spend more time arguing about the rules of the game than playing the game – which is fine with them, but drives the adults around them a little nuts.  There are also rules they can choose to follow, e.g. the Scout laws.  All this makes elementary school children quite responsive to this set of non-negotiable rules which God gave his people to live by.  Like the Scout laws, you can choose not to follow these rules, but that is choosing not to be one of God’s people.

Psalm 19

U The first six verses praise God who is revealed in creation.  The remainder praise God’s Law citing all its benefits.  For the sake of the children, I’d omit the first six verses to focus on the Law.  I’d also use it in the service after the reading and exploring of the Ten Commandments.

U No matter which translation you use, these verses are filled with synonyms for Law.  Print each one in large letters on a separate piece of stiff paper.  Read each one and pass it to a worshiper who is invited to stand at the front.  Give the more complicated words to older worshipers – maybe ordinance to a lawyer – and simpler words to younger worshipers.  Instruct them to raise their poster as they hear that word in the psalm.  As you read the verses, pause when you come to each poster word. 

U Begin a sermon about the Ten Commandments by reading verse 10 – “(God’s Laws) are sweeter than honey” and passing out honey-flavored hard candies for people to enjoy during the sermon.

U If you regularly use verse 14 during worship, take time to point it out today explaining why it is used in that place in worship and what it means to pray it then.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to you,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

                                                                  NRSV

Isaiah 5:1-7

U This text, Psalm 80 and the gospel all deal with vineyards.  So take time to provide detailed information about vineyards.  For the children it will be new information.  For the adults it will be a review that will lead them to pay closer attention to the details of the passages.  Show a large picture of a vineyard.  Then briefly note that all the vines must be planted, wired to the trellises as they grow, pruned, weeded, watered, protected from hungry animals and human thieves, then harvested.  Mention the need for the fence and the watchtower.  Then urge worshipers to listen for vineyards in today’s readings.  Do not expect this explanation to enable children to grasp all of the rather complicated messages about vineyards in today’s readings.  Know that you are laying a foundation for understanding as they grow.

For extra interest, pass out small clusters of grapes for children or all worshipers to eat during this explanation.

U Isaiah compares God’s people to a well tended vineyard that produced only wild, inedible grapes and therefore has to be destroyed.  I’d direct the attention of children to the more positive image in Psalm 80.

Psalm 80:7-15

This may be the easiest of today’s vineyard images to explain to children.  The poet uses a metaphor comparing the nation to a single grape plant that God brought out of Egypt and planted in its own place.  Introduce a metaphor as pointing out the similarity in two very different things, e.g. calling a spouse honey.  Then encourage children to listen for what the poet says about God’s people and a well loved vineyard.  They won’t get it all, but they will catch some of it.

Philippians 3:4b-14

U Avoid adult sqeamishness about using certain forbidden four letter words for excrement by using a child’s acceptable and clear four letter word –poop.  Paul says his impressive life resume isn’t worth poop when compared to God’s love for him.

U While children offer usable vocabulary for the congregation’s discussion of the text, they don’t yet get Paul’s point.  Even though their parents are beginning to obsess over building resumes that will get them into college, children are not very impressed by such things. 

Matthew 21:33-46

Based on the commentaries I have been reading, preachers are all over the place interpreting this parable.  If the adults can’t figure it out, it is going to be hard to present it meaningfully to children.  I’d introduce the vineyard, eat some grapes before communion, and keep moving with the children.