Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Easter (May 15, 2011)

Did you know that Psalm 23 and a gospel about the Good Shepherd are read on the fourth Sunday in Easter every year of the lectionary cycle?  I read one commentator who referred to it as “Good Shepherd Sunday.”  There’s always something to learn!  Now that I know that, I’m rearranging the order of today’s texts.  We’ll explore the Good Shepherd texts first, then go to the Epistle (which actually has a very small good shepherd connection) and Acts which is about community.

Before digging into the details, it is important to recognize that the Good Shepherd is a metaphor and children have a hard time with metaphors.  Studies show that most children do not develop the brain skill of transference that is necessary to understand metaphors until they are into adolescence.  But, the Bible and our worship are filled with metaphors.  I suspect that we help the children claim them when we carefully explore the details of a few key ones, expecting them to become familiar with the concrete part of the metaphor and some of the spiritual realities it embodies, but not fully making the connection until later.  The Good Shepherd is definitely one of those key metaphors.  Maria Montessori reports that while working in a children’s hospital she found that when she told sick children stories about the Good Shepherd using small wooden figures, they almost all grabbed the shepherd figure and held onto it “for keeps.”  So the Good Shepherd made sense to them in some way.

This week we have Psalm 23 which is packed with shepherd images and Jesus’ claim in the gospel to be the gate of the sheepfold.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23 appeared on the Fourth Sunday of Lent and will appear again in Proper 23 (28) on October 9, 2011.  Go to The Fourth Sunday in Lent  for a coloring sheet to print out and notes about child friendly hymn versions of the psalm.

Read through the psalm one sentence at a time, thinking like a sheep.  At the risk of stating the obvious, below is a copy of the psalm with sheep references as children understand them.  Many church school attending children know a lot about sheep and in a conversational setting can help you with this.  Other children may be clueless about sheep and their care.  After working through the psalm, point out that we look to God to care of us in the same way a good shepherd takes care of sheep.  Note that many people learn this psalm for memory so that they can pray it whenever they need it – in hospital rooms, in scary times, when they are worried.  Consider offering a small prize to anyone who can recite the whole psalm to you in the coming weeks.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

²     He makes me lie down in green pastures;

Sheep eat grass

he leads me beside still waters;

Sheep drown in running water.  So, shepherd's must keep them

out of streams and lead them to safer ponds.

³     he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

Sheep wander and get into places they can’t get out of

⁴     Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

Name animals that eat sheep and

imagine their eyes shining in the dark.

your rod and your staff—

they comfort me.

Describe using a rod to beat off animals and

staff to pull sheep back from dangerous places

⁵     You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

Remind of the animals watching as sheep graze

you anoint my head with oil;

Oil was first aid for cuts and thorns.

my cup overflows.

⁶     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

my whole life long.

                            New Revised Standard Version

 

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

R Show this picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and identify it as the first painting we have of Jesus.  Explain that it was painted in the ceiling of the catacombs where the first Christians hid to worship God.  Briefly describe the Roman practice of feeding Christians to hungry lions.  Ponder why the artist chose to paint Jesus as a strong young shepherd.  List some situations today in which we need a strong shepherd. 

To take it another step provide children with paper and crayons with which to draw pictures of a good shepherd.  Invite them to show you their drawing as they leave or to post it on a prepared door or bulletin board.

John 10:1-10

Jesus is making a fairly sophisticated point about true and false shepherds.  Verses 2-5 lay the foundation for children.  That foundation consists of information about sheepfolds and shepherd’s calling sheep who know their shepherd’s voice.  It introduces the idea of non-literal voices that call to us.

R Present information about shepherding using a small cardboard sheepfold, a shepherd figure (maybe from a crèche), and some toy sheep.  Demonstrate how the shepherd would gather the sheep into the fold, counting as they came in and checking each one for injuries, then sleep across the gate so no animal or human thief could get to the sheep at night.  Show next how in the morning the shepherd would call the sheep to the gate and lead them out into pasture.  After showing this, reread verses 2-5 and comment that just as the good shepherd takes care of the sheep, Jesus takes care of us.

R Stretch the understanding of older children by telling them that lots of voices that are not actually “I can hear you” voices call out to us every day.  To illustrate, describe a beautiful sweater.  When you see it, it is almost as if it says to you, “Look at me.  I am so soft, such a great color.  You would look so cool in me.  You have to have me.  You will be nothing without me.”  Name other things without the ability to speak that call out to you, e.g. sports equipment, a plate of cookies, a hot cheesy pizza, a sports team that you want to play on, a part that you want in a play, and put what they say to us into words.  Point out that we have to decide which of these voices to listen to.  We have to be like smart sheep who follow only the voice of their shepherd.  Then read verses 2-5 again.  Preschoolers and early elementary schoolers can’t make this stretch, but some older children can respond to the challenge.

