Here is the Weekly devotion for the Third Sunday in Lent – March 3, 2013
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All posts by gb
Weekly Devotions – February 24 – 2nd Sunday in Lent
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Second Sunday in Lent – February 24, 2013
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Weekly Devotions – February 17, 2013 – First Sunday in Lent
Here is the Weekly devotion for the First Sunday in Lent – February 17, 2013
Note – Clicking on the picture will download the insert to your computer or device in PDF format
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Children’s Sermon Transfiguration of Our Lord, Luke 9:28-36
Prepare: Bring some kind of party decoration, preferably something that marks a change in your life, like a graduation, marriage, retirement, etc. Note that you will need to modify parts of this children’s sermon to fit your party and your experience.
Faith+Open: Have your party item out and easy to see as you gather the children together. Ask the children if they have ever been to a party, be ready to hear a few stories and move on.
Faith+Share: Wow, those sound like some great parties! I wanted to tell you a little about a party that I was at once. (Here is where you will need to think about your own situation. I will write what I would say.) This says ”Congrats Grad!” What do you think it’s from? Right, a graduation! I was thinking about my college graduation and all the fun I had celebrating that day. That party was celebrating more than a single event, the graduation itself, but also all that had come before and all that lay ahead. See, you can only get to a college graduation by staying in school and working really hard, so it’s fun to celebrate all that work that was put in. Even more, though, a college graduation celebrates all the possibilities that are to come! Graduating from college was great fun, too. We had parties, and I got to spend time with my family and some good friends, I even got some gifts, and everybody likes gifts! I didn’t want all that fun to end.
In our Gospel story today Jesus takes Peter, John and James to an amazing event. We call the Transfiguration. Peter, John and James see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. They see their friend and teaching in a dazzling new way, and they don’t want to leave that place or that moment. They want to stay right there, they even offer to build houses to live so they never have to leave. They even hear the voice of God claim Jesus as God’s Son! But they can’t stay there. Just like I had to move on from the fun of graduation, they have to go back to their lives, back to the ministry that they are part of with Jesus.
So, kind of like a graduation, Jesus transfiguration marks a moment of change. Jesus is claimed by God and is ready to start the next part of his life. Peter, John and James see Jesus in a new way, and as much as they want to stay in that moment they have to move on, but they move on with a new way of understanding Jesus, and a new excitement about the things to come. This Sunday, for us, marks the beginning of the journey toward Easter, and we, too, should move forward with excitement!
Faith+Prayer: Ever changing and amazing God, we thank you for the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, and for the turning points in our own lives. Help us to celebrate these turning points and to move forward with our lives with excitement and joy. Amen.
Faith+Blessing: Shine with God’s light so that all may see God’s Glory.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Weekly Devotions – February 10, 2013 – Transfiguration of Our Lord
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Transfiguration of Our Lord – February 10, 2013
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Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon 4th Sunday after Epiphany, John 4:21-30 –or- 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
NOTE: This children’s sermon could be adapted for many different Sundays and readings.
Faith+Open: Find a way to enter into the worship space that gives you a little time to walk before you invite the children to join you. Sing “Zippity Do Dah” as you walk in. Here’s a link to a youtube video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxYwwIL5zQ
Faith+Share: Have you ever heard that song before? Uncle Remis, the character that sang that song, was singing it as a prayer of thanks for a beautiful day. Well, I have a prayer that I call the “Zippity Do Dah Prayer” that I think might go well with the readings that we have today. The Zippity Do Dah Prayers is a prayer of thanks for the good things that are happening, like love and hope and joy. It is also a great prayer to help us look at the good things that are happening and help us to let go of some of the bad things.
I thought of it when I read the story about Jesus that we hear today. Jesus is in his hometown and he says things that are true, but that make the people who live there really upset. I mean really upset, they decided that they should throw him off a cliff because they were so mad. Then something amazing happens, Jesus just walks through the angry crowd of people and walks away. He leaves the anger behind him and continues his ministry somewhere else.
Now, the Zippity Do Dah prayer has some important parts. First is the position – prayers often have a special position like folded hands, or kneeling. For this one, you lie down on your back, cross your ankles and put your hands behind your head, like this.
The second thing is that this is a prayer of thanks! No “Lord help me,” just thanks. Thank God for different things, something like, “Good morning, God, I hope you are having a good day. I sure am thankful for . . . “ and fill in what you are thankful for. Then at the end say, “I’ll talk to you again soon, Amen!”
Let’s try it! We’ll all lie down in the prayer position and I’ll start, then we can all say 1 or 2 things that we are thankful for. It’s ok if we all talk at the same time.
