Here is the Weekly devotion for the Fourth Sunday of Easter – April 21, 2013
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Tag Archives: Year C
Weekly Devotions for April 14, 2013
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Third Sunday of Easter – March 14, 2013
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Children’s Sermon Third Sunday of Easter, John 21:1-19 – April 14, 2013
Prepare: Bring some food to share. Something simple would be best, to mirror the breakfast of bread and fish on the shore. I would suggest rice crackers or wheat thins (think about food allergies in your own setting!)
Faith+Open: Greet the children with, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” If they do not know the response, teach them to say, “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Faith+Share: I love all these stories after Easter! This one is really fun because it makes me think of a couple other great stories about Jesus. The disciples were out fishing at the beginning of this story, and Jesus appeared on the beach, kind of like the first time that some of them met Jesus. Something very similar happens, they had not caught any fish and Jesus told them to try the other side of the boat and the net fills with fish! Then, on the beach, they share a meal of bread and fish, like when Jesus feed all those thousands of people from just a few fish and rolls. It’s like Jesus is trying to remind them of the amazing things that they have seen and been part of, and I think I know why.
After breakfast, Jesus talks to Peter and asks him, “Do you love me?” Peter says, “Yes, of course I do!” Then Jesus tells him to, “feed my lambs,” and “tend my sheep” and “feed my sheep.” What do you think Jesus is trying to say to Peter? (wait for some answers) Yeah, those are good answers! Jesus isn’t just talking about sheep, is he? He is talking about how we care for each other. How we feed each other, how we love each other, and how we take care of each other. Because we love Jesus, we also should love those around us because we are all part of God’s family, we are all God’s sheep!
So, before you go, we are going to share a simple meal with each other. Each of you take one cracker and then we will pray together. Don’t eat until we pray, just hold it.
Faith+Prayer: Loving Jesus, we thank you for all the people who care for us in our lives. We thank you for the food that you give to us and for the love that you show us. Teach us to love others as you love us. Amen
OK, bless each other and you can eat your cracker!
Faith+Blessing: Say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” – Let then respond, “Christ is Risen indeed! Alleluia!”
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Children’s Sermon Second Sunday of Easter, John 20:19-31 – April 7, 2013
Prepare: Bring something REALLY sticky, like a piece of duct tape or packaging tape (or you could go messy if you want, like honey). You want it to be something that will stick to your hand as you try to get rid of it. Styrofoam peanuts that have a good static charge going would work, too. The main thing is that you need to be able to get it off your hand when you want to, but it needs to stick up to that point.
Faith+Open: Greet the children with, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” If they do not know the response, teach them to say, “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Faith+Share: Hello! Today is we hear this amazing story about Jesus appearing to his disciples. They were afraid after Jesus was arrested and killed, so they were hiding in a locked room. Do you think that stopped Jesus from finding them? No, he appeared with them and said, “Peace be with you.” That by itself is pretty amazing. And then there is the whole story about Thomas and Jesus. Thomas wasn’t there the first time, and didn’t believe Jesus came, so then . . . wait, that’s not the part of the story that I wanted to tell you about. Man, I really got sidetracked! Do you forgive me? (Wait for an answer)
Oh, good, because that was what I wanted to talk about! Jesus said something else to the disciples when he first came to them, he said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Think about it this way, if you forgive a person for something then the sin goes away, but if you don’t forgive the sin sticks around. It’s kind of like this tape (or whatever sticky thing you brought). If I don’t do something about this it will just stick to my hand and get it my way, and stick to other things. It might even switch hands on me and it just won’t go away. Here’s the crazy thing. This tape on my hand isn’t really my sin, it’s the sin that I don’t want to forgive, it’s someone else’s sin, but it’s stuck on me!
