Year A - Proper 13, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 31, 2011)

Genesis 32:22-31

F Most children, especially most boys, are delighted by this story in which God appears as a wrestler.  The idea that God is willing to get down and tussle with Jacob is appealing.  The fact that the fight was a friendly one rather than a vicious one leads them to think God was on Jacob’s side (and our side) all along.  They are also pleased that God is strong enough and gentle enough to leave Jacob lame (with a reminder of God’s strength), but not horribly damaged.  They however will not tumble to all this simply hearing the text read, it will have to be pointed out to them and savored with them.  (If you have a teenage wrestler in the congregation, ask him to read this story after noting the that this text is appropriately read by a wrestler.)

F In the aftermath of all the Harry Potter mania, point young worshipers to The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis by comparing Aslan the Lion who represents Jesus in these books to God wrestling with Jacob.  In The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe  (the first book in the series) Susan and Lucy ask Mr. and Mrs. Beaver to describe Aslan. They ask if Aslan is a man. Mr. Beaver replies.

"Aslan a man?  Certainly not.  I tell you he is the King of the Wood and the son of the great Emperor Beyond the Sea.  Don't you know who is the King of the Beasts?  Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."

"Ooh!" said Susan.  "I thought he was a man.  Is he -- quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

  

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver.  "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about being safe?  'Course he isn't safe.  But he's good.  He's the King, I tell you."

F Celebrate God’s power by singing “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.”  Before singing point out a few of the examples of God’s power and encourage worshipers to listen for others as they sing.

Psalm 17:1-7

The images in this psalm will go right past children.  Let them.  The psalm will mean more to them later in life.

Isaiah 55:1-5

F Bring a piece of “how could I ever have gone out in public in this” clothing and if possible a picture of yourself wearing it, back when it was high style.  (If you were in college in the 60’s as I was, there are probably several excellent candidates for this deep in your closet.  I wore the one in the picture with bright yellow tights!  It is now part of a clown costume.)  Recall how important it was to you to have that item then and how ridiculous it seems now.  Then reread verse   2. 

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy? “

Put it into your own words discussing our tendency to go after things we think we have to have, things that we think will make us happy, things that years , or even days, later look so very foolish.

F Create a responsive prayer about the things we want that “do not satisfy” using “Give us this day our daily bread” as the congregation’s response.

Leader: God help us recognize the difference between what we want

              and what we really need.

All:         Give us this day our daily bread.

Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

Use the adapted version of this psalm (from TEV) as a responsive reading with the congregation reading THE LORD in each verse and the liturgist or choir reading the remainder of each verse.  (And, yes, there are lots of male pronouns referring to God in this psalm.  I tried to make it more inclusive, but failed.  If someone else creates or knows of a better one, please share.)

⁸     The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹     The Lord is good to all,

and God’s compassion is over all he has made.

¹⁴     The Lord upholds all who are falling,

and raises up all who are bowed down.

¹⁵     The eyes of all look to The Lord,

and The Lord gives them their food in due season.

¹⁶     The Lord opens his hand,

satisfying the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷     The Lord is just in all his ways,

and kind in all his doings.

¹⁸     The Lord is near to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

¹⁹     The Lord He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;

he also hears their cry, and saves them.

²⁰     The Lord watches over all who love him,

but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹     My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

Romans 9:1-5 

F Paul’s concern for the Jews is better taken up with children in other places and in other ways than these verses.  

F The Roman Catholic lectionary suggests Romans 8: 35,37-39 - last week’s list of all the things that cannot come between us and God’s powerful love for this week.  It could be an interesting match with God the wrestler in the Genesis story.

Matthew 14:13-21



JESUS MAFA. Jesus multiplies the loaves and fish, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48287 [retrieved June 21, 2011].

JESUS MAFA. Jesus multiplies the loaves and fish,
from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of
the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48287
[retrieved June 21, 2011].

F The story of the loaves and fishes meal appears in all four gospels.  In only John’s is the food offered by a child.  Still, most people will add the child as they hear the other three accounts read.  So, ask an older child to read this text in worship.

F Consider creating the whole sermon around imaging yourselves as different people in this story.  Ponder what they might have been thinking, feeling, and learning as the meal came together. Children may lose you when you explore a more adult possibility for a character, but will be drawn back in when you move to the next character/s.  For starters…

Jesus
* Wanting a little quiet to mourn John the Baptist’s death, he is confronted by a large crowd who want his attention.  What was he thinking and feeling as he responded to their needs instead of his own. 
* Some see this as a turning point.  Jesus has been letting the disciples witness him in action.  Learning of John’s murder makes him realize more fully what is ahead for him and leads him to begin preparing his disciples for leadership.  How does that influence his relationships with his disciples?

