Here is the devotion page for Advent 2 – year A. (Click on the words!)
New (church) Year – new format! One of the changes that we are making is we are leaving the date off the inserts. So, perhaps, in the future there could be some options for which style of inserts you like in your congregation!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the devotion page for Advent 1 – year A. (Click on the words!)
New (church) Year – new format! One of the changes that we are making is we are leaving the date off the inserts. So, perhaps, in the future there could be some options for which style of inserts you like in your congregation!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Tell the children at the beginning of worship to go and find an object or a picture that gives a clue about who they are and one example of who they are not. Have an example such as, I might bring my running shoes as I’m an avid runner and a plant as I am not a gardner.
Tell the children to hold up their objects and tell why that object tells us who they are and who they are not. If it’s appropriate, remind them of your objects and why.
Then talk about the John the baptizer story: John was asked by some leaders who he was. They wondered if he was the Messiah, Elijah, or another prophet. He answered that he is not the Messiah, he’s not Jesus, or any of those other things, but he is someone who God sent to show others to Jesus. He’s important because he tells others about Jesus. And Jesus tells us about how much God loves us and who we are: God’s great joy. You are God’s great joy! You might be a dancer, a soccer player, a musician, an artist, etc. but most important, who you are is loved by God and God’s great joy! And our job for God is to be that joy to everyone we meet so that they know that they are God’s great joy too!
Let’s pray: God you sent Jesus to show us that we are loved and your great joy forever. Help us to never forget this and to always be who we are: yours. We joyfully pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
+You are God’s Great Joy+
Preparation: a helper, a letter, your phone if you want to text
Gather the children with you. Have your helper deliver you a message in an envelope before you get started. Say, “oh, hello, this is for me? wow! A letter! A message in a letter!” Open the letter and read the scripture “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
That is the last part of the scripture we just heard for today. Jesus is sending a message!
“What kind of message do you think he is sending?” Take answers. Have your helper whisper to you that the words say messenger, not message. “oh, it says messenger, not message. Hmmmm… Well what’s the difference? Let’s see, how do you get messages today? Do you get letters in the mail? What about phone calls? or texts? or snapchats? There are a lot of way to get messages to people now. I know when Jesus was on earth with people, there were not as many ways to get messages to people. There were letters that were delivered by people, but also there were messengers who went ahead to let people know what was going on. John was telling people about Jesus before Jesus was even in town with them. Jesus is telling the followers that yes, John’s messages are about him and yes that they should listen to John.”
“Do you know who else are messengers in the Bible? Angels, the word for angel means messenger. There were many angels in the Christmas story telling people about Jesus–can you think of any? Yes, Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. Messengers are a part of how we share good news and bad news and are apart of how we tell the story of Jesus. Most of the stories of Jesus we have are ones that were told over and over before they were written down. And the stories that we have about God in our lives are good ones to send messages about–either by telling, or writing texts, or letters. you know I have a friend who texts me prayers, and I just love getting that message and that connection with God! What are some ways you can be a messenger? Who would you like to send a message to?”
You can either hand out cards or paper as a way for them to write messages now or encourage them to do that at home. You could also compose a text together and send it to someone right there!
God of light and love, Thank you for your messages and your messengers. Help us to give messages to others about you. Amen
May your light shine even as Jesus shines in you
Have cards for people to write a message to someone. Or write the best message about God they have heard. Or give some sample text prayers for people to take a picture of our write on their own.
Prepare: You will need to create an “obstacle course” of some kind. If you have a place to make an actual course go ahead! If not, you can just come up with a wondering or difficult route to get to the children’s sermon place. Maybe make a few cards that have instructions for how to move, like hop on one foot, crawl, crab-walk, etc. You will probably want to gather the children in a different place than usual, so that you can travel a little.
As the children gather, tell them that you are going to be traveling across the sanctuary to the place they can hear about the story. Tell them that the journey is to “prepare” them, because the story says to prepare the way of the Lord! And that the rest of the story is waiting for them when they get there. Then go ahead and travel by what every way you have come up with.
Finally here! That was a tough trip just to go across the room. Now, the rest of the story! We heard that we are supposed to prepare the way of the Lord, and Jesus seems like a complex guy, so I came up with a complex way to get here. Let’s see if I did it right!
The story says, “Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.”
Straight? uh oh. Our path was not straight! Sometimes we do that same thing to Jesus. We say that we are all set to let Jesus in, but we put up road blocks, and make Jesus do funny walks just to prove that he really wants to be part of our lives. But in Advent – as we prepare for Christmas – we are told to clean out all the road blocks, to get rid of the rules and restrictions of what Jesus can and cannot do, and make Jesus’ path straight and easy.
We are called on to do some work!
Loving God, we thank you for sending us your Son, Jesus. We are trying hard to make a straight path for Jesus, but sometimes it’s really hard to do. Give us courage to keep working, and thank you for sending Jesus, even when we are not ready and the path is not straight. Amen.
God finds you even on the crooked path!
Find something that you congregation is working on – like a long-term service relationship in the community, or having supplies on hand for people in need – and create a list of “road blocks” to getting that done. Put the list up somewhere in the worship space, or include it in the printed materials. Start a discussion about how to move forward. What can be done to get the blocks out of the way and move on with the project?
Here is the devotion page for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, December 20, 2015. (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!
Here is the devotion page for the Third Sunday in Advent, December 13, 2015. (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!
Here is the devotion page for the Second Sunday in Advent, December 6, 2015. (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!
Here is the devotion page for the First Sunday in Advent, November 29, 2015. (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!
New this year! Pastor Leta wrote these devotions for her congregation and wanted to make them available to all our friends who use Faith Formation Journeys. Download them here and enjoy them with you congregations and families!
