questions | Faith Formation Journeys

Invite the children forward. Have some bread, a cup/chalice of wine, a bowl of water and some index cards. Ask the children this, “If you could say one thing to Jesus or ask him one question what would it be?” (Accept all answers and even share your own!) Say, “yes, we have lots of questions don’t we? We’ve never really seen Jesus like the disciples did, and we don’t necessarily hear Jesus’ voice (remember that you may have some mystics among you who might hear Jesus!). And sometimes I have lots of questions too and I don’t always know who to talk to about what I’m wondering about Jesus and God. (Repeat some of their questions here.) What do we do with all of those questions? (Accept all answers.) Yes, we could talk to each other! Jesus breathed on the disciples and reminds them and us that we all have the breath of God in us and share that breath everywhere we go!

Thomas missed Jesus coming and breathing on the disciples and when he came back and heard about it, he had lots of questions. Jesus doesn’t mind our questions-as a matter of fact, Jesus came to Thomas to talk to him about his! Jesus knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk to all people so that’s why Jesus told the disciples and us that we are sent out with the love of Jesus to talk about our questions and wondering together and to look for Jesus everywhere around us. We might not think that we “see” Jesus like Thomas and the other disciples saw him, but Jesus gave us ways to see how much he loves us and is with us always, in our questions, in our wondering and when we feel God’s presence. Jesus said to look for him in bread and wine: which we do every week! When we eat and drink we know that Jesus fills us with what we need to be his hands and feet in the world. In water that is found in our baptismal font, we know that Jesus says we belong to God forever, no matter what. Jesus wants everyone to know that what God really wants is to love us and be with us. Even if we wonder if God is real or what God is doing. I have some blank index cards here. You can take one back to you seat and write or draw your questions for Jesus or what you wonder about Jesus. *During our worship station time, you can place them in the basket on the table and take with you a heart to remind you that Jesus loves you now and always. (If you don’t do worship stations, have index cards in the pews for all people. Invite them to place them in the offering plate.)

Have index cards and pens on a table. Invite people to write their questions for God on them and either place them in a basket. (You could also have a large question mark on a piece of poster board hanging on a wall and people can write their questions on post-it notes to place on the question mark. The question mark could be inside a big heart.) Have heart stickers or paper hearts cut out for people to take as they leave their questions. Perhaps offer a time of wrestling with those questions in adult education, confirmation or some other forum.

Jesus, we love you and we are so glad that you love us! Thank you for hearing our questions, our wondering and our doubts. Be with us as this community grows and learns from those questions. Send us out to listen and talk with other people who also wonder about you and may we share your love and peace with them. Amen.

+Peace be with you+

Preparation: Have an object (any object will do) in a box or bag or in some way covered up. You are going to play the game 20 questions with this object.

Gather the children around you and show the box that contains the object you have chosen. You can tell the kids whether it’s an animal, vegetable or mineral if you would like. Then have the children ask you only “yes” or “no” questions about the object. You don’t have to keep track if they ask 20 questions or not, that is up to you! It also doesn’t really matter if they guess what the object is or not for this lesson. When the children have either guessed or reached question number 20, say, “It was hard to only ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions wasn’t it? Were you wondering if I was telling the truth or if there was more information than ‘yes’ or ‘no’? Even though being told ‘yes’ or ‘no’ seems like an easy way to go, it’s actually harder than being able to get a longer answer from someone isn’t it? It’s better to have a real conversation and get more information.”

Who can help me remember the story from the Bible about Jesus we just heard? (Accept all answers and guide them through a retelling of the gospel.) Is this the time of year when we think about this story? This sounds more like Good Friday doesn’t it? Well, we are hearing this story today because it is the last day of the Church’s calendar-kind of like our New Year’s Eve and this story is really important to us but this story comes with a lot of questions to. People in the story are even asking questions: Are you not the Messiah? Do you fear God? Can’t you save yourself Jesus? Jesus doesn’t give a yes or no answer to these questions does he? Do you think if he told them they would have believed him? Maybe yes, maybe no-but the most important thing is that Jesus heard their questions. And then Jesus tells the people listening something more important than anything: that they will be with Jesus. This is why we hear this story today. It helps us to remember what is most important as we celebrate Christmas, that Jesus is with us always and loves us. Jesus will never leave us, no matter what questions or how many questions we may have about God. We can ask God whatever we want, even if it is a hard question. We can talk to each other about our hard questions too, can’t we? We can talk to our moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and everyone here. We all have questions about God and we should talk about them together.

Dear God, thank you for listening to our questions. We know that we can talk to you anytime we need to about anything. Thank you for families who talk to us about you. In Jesus name, amen.

“Jesus is with you today.” (Make the sign of the cross on one another.)

Faith Formation Journeys

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