The disciples
* How did they feel when Jesus told them to feed the crowd?
* What did they think when they realized that there was going to be enough? 
* What do you think they did with the leftover food? 
* How did this event change them?

The crowd
* How did it feel to be offered free food with no questions asked in a remote place in a time when food was not abundant?
* In that day who you ate with was important.  Jesus often got in trouble over the people with whom he ate.  How did it feel to sit down with huge numbers of strangers to share food?

Us
* What do we in OUR TOWN at OUR CHURCH like about this story?
* With which character/s do we most identify?
* What does this story suggest we need to work on a bit more?

     

F This story will lead many to speak about scarcity thinking in today’s world.  Children engage in scarcity thinking when they ask,

Ø  Will I get my fair share of the fries, the goldfish, the candies….?

Ø  When is MY turn?  And, will my turn be as long as theirs?

Ø  Do they (especially parents, but also other loved adults and peers) love me as much as they love them?  (If there is a finite amount of love, I want to be sure to get some of it.)

F Tie this story to a summer food drive.  Most emergency food banks need food during the summer months when there are fewer food drives, but people still need to eat.  So, after reading and exploring the story, give worshipers a shopping list (most food banks provide one) or a paper plate to remind them to bring food the following Sunday or during the week.  Encourage families to shop for the list together.    This could be launched during the sermon.  Or, the lists or plates could be handed out just before the benediction with Jesus' charge to the disciples “YOU give them something to eat” and followed with a benediction sending them out to do this in God’s presence.

F Do a little worship education about the phrases “Give us this day our daily bread” from the Lord’s prayer.  Point out that the pronouns are plural.  We can’t pray just for our own needs.  Identify things in addition to food that are physical needs for all people.  Then, pray a responsive prayer of intercession for the hungry of the world.  The congregation’s response to each petition is “Give us this day our daily bread.” 

This could be addressed to the whole congregation just before the prayer or it could be the a children’s time just before and during this prayer of intercession.

F Discuss the practice of saying a blessing or grace before meals.  Offer samples.  If you sense that many in the congregation have let this practice go, challenge individuals and households to try it at least one meal each day this week.  Suggest that they agree on a meal and the prayer they will say in the car on the way home from church.  Call it worship homework.

 

Year A - Eighth Sunday in Epiphany/ Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (February 27, 2011)

Isaiah 49:8-16a

Isaiah’s message to the Jews living in Exile or recently returned is that God is with them and loves them always.  Children will hear that most clearly in verses 15c -16a, “I will not forget you.  See, I have inscribed you in the palm of my hand.”  The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn, captures this in the story of a Mother Raccoon who sends her fearful child off to his first night at school after kissing the palm of his hand and instructing him to press his palm against his face any time he needs to feel his mother’s love.  Many children go off to school, summer camp, or scary new situations having heard this story and carrying parental kisses in their hands.  

Read the whole book  - less than 5 minutes to read aloud.  (Your public library will probably have multiple copies.)  Then read the phrases from Isaiah and state that you believe there is a connection here.  Isaiah says that God has your name written in the palm of God’s hand and God will never forget about you. 

If this is a children’s time and the children are seated near you and not too many in number, remind them that Chester also kissed his mother’s palm and gave her the same instructions.  Then, write “God” in the palm of each child’s hand with a marker reminding each child to remember that God loves him or her always.  If possible, say each child’s name as you do this.

The last page of the book shows the American sign language sign for “I love you” being given by a raccoon paw.  Use it to teach the congregation the sign and tell them to make it when they need to remember that God loves them and will not forget them and that they love God.

Psalm 131

Consider reading this psalm from the Today’s English Version (The Good News Bible).  It does not use the term “weaned child” which is unfamiliar to children and not something you want to explain in the sanctuary and it translates the second phrase of verse 1 “I am not concerned with great matters or subjects too difficult for me.”  Most children have experience with subjects at school that are “too difficult for me.”  That can be the entry into discussing with the whole congregation how it feels to be coping with issues or subjects that are just too hard.

