Here is the devotion page for the Third Sunday of Easter, May 4, 2014
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Tag Archives: Luke
Children’s Sermon Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24:13-35, May 4, 2014
Prepare: Find a very simple puzzle, like a preschool puzzle, you really only want about 6 or 7 pieces for this. Bonus points if it is an Easter puzzle! Also bring along some cardboard scraps that are a similar size to the puzzle pieces, but just squares or rectangles so that the puzzle piece is still pretty obvious.
As the children gather, get all the puzzle pieces facing up except for one. Let one piece sit surrounded by the cardboard so that it is obviously a puzzle piece, but so that the picture cannot be seen on it. Start getting the puzzle put together, let the children help if you want, but keep them away from the upside down piece. Once the puzzle is together be really sad and confused about the missing piece.
Oh no! I’m missing a piece! I thought they were all here! I even asked the person who gave me the puzzle and they said all the pieces were here. (At this point it is good if you let them see the missing piece.) Well, I guess I’ll just throw it away, if I can’t find the piece. What? You say it’s over here? No, this is all just cardboard, no puzzle piece there. Oh, wait! You’re right, there is the missing piece! I don’t know why I didn’t see it, but there it is! Now the puzzle is complete. Thanks.
This reminds me of the Gospel story that we hear today. The story happens on the day we call Easter. Jesus’ friends are walking away from Jerusalem when they meet a stranger on the road. They start talking and they find out that the stranger has no idea about what just happened in Jerusalem. He doesn’t know about Jesus, he doesn’t know about Jesus being killed, or buried, he doesn’t know any of it, so they tell the stranger all about it.
Here’s the fun part of the story, the stranger was Jesus! He was walking with his friends and they didn’t even know that it was him. They were so sad and worried that they couldn’t see Jesus walking with them. Just like me with that puzzle piece, I was so upset that it was missing that I didn’t even want to look for it. They didn’t know that they were with Jesus until they sat down to eat and Jesus broke bread and poured wine, then they suddenly recognized him. Just like I didn’t see the piece until someone turned it over.
A missing puzzle piece is not really a big deal, is it? No, not really. But forgetting to look for Jesus? We do know something that those disciples didn’t know, we know that Jesus is alive and among us, so we know that we should always be looking for Jesus, we should always be finding people who need our love and care.
Risen Christ, we sometimes forget that you are here with us, we forget to look for you in the people around us, and we forget to be loving to everyone we meet. Help us to see the good in the world and to live with your forgiveness and grace in our hearts and on our lips. Amen.
Send them out with a traditional Easter greeting! You say, “Christ is risen!” They respond, “Christ is risen indeed!”
~GB
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Household Devotion Page for February 2, 2014
Here is the devotion page for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany, February 2, 2014
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Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Weekly Devotion Page for November 17, 2013
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – November 17, 2013
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Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Weekly Devotion Page for November 10, 2013
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost – November 10, 2013
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Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Weekly Devotion Page for November 3, 2013
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost – November 3, 2013
Using the All Saints texts?
Download the All Saints version of the Devotion Page!
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!
Weekly Devotion Pages for October 27, 2013
Here are the Weekly devotion pages for the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost – October 27, 2013
For the month October we have two devotion pages for each week. There is a set that has a “Faith on the Go” section based on the Gospel readings for the month and as set focused on stewardship and using the 2 Timothy readings.
Download the Gospel text version
Download the 2 Timothy version
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon 22nd Sunday After Pentecost (Lec 29), Luke 18:1-18 – October 20, 2013
Prepare: Bring a picture or ad of something outrageous that you want, like a new car, or an expensive guitar, or the newest phone, or whatever you dream about having that is just unattainable.
Pretend to be totally absorbed in picture/ad that you brought as the children gather. Look at them with sudden surprise once they are all gathered up. Then show them the picture and talk about how much you want it. Then . . .
I know what I’ll do! I’m going to go [to the store, etc] and beg them to give it to me until they do. I’ll just stand there and pester them all day, all week if that’s what it takes! Do you think that will work? (I hope that you get some “no” answers here!) You think it’s a bad idea? But wait, it says to do that in the Bible! Here, listen to this – (You can either read the story, or just tell it in your own words, whatever you think will work best for you. This one doesn’t show up in many children’s Bibles! Make sure you emphasize that the judge is unjust, mean, doesn’t care about people or God, etc – AND that the widow is seeking justice, not just some toy that she wants.)
Hmmm . . . now that I read that story again, maybe this isn’t a good idea. The widow was trying to get the judge to fix something that was wrong, something that was not fair. She was persistent because she knew what was right and good and needed the judge to help her fix things. If I went to a store and begged for this I would just be annoying! This isn’t anything that I need, and it doesn’t make the world better for me to have it.
What Jesus is really saying here is that we should ask for things that make our world better, and if we know that something is wrong we should ask for things to be fixed. Jesus even says that if an unjust and mean judge can figure out how to do the right thing, imagine what God can do!
Right and true God, thank you for giving us good things, and for giving us people in our lives who know how to take of things and make thing right. Amen.
Make the sign of the cross and say, “God be in your head, God be in your heart, God be on your left, and God be on your right. Amen”
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Weekly Devotion Pages for October 20, 2013
Here are the Weekly devotion pages for the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost – October 20, 2013
For the month October we have two devotion pages for each week. There is a set that has a “Faith on the Go” section based on the Gospel readings for the month and as set focused on stewardship and using the 2 Timothy readings.
Download the Gospel text version
Download the 2 Timothy version
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon 21st Sunday After Pentecost (Lec 28), Luke 17:11-19 – October 13, 2013
Prepare: Bring something with you that is “broken”, but that a child could obviously fix. Something really simple, like two pieces of wood that fit together.
As the children gather be trying to fix whatever it is you that brought, and then ask them for help. Once it is fixed be sure to NOT say thank you! Just grab it back, maybe be even a little rude.
Wait, was that what I was supposed to do? Shouldn’t I say something to (name of child who helped)? Yeah, what is it that I should say? Oh! “Thank You!”
We all know to do that, right? We all say “thank you” when someone helps us, right? Here’s a question for you, though – how often to you say thank you to God when you ask God for help? I don’t know about you, but I pray most often when I am scared or worried, or when I just want God to do something for me. I pray for God to give me good weather when I want to be outside, I pray for God to help people feel better, I pray for God to comfort people who are scared. You know what else I say when I pray? I say, “thank you.”
In today’s Gospel story there are ten people who are really sick, and the disease that they have is really easy to give to other people, so they are not allowed to live in town with all the other people. They ask Jesus to heal them so that they can go back home, and Jesus does it. What should they do next? They should say thank you, right? Well, only one of them comes back to Jesus and says thank you, just one! That’s not good! I said thank you for help with a simple toy, Jesus healed them! They should all say thank you, and so should we.
Let’s try it together. I’m going to start a prayer and then I’m going to stop talking so that we can all say thank you to God for something that we prayed for. (If you children’s sermon happens as part of the main worship at your church invite the whole congregation to do this!) Ok, think for a minute of something that you prayed about that you would like to say thanks to God for. . . ready?
Gracious God, we pray to you all the time for help and comfort, but sometimes we forget to say thank you. Please accept our thanks for these wonderful gifts you have given us ___________. Amen.
Make the sign of the cross and say, “God be in your head, God be in your heart, God be on your left, and God be on your right. Amen”
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.