Faith Formation Journeys

Walking Together in Grace

Tag: Matthew

  • Children’s sermon Matthew 25: 1-13, Ten Bridesmaids, Year A, Pentecost 32, Nov. 9, 2014

    Children’s sermon Matthew 25: 1-13, Ten Bridesmaids, Year A, Pentecost 32, Nov. 9, 2014

    Preparation: an oil candle  and lighter

    20130822-223315.jpg Gather the children with you. Show the children your oil candle that is unlit.  Ask, “does anyone know what this is?” Take answers. “And how does it keep the light burning?” Take answers. “yes the oil we have here keeps the flame going, as long as there is oil in the lamp the flame will go. “ Light the candle.

    20130822-223633.jpg  “In our gospel today Jesus tells us a parable—which remember is a story that tries to tell us something about God or about how we are called live as God’s children. This parable is about bridesmaids and back when Jesus was alive and there was a wedding the bridesmaids didn’t stay with the bride like they do today, instead they stayed with groom and carried oil lamps so that everyone could see how well he was dressed and how he would make a good husband who could take care of the bride. Well, these bridesmaids did not keep oil in there lamp so they could not keep the light shining on what they were supposed to. Jesus tells this story to help us see that how we live and shine God’s light matters for showing others about Jesus’ love.”  “What are ways that we can help each other have enough oil in our lamp to shine a light for Christ?” Take answers but come around to the idea that when we pray for each other, read the scripture, sing songs, and remember that we are children of God then we can show that to others.

    20130822-224425.jpg For our prayer today we are going to do something different. We are going to sing a song and let it help us remember how we are lights and let it remind the rest of the people worshipping that they are lights as well.

    Sing This Little Light of Mine or Give me Oil in my lamp or another  light song

    20130822-223908.jpg  +May your light shine bright in the day and night and may you know God’s love in you+

    FaithCross_Worship Anointed with Oil: set out small bowls with oil and make small cards that have either the blessing above (+May your light shine bright in the day and night and may you know God’s love in you+) or a baptismal blessing–+You are sealed by the Holy Sprit and marked with the cross of Christ forever+

    Create a sign that says: Take a card and dip your finger in oil. Make a sign of the cross with the oil on the card as a reminder to take home. Then go and give the blessing to another person.

    LB

  • Children’s Sermon Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:34-46, October 26, 2014

    Children’s Sermon Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:34-46, October 26, 2014

    Prepare: You are going to play a word game, so you will need several cards with either a noun or a verb on them and one more that says “LOVE.” The number of cards you use depends on how much time you have, but you probably need at least 3 of each plus the “LOVE” card. They should be simple and obvious, like RUN, or DOG.

    Worship Station: The worship station can be done without added stuff, but if might be helpful to have paper for everyone to write on, or even better small note cards.

    NOTE – I am using this with my congregation as part of our stewardship/giving commitment Sunday, so I will also include that idea, but you can leave out the giving commitment part if it does not line up with what your congregation is doing.

    FaithCross_ConnectALT  Ask the children if they know what a noun is and what a verb is. You might have to explain it, and if they are too young you can also just use “thing” or “action.”

    FaithCross_ConversationALT Alright! Good, now we are going to play a word game! I will hold up a card and you tell me if it is a noun or a verb.

    Start with the easy ones, and offer lots of encouragement! Then hold up the LOVE card last.

    What do you think of this one? Is love a noun? You can feel love, right? We know when we love someone or when someone loves us, so maybe it is a noun. But, maybe it is a verb, too. Love is something that you do, too! Think about that for a minute. When you love somebody you want to do good things for them. You want to make them feel good, and you want to take care of them. So love is not just a noun, love is something that we do.

    In this Bible story that we read today we hear Jesus talking about love because someone asked him a very difficult question. They want to know what the greatest commandment is. I think that they were thinking of the 10 commandments – you know, “have no other gods,” “Honor you parents,” “Don’t kill.” But Jesus, like he so often does, answers the question in a completely different way. Instead of picking one of the 10, he kind of picks them all. He says the most important thing you can do is to love. Love God, love yourself and all the people around you. Remember, love is not just a noun, it is a verb! To love all these people we have to do something! We have to care for them, we should do good things for them, we should work to make them feel good, joyful and safe. That is a difficult thing to do, and I think that Jesus knew that when he said it. Let’s pray for a little help learning how to be more loving.

    FaithCross_Worship *Stewardship Emphasis* If you intend to collect pledges you can have baskets out or whatever your custom is. If you are not colleting pledges you can just have people do the prayer work and write down their love commitment.

    Ask the people to think for a moment about the person or situation that most upset, angered, frustrated, or otherwise made them unhappy in the past week. Then ask them to turn to the person next to them and just share the one word that they felt in that situation. Nothing more! Not what was happening, not who was involved, just one word about how they felt.

    Next have them think about how they could have been more loving in the situation and write that on the paper (if you are using paper). That is their commitment to be more loving this week.

    If you are collecting pledges, do that now, and tell them that they are making a double pledge. One to support the church financially in the coming year and the other to be more loving, even in the most difficult times of their daily lives.

    20130822-224425.jpg    Loving God, we often fail to be the loving people you created us to be. Help us to see past our own hurts and anger and to live out your love in our lives. Amen.

    20130822-223908.jpg God loves everything about you.

     

    ~GB

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