This psalm is so short that it can be read in worship more than once.  So, invite worshipers to listen to it as you read it through a first time.  Make some comments about trusting God.  Instruct everyone to relax in their seat, maybe stretch their neck a little, and close their eyes.  Then, read the psalm again slowly and thoughtfully.  Conclude with “Let’s God’s people say, Amen”

At any age it is easy to sing a hymn without thinking about the words.  For children it is hard to read the new words and string them together into meaningful sentences as you sing.  So invite the congregation to follow in their hymnals as you talk your way through the words of the first verse of “Be Still My Soul”  before singing the whole song together. 

Be still my soul; the Lord is on your side.

God loves you and is on your side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Having God on your side doesn’t mean that everything will always go the way you want it to; but you can get through the bad times knowing that even in them God is on your side.

Leave to your God to order and provide.

Remember that God is in charge.

In every change God faithful will remain.

God will be with you in all the scary changes.  For children those changes include a new school, moving, the arrival of a sibling, parents divorcing, having to learn something new and hard, going away to camp or live with relatives….

Be still me soul, your best, your heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Recall the thorny part of the crucifixion that led to Jesus’ joyful resurrection and note that Jesus is with us all the way through both our joyful and thorny times.

Walking through the first verse gives children a sense of it and is about all they can absorb.  It also encourages the adults to pay attention to what they are singing in this verse and all others.

1 Corinthians 4:1-5

To get everyone into this text, point out that you feel some real connections to Paul.  You are both ministers.  You both do a lot of preaching and teaching.  You both help people in churches solve problems and visit with people when they are sick or getting married or dying.  You even know what Paul was talking about here when he said that people were “judging him.”  They were comparing him to another preacher named Apollos.  They were saying things like, “You surely don’t preach like Apollos” or “Apollos would have never done that” or even “Apollos is a better minister than you are, Paul.”  Ouch!  Point out how that hurt Paul and how it hurts you and other preachers when it happens to you.  Then, dig into Paul’s response.  Paul said that it didn’t matter what they thought about how he did his job.  It didn’t even matter what he thought about how good a minister he was.  The only one that had the right to ”judge” Paul is God.  So, Paul’s job was to do the very best job he could at what he thought God wanted him to do and not to worry about what other people thought about how he was doing his job.  After noting that ministers often have to reread this passage when people compare them to other ministers, suggest that this is probably also true for people in other jobs.   Even children are often compared to better students, piano players, athletes, or kinder, sweeter children.  Maybe the worst is feeling compared unfavorably to siblings.  We all have to take Paul’s advice that no one can judge us but God.  So, all we can do is do the best we can.  Note that this is not easy advice to take and that you bet even Paul reread what he had just written and thought, “I know that is what I WANT to think, but man it isn’t as easy as it looks on paper.”

This could be a children’s sermon or it could be the beginning of the real sermon.  In the latter case, older children especially can be drawn into hearing about your feelings about being judged as a minister.  Though they may not stick with you for the entire sermon, they will listen for a while and conclude that, at least occasionally, sermons might be for them as well as for the grown-ups.

Name-calling is one of the most damaging form of judgment for many children.  “You are such a….”  “only a … would do that” or “You are so…..” are phrases hurled at other children to embarrass them and put them in their place.  If we follow Paul’s example, we do not call people names and when others call us names, we remember that only God can judge us (not these other kids) and that our job is to do the best we can and remember that God loves us (even if some other kids do not).

To explore name-calling among children further, go to http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/resources/index.html.   This is the resources page for a group that sponsors a rapidly growing No Name Calling Week campaign in schools K-12.  The week was January 24-28, 2011; but the resources can be used any day.

Matthew 6:24-34

Judging by lectionary helps on line, most worship planners will use this passage to explore our tendency to worry – about almost everything.  Adults can think about worrying in the general seeing similarities in worrying about money, love life, safety, etc.  Children think in the specific.  For them, pick one or two worry targets to explore in detail.  For example,

worrying about how tall and good looking you might get.  Kids dreaming of being basketball stars want to be tall.  Gymnasts and dancers want to stay small.  Everyone wants to grow beautiful and can hardly believe that one day they will look anything like the glamorous teenagers or adults they admire.  They need reminders that they can’t worry their way taller or shorter.  Or,

prodded and even spooked by ads that insist that unless they wear a certain brand of clothes, they will have a miserable life, many children, especially the girls, but also the boys, worry about wearing the right clothes.  They need help from as many sources as possible to realize that the ads are wrong.  They, like the lilies of the field, can be beautiful without the in-brand of clothes.

Introduce children and older worshipers to the practice of the breath prayer as a way of coping with worries.  A breath prayer has two parts: one a name of God that fits the prayer and the second a very short request for help in dealing with the problem, e.g. “God, help me feel OK at school.”  God’s name is said while breathing in and the request is said while breathing out.  Breath prayers can be planned out in advance and then prayed silently throughout the day as needed. 

