Faith Formation Journeys

Walking Together in Grace

Tag: worship station

  • Children’s Sermon – May 29, 2016 – Luke 7:1-10, Lec 9C

    Children’s Sermon – May 29, 2016 – Luke 7:1-10, Lec 9C

    Prepare:  Make two big signs, one that says “faith,” another that says, “trust.”  These can be used for both the children’s sermon and for the worship station.

    Even better! Make single really big sign/poster with a Venn diagram of faith and trust!

    You may also want a dictionary – or you can use these from dictionary.com

    Trust

    Faith

    20130715-114218.jpg As the children gather around ask them if they know the difference between “faith” and “trust.  Let them wrestle with that a little bit.  Once they have had a few minutes to work on it, tell that in the dictionary (or at least at dictionary.com) the definition of faith includes trust, but the definition of trust does not include faith!

    FaithCross_BibleALT Well isn’t that strange? If you have faith in something that means you also trust it, but if you trust something you might not have faith in it.  Maybe one way to think about is that we trust the things that we can see and feel, and we have faith in things that are hard to see and feel.

    Well, in the Bible story we hear today, there is a centurion (a Roman soldier) who shows both trust AND faith in who Jesus is and what God can do. He has a servant who is dying and has faith that Jesus can heal the servant, but he also trusts that Jesus is powerful enough that the servant will be healed without Jesus even coming to his house!  This amazes even Jesus!

    Let’s play a little game with trust and faith.  I have these two signs, (or one, whichever you did!) and we are going to come up with some things that we trust, some things that we have faith in, and some things that fit into both!  I’ll start – I trust that the building we are in is not going to fall down.  I have faith that Jesus is present with us now, and I have trust and faith in God’s everlasting love. Now you try!

    (Give them a little space to come up with some ideas)

    That was great!  Think about trust and faith this week as you meet people and play with friends.

    FaithCross_PrayALT Loving and healing God, thank you for giving us things to put our trust in, like (add some things from the poster!). Thank you for giving us things to have faith in, like (______________). Thank you for being someone we can trust and have faith in!  Amen.

    FaithCross_BlessALT May the Holy Spirit burn in your heart today and everyday!

    FaithCross_Worship Simply invite the congregation to participate in the faith/trust/faith and trust exercise with the children!  You can make a big poster that people can come up and write on, or you can have more of an interactive discussion about it with the whole assembly.

  • Children’s Sermon/Worship Station – March 6, 2016: Lent 4c – Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

    Children’s Sermon/Worship Station – March 6, 2016: Lent 4c – Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

    Prepare: One of my favorite ways to tell this story is to act it out. So your preparation for the children’s sermon can be as simple as just making sure you know the story well enough to tell it, or as complex as having actors and costumes. Up to you!

    For the worship station, set up a “voting booth” with a two large jars or containers and beads or small rocks for people to vote with.

    20130822-223520.jpg As the children gather ask them if they have a favorite story.  If they do, ask them how they like to tell the story?

    20130822-223633.jpg Today’s Gospel story is a really fun story to act out, but first we need to some actors.

    OK – from here on you are on your own! But I will tell you what I would do.  I would have a short list of the important characters in mind, and maybe even on a piece of paper in front of me. I would look for “volunteers,” and by that I mean that I would ask, but would ultimately end up choosing some people to play certain parts. Once I had my cast I would start to narrate the story and encourage the actors to act out what I am saying.

    One really fun way to do this is to have the prodigal son stay with you, and pretend to walk away while the father and other son back away from you.  Then you can keep the action of the story close by.

    To get the two groups back together you can have them kind of meet in the middle.

    My simple cast would be:

    • Father
    • Prodigal
    • Other Son

    Expansions on that would be:

    • The people the prodigal celebrates and eats with
    • the farmer he works for
    • the pigs that he eats with
    • the people who live near his father
    • his fathers’s other servants
    • etc . . .

    20130822-223908.jpg You are God’s Beloved child

     

    20130822-223749.jpg Loving and forgiving God, bring us back to you when we wander far from your love and care. Teach us to show your love, mercy and forgiveness in all parts of our lives, and lead us in ways that keep us close to you always! Amen.

    FaithCross_Worship For the worship station, ask the question, “where does your pride end?” To keep it simple have two jars:  “I would return to my family when the money ran out,” and, “I would be eating with the pigs.”

    Have people vote and see where you congregation ends up!  Make sure that being forgiven for pride is part of your prayers AFTER the worship station, so that the idea of returning to God is part of your focus in worship this day.