1 Peter 2:19-25

Children need to hear this message in other words.  The message is, don’t fight back and don’t try to get even when people treat you wrong.  Jesus is the example here.  Imagine what he could have said and done to the soldiers on Good Friday or to all the disciples who ran and hid when Jesus was arrested and killed.  Then remind listeners that he forgave the soldiers and the disciples.  Be honest about how hard it is to be like Jesus on this AND challenge even children to try to do so anyway. 

                                       REVENGE or REPAIR

R With older children define the word revenge as hurting someone who hurt you.  Define the word repair as fixing things between you and a person who has hurt you so that neither of you will hurt each other again.  You may want to print the words on two posters.  Use a fist fight as an example to explain the differences in the two.  A bully pushes you down accidently-on-purpose.  You go for revenge bumping into him and his lunch tray.  Then he gets revenge by wiping his spilled food on your face and…. soon you are both wrestling on the floor and are finally sitting in the Principal’s office.  Nothing has been repaired for anybody. 

After pointing out how hard it is to find alternatives to seeking revenge, recount the story “The Karate Kid” which tells of a boy who chose to learn Karate and challenge his bully in a Karate tournament.  He won the tournament and the respect of the bully.  That took a lot of work.  This letter dares us to figure out ways to repair rather than take revenge.

R The shepherd reference in verse 25 assumes full understanding of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb as well as Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  And, it blends the two so that Jesus is seen as both lamb and shepherd.  Other lectionary years provide readings that make quicker sense to children, so I'd not try to unpack this one for the children.

Acts 2:42-47

Exploring the value of community is a logical thing to do during Easter season.  It is also a hard sell during May in North America where everyone is hanging on for dear life looking forward to summer and a let up or at least a change in community responsibilities and activities.  Still, maybe especially in that situation, it is good to ponder the importance of community in our lives as Christians.  This text provides a list of activities in the early church that match those of most congregations today.  The list is also a list of good activities for Easter people.  To explore the importance of community and the list of activities, try some of the following:

R As you read the text, ask worshipers to raise hands every time they hear an activity.  Stop to identify the activity in the text and to identify ways you congregation does that.  (Be sure to include activities in which children as well as adults participate.)

R Tell worshipers that it is test day.  Each of them is to recite the 23^rd Psalm (or Lord’s Prayer) on their own.  Ask how many think they can do it.  Then, ask the congregation to recite it together.  (See if they can do it if you start it with them, then leave them on their own.)  Note that while no one may have been able to recite the whole thing perfectly on their own, with the whole group working together, they got it.  Use this to explore one benefit of living all of life in a community.  Whenever we don’t know what to do or say next, there are people around to help us out. 

 

R Display a large bag of wrapped candies (maybe Easter candies?)  Suggest that you might put the bag in your desk and eat one candy a day.  Guess how many days your bag would last.  Imagine eating it each day.  Then, say “OR, I could keep one to enjoy right now and give one to each of you.  That would be fun.  The whole church eating candy together!”  Decide on the latter and pour the candies into a couple of baskets for children to pass to the congregation.  While eating together, reread the phrase “they ate their food with glad and generous hearts” and note that you think you had more fun sharing that candy with everyone than you would have eating one piece a day by yourself and applying that lesson to everyday living.

A twist on this would be to give each worshiper two candies and the instructions to find someone in the next day or two with whom to eat the candies with “glad and generous hearts.”

R Connect community to the congregation’s prayers of intercession.  Before the prayers walk the congregation through your congregation’s practice.  Explain how concerns are gathered.  If there is a time when worshipers can identify prayer concerns, invite worshipers of all ages to offer requests and explain what is appropriate.  Also speak about why you pray for others.  Describe both asking God’s care for them and committing ourselves to care for them (e.g. sending a card or taking a meal to one who is sick). 

It would be possible to do this with children seated around you at the front.  Involve them in identifying people they want to pray and shaping those prayers.  Then hear prayer requests of the congregation and keeping the children around you lead the prayers of intercession.  There would also be wisdom in sending the children back to their seats before gathering congregation’s prayer requests.  The latter avoids having to respond to requests that you don’t particularly want to address with the children or for worshipers with such requests to not state them out of consideration for the children. 