To get this tape off my hands I have to pay attention to it and make sure that I don’t grab a stick part and fold it up and get rid of it (Do this while you talk, or wipe off the honey, or . . . ) Part of forgiving someone is getting their sin out of your life and out of your way. If you let that sin stick around it just keeps getting in a way. Sometimes we call this holding a grudge, and it usually makes people grumpy and sad. When we hold grudges we spend a lot of time and effort staying mad at someone. When we forgive and let go of any grudges we can be happier and spend more time loving and caring for people and less time being grumpy.
Faith+Prayer: Loving Jesus, help us to forgive people when they do things that hurt us or make us mad. Help us to learn to forgive like you forgive us. Amen
Faith+Blessing: Say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” – Let then respond, “Christ is Risen indeed! Alleluia!”
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Weekly Devotions – April 7, 2013 – Second Sunday of Easter
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Second Sunday of Easter – April 7, 2013
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Children’s Sermon Easter Sunday, Luke 24:1-12 – March 31, 2013
Faith+Open: Greet the children with, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” If they do not know the response, teach them to say, “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!” This will be important at the end.
Faith+Share: Have you ever lost something important? Or even worse, have you ever had anything important stolen from you? (While this is a real story from my life, it can serve as a generic story for anyone to tell. It would be even better if you had your own story!) I remember one time when I had something stolen from me. I was at work and when I came out after work and walked to my car I noticed a pile of broken glass. Someone had broken the window on my car! I ran to the car and looked inside, and they had stolen my radio! That was a terrible feeling. I was mad, I was nervous, I was sad, I was worried, and I felt completely helpless. Now, let’s be honest about this, it was just a car radio, and I needed to get a new window. Overall it was not a big deal, but it still made me feel all those bad emotions. I never did get the radio back, but I had insurance that helped me replace the window and get a different radio, so I guess it turned out ok.
Well, in today’s Gospel story we hear about something that starts out kind of the same way, but is much worse at the beginning and unimaginably better by the end! This is day that we remember when some of Jesus’ friends went to see his body, remember he had died on the cross a few days before. They were planning to clean and prepare his body the way that they always did when someone they loved died. Well, when they got to tomb where the body was supposed to be it was not there! They thought that someone had stolen Jesus’ body! This isn’t a thing, like my car radio, it was the body of their friend, of their teacher, it was the body of Jesus. Can you imagine how upset they must have been? How scared they must have been?
But then, two angels appeared and gave them amazing news! Do you know what they said? (Give a little time for answers.) That’s right, they said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but had risen.” WOW! Isn’t that exciting! Sometimes it is hard for us to really be excited about it because we have heard this story before and we know the ending, but try to imagine how they must have felt then. Amazed, confused, excited, maybe even more scared? Let’s share the excitement of the story. I want you to greet people today with Easter greeting that we used at the beginning. We will practice again at the end, but let’s pray first.
Faith+Prayer: Risen and Living God, Alleluia! We praise you for the miracle of the resurrection. Help us to live in the excitement of the risen Christ today and every day. Amen
Faith+Blessing: Say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” – Let then respond, “Christ is Risen indeed! Alleluia!”
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Weekly Devotions – March 31, 2013 – Easter Sunday
Here is the Weekly devotion for Easter Sunday – March 31, 2013
Note – Clicking on the picture will download the insert to your computer or device in PDF format
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon March 24, 2013 Palm Sunday John 12:12-16
Preparation: Palms for the kids and/or whole congregation and a hymn or song with Hosanna
Scripture: John 12:12-16
Gather the children–you may want to do this at the beginning instead of at the tradition time but either way will work. Give each child a palm branch and show them how to wave it in the air.
