Here is the Weekly devotion for the 3rd Sunday After Epiphany – January 27, 2013
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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
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Here is the Weekly devotion for the 2nd Sunday After Epiphany – January 20, 2013
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Baptism of Jesus Sunday – January 13, 2013
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Many of you may be giving Bibles soon or sometime this year to children or youth or adults! Here is a resource to help you out with Blessings the Bibles in worship
This blessing was used at Bethel Lutheran Church in Aurora, CO. The congregation gave each family in their school a Spark Story Bible (Augsburg Fortress) as a beginning of the year gift. We had the church council and the school board present the Bibles at offering time and place them by the large cross that was present. An alternate idea is to place them on or by the altar. The pastor and the preschool director lead the congregation in the blessing that occurred after the offering time. A hand written card from families in the church highlighting their favorite Bible passage/story was placed in each Bible that the families received. Please feel free to use and modify to fit your context!
Invite Congregation to read the following blessing of the Bibles:
L: God from the beginning your Word spoke light into darkness and order into chaos. Your Word was on the hearts and doorposts of the Israelite people. You spoke through the prophets so that the Israelite people would remain faithful. You spoke loudest in the coming of your Son Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke words of healing, mercy and love. In his death on a cross he spoke without words but with actions. Then Paul, Peter and all of the apostles preached, wrote and acted on this Word of God for the sake of the entire world.
Fresh and HOT off the presses we have ready for you to print, copy and handout to whomever you so desire is a Christmas Devotion written for the final 5 days before Christmas (December 20-24). This is a devotion that homes and families of all shapes and sizes will find to be worth their time in spending a few minutes together each day of this week of Christmas. The link will take you to our googlesite where you can download the full document. Or use it online starting December 15th by looking at each day. Here is an overview:
Faith+Open–a ritual of lighting a candle, picking an ornament off your tree for your time together, and singing or listening to a Christmas song that fits the scripture for the day
Faith+Share–scripture and discussion prompts plus optional activities
Faith+Prayer–a prayer together
Faith+Blessing–a time to bless one another as the devotional time ends.
We encourage you to use this in your home and share with others. For all you wonderful youth directors, children’s ministers and pastors we encourage you to have this available for your congregations and visitors throughout Advent.
We love feedback so let us know if you used it and what you thought!
Link supplemental pages
+Blessings to you all this Advent and Christmas,
Leta & Brigette
Preparation: Baptismal font down front or where you can gather children.
Faith+Gather: Gather the children around the baptismal font. Ask them if they know what this is? What happens here?
Faith+Connect: Yes, baptisms happen here. In our gospel today we hear that Jesus was baptized and we know that he said to go and baptize others. So baptism is what we call a sacrament. Does anyone know what it means? Take some answers. Explain that baptism is about God’s gift of love and grace being give to us totally free. Ask what water does, what is for? Take answers. Yes, water can also be for cleaning and washing so we use water to help show us that God washes all the sin away and promises to love us no matter what we do in our lives. It’s a way that we remember that we belong to God. When we baptize someone we say ‘You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever’ and we mark the sign of the cross on their forehead either with water or with oil. And this is one way we can remember our baptisms too–anytime and anywhere! Let’s do that now. Put your finger in the font and make the sign of the cross on your forehead while I say the words “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever” Now we are going to pray but then we are going to dip our fingers one more time and you can go back to your pew family and make the sign of the cross on them!
Faith+Prayer: Thank you Jesus for your love with us every day. Thank you for water and words that help us remember we belong to you. Amen.
Faith+Blessing: Today you are taking the blessing back to the people around you. Dip your finger in the water and head on back and say to them, “Jesus loves you always”
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Preparation: Stars cut out of paper and markers. Optional: tape or cut the stars out and add a piece of double sided tape or other way that they can ‘stick’ on to someone.
Faith+Gather: Gather the children with you and ask them if they know the part of the story about the wisemen. See how much they can tell. Use a picture or prop from your creche if you have one. Say, “The wisemen followed a star, which give light. Today we begin the season of epiphany and in this season of the church year we read scripture stories and think about how God’s being in the world brings us light.”
Faith+Connect: Say, “I know that God sends us star-like people in our lives to help show us the ways of Jesus. These people care about us, tell us about how they see Jesus in their lives, they help us know how to love one another and other people, things like that. Can you think of people who are stars for you?” Share a person who is a star for you and why. Take answers from the kids. Also ask, “How do show you about Jesus?”
Give each child the star piece of paper and a marker. Ask them to write down a name or a letter or a picture to say who is a star for them. Then tell them that if the person is here they can stick this star to them. If they person is not here they can mail it or give it to them when they see them. If the person has died they can put this star in their room or you could create a board or space somewhere in the worship space or church where all the stars can be placed. You can do this during this time or send them back to their seats for this part, or if you have an interactive time in worship such as an open space time you could have this as a station and let them know when they can do this activity.
Say, “Stars in our lives help us to remember about Jesus and help us to be stars for other people. We always have the light of Christ with us in so many ways. These stars can help you remember one way and one person today and this week.”
Faith+Prayer: Jesus, you were born to show us the way of love. We thank you for the lights of the stars in the sky and for the light of the people who are stars for us. Amen
Faith+Blessing: Make the sign of the cross and teach the children: God in my head, God in my heart, God on my left, God on my right.
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Here is the Weekly devotion for the Epiphany Sunday – January 6, 2013
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Preparation: Find three people to help you tell the gospel story: a man, a woman and a boy. Go to this link at Worshipping with Children for the reading: Jesus as boy in Temple
Faith+Gather: Invite the children forward. Ask, “What does the Christmas story tell us about Jesus?” Accept answers, “Right, that he was born as a baby, just like you and me! Today we here another story about Jesus growing up, this one he is older, maybe about 12. Are any of you 12? Well I have some people here to tell us the story. A father like Joseph, a mother like Mary, and Jesus as a boy.”
Faith+Share: Have the three people you found tell the story using the provided script or your own. Then ask, “How do you think it felt for Mary and Joseph when they couldn’t find Jesus? How do you think Jesus felt when he was found?” We don’t have many stories of Jesus growing up, in fact this is about it but what’s important here is that we remember that Jesus was born and he grew up like you and I do, he had experiences with his family and friends and community that were about being lost and found and happy and sad and all those human things. And it says here that Mary kept these things in her heart. What do you think that means? I think your moms and dads and people who love you keep things about you in their hearts, like remembering what you were like or when you teach them something about love or God just like Jesus as a boy taught his parents about the importance of being close to God. And I also know that God keeps you close to God’s heart because just like Jesus grew up like we do, Jesus is also God and able to know us and love us fully. This is why we keep stories of Jesus in our hearts and why we come to worship, so that we can remember all the time that we are loved and kept close to God’s heart.
Faith+Prayer: Jesus, we are glad for your birth, we are glad for you being a child, we are glad that you know us and keep us in your heart in love. Amen.
Faith+Blessing: God in our head, God in our heart, God on our left, God on our right. (say these words while making the sign of the cross and have the kids do this with you)
