Here is the devotion page for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, June 26, 2016. (Click on the words!)
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon – June 19, 2016, Galatians 3:23-29
Prepare: You will need some arbitrary way to divide people up. Something simple, like a jar with two different colored beads in it so that you can divide the group into “red” beads and “blue” beads (or whatever colors, items, etc you have). For the worship station you need a baptismal font that everyone can get to, and a sign that says, “Child of you God, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the Cross of Christ forever.”
Have you jar of beads (or whatever, but I will use beads in this write-up!) ready for the children as they gather. Have each child take just one bead. It doesn’t matter what color.
Hi! How is everyone doing today? It is sooooooo good to see all of you and I am so happy that you are here. (Pick one child and start talking mostly to them.) How are you? Are you having a good weekend? (generally just making small talk – then . . . ) Hey, can I ask you what color bead you got? (It doesn’t matter what color they have, you have to immediately distrust that child!) Whoa! a red bead! Uh . . . could you move over there? Yeah, just not by me. In fact, do any of the rest of you have red beads? Really? Yeah, I need you to move over there, too. People with blue beads are fine, but NOT red beads.
Alright, now that we have the sorted let’s take a look the Bible story today. This story is part of a really long letter that we call Galatians. I just need to review it a little . . . let me see . . . the law was our discipline . . . justified by faith . . . uh huh . . . uh oh.
So, I was reading this and it says that we are all children of God. Doesn’t matter what we look like or where we are from. God loves us for who we are and we should do our best to do the same.
Part of what this means is that it doesn’t matter what labels we put on people – cool, nerd, silly, too serious – God sees us all the same, as beloved children.
I guess that means I can’t really be mean to those people over there just because they happen to have a red bead. Come back over here and let’s all pray together!
Loving God, you care for us and love no matter what we look like, where we are from, or what we like or dislike. Thank you for your unconditional love! Teach us to love and care for each other with that same unconditional love. Amen.
You are a beloved child of God
Invite people to come up to the font to remember that they are God’s child, too! They are welcome to make the sign of the cross on their own forehead, but even better if you can encourage them to make the sign of the cross on each other’s heads! Invite them to use the baptismal blessing that you put on the sign.
Weekly Devotion Page for June 19, 2016
Here is the devotion page for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 19, 2016. (Click on the words!)
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
God Gives Us Big Love! Children’s sermon on Luke 7: 36-8:3 June 12, 2016 Pentecost 4 Year C
*This week in particular in our country and world has been one where we wrestle with human dignity and worth. In light such stories such as the young woman who was raped and who’s worth was declared as less than her male assailant’s worth, this children’s lesson highlights that in God’s kingdom, all are worthy, all are welcome, all have dignity and all are loved. May we all begin to atually live this out in our daily lives. Thank you for using our site and we pray that we are truly partnering with you in your ministry!
As you announce the children to gather, lay out a nice blanket or quilt for them to sit on, maybe have some comfy cushions, or other hospitality items. Even little packages of safe, non-allergenic snacks would be fun! As they gather, ask them if they are comfortable, what they need, welcome them whole heartedly. Go over the top! Have other adults help you if you have a lot of children.
(Depending on what the adult sermon for this week is focusing on you may want to read the Luke 7 from the Spark Storybook Bible on page 354.) Ask, “Did you feel special when you came forward and we had a nice place for you to sit, snacks, etc.? It’s nice to feel special! Did you do anything to deserve this special treatment? Nope! All you did was show up! That was enough! When you have friends or family visiting how do you make them feel welcome? (Accept all answers) Yes, we do special things for people just because we love them!
In our story this morning, there is a woman who knew that Jesus was all about love and she wanted Jesus to know that she loved him too. A long time ago in Jesus’ time, you only wore sandals or no shoes at all and your feet became very dirty. When you went to someone’s house for dinner or a special occasion, often someone would wash your feet. Jesus was at a friend’s house for dinner but the friend didn’t wash his feet, so this woman began to wash them with her tears of joy for Jesus and then put wonderfully smelling perfume on his feet. The guests were shocked by this woman’s behavior because she wasn’t invited to the party! But Jesus welcomes everyone and wants everyone to know that they matter to God. God sees us all as special, no matter what we say or do, nothing can change that. God wants us to see everyone around us as special and deserving fancy treatment such as what we did this morning for you! If you see someone who needs help what should you do? What if someone is mean to you? Or is kinda different or seems weird? How should we treat them? What if someone makes a mistake with us? What if it’s a big mistake? Should we forgive them like God would? Yes! We treat people how God treats us always! With love, respect, joy and honor!!! We are all special to God!! God gives us big love and so we give big love to each other!!