Faith+Prayer: (use the prayer, then invite the children to sing “Zippity Do Dah” as they go back to their seats.
Faith+Blessing: Shine with God’s light so that all may see God’s Glory.
Special thanks to my friend Randy Williams for this prayer and the idea to use it as a children’s sermon.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Weekly Devotions – February 3, 2013 – 4th Sunday After Epiphany
Here is the Weekly devotion for the 4th Sunday After Epiphany – February 3, 2013
Note – we are using a new hosting site for our files. It is called Mediafire, and you will be redirected there when you click the picture.
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, Luke 4:14-21
Prepare: Bring a copy of your church’s mission statement, and/or the mission statement of the broader church organization your congregation is part of. Bring a Bible and mark Isaiah 61:1.
Faith+Open: As the children gather ask them if they know what a mission statement is. Take a few answers. Some of them might get close, but offer a clear definition in any case, something like, “A sentence or short paragraph that says the goals and values of a company, organization or person.”
Faith+Share: Did you know that our church has a mission statement? Here, listen to this (Read the statement. Read the statement of your wider church organization, too if there is one.) What do you think about that? Why do you think that we have a mission statement like that? (So people know what we believe, what things we think are important, what kinds of things we want to do as a community, things like that.)
Well, I think that today we get to hear Jesus’ mission statement in the Gospel reading. Jesus went back to his home town and went to his home church and got up to read from the scriptures. Now here’s the tricky part, was Jesus reading from the Gospel? No, of course not! Those were written after Jesus did all this amazing stuff. Jesus was reading from what we call the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. He was reading from a book called Isaiah, and we still read stories from Isaiah today. This is what he read – (Read Isaiah 61:1-2).
That’s a pretty good description of what Jesus did, isn’t it? Are there parts of this scripture that we can do, too? (Wait for a few answers.) Yeah, those are all great ideas, let’s pray.
Faith+Prayer: Jesus, what an amazing mission statement! Help us to live within your mission and to show people your compassion and love in all that we do. Amen
Faith+Blessing: Shine with God’s light so that all may see God’s Glory.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Weekly Devotions – January 27, 2013 – 3rd Sunday After Epiphany
Here is the Weekly devotion for the 3rd Sunday After Epiphany – January 27, 2013
Note – we are using a new hosting site for our files. It is called Mediafire, and you will be redirected there when you click the picture.
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, John 2:1-11
Prepare: Bring your purse or wallet with some ideas about what you have in there that tells about who you are.
Faith+Open: As the children gather, ask them to look around at your worship space and look for things that tell them they are in a worship space (crosses, candles, baptism font, etc.) Take a few comments about what they see.
Faith+Share: Good job! Other buildings have things that tell about them, too. Schools have classrooms and desks; libraries have books. Did you know that people often carry things that tell about them, too?
Let me show you, here is my wallet (or purse). I keep some important things in here, some of them tell a whole bunch about me. (Here are some examples from my wallet for you, please feel free to come up with your own!) My driver’s license has my picture, my address, this little heart in the corner means that I’m an organ donor, this “m” means that I ride a motorcycle. That a pretty important thing that I carry, isn’t it! What else is in here? Oh, look at this! It’s my Starbucks Coffee Gold Card! This means that I drink way too much coffee. I have credit cards, too, and business cards. All of these things can tell you a little bit about who I am and what I think is important.
In our Gospel story today, we hear about something that Jesus did that started to make people wonder who he was. Does anyone know what he did? Let me give you a hint, he was at a big party and they ran out of wine to drink. (Give a minute for answers. You can give a few more hints if you have time, or just continue if they don’t get it) He turned a bunch of water into wine! This was the first time that Jesus did something that we call a miracle that we know about. That is a sign that tells us Jesus is special. This wasn’t a magic trick, it was a miracle! Do you know the difference? A magic trick can be explained. If this was a trick he would have hidden the water somewhere and replaced is with wine, but Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus changed the water into wine, and not just any wine, it was the best wine! And no one can explain how he did it.
Jesus performs many miracles in the Bible. He heals people, he feeds people, he even brings some one back from the dead! Listen for the miracles of Jesus as we read through the Bible in church this year.
Faith+Prayer: God of Wonders and Miracles, WOW! We love you for the amazing stories about miracles and for all the gifts that you have given us. We love you for our family and friends, for beautiful planet that we live on and the endless universe that we live in. Thank you for all you love and care for us. Amen.
Faith+Blessing: Shine with God’s light so that all may see God’s Glory.
Adapted from SPARK Sunday School curriculum.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.