Here is the devotion page for The Transfiguration of Our Lord, February 15, 2015.
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Tag Archives: Year B
Weekly Devotion Page for February 8, 2015
Here is the devotion page for The Fifth Sunday After Epiphany, February 8, 2015.
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon and Worship Station – Mark 1:21-28, February 1, 2015
Preparation: print your favorite Bible verse, or a congregational memory verse on pieces of paper to hand out to the children.
Gather the children with you. Ask them, “what is the
word of God?” Take answers. The Bible is the word of God and one of
the messages it teaches us is the about God’s love and how we live out
God’s love. We also believe that Jesus is the word of God and that the
Holy Spirit keeps showing us God and God’s word as well.
In the Bible we can read about the many ways God has
shared love with us. Today we heard that God sends prophets or talks
through others to us and that Jesus is teaching in the synagogue.
Words from the Bible can help us to listen for God and hear God in our
every day lives as well. I have for each of you a verse written down
here on sheets of paper. Take the verse and read it or have your
parents read it to you many times this week. You can also write it
down in your own writing or a draw a picture of what it means to you.
Or if you have a favorite verse or ask your parents about a favorite
verse, write that down too or teach it to a friend. (if you use the
worship station you can tie this in at this time, see below)
Jesus, word of God speak to me through your word in the
Bible and through your love. Amen
You are given the word of God in love +
Have a large sheet of paper and Bibles on a table.
Ask people to write down a verse they know, remember, or that is
important to them. They can write the whole verse or just the
scripture reference. For the children, give them verses to write down
or have them ask their parents to share a verse. If you use memory
verses in your setting you can have the list of memory verses out for
reference as well. During this next week take the verses and put them
into wordle.net and create a wordle of the verses people wrote down.
Post this on your website, facebook, etc and/or have it printed out
for the next few Sundays.
Weekly Household Devotions for January 18, 2015
Here is the devotion page for The Second Sunday After Epiphany, January 18, 2015.
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon Second Sunday After Epiphany, 1 Samuel 3:1-10 and/or John 1:43-51, January 18, 2015
Prepare: You will need someone to help with this one. The idea is to have someone calling to you from an unseen place. For example, if you have access to a wireless microphone that can be used just outside your worship space, or maybe from behind a screen.
For the worship station you will need a large piece of white paper – like a large piece off an art roll – to make a banner.
Invite the children to gather and ask them if anyone has ever called to them – no, not on the phone – but called to them in a loud voice? Like a friend on the playground, or parent calling for them to come inside, etc. As the children are offering ideas, have you partner call to you. They should keep calling every 10 seconds or so until you find them (so they should be in an agreed upon place to save a little time!), but there needs to be time in between calls for you to talk to the children.
Wait! Did you hear that? I think someone is calling to me right now! Let’s listen. Oh well, what were you saying about being called?
There it is again! Is it one of you calling me? No? Really? Huh. Well, since we are talking about being called we should talk about the Bible stories for today. They are both stories about being called – Hey, there is again! Is it one of you out in the congregation? No? hmmmm. . .
Well, in the stories God calls to people. God calls to Samuel as he is sleeping in the temple, and Jesus calls to Philip and Nathanael to follow him. In both stories the calls are unexpected, and in both stories the people being called have to trust and believe in the call, even though they either cannot see the person calling, or don’t know where the call will take them . . . Listen, there’s that call again! Alright, let’s go find them!
(now go searching for the person, take as longs as you need to find them, make a fun game out if it.)
When you find the person calling, have them ask for help with something simple, like carrying in the communion elements, or with lighting some candles, or collecting offering, etc.
I’m really glad I heard that call, and I’m glad that I could help. Samuel, Philip and Nathanael also answered when they were called and they became some of God’s most important helpers.
Loving God, praise and thank you for all the work you do in the world. Teach us to hear your call, and to work every day to be your hands and feet in the world. Amen.
God calls you by name.
Either hand the blank banner on the wall or lay it out on a table. Have various colors available (crayons, pencils, etc). Invite people to write where they hear God’s call in their lives on the banner.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Children’s message January 4th, 2015 Christmas 2 Year B John 1: 1-18
Preparation: Have a nightlight, a flashlight, the candle shape printout (click here to download) and some cross or heart stickers to hand out to each child.
Have a flashlight and a nightlight handy. Gather the kids around the Christmas tree if you have one in your worship space or around the altar candles (wherever you have light!).
Talk about how wonderful the lights are this time of year when it gets dark so early. “Is it nice to have candles and Christmas trees to add lights to your house? Did you put lights on the outside of your house this year? We love lights don’t we! Ask the children if they have a nightlight or a flashlight in their room. Why do they have that? (Accept all answers.) Yes, no one, not even adults, likes the dark. Why do you think that is? (accept all answers: can’t see, trip over stuff and get hurt, kind of scary to not know what is in the same room with you…etc.) Light makes us feel safe, makes us feel not alone and lets us see what and who is around is. Light is good!”
