Here is the devotion page for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 27, 2014
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
We have started a new format for our inserts (starting with Pentecost, June 8, 2014). To learn more about this format read this – Keeping up with what God is Doing,
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Preparation: markers and paper with the words “what If” at the top (or print the whole poem if you like) either to hand out or at worship station
Gather the children with you. Ask, What kinds of things do you worry about? (take their answers) Yes, I worry about those things too sometimes (or add in your own worries). In fact I have this poem here by Shel Silverstein that lists all kinds of things that might be worrisome.
Read Poem: Whatif by Shel Silverstein
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I’m dumb in school?
Whatif they’ve closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there’s poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don’t grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won’t bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don’t grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!
That is quite a list of what ifs! Sometimes I also think that all these what ifs and worries and things that could happen or event things that DO happen that are sad or scary, what if God does not love me anymore–??? Have you ever thought of that what if?
Did you hear our scripture for today though? I heard it loud and clear, let me read it to you. “For I am convinced–which means I am very, very sure and certain, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height , nor depth,(–insert their worries here and say things like not war or divorce or darkness or lost teeth, etc) nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you Know what that means–not one single thing will ever make God’s love go away. Not for you, not for me, not for anyone. Phew… that is some good news, to know that love will be with us no matter what happens or does not happen.
I have these papers for you that say ‘what if’ on the top. I want you to go ahead and write or draw anything that worries you or scares you. Then after you do that, draw a BIG HEART over the top of it and write God’s Love in that heart to help you remember that nothing will separate you from God’s love.
Jesus, help us remember, no matter what ifs we worry about, no matter what comes our way, that your love is with us to stay. Amen
+May you know God’s love is with you always+
Go to where you normally have the children gather and flop down with a lot of drama: sigh, play with your shoe or hair. Look extremely bored. Have the kids come join you but don’t seem too excited. Say, “well, you can come up if you want but don’t hurry we have LOTS of time.” Hopefully, the children will think this is a bit funny. When they are gathered say to them, “I’m soooooo bored. I am waiting. Waiting and waiting and waiting. Do you ever have to wait? What do you have to wait for? (Accept all answers.) Do you like to wait? Is it hard? What are some things that you do when you are waiting?
Well, do you want to know that I am waiting for? Jesus! Jesus promised that he would come back and we know that’s true but we have to wait. Today in a letter that Paul wrote to some people in Rome a long time ago he is talking to them about waiting for Jesus. The people in Rome are getting tired of waiting for Jesus and think that Jesus should just come now so that they can quit waiting for the world to be made right again. But Paul says that it doesn’t work that way, even though we want it to. Paul tells them that THEY have things to do while they wait for Jesus that will help everyone learn about Jesus! What things can we do while we wait for Jesus to tell the whole world about Jesus? (Accept all answers but you may have to prompt a bit.) We can love people, we can help people, we can send cards to people in the hospital, we can make care kits for people in parts of the world who don’t have medical supplies, help with clean water, etc. We are waiting and sometimes it’s hard. Waiting for Jesus to come back, but it may be a long time so we might as well have something to do while we wait! God loves us and the whole world so much and we want to tell everyone!
Have a worship station with some simple service ideas: card making for shut-ins, putting together simple care packages to keep in the car for those in need (hand sanitizer, Kleenex, water bottle, granola bar, short written prayer, all in a ziplock bag). Next to the service station have a prayer wall or table where people can write prayers about waiting. What are they waiting for in their life? Where is it hard to wait? Where are signs of God’s presence with us as we wait?
Waiting is hard, God. But we know that you are with us even if we are unsure. Help us to see signs of your presence in the world. Amen.
+Our hope is in Jesus+ (Make the sign of the cross)
Preparation: Bring in one vegetable seed and some examples of the food that it makes – for example, bring in one corn kernel and an ear of corn. Even better if it is a seeds that could be planted and then grow!
For the worship station – you will need some butcher paper, a black marker, some tape and some colored sticky dots.
If you are not too pressed for time, I always think that it is fun to quickly retell this story and have the children act it out. Don’t read it, just retell it! Have someone be the sower, have some children be the seeds, you will need some birds, too! All of the children can join together at the end when the seed grows and returns a good crop. Then you can wrap up by going through a little bit of Jesus explanation.
If this is going to be too long you can just briefly tell retell the four places the seeds fall and jump right to the explanation below.