“Today is Palm Sunday! Does anyone know what you are holding? Yes, a palm branch. We have palm branches today because in our scriptures today we are told about when Jesus came into Jerusalem. Does anyone know what he was riding on? Yes, a donkey. And the people who knew who he was were excited to see him and welcomed him into Jerusalem by waving palms, putting their coats on the ground as a sign of honor and by saying the word Hosanna! Do you know what this word means? It is a way of showing honor and calling Jesus God–saying Save us Jehovah or save us God. The people where saying they believed Jesus was the son of David and the son of God. So we can shout today also Hosanna! Every time you hear that word I want you to shout i back and wave your palms.” Lead the children on a parade through the church. If your choir has a song they are singing with Hosanna do this then or have the congregation sing a hymn with Hosanna and lead the children around the sanctuary waving palm branches. End at the altar and invite the children to lay their palms at the altar.
God, we thank you for sending Jesus to save us, to love us, to show us how to live in your world. Amen
May you know the love of God. Hosanna!
Children’s Sermon March 17, 2013 John 12:1-8 Lent 5C
Preparation: paper bags with different things that smell strong enough that kids can guess what they are in them–one bag per smell. For example: cinnamon sticks, garlic, hot chocolate, flower, other spices or herbs. One bag that has perfume or smelly lotion that you can also use.
Scripture: John 12:1-8
Gather the children with you. “Do you have a favorite smell? Take answers. I brought some things for you to try to guess what they are by the smell.” Open the bags and one by one (so only do 2-3 bags) pass them around and have kids close eyes and smell.
“Our sense of smell is very powerful, did you know that? Sometimes we can remember whole events or people just by what we smell. (share an important smell for you). In todays’s story from John we are told about how Mary poured nard or a perfume on Jesus and that the smell filled the house. She did this because it was a way that people prepared for a body for being buried and she was saying that she understood that Jesus was going to go to Jerusalem and one day die to show her and the whole world how much God loves. So this smell filled the house and was likely a smell that after Jesus did leave and die and rise again reminded Mary and the people who there not only about Jesus but about God’s love and forgiveness. Just like when I smell _____ I remember and think of _________. (fill in your own smell story or say cookie and grandma if you can’t think of anything!). I am going to give you each a little spray/squirt of perfume/lotion and I want you to smell it while you pray and then throughout the day when you smell this on your skin you can remember that you are loved by Jesus.” Spray the perfume or give a little lotion to each kid.
Let’s pray, Jesus, we have many ways we can remember you. Help us to know that you are with us in all of our days and that even our sense of smell can show us how to be a part of your kingdom and love. Amen
Go with this blessing: May you know the sweet smell of love today!
Children’s Sermon March 10, 2013 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Lent 4C
Note: The Jesus Storybook Bible is an excellent resource for this story. The author does a beautiful job of emphasizing how God’s love never fails. Consider reading this version as the Gospel that everyone hears (audible gasp! I know, but could be awesome!!)
Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Gather the children and welcome them. Start by asking how many of them have a brother or a sister. If you have kids that do not ask if they have a good friend. Do you ever feel like they get something that you don’t? Or have you ever said, “that is not fair!”? Hear there comments–but be prepared they may have more stories on this topic than normal!
“There is a story that Jesus told about a family.” Read the story of the prodigal son from a children’s bible or paraphrase the story in your own words. Highlight that Father loved both the children no matter what and that forgiveness happened before the younger son could even say he was sorry. Then ask, “Are you surprised by how the father greeted the son who returned? Have you ever forgiven someone or been forgiven? How does that feel?… In Lent we often talk about focusing on the cross. One thing the cross reminds us of is that Jesus died on the cross because we are loved and forgiven no matter what–even if we are mean to someone, even if we are jealous, even when it does not seem fair.”
“Now take your hands and whisper something into them that you would like to tell God–either an I’m sorry for something or thanking God for something.” Show them by cupping your hands and whispering. Say, “Hold this in your hand while we pray and then we will release them up to God on the Amen.”
Jesus, we are sorry for the things we have done that have hurt other people. We thank you for your love and forgiveness. Help us to remember your love is for us and for others. We release our prayers to you (open hands and lift them up to the sky). Amen
Go with this blessing: You are loved and forgiven always.