Year C - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 31, 2010)

Talk about over load!  This Sunday is 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time (featuring the child friendly Zacchaeus story)-and All Hallows Eve.  Tomorrow is All Saints Day which has the appeal of celebrating Christian heroes and heroines.  Today is also Reformation Sunday (in the year of John Calvin’s 500th birthday) and it is of course Stewardship Season in many congregations.  There are all sorts of connections for children.

Halloween is the biggest thing on their agenda today.  The Habakkuk and Psalm 119 texts provide an opportunity to explore how we face our fears trusting God.

If you celebrate Reformation Sunday, talk about what a church is.

And, children love hearing the familiar story of Zacchaeus read and discussed in the sanctuary.  Hearing it there teaches them that this is not just a children’s Sunday School story, it is a story that is important to the whole church. 

Because children are into facing fears on Halloween and the current political campaigns are playing heavily on adult fears, I’m going to work with the texts for this day connecting to Halloween.  Please, use the comments section to share what you are doing and suggest other possibilities.

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4

God will have the final word about all the evil and violence in the world

Habakkuk complains about the violence and injustice that are causing so much pain in the world.  He speaks in generalities about what everyone fears and then delivers God’s promise that the violence and evil will not be the final word.  On Halloween we practice facing up to our fears.  We tell scary stories, walk through haunted houses, and dress up as monsters.  Children’s Halloween picture books range from tales in which heroes rise above their fears and in the process prove the scary thing or place is not so scary after all to tales in which monsters are shown to be just like us.  (There is even a take-off on Good Night Moon called Good Night Goon in which a young monster says goodnight to all the scary-to-us stuff that is part of his everyday life and a similar take off on Runaway Bunny called Runaway Mummy.) 

Display a not-too-scary mask (remember it doesn’t take much to scare the youngest).  Handle it, describe how it might frighten you but then point out that it is just a mask and not all that scary.  Use this as an entry to identifying the things we really fear – bullies at school, that something bad will happen to someone we love, that we will get lost, that there will be a war where we live, that we will never be able to do what we want most to do…   If the children’s fears lead to talking about adult fears about jobs, the economy, world conflicts, etc. , the children learn that fear is part of life.  They will then be ready to hear God’s promise to Habakkuk and us in Habakkuk 2:2-4. 

Suggest that everyone in the congregation hold hands because you are going to talk about scary things.  Then start with Halloween-y things and progress to the violent scary parts of everyday life for people of all ages.  Read Habakkuk 2:2-4 again, explaining some of its meaning related to the fears you have named.  Shake hands loose or clap hands to celebrate not having to be afraid because God is with us and will not all the bad things have the last word.

Have this scripture read by two readers:  one reading Habakkuk’s story in 1:1-4 and 2:1-2a and the other reading God’s message in 2:2b-4. 

Display a large poster or some other item with an Alpha and Omega on it (maybe a stole or parament).  Explain its meaning and connect it with Habakkuk’s message.  Just as God was in charge at the beginning, God will be in charge at the end, so we don’t have to worry.  We can trust God.

The best Halloween hymn is “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”  It was written by Martin Luther while he was hiding in castle from people who wanted to kill him.  Tell this brief story of its writing before singing it and encourage worshipers to watch for fear and trust words. 

Psalm 119:137-144

An Alphabet Poem about God’s Word

צַ

Psalm 119 is an acrostic, that is an alphabet poem.  Each line in each section starts with a word beginning with the same letter.  The lines in this section start with the Hebrew letter zade/tsade (צַ).  If possible show a Hebrew Bible opened to this psalm or print this passage in Hebrew in your worship bulletin and help people recognize the repeated letter. 

When reading the psalm, have the congregation say the Hebrew letter zade before each line is read.

Each line says something about the value of God’s Word.  Hebrew poets rhyme ideas rather than sounds.  So, they say the same thing over and over again in slightly different ways.  For example,

It is a beautiful day.

The sun is bright and there is not a cloud in the sky.

It is wonderfully warm and there is a pleasant breeze.

I wish every day were just like this one.

Then, read one or two of the lines about God’s Word to show their similarity. 

Challenge children (and others) to write an alphabet psalm praising God on Halloween or other days when we are afraid.  Below is an activity sheet for doing this using words that begin with the letter H in honor of Halloween.  (I hope someone can find better fear art to go with this!)

**************************************************************************

                                Write a psalm prayer about fear. 

Try some of           Make each line begin with H in honor
these words          of Halloween.                                        

Help
                        H________________________

Have

Hope
                        H________________________

Heal

Hallelujah
                        H________________________

Hear

Hide
                        H________________________

Happy

Hold
                        H________________________

How

Horrible

                       

**************************************************************************

Isaiah 1:10-18

To understand Isaiah’s message one needs detailed information about worship in Old Testament times and then connect that message to our different form of worship today.  That is a tough task for children.  So I would tend to use the other Old Testament texts.  If you do work with this one, go straight to verses 17 and 18 with the children.  They are more direct and use more familiar words. 