“Mammon”, which looks a lot like mammal to early readers, is best translated for children as “stuff.”  Stuff includes clothes, toys, books, electronic gadgets, and other things we think we “gotta have.”  The text says you can’t serve God at the same time as you spend all your time thinking about, playing with, and taking care of all your stuff.  Jesus says the most important rules in the world are ”love God” and “love other people.”  Mammon says “love your stuff” or the most important things in the world are having the right stuff, having all the stuff you want, and taking care of your stuff.

The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes, is the story of older elementary school girls who harass a new girl who wears the same faded dress to school every day but boasts of having 100 dresses of silk and velvet at home.  Finally, the abuse takes its toll and the girl’s father withdraws her from school and moves away in search of a place where they will be more welcome.  Wanda leaves behind as her entry student art contest 100 drawings of beautiful dresses.  Her drawings win the contest and the embarrassed admiration of the girls who had judged her so harshly.  This classic story speaks both to the epistle theme of judging others and to Jesus’ insistence that getting so very focused on what we wear leads to trouble.  The 96 page book will need to be read in advance by a worship leader and retold in his or her own words.   Available in public and elementary school libraries.

Year C - 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 26, 2010)

Yesterday at the lectionary study group I attend, five of six preachers were planning to preach on the Isaiah text and all were thinking about the housing foreclosure crisis.  If you are joinging them, remember that children are as seriously affected by foreclosure as their parents.  They sense the stress in their parents.  They are embarassed in front of classmates, who might not correctly understand what is going on.  They are often crowded in sharing space with cousins or friends or even landing in a shelter.  They are as much in need of God's protection and comfort and of understanding from their church friends of all ages as their parents are.


Jeremiah  32: 1-3a, 6-15

Jeremiah buys land just before Babylon invades

Most children know very little about the details of buying and selling of property and even less about the problems of impending conquest by foreigners.  It is hard for them to get from the details to any meaningful-to-them message.  So, for children, simply hearing the story and learning a little of what it meant to people in Jeremiah’s day is enough.  To do that, try one or more of the following:

Introduce the props before reading the story.  Show two paper deeds (one to file publicly and one to keep for your own records), a check, and a glass jar big enough to hold the check.  Explain what a deed is and why there are two of them.  Compare today’s buyer writing a check to give the seller of the property with Jeremiah’s weighing out gold coins.  Then, drop one of the deeds into the jar and put the lid on.  Note that Jeremiah used a clay jar because that is what he had.  But that either glass or clay the jar makes sure the deed will last a lot longer than just putting it in a drawer.  Then, read the story encouraging your listeners to listen for the props.  (This could be a discussion addressed to the whole congregation or a children’s time.)  If possible display these props for the remainder of the service.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Deed of Sale

I, Hanamel, sell my property in Anathtoth

to my cousin Jeremiah on this day.

Seller’s signature:__Hanamel_____

Buyer’s signature:___Jeremiah_____

   hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Have 3 people act out the story as it is read.  The king (maybe wearing a crown) takes his place off to one side (verse 1).  A big man wearing a fierce expression and either carrying a weapon or with his arms folded menacingly across his chest takes his place in the center aisle (verse 2a).  And, Jeremiah stands beside a table (verse 2b).  Hanamel enters on verse 8 and he and Jeremiah act out the sale.  For added impact Jeremiah might speak verses 14-15 from memory.  If a response to scripture is your practice, all actors and the reader then say together, “The Word of the Lord” to which the congregation replies “Thanks be to God.”

The closest I can come to putting Jeremiah’s message into terms that are meaningful for today’s children goes something like this:  Even when you get an awful teacher who doesn’t like you, even when you feel like you don’t have a single friend, even when you don’t make the team or get the part you wanted in the play, even when you feel ugly and dumb and hopeless, remember that is not the last word.  God is looking further ahead than you are.  God is planning for you.  You’ve got to wait and be patient and trust God.   It isn’t easy.

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

Assurance of God’s Protection

All the unfamiliar words (snare, fowler, pestilence, pinions, buckler, refuge) make this a hard psalm for children.  Several familiar hymns communicate the message better.

“Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” is based on Psalm 90 instead of 91, but carries the same message.  Before singing it point everyone to verse 3 and note that God takes a much longer view of our lives than we do.  “A thousand ages are like an evening.”