Say, “Today’s Bible story has a lot of talk of light. It’s kind of confusing, even for adults, but the writer of the story is telling us that Jesus is the light of the whole world! God sent Jesus to let us know that we are not alone, God is always with us and Jesus’ love shows us all of the people in the world that Jesus wants us to love. God shows us God’s light through Jesus. Jesus is sort of like a nightlight for the whole world. When you look at your nightlight or your flashlight you can remember that Jesus is always with you! He is the light of the world! And do you know what? God says that Jesus’ light shines through us! You can light up someone’s life with God’s love! How can you do that? (Accept all answers) Yes! We can love, help and care for people and be Jesus’ light to them.”
*”If you parents say it’s ok, you can put this cross/heart sticker on your nightlight or flashlight to help remind you of Jesus’ love for you!”
Have a table of tea light candles (electric ones are great too!) and have the congregation light a candle and write a prayer for where they would like Jesus’ light to shine or a thanksgiving for Jesus’ light in their lives. Have a candle shape cutout (link here) for people to write their prayers on. You can have a basket at the base of the Christmas tree or the cross for the prayers to go into. *You can also have people write how they will be the light of Christ to others this week and take their candle piece of paper home. You can also find inexpensive candles for people to write on and take home.
Jesus you are the light of the world! Help us to share your light with everyone we meet. Thank you for being with us always. Amen.
+Jesus’ light shines in you+
Children’s Sermon Baptism of Our Lord, Mark 1:4-11 January 11, 2015
Preparation: evergreen sprigs that are wet or can be dipped in baptismal font or spray bottles that do a light mist, a candle (if you are doing the worship station you will need several candles and non flammable paint markers or permanent markers)
Gather the children to you and around the baptismal font. Ask for them to tell you what they know about the font and what it is used for.
Share about baptism and how it is done in your setting. Then move on to talk about how water is a gift not just for life and our bodies and for the world but also for how we remember that God has come to us and made us God’s children. Say, “Today we hear in the gospel of Mark about the baptism of Jesus and that we received the same promise from God as God’s loved children. Each time we use water, we can remember this promise! Also in baptism we are given a candle–a light to help us know that we are called to shine God’s light that has been given to us in the world.”
Lead the children in sprinkling the assembly with the evergreens or spray bottles OR simple take this time to squirt them!
Jesus–you are God’s beloved son and we are also God’s children. Be with us in water and in light and help us to know and show your love. Amen
Use the baptismal blessing: You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever +
Light of the world, Light of Our Lives: As we lit Advent candles in the season of Advent, waiting for Jesus to come, now we celebrate the light of Christ come into our lives. Decorate a white candle and take it home with you as a reminder of your baptism and the light of Christ throughout our next season of faith: Epiphany
Weekly Household Devotions – January 4, 2015
Here is the devotion page for The Second Sunday of Christmas, January 4, 2015
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Weekly Household Devotions – December 28, 2014
Here is the devotion page for The First Sunday of Christmas, December 28, 2014
Just click on the picture to download the PDF file!
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Children’s Sermon First Sunday of Christmas, Luke 2:22-40, December 28, 2014
Prepare: For the children’s sermon you will need a nativity set plus two more figures to be Simeon and Anna. Set up a table with blank paper doll cut outs and crayons and/or colored pencils for the worship station. You can also just have plain paper and pencils for people to write on in you don’t have time for the paper dolls.
Gather the children around the nativity set and ask them to tell you about the figures that they see. Once they have gotten to everyone there, ask them if anyone is missing.
Yep, there are the kings, and the shepherds, the angel (or angels!), some animals, Mary and Joseph and the baby. It does seem like everyone is there, doesn’t it? I think, though, that we could add some people to the story.
Today in the Gospel lesson we heard about Simeon and Anna. These two people had been waiting for Jesus for a long time! God had told them that they would see Jesus before they died and they were very old when he was born, but like the shepherds and the kings, they were some of the first people to see Jesus and to know who he was!
Simeon and Anna were waiting and preparing, just like we all did during Advent. They know that Jesus was coming, just like we all knew that Christmas would be here soon. There was a difference, though, because we all knew that Christmas would be December 25th, just like it always it. Simeon and Anna didn’t know when Jesus would be born, they just had to wait and trust that God would fulfill the promise. They heard the good news, and felt the same joy as the shepherds and the kings, so I think we should add them scene, so I brought two more figures to add to this nativity. Let’s put them in place.
Faithful God, we thank you for the witness of Simeon and Anna, and their long wait to see Jesus. Be with us when whenever we wait for news, good or bad, in our lives. Give us patience, faith and courage to be faithful followers of Christ. Amen.
Just as we added Simeon and Anna to the nativity set, invite the congregation to add someone of their own to the set. Simeon and Anna were witnesses to God’s promise, and are for us today a witness to faith in God’s good works. Who in your life has been a faithful witness? Who has been a steady and patient believer in God and in you?
Make a paper doll of that person (or write a little about them) and add them to your nativity set at home!
God’s promises are fulfilled in you!
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.