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Tag Archives: Psalms
Weekly Devotion Page for December 1, 2013
Here is the Weekly devotion for the First Sunday in Advent – December 1, 2013
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Children’s Sermon Dec. 2nd 2012, First Sunday of Advent Psalm 25
Scripture: Psalm 25
Prepare: This series of children’s sermons in Advent will utilize your Advent wreath in your worship space. Each week the as the candle is lit (ask an older child to help with lighting the wreath) you will explain what the candle means and then give them a take home devotion. Download it here! The idea is for the devotion to be copied on the back of the candle ornament to be used as a family devotion. Have a copy made on card stock for each child and/or household.
Faith+Open: Gather the children to the Advent wreath. Say, “Does anyone know what day today is in the Church?” Accept all answers. Today is the first Sunday of Advent. We are gathered here at this wreath with candles on it, we call this an Advent Wreath, and we are going to light just one candle today. Each week of Advent we will light another candle until all of the candles are lit. How many candles do you see here? That’s right four! There are four weeks of Advent; four weeks until we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, Christmas. We light a candle to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world!
Faith+Share: Did you know that each candle has a name? This week’s candle’s name is the Hope candle. What is hope? Accept all answers. Hope is expecting something wonderful to happen. We know that something wonderful happened when Jesus was born and also when Jesus died and rose again. This wonderful thing is that God loves us so much and we expect God to be with us always because God promised this to us! Nothing keeps us from God and we are free to love God and everyone around us!
Each of you will get this candle ornament that you can take home and color blue (or purple if you do purple in Advent). You can hang it on your Christmas tree and each week you will get another one to add to the tree. On the back is a Bible passage to read, a prayer and a blessing. You can do this at dinner, in the car or before bed. Let’s practice it now!
Faith+Pray: God of Hope, you free us from whatever keeps us from you. Thank you for being with us always, amen.
Faith+Bless: Have everyone in the congregation turn to one another and say this blessing while making the sign of the cross on their forehead or hand: “You are free in God’s love.”
As you distribute the ornaments with the devotion on the back, have them sing “This Little Light of Mine” as they go back to their seats.
~BW
Blessing of the Christmas Tree
Gather either around or near your tree!
Tell where you see God at Advent & Christmas and where you need God at Advent & Christmas.
Psalm 96:11-13
11Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy13before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
This tree is a blessing to our home. It reminds us of all that is beautiful, all that is filled with the gentleness and the promise of God. It stands in our midst as a tree of light that we might promise such beauty to one another and to our world. It stands like that tree of paradise that God made into the tree of life, the cross of Jesus. If you have young children or like good stories you may want to read “The Three Trees” by Angela Elwell Hunt
How can the Christmas tree remind you of the story of the birth of Jesus? How will it bless you in this Advent/Christmas season? How will you be a blessing to others?
Join in prayer together thanking God for where you see the Holy Spirit active and asking for help in where you need God this year.
Loving God, we come with joy to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whose path of justice and inclusivity lights a path for all who follow him. May this tree, arrayed in splendor, remind us of the life-giving cross of Christ, that we may always rejoice in the new life that shines in our hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now make the sign of the cross on one another and say, “Child of God, remember that you are a light of God’s love. Amen”
~LB
May use with permission for non profit only. Intellectual property rites apply.
Children’s Sermon Mark 10:1-16, Psalm 8 and Genesis 2:18-24 19th Sunday after Pentecost Oct. 7th, 2012 Year B
Scripture: Mark 10:1-16; Psalm 8; and Genesis 2:18-24
Faith + Gather: Invite the children forward to where you gather for children’s sermon. Ask the children about who lives in their house with them. Notice how no two families are the same?
Faith + Share: Say, “Well, all of today’s Bible stories are about God creating the world and families! We read about God creating people, the heavens and the earth and how great God’s creation is and about Jesus being very concerned that people have safe families to live in and how important children are to God. Jesus wants to make sure that everyone is cared for and loved because God loves us so much! It hurts God’s heart when people aren’t nice to each other or don’t take care of one another. We know that sometimes a mommy and daddy no longer live in the same house but we also know that mommy’s and daddy’s love their children very much and take care of them. God takes care of us like a mommy or a daddy and even if we sometimes are sad, or scared or lonely, we can remember that God loves us and puts people in our lives that love us. That can be people in your actual family or it can be people here at church, at school, or in your neighborhood. We have our family members who live in our house, but family can also be anyone who loves and care for us and we love and care for them. Who are some friends that you love and care for?”
Faith + Blessing: Have the children sit or stand in a circle and place a hand on each other’s shoulders. Have them repeat after you to each other: “God cares for you and so do I!”
Faith + Prayer: Dear Jesus, you love all of your children. Thank you for being with us always. Thank you for all the people in my life who love me. Amen
~BW
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Children’s Sermon Pentecost 5A Psalm 139
Scripture Focus: Psalm 139
Supplies—something knit
Faith+Open— After welcoming the children, tell them about the Psalm for today. If your service doesn’t use the Psalm this week or if they have not heard it, read either all or parts of it to them. Ask them to close their eyes and imagine God creating them and knowing them. Be sure to read the part about being knit together in the womb.
OR: use the book Before you Were Born by Nancy White Carlstrom. It is a beautiful children’s book based on this Psalm and could be read, or parts read, to engage children in the psalm in a way that relates to them on a personal level. You could simply read this book or read parts and continue with the rest of the elements following.
Faith+Share: When you hear the words that you were knit together in your mother’s womb what does that make you imagine or how does that feel? Show them the knit item or items you have. If you can knit or if you know someone who does, you could also show them what it looks like when the person is knitting. Explain that to knit is to carefully bring yarn together to make it into something new. Another thing about knitting is that it creates warmth that stays with us. A knit scarf is meant to be warm, to keep out the cold and to keep the heat in and close to our necks.
God knit each of you together in a careful and loving way. You were created with God’s heart and hands and God knows you in this way as well. Psalm 139 is praising and thanking God for being a God that is will us from the beginning and all throughout our lives. Just like a knit scarf will keep the warmth on you, God will stay with you in your heart. They can remember this when they wear something knit or when they use water to remember their baptism or when they come to the table for the communion meal. Ask the children to think of ways they can remember how they are loved by God.
Faith+Prayer: God you know me, God you love me. Thank you for knitting me together. Thank you for your love that stays with me. Amen
Faith+Blessing: Making the sign of the cross say this another way to help us remember God is with us—God in my head, God in my heart, God on my left, God on my right.
Extended activities: If you meet with children for a longer period of time outside of the worship space here are some ideas:
1. have some knit samples the kids can put on and play with
2. older kids can braid or twist yarn together in a bracelet to simulate knitting together
3. create pictures of what life was like before they were born