Here is the devotion page for Advent 2 – year A. (Click on the words!)
New (church) Year – new format! One of the changes that we are making is we are leaving the date off the inserts. So, perhaps, in the future there could be some options for which style of inserts you like in your congregation!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the devotion page for Advent 1 – year A. (Click on the words!)
New (church) Year – new format! One of the changes that we are making is we are leaving the date off the inserts. So, perhaps, in the future there could be some options for which style of inserts you like in your congregation!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the devotion page for Christ the King Sunday, Lec 34 year C, November 20-26. (Click on the words!)
NOTE: There has been some confusion about the dates on the Devotion pages. The dates are the range of Sundays that the pages are for. If you are using starting on a Sunday in the range, then you are using the correct one! Read below for a longer explanation.
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Lectionary dates and time after Pentecost
We are working on developing a complete 3 year cycle of devotion pages for the Revised Common Lectionary. To make this really work the pages need to be tied to the lectionary Sunday, not the specific date. For most seasons of the church year this is pretty easy to do. The First Sunday in Advent is 4 weeks before Christmas, every year, so the date floats around, but the readings are always the same. It is similar for Epiphany, Lent and Easter. The Second Sunday after Epiphany is always the same readings, as is the Second Sunday of Lent and Easter. Pentecost and the season after are different. Unlike the other seasons where the first reading of the season is set, in the time after pentecost the last reading is set. The readings for Christ the King are always lectionary 34 and Christ the King Sunday is always on the Sunday that is between November 20 and 26, inclusive of those dates (five weeks before Christmas). This wouldn’t be a big deal if Easter was also set, but Easter moves – by as much as 5 weeks! So the Day of Pentecost can be closer or further away from Christ the King, depending on when Easter falls. So if the Easter is early, the season after Pentecost is longer, and there are more readings leading up to Christ the King. If Easter is late, there are fewer. Since the last Sunday is of the season is set, that means the early Sundays are not always the same readings. For example – in 2017 the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost used the readings for Lectionary 11 (Easter was relatively late that year). In 2018 the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost used Lectionary 9 (Easter was early). So, indicating which Sunday after Pentecost on the devotion pages is not clear from year to year – so we use lectionary numbers that are tied to a range of Sundays.
Here is the devotion page for Lectionary 27, Year A, October 2-8 (Click on the words!)
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the devotion page for the Second Sunday of Christmas (Click on the words!)
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Here is the devotion page for Lectionary 27, Year A, October 2-8 (Click on the words!)
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Prepare: Bring a single Communion wafer or a piece of the communion bread that you use in worship. Make sure that it’s not enough for the people gathered. This will work even better if you can move the children’s sermon to right before Communion.
Gather everyone together by announcing that you have food for everyone! Once the children gather with you start counting them with a look of concern on your face. If you are in your main worship space start counting the rest of the congregation, too.
Uh Oh . . . I don’t think that I have enough! All I have is this one communion wafer! I guess we could divide it up into little pieces , , ,
But, this does make me think of the Gospel story we hear today. It’s a story about Jesus feeding thousands of people with almost nothing. Jesus blesses just a few fish and a little bread and sends his disciples out to feed them. When they are done feeding them there are more leftovers than when they started! I don’t think that is going to happen with this one wafer today. I think that if we break this in half that just two people will get half a wafer. No one will be full, and there won’t be any leftovers.
The miracle for us today is not that this one little wafer could feed us all, but instead the love, mercy, and grace that we receive through Jesus. The food in the story gets passed from person to person and with each person who is fed there is more food! The Good News of Jesus’ love is the same. The more we pass the Good News, the more people who are fed with God’s word, the more Good News there is to spread around!
That’s our miracle today.
Good and gracious God, your Good News is a miracle to us. Teach us to tell the stories to the people around us. Teach us to live out the good news in our lives. Amen
You are filled with God’s love.
If you can put the Children’s time right before Communion you are all set! If not, try a blessing that get’s passed through the congregation. Here’s how it works. You bless two children. They each then bless two more people, who then blesses two more, and two more, etc. The blessing starts slow, but grows fast, and there are blessings left over at the end, way more than there were at the beginning!
Prepare: Bring a small LEGO set or some other toy that comes apart or needs to be solved. Have a cross handy, it could be one that is already in your worship space, or you could bring one that might have special meaning for you. For example, I wear the same cross every day as a reminder of my faith.
Have the toy out as people arrive. Ask them what makes LEGO toys so fun. Steer them toward the idea that they can be made into other things, or that a puzzle can be solved over and over. You get the idea!
Yes! LEGOs are often really fun because you can remake them! I think that the best part about LEGOs is that you can keep building them. Sometimes I even take them apart just to put them back together! I’m the same way with puzzles. I like to mess up my Rubix Cube just so I can solve it again.