Wow! That was really fun, but do you know what it all means? Yeah, neither did the disciples! So Jesus took a little time to explain it. He said that sometimes, when we tell people about our faith that they might say mean things, or that we are silly for believing in any of that stuff. That is like the seeds on the path that got eaten by the birds. Or, maybe we hear about Jesus but we really just want to play with our iPads, or phones, or we get caught up in playing sports or acting in plays or whatever, and we think those things are more important than God. That is like the seeds that land in the thorns and get choked by weeds and can’t grow. Or maybe we get really excited about something at church, but it doesn’t really turn out the way we hoped, so we just decide not to go back to church anymore. That is like the seeds in the rocky soil that don’t have good roots and just fall over.
But then there is the good soil, and it returns a hundredfold, or maybe sixty or thirty . . . ok, wait, what does that mean? Well, I brought in a seed to see if we can figure this out. OK, here is a corn kernel. It really doesn’t look like much, does it? And it is not very expensive, either. I could pretty easily scatter a handful of these in my garden and just hope that one or two would grow and I would probably have at least a few corn plants. Then, each of those corn plants would grow (I hope!) several ears of corn, like this! How many kernel are on this? More than one, that’s for sure, maybe there are 50 or even a hundred, just like the story says, and this is just one ear of corn! All this from a tiny, inexpensive seed.
Jesus is saying that our faith, and the faith we share with others can be like that, too! Some of it might not grow, for all kinds of reasons, but if even the littlest part of our faith takes root in ourselves or in someone else it will grow beyond anything that we can imagine.
God of Creation, we praise and thank you for sowing seeds of faith in us. Help us to continue to scatter the seeds of our faith knowing that faith will not always grow, but that when it does it will be amazing! Amen.
+Go and be Good Soil and a faith sower +
The general idea is to create something big out of little pieces, so this could take many different forms! I will go through the example of making sticker flowers with round colored stickers, but if could be a whole congregation Lego project, or a kick off for a summer food drive, or school supply drive.
For the flowers, tear off a big sheet of butcher paper or art paper. If can be whatever color you want (green would match the season!) Then draw a couple of flower stems, make them big, and add leaves and a block circle at the top that will be the center of the flower. Invite people to stick a dot on the paper to help build a large colorful flower around the circle at the top of the stems.
Before they put the dot on the paper, ask them to think about what keeps their faith from growing? Then have them categorize it as P (path), W (weeds), or R (rocks) and write that letter on the dot.
Some examples might help people decide – for Path it might be things like the way other Christians behave, or hearing that believing in God is silly or stupid. For the Weeds think of things like money worries, sports teams, clubs, video games. For rocks think of disappointments and missed expectations.
Here is the devotion page for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, July 13, 2014
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
We have started a new format for our inserts (starting with Pentecost, June 8, 2014). To learn more about this format read this – Keeping up with what God is Doing,
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the devotion page for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, July 6, 2014
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
We have started a new format for our inserts (starting with Pentecost, June 8, 2014). To learn more about this format read this – Keeping up with what God is Doing,
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Preparation: picture of a yoke for oxen, yarn or ribbon or paper to connect children together, a rock and other props that might be fun for two hands tied together to try. You can also just have two volunteers for this part
for worship station–paper strips, one per person in congregation
Our reading from Matthew today talks about being yoked together–do you know what a yoke is? It is not something we see everyday now but in Jesus time it was a familiar thing.” Show the picture and describe how a yoke keeps the oxen together so that they can pull together and work together. “How do you think this feels to the oxen to be hooked together like this? I think it could feel hard and burdensome–but also it could make the work lighter and easier to be together. Let’s try an experiment.”
Option one: have enough yarn or ribbon to tie kids together loosely at the wrists. You will want to use enough yarn so that you can cut it and then they each end up tying a piece of their ribbon to their own wrist
Option two: have two volunteers (or prep volunteers ahead of time–acolytes can be great for this! ) that you will tie together with a ribbon or bandannas or string.
Tie the yarn or ribbon around two wrists and hook them together. Do not make it tight. “Ok, now that you are tied together, let’s see what you can do. Try waving together. Now try clapping! Try writing in the air (or have a pen and paper for them to try). Can you pick up this rock together? (have a small rock and a large rock, see which one is easier to pick up) “What is it like being yoked together? What is hard about it? what is fun about it?”