Have two change jars sitting on a table. Make copies of a clip art of a coin-have the coin the size of a quarter sheet of paper. Invite people to write on the coin mistakes they have made with other people that week. They can write as many as they want. Have them place it in the “coin” jar. In another jar have it full of red paper hearts that say, “You are loved by God no matter what.” They are invited to take that heart as a reminder that Jesus takes our mistakes and offers us nothing but love in return. Have this sign on the table: “Take a “coin” sheet (as many as you would like) and write the mistakes that you have made with other people this on the sheets. Place those “coins” in the “coin” jar. Take a heart out of the other jar. Take it home as a reminder that no matter what mistakes you have made, Jesus offers you unconditional love and forgiveness every single day. You are a beloved, worthy and special child of God now and forever.”
(You can pray this with the children or print it on the hearts for the worship station as well.) Jesus, you declare that all people are worthy of love, dignity and forgiveness. We attempt to live our lives showing and proclaiming this truth so that no one is lonely, hurt, sad, or feels worthless. Give us courage to welcome all people, even those who aren’t like us, into our homes, our neighborhoods, our church, and our hearts. Amen.
+Jesus always gives you big love+
Weekly Household Devotions for June 12, 2016
Here is the devotion page for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 12, 2016. (Click on the words!)
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Attention of Compassion Luke 7:11-17 3rd Sunday after Pentecost June 5, 2016
You will need a partner for this who is good at ‘not paying attention’ until the last noise. They could even be acting as if they are sad or very distracted.
Gather the children with you. Have your partner off to the side looking away. Start to welcome them and tell them the story and then interrupt yourself and say, “oh, ______ (name), hey, come join us! I want you to hear this story.” Person should look around but not turn towards you or the person can just keep his/her head down.
Hhhmmm… kids, I know this person has been kind of distracted and even sad lately… I think hearing from Jesus could help… could one of you go tap ____ on the shoulder and see if he/she will come over?
Huh, it’s like ____doesn’t even hear us… maybe we should get louder. Come up with a loud noise you can do together like clapping or snapping.
Hhhmmm… being loud did not work… being annoying did not work… how can we show _____ our love? Take suggestions. Then go over to the person and either give a nice pat or hug and say we care about you, will you come sit with us. The person can look up in surprise even and say thank you and come over.
What worked in getting _____ to come sit with us? Showing some love. Or another word is compassion. Compassion is when we see and know someone else is having a difficult time or feeling bad and we have a desire to do something, to help them. Jesus today in the gospel saw a woman who was weeping because her son had died. He had big compassion for her and even though he had all these people crowded around him and wanting his attention, the woman did not notice him right away. Jesus went to her and said, stop crying–which is what got her attention right away! She wanted to see what Jesus would do. Jesus healed her son, brought him back to life. The Bible tells us he had compassion for her–he felt for her and he could not help but take action. It is another story of God’s big love for people! That our feelings, our grief, our life, our death are all things that God loves brings to life.
God of big compassion, give us eyes and ears and hearts to see those around us who need your big love. Fill our hearts and eyes and ears and minds with your big love so we remember you are filled with compassion for us too. Amen
May you have and give compassion in Jesus’ name +
At the end of the children’s message in the pews or tables around your sanctuary have small paper hearts. Ask people to write the name of a person, place, or issue that they have compassion for on the heart. Have another very large heart cut out of paper that all the other hearts can fit into. Or an outline of a heart on a wall or large mural. Ask people to place their hearts inside the big heart. Make a sign over the big hear that says God’s Big Compassion and Love Heart for All. As people add a heart they can lift up their passion and compassion in prayer.
Weekly Devotion Page for June 5, 2016
Here is the devotion page for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 5, 2016. (Click on the words!)
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon – May 29, 2016 – Luke 7:1-10, Lec 9C
Prepare: Make two big signs, one that says “faith,” another that says, “trust.” These can be used for both the children’s sermon and for the worship station.
Even better! Make single really big sign/poster with a Venn diagram of faith and trust!