“A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is also based on another psalm (Psalm 46), but carries the message of this one too.  The words are difficult for young readers, but the music communicates brave confidence and most congregations sing it with that feeling.  Before singing it, tell the story of its writing.  Powerful people wanted Martin Luther dead.  So, his friends were hiding him in a castle.  He and his friends were very scared.  While he was there he wrote this song to help his friends and himself remember that God was with them.

“God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again” sung at the conclusion of this service is an opportunity for a little worship education about benedictions.  Explain to worshipers that the benediction (the very last words in every worship service) is a reminder that we can trust God to be with us no matter what comes our way.  Put the words of the verses into your own words, something like:

May God guide you.

Trust God to care for you like a shepherd.

May God protect you.

May God provide you physical and spiritual food.

When life gets tough may God’s arms be wrapped around you.

May God’s love be your motto and may God be with you at your death.

Encourage children to at least sing the repeated beginnings and endings of each verse.  Even older elementary readers will be able to read the short words of the verses.

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Before reading this text, tell the back story.  Paul is writing to encourage Timothy, a young minister who is having a hard time.

Paul’s message to Timothy is that he needs to remember what is important.  He needs to pay attention to what is important and ignore what isn’t that important.  One way to help children identify the difference between the important and the not important is to name some of the things that we feel we gotta have, gotta do, gotta be only to learn after a bit that they were really not that important.   Display an article that you thought you gotta have at some point, but quickly discovered wasn’t worth much  (clothes or shoes that once seemed essential, a video game or gadget that I had to have, etc.)  Tell about wanting it, going to great effort to get it, and finding it wasn’t that cool.  Or, tell about some group you thought you had to be part of or some award you thought you had to win, but did not.  

Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus

The rich man’s sin was that he ignored Lazarus and his needs.  Lazarus was right there in front of him, hungry, sick, plagued by dogs and the rich man did nothing to help him.  Psychologists tell us that infants perceive only themselves and their needs.  They see themselves not as the center of the universe, but as the whole universe.  Everything around them exists only in relation to them.  If all goes well, children grow beyond this throughout their childhood until the see themselves as one among many and as people who are called to help other people.  Our culture complicates the process because it allows us, even encourages us, to remain oblivious to certain others.  The challenge in this text is for listeners of all ages to identify some of the people around them who are regularly ignored, even treated as if they are invisible, and then to reach out to them.  For children these ignored ones include the outcast kids at school, at times even members of their own household, people of all ages in their neighborhood who are looked down on, people in certain racial, ethnic, or religious groups, etc.

To help children (and other worshipers) follow this rather long story, prepare three male readers to read it while moving around the front of the sanctuary to follow the movement in the story.  Place their scripts inside black choir binders for esthetics.  Below is a script.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Reader One (from center): There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

Reader Two (below and off to one side):  And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.  The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. (Move to opposite side and up a step or two if possible.)

Reader One:  The rich man also died and was buried.  (Move to side opposite Reader Two and down a step or two if possible.)  In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.  (Reader Three come to stand by Reader Two.)  He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’

Reader Three: Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.  Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

Reader Two:   ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’

Reader Three: ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

Reader One: ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

Reader Three:  ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

All:  The Word of the Lord!

  

                                                                       New Revised Standard Version

Year C - 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 19, 2010)

Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1
Jeremiah grieves over the suffering people of conquered Jerusalem

Children’s Literature: A Resource for Ministry at http://storypath.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/lectionary-links-september-19-2010/ suggests a Caldecott winning picture biography Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom as an example of God’s special concern for and partnership with the oppressed. I can’t figure out how to use this beautiful book in congregational worship. I mention it here hoping someone else will find a way to use it and share it with the rest of us. My local public library had multiple copies which makes me think the book should be easy to find.

Psalm 79:1-9
A lament over the nation after it is destroyed and pillaged with a plea for mercy

This psalm is not for the children.


1 Timothy 2:1-7
Praying for leaders and a Christological hymn

These seven verses offer a rather amazing variety of worship themes, some more relevant for children than others.

Paul begins with a call to prayer for leaders. In this election season with all the trash talking about leaders, have a respectful conversation and prayer with children about civic leaders. Together name some local, state and national leaders and list some of the jobs they do. You may also want to add people who are running for office. With the children, identify some prayers for our leaders, then offer those prayers.

The great Christological hymn describing Christ as a mediator between God and people is hard for children. Much of our talk with them about God has focused on God as their loving friend who is always available to them. A mediator is only needed when there are conflicts to be settled and gaps to be bridged. So, before children can see Christ as a welcome mediator, they need to identify the estrangement with God. Some older children will begin to pick up on some of the preacher’s comments, but Christ as mediator is not a great topic for a children’s time.