If your congregation regularly uses the language about sins as scarlet being made white as snow, this is a good chance to explain what we are saying when we say that and then to use it in the usual way.  Bring something rough and deep red (even a wadded up ball of red Christmas foil) and something soft and white (maybe a white sweater or piece of white cotton).  As you discuss the colors, remember that most children would prefer red over white.  For them the stark difference between red (think red ribbons, Christmas, valentines..) and white (think white paper, white shirt, OK, maybe also snow, but… white is generally boring) is more important than the colors themselves.  Tie the difference in the colors to the different feelings we have when we are hiding sins and when we admit them in Psalm 32. 

Psalm 32:1-7    SIN    TRANSGRESSION   INIQUITY    DECEIT   GUILT

Psalm 32 in the New Revised Standard Version is a collection of words about sin used often in worship  but  nowhere else.  So, before reading it, list the words and encourage listeners to watch for them in the psalm and in other parts of worship today.  If this will be the focus of worship, give children red pencils with which to underline all the sin words they find in their printed order of worship.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Greetings to the saints in Thessalonica

Because there is so much for children in the other texts and themes for this day and because a preacher is likely to go many different ways using this text, I am going to leave it with you.  If you find a great connection for children, please share it with the rest of us in the Comments.

Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus

This is another text that can take worship leaders many different directions.  Themes that speak especially clearly to children include:

-     People CAN possible.  Zacchaeus changed.  You can change.  People around you can change. 

-     The best way to deal with a troublesome person or enemy is to become a friend.
We can follow Jesus’ example by eating with the lonely ones or inviting them to eat with us in the school lunch room.

-     Giving away money or stuff can save you (or bring happiness).  Jesus said that returning the money he stole and giving half of all he had to the poor was going “to save his life.”  Take time to define “save his life” to include bring happiness, peace, and a place among God’s people as well as eternal salvation.

Jesus and Zacchaeus get most of the attention in this story.  But the crowd is us and is worthy of our attention.  To explore their responses, enlist the help of a few youth or adults.  Their job is to show the crowd’s response at key points in the story using their faces and their whole bodies.  At the beginning of the story, they jostle with each other with knowing smiles to keep Zacchaeus at the back of the crowd.  The leader may take the role of Zaccheaus trying to get through or at least see through the crowd as he tells the story.  Have a step ladder or stool for him to climb.  Once he climbs it, the crowd shares satisfied smiles and maybe elbows each other to be sure everyone sees Zaccheaus up the tree.  As Zaccheaus tells of Jesus’ invitation, the crowd parts and Zaccheaus comes down from the tree and past them.  As he passes, the crowd shows their displeasure with arms folded across chests, frowns and silently shared grumbles.   Zacchaeus moves off to the side and tells the story of his response from there.  He then freezes the action, steps out of character and asks how the crowd might have responded.  With demonstrations from the actors, explore options such as disbelief (Zacchaeus couldn’t change!), disgust with Jesus for reaching out to such a sinner, or possibly amazed acceptance of what happened. It takes a minimum of three to form this crowd and can use as many as your worship space will allow.  This is a great opportunity to work with a youth class preparing a story that will be meaningful to them and allowing them to become worship leaders.

Rather than work with a group of actors, the preacher could use his/her own face and body to demonstrate the crowd’s reactions while talking through the story and its meaning.

If it’s still Stewardship Season in your congregation, take a look at Miss Fannie’s Hat, by Jan Karon.  Elderly Miss Fannie gives the best of her grand collection of hats to raise money to fix up the church.  When she goes to church hatless on Easter morning, she finds the church surrounded by blooming rose bushes purchased with funds from the sale of her hat.  She and those all around her find great happiness in her gift.  One hopes that Zacchaeus and some of the folks he refunded will share similar happiness.

Year C - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 17, 2010)

Jeremiah 31: 27-34, Psalm 119:97-104 or Psalm 19 (alternate Methodist text), and 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

The importance of God’s Word, the Bible

The key verse of the Jeremiah text for children is verse 33.  The day will come when God’s word will not be on stone tablets or in books, but written into our very hearts.   A few children will have experience with learning something by heart, i.e. memorizing it.  Timothy is instructed to be a faithful student and teacher of the Word.  Under that is the belief that to be a strong, true church a congregation must be made up of people who know their Bible well.  Both psalms celebrate the scripture.  For the sake of the children, I’d choose Psalm 19 and maybe even omit verses 1-6.  Explore the importance of scripture using some of the following:

-    Show a Bible that you have all but used to death.  Tell how you got it into this state and note that most of what has made this book so ragged is now so much a part of you that if the book fell apart completely, you’d still have most of it inside you.  Encourage others to use a Bible to pieces.