You may also want a dictionary – or you can use these from dictionary.com
As the children gather around ask them if they know the difference between “faith” and “trust. Let them wrestle with that a little bit. Once they have had a few minutes to work on it, tell that in the dictionary (or at least at dictionary.com) the definition of faith includes trust, but the definition of trust does not include faith!
Well isn’t that strange? If you have faith in something that means you also trust it, but if you trust something you might not have faith in it. Maybe one way to think about is that we trust the things that we can see and feel, and we have faith in things that are hard to see and feel.
Well, in the Bible story we hear today, there is a centurion (a Roman soldier) who shows both trust AND faith in who Jesus is and what God can do. He has a servant who is dying and has faith that Jesus can heal the servant, but he also trusts that Jesus is powerful enough that the servant will be healed without Jesus even coming to his house! This amazes even Jesus!
Let’s play a little game with trust and faith. I have these two signs, (or one, whichever you did!) and we are going to come up with some things that we trust, some things that we have faith in, and some things that fit into both! I’ll start – I trust that the building we are in is not going to fall down. I have faith that Jesus is present with us now, and I have trust and faith in God’s everlasting love. Now you try!
(Give them a little space to come up with some ideas)
That was great! Think about trust and faith this week as you meet people and play with friends.
Loving and healing God, thank you for giving us things to put our trust in, like (add some things from the poster!). Thank you for giving us things to have faith in, like (______________). Thank you for being someone we can trust and have faith in! Amen.
May the Holy Spirit burn in your heart today and everyday!
Simply invite the congregation to participate in the faith/trust/faith and trust exercise with the children! You can make a big poster that people can come up and write on, or you can have more of an interactive discussion about it with the whole assembly.
Weekly Devotion Page for May 29, 2016
Here is the devotion page for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, May 29, 2016. (Click on the words!)
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon Dance of God’s Love Trinity Sunday Year C
Preparation: Pick a song that you know well and/or your children knows well and that you can dance to. Some ideas: Lord of the Dance, Dance with Me, Canticle of the Turning, Marching in the Light of God–do the dancing verse!
You will also need two willing dance partners to start.
Gather the children up front with you. Say, “Have you ever played the game framer in the dell?” Explain the game. It’s a game with a song that goes “the farmer in the dell, farmer in the dell, heigh ho the merry-oh the farmer in the dell” and all the kids stand in a circle and dance and sing the song. During the verses, one kid at time they are pulled out of the circle until there is only one person left.
Well I have another dance for you today. Invite your partners to stand up with you and hold hand sin a circle. Start singing your song and dancing in a circle together. Sing one or two lines and then take the hands of a few more kids. Sing some more and then invite them all to join you. You may need to drop hands at this point and just dance together. Now invite the congregation to join you by standing and dancing.
(For example, if you use Marching in the Light of God you can sing half the first verse, get a few kids and finish. Then get them to all stand up and say we are singing in the light of God and then invite the congregation to do the dance verse. You can modify for time or size of congregation. You can also pick a shorter song, like Alleluia-Praise ye the Lord or Love , Love, Love, that’s what it’s all about. )
OR go up front with your dance partners before you invite the children up. Start singing your song and dancing with the other two (so there are three total, cause.. trinity 🙂 Then get some other kids to join you. Then invite the whole group up front to join the song. Then invite the congregation to dance and sing with you.
When the song is over have everyone sit down. Say, “God’s dance is different than the farmer in the dell dance, isn’t it? How is it different?” Take answers and then say, “Yes, see, we talk today about one way we can think about how we see God, as a trinity, a three in one. There are many ways God shows us where God is and who God is and there are three that we talk in the trinity–God the father or creator, God the son in Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. That is why I started with 3 people dancing. And God does not stop there, because the Holy Spirit wants to bring everyone in to know Jesus, to know God’s love, to know that God is everywhere they go, so it’s kind of like a dance where all are invited to participate with God and that is what sends God’s love out to the world. Just like we added people, the Holy Spirit’s love keeps getting added.
God of the dance, thank you for showing yourself to us. Help us to dance with you and bring in more and more people to your love. Amen
May you know and do God’s dance of love in your heart.
Dance of God Footprint Wreath: Have cutouts of a footprint or have people trace their feet and have some done and glue or taped onto a cut out circle or an actual wreath. You will be making a wreath out of the feet. Instructions say: Write a way you can join in God’s dance on the foot and then put your foot on the wreath as you say a prayer to join in God’s dance.