The theme in this hymn that does speak to children is that God loves all people and Jesus died for all people. Paul’s point was God loves all people not just the Jewish ones. Today the point is God loves all people, not just the ones like me.

• During the children’s time, present the gathered children with portraits of people. (Old “National Geographics” are good sources.) Present two very different looking people at a time with the question, “Does God love one of these people more than the other?” After discussing several pairs, conclude that God loves and cares for all the people in the world.
  
  A resource you will use again:  Portraits is a collection of 250  5x8 inch portraits of individuals from all over the world taken by Steve McCurry, renowned National Geographic photographer.  Because it has a soft bindng, I took the book apart and now have a collection of beautiful portraits that celebrate the differences and similarities in people.  Use it this Sunday for this conversation and save it for many other activities in the future.  Available through Amazon.com for about $16.
• Before singing “In Christ There Is No East or West” introduce the geographical directions in the first verse by illustrating them with hand motions. Point to your right for “east,” to your left for “west,” up for “north,” and down for “south.” Then form a huge circle with your arms for “one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.” As you do, summarize the message of the verse. This could be a brief introduction before the singing of the hymn with encouragement to children to sing with the congregation. Or, it could become a children’s time –also best done just before singing the hymn.

Luke 16:1-13
Parable of the Shrewd Manager, sayings about our use of stuff

Usually with children, it is best to go with the story rather than the teachings. Not here. The story is tough for adults and almost incomprehensible to children. (You may however want to check out a puppet-less puppet show that takes artistic liberties with the parable at http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2004/09/for_panicking_c.html  ) In this text, the sayings that follow the parable offer more to children.

Being faithful in small things: Read this saying aloud from the big Bible. Then, admit that we would all like to do big things - important things, things that get reported on TV and make people admire us. PAUSE But most of the time most of us we don’t. Instead we do regular every day, “little” things. Jesus has two things to tell us about these “little” things. First, being faithful in little things does make a difference. Being kind to the kid no one else talks to, forgiving the person who called you a mean name, saying “thank you” and really meaning it, all those little things often make a bigger difference to people than we ever know. The second thing about being faithful in little things is that it is important practice. Shooting hoops over and over again is practice for making the important shot in the big game. In the same way being kind, forgiving, loving people on the normal days is practice for being God’s loving, forgiving people when it is REALLY, REALLY hard to do. In both basketball and being disciples, practice on the small things is very important.

Children think literally. Loving “wealth” means loving the cash and coins. I can clearly remember feeling that I was safe on this as a child. I did not love quarters or even paper bills. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I caught that the problem wasn’t the cash, it was what you could buy with the cash. Talk about a preacher who had left off preaching and gone to meddling! The text took on a whole new meaning for me. To help children get the real meaning of the text, talk about “stuff” rather than “wealth.” Cite examples like cell phones, “in” shoes, double stuffed Oreos, computer games, even the money to register to be on a sports team or see a show… It is not that any of this stuff is bad, lots of it is really cool. What Jesus tells us is that how we use our stuff is important. We can be selfish with our stuff, not sharing with others. We can spend all our time thinking about and messing with our stuff, never taking time to see what people around us may want and need from us. We can forget that who we are is more important than what we wear and what we have. The child’s version of Jesus' saying is “who you are and what you do are more important than what you have.”

• Straight conversations like this can be worked into the main sermon mixing examples from adulthood and childhood. When they hear such conversations, children (1) conclude that the sermon is for them too and (2) they begin to realize that the adults around them struggle with some of the same problems they do. When the conversation becomes the children’s time, older children who tend to disappear from the steps because the usual stories told there are for babies, may tune in and find that worship has something to say to them too.
   
• Bring a cool electronic gadget (maybe a fancy cell phone or blackberry) to the gathering of children. Show them what it will do and let them know how much you enjoy having it. Then, tell them you think Jesus cares about how you use your whatever-it-is. Point out that you could say “it’s mine! Don’t touch it!” Or, you could say, “Look how it works? You want to try it?” You could spend so much time seeing what you can make it do, that you ignore everything and everyone else. Note that you know you’ve done this when people say, “Earth to YOUR NAME – are you there?” Or, you could enjoy it some, but not all the time. Etc. Conclude that Jesus said we are to learn to use our stuff well. We are to enjoy stuff, but not make it the only thing we think about. Jesus made it very clear that people are always more important than things.