Jesus is teaching about how some things in life, even things in our faith or our religious practices can become difficult or a burden. He says that what he teaches and what he promises is that even as we are yoked together to him, we are also given rest. Our life in faith and walking with Christ will bring rest to our hearts and we can live connected to one another which makes the walk lighter and sets us free to be one in Christ in the world.
Jesus, help us to be yoked to you so that our hearts and spirits can rest and also know you in all we do. Show us how to be connected with one another and share your love with all the people and all the nations.
+May you rest in God and Be sure of Christ’s love for all +
For a worship station–you can use this station as a connection to the children’s sermon and a way to broaden it out to the congregation. Take this time to explain how the station works if you have not already. **You can also tie this into July 4 celebrations in saying that God has connected us an our nation to other nations of the world and as we work together as a global community we become connected and we share Christ’s love throughout the world.**
Connected through the Holy Spirit: There are paper strips in the pews, in the back, and available from the ushers. Please take one and write your name and/or a prayer and/or names of loved ones who are not here today. Then use the tape in your pew to bend the paper into a circle and connect it with your neighbor’s paper. We will create a paper chain of prayers and names that will then be draped on the cross up front to remind us of how the spirit connects us to Christ and to one another.
Here is the devotion page for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 29, 2014
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
We have started a new format for our inserts (starting with Pentecost, June 8, 2014). To learn more about this format read this – Keeping up with what God is Doing,
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Prepare: Bring a small cross – ideally one that stands up on its own. If you are doing the worship station you will also need a basket to put under the cross, small pieces of paper and some pencils or crayons. For the worship station (or even just for the children’s sermon) you can also have small crosses to give to the children.
Wow! Did you hear what Jesus just said! That didn’t sound like Jesus at all! He said that he comes to bring a sword, not peace, and that he comes to divide families so that everyone is fighting! What is he talking about! That seems really scary, and I thought Jesus was kind and loving! (ok, enough exclamation points, you get the idea, be excited.)
Let’s back up a minute and look at this again. Do you think that Jesus really means that he came to make people fight? No, I don’t think so, either. So what does this mean? Maybe we can think about it a different way. Nearly all of the things that Jesus did with his disciples, nearly all of the stories that we read about Jesus were things that made people really uncomfortable and angry when he was doing them. That doesn’t make much sense to us today because we have nearly 2,000 years of people talking and thinking about Jesus that helps to make all of this being Christian stuff seem pretty normal, but I bet I can still make you feel uncomfortable about doing what Jesus asks us to do.
Think about this – imagine that you are at the pool with a few of your best friends. You are laughing and joking around, splashing each other, and just having a good time when you see someone from school that none of you really like. All your friends decide to pick on that person, and they start splashing and yelling, which obviously hurts that persons feelings, but your friends don’t really care and they keep splashing and being mean. Now, you know that if you make your friends stop, or go help the other person that your friends are going to be mad at you, but you also know that it’s the right thing to do . . . so, what do you do? Stay with your friends where it’s safe and comfortable or defend and help someone who you don’t like?
When people choose to follow Jesus 2,000 years ago there was a risk of real violence and danger, there was a risk of swords! Thankfully most of us will never need to deal with that, but we do sometimes have to make difficult choices because of what we believe and what that means for how we behave. Sometimes doing what we should do comes with the risk of loosing a friendship.
(if you are doing the worship station, just skip to the prayer here)
I have a cross here. Let’s take a few seconds to think about what other things we risk or give up when we follow Jesus.
Worship Station: Have your cross set up (or your basket of crosses if they are going to take one with them) with the basket, paper, and pencils near it. Invite the children (or whoever else wants to join in) to take a piece of paper and think about two things: 1. What do you risk (or give up) when you follow Jesus 2. What is the reward for the risk?
Write the risk on the piece of paper (or draw), and leave the paper in the basket. Then say a prayer for courage and of praise at the cross (or over the cross that they are taking with them). You are welcome to print out the prayer below for people to use if they would like.
Loving Christ, following you is difficult. We often have to make choices between the things that make us feel safe and comfortable and the things that are right and good. Sometimes following you means that we might upset someone that we love and care about. Give us courage to do what is right and good even when it is difficult. Amen.
May God give you strength to love everyone you meet.
GB
Here is the devotion page for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, June 22, 2014
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
We have started a new format for our inserts (starting with Pentecost, June 8, 2014). To learn more about this format read this – Keeping up with what God is Doing,
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