I was thinking of this when I read the story from Romans today. It’s really that first sentence that made me think of it.
“Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?”
OK – that’s really just a fancy way of saying, “Should I go do something bad just to give Jesus a chance to forgive me?”
NO! But it does sound like how I feel about LEGOs and puzzles, doesn’t it? Paul, the person who wrote this story, thinks about Jesus’ forgiveness a different way. We believe that Jesus died to give us freedom from our sins. It’s not that Jesus likes forgiving us, but rather that Jesus loves us. When someone I love does something to upset me, it’s not that I like to forgive them, but that I love them and want to keep the relationship strong – so I forgive!
It is the same with God. You are so loved that God would do anything to keep you close – even send Jesus to die.
Gracious God, we can never thank you enough for your love and forgiveness. Be always near us as we strive to live in loving and gracious ways. Amen
God loves you always.
Get a bunch of blank puzzle pieces for people to write short prayers on (Or use the back of an old puzzle). Invite them to take the pieces home as reminders that God always works to put us back together, and to keep us close.
Prepare: You really only need someplace to run in from – or some other way to make a BIG entrance. If you can swing it, be a little late, but have the other worship leaders play up that you are missing the Children’s sermon.
Come running into the worship space panting like you are our of breath, and wide-eyed with excitement! Call out the children, “Kids! Come here, quick! I just saw a dinosaur!”
No really! A great big dinosaur . . . you don’t believe me, do you? Well, I guess your right, I just wanted to get you attention. There isn’t really a dinosaur.
But, do you know how you feel right now? You were thinking, “No way, there was no dinosaur. He’s/she’s just making that up to make me think there is one, or to make me look silly when I go check.”
Well, I think that’s the feeling that one of the people in the Gospel lesson had. That person is Thomas. Have you ever heard someone called a doubting Thomas? Sometimes people use that name for people who don’t seem to trust what other people are saying. Doubting Thomases want proof, something they can see and touch – they don’t want to trust other people’s story
You know what I think? I think that Thomas, the guy in the story, is treated pretty badly. Did you hear what Thomas didn’t believe? Ok – here’s the story: It’s just a few days after Thomas and all the disciples saw Jesus die on the cross. Just a few days after they all saw Jesus buried in the tomb. All the disciples are gathered together, except for Thomas. He was out getting snacks or something. Jesus shows up, all the other disciples see Jesus, but Thomas isn’t there! So when he gets back and they all say they saw Jesus, Thomas wants some proof. It’s kind of like they said they saw a dinosaur. You guys didn’t believe that when I said it. You wouldn’t believe it until you saw it for yourself! Thomas didn’t believe be cause he didn’t get to see while his friends did.
You know what? I think that most of us are much more like Thomas than the other disciples. We want to see and touch before we believe. Jesus has some words for us, too! We don’t get to see Jesus the way the disciples did, but we still believe, and Jesus blesses us for that! Even though most of the time we might feel a little more like Thomas, and a little less like blessed believers!
Risen Christ, you show up for us in the most unexpected places. Sometimes we have to look twice to believe what we hear and see and touch. Help us to believe even when we don’t see, and be with us when we have a hard time trusting only what we can hear. Amen.
Say, “Christ is Risen!”
Teach them to respond, “Christ is Risen, indeed!”
Make some congregational art! Get some bright paper (preferably something thin) cut into smallish pieces, and some markers. Have people write or draw something that they believe on the paper. If you worship space allows, have them tape the paper to a window so that light shines through. Encourage them to tape the paper in the shape of a cross. If that doesn’t work in your worship space, collect the paper and make the cross later on a prominent window in you church.
Lent Psalms Children Sermon Series: This is the first in a series of children’s sermons on the Psalms for Lent. For children’s sermons on the gospels you can see Year A 2014
Preparation: Building blocks
Gather the children with you. Say, Let’s make a tower together. Have kids take turns stacking a block.
How strong do you think our tower is? Do you think it could stay standing in an earthquake? No probably not. What about in a blizzard? hh…., what about a little breeze… maybe? Let’s try to just blow on it and see if stays standing! Do the experiment together.
The Psalm for today is Psalm 61 and it says “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.” What do you think that psalm is trying to say about God? Yes, that God’s tower is like a strong rock and it will protect us. Do you think God’s tower can stand in our little breeze? Yes! What about the storm or earthquake? yes! God’s strength is stronger than what we can imagine.
God who is Big and strong, Thank you for your love that is the strongest we know. Protect us when we need it, guide us to your strength in love and help us to walk in these days of holy week with you. Amen
God is your refuge and your strong tower. +
Reformed Worship has a wonderful series of Prayer stations on the Psalms for Lent. Go their website and look for Palm Sunday on Psalm 61.