-     If there is a large Bible displayed and read from in the sanctuary that has a history, tell that story and bring it to where worshipers of all ages can see it during or after the service.

-     Identify all the places the Bible is used in worship.  You might even mark each Bible based part of worship in the bulletin with a small clip art Bible.

-     Encourage family Bible story reading.  Ask how many families read a story each night at bedtime.  Suggest that they start reading two stories, one of the usual ones and one Bible story.  Tell parents that they can usually trust their instincts selecting a Bible Storybook.  Those with sweet cartoony illustrations will likely tell sweet stories.  Those with violent action in most pictures will lean that way in story selection.  More damage is done by waiting to find the right Bible storybook than by starting in with one that you later abandon.  Getting started is what is important.  Two Bible story books that I often suggest to families are:

The Family Story Bible, by Ralph Melton

The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories, by Mary Batchelor

-     Pray for all the study groups and church school classes for students of all ages in your congregation.  Do so in a way that obviously includes children’s and youth classes.

-     Offer a charge and benediction something like this:

Raise a Bible above your head say,

Go home, find your copy of God’s word.  If you don’t have one, buy one.

Open it in front of you

Read it.  Think about it.  Talk about it.

Hug it to your chest.

Let it be written on your heart.  Let the story in it become your story.  Let it become your guide for living every day.   

Raising your other hand in blessing

And as you read, may God be with you and speak to you and call you.  May God’s Spirit work through these words to direct you, empower you, even comfort you.  And, may the peace of God be with you always.

Jeremiah 29:33’s “God’s word written on our hearts” will need to be explained to literal thinking children.  They quickly understand that having a Bible isn’t worth much.  It is only when you read it and use it that it becomes yours.

Psalm 119 and Psalm 19 compare scripture to the sweetness of honey.  So, before reading one of these psalms or before a sermon about Scripture, give everyone a honey flavored hard candy to enjoy and as a reminder of the sweetness of God's word.

Psalm 19 ends with “Let the words of my mouth…”  If you regularly use this prayer in worship, point it out in the psalm and briefly explain what it means to pray that prayer in the spot you pray it in worship.

Genesis 32:22-31 and Luke 18:1-8

God’s wrestlers


Wrestling with God is an intriguing idea to most children, especially most boys.  The story of Jacob wrestling with God all night not only gives them permission, it invites them to ask their toughest questions, argue with God about what seems “not right,” even fight back.  The idea that we can expect to wrestle with God and God’s direction all through our lives is probably new to most children.  Details in the story that are important to children are:

-     Jacob was strong enough and determined enough to wrestle all night long.  It would be great to be that strong.

-     At the end of the night God gave Jacob a name that praised him for struggling with God and being able to keep up the fight until dawn.  That means wrestling with God is OK.

-     Jacob is left with a limp for the rest of his life.  That demonstrates that struggling with God can be hard on you – but it is worth it.

Jacob wrestled with God all night.  The widow struggled with the unjust judge until he gave her justice.  Both had to stick with it in a long struggle.  Every kid who has asked repeatedly for something and been told “That is enough!” is drawn to Jesus using the woman who pestered the judge until he did what he did not want to do just to get rid of her.  Jesus’ message is that there are times when being a pest is exactly what is needed.  This is an opportunity to tell stories about the church being a pest working in the community on behalf of those whose needs are being overlooked by people in power. 

Outline all the wrestling that goes on in the process of a church mission project – maybe a Hunger Walk, a Habitat House, or a mission trip.  Point out the decisions that have to be wrestled with to get started, the problems that have to be resolved in planning, the strength required to carry it out, and the wrestling with what it might lead to next.  Note the many kinds of strength that are needed.  (It would be possible to link to the Bible theme here by exploring the importance of knowing our Bibles in these struggles.)

If it is Stewardship season, explore the way many of us wrestle with our money by reading all or part of Alexander Who Used to Be Rick Last Sunday, by Judith Viorst.  (Yes, this is the same Alexander of the Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.)  The book describes all the foolish ways Alexander spent the dollar his grandparents brought him until he was left again with no money, only two bus tokens.  He struggles over every purchase.  Reading the whole book takes about seven minutes.  Since it gets repetitive, reading the first several pages would get everyone “into” the subject.  Reading it as part of the sermon teaches children that money is one of the things people struggle with at all ages.