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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Weekly Devotions - October 7, 2012 - 19th Sunday after Pentecost - Lec 27B
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Faith + Home Connection October Mark 10: 46-52
Faith
+Open: Once everyone in the household is gathered light a
candle to remind us of Christ’s presence with us always and open with prayer.
Pray this prayer, one of your own or a combination of the two. Dear God, we call to you for help and you
call back to us with words of healing and promise. We are grateful that it is
your call to us that draws us near to you in our times of helplessness, sorrow,
joy and gratitude. May we use our lives to call out to people around us to
share your voice with those who need to hear the healing words of your Son. We
pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Faith
+ Share: Read aloud Mark 10:46-52. With younger children read
from the Spark Story Bible, page 338, or your favorite children’s Bible. After
reading it through once have different people read the different parts:
Bartimaeus, Jesus, the crowds. Or even act it out!
With
children: Bartimaeus was blind and alone. He was probably
scared some of the time not knowing who or what was around him. Even though
Bartimaeus could not see Jesus with his eyes, he knew immediately when Jesus
was close and he called out to Jesus for help! Following the sound of Jesus
voice he jumped up and went to Jesus not worried about falling, running into
something or someone or getting hurt. Bartimaeus didn’t need his eyes to know
that Jesus was there! He knew in his whole being. Bartimaeus reminds us that we
only need to listen and follow Jesus’ voice and we know that Jesus is always
close to us even when we can’t “see” Jesus! What are some ways that we can help
us to “know” that Jesus is close? (Ideas: prayer (talking to God), reading the
Bible, family and friends who love us and care for us, helping to care for our
family, friends, and people we don’t even know!)
With
youth/adults: There is a lot going on in this short
story and feel free to ask your own questions and go down a different path than
the one I will take here! But some questions and thoughts that I have are about
the crowds in this story. The crowds wanted Bartimaeus to leave Jesus alone and
not bother him. Bartimaeus, as a blind beggar utterly alone, was not part of
the “in crowd.” He was to be avoided, unclean, a nuisance at best, and a scar
on society at worst. This “worthless” person shouldn’t be bothering Jesus! But
Bartimaeus ignores the crowd and continues to call out for mercy/help (best
translation would really be that he says “mercify me”) to Jesus. The crowds
must have been shocked when this cry stopped Jesus cold in his tracks! “The
least of these” is what caught his attention, not the rest of the crowds or
disciples with him! Jesus then calls out to
Bartimaeus and the crowds suddenly change their tune. Hey Jesus is calling you Bart! You had better go! This story is not
just about transforming Bartimaeus but transforming the crowd (us) as well. The
crowd around Jesus thought that they were the “in group” with the disciples and
were quick to try and keep the less desirables out. But Jesus transforms the
crowd from gatekeeper to conduit. By hearing Jesus calling to Bartimaeus, the
crowd then becomes the encourager of Bartimaeus to go to Jesus! I would like
to think that someone even took him by the arm and guided him for safety! Both
the crowd and Bartimaeus are transformed together to be all together with
Jesus. For Jesus, both the insiders and the outsiders were in equal need to
transformation and he brought them together for the purpose of a whole
community which then Bartimaeus became a part. So how are we sometimes the
“gatekeepers” keeping those we don’t think are desirable away from God? How can
we hear Jesus voice calling to those on the margins and become a conduit for
encouraging and pointing people to the one who can transform each and every one
of us and all of who we are to be
“made well” or whole with God? How might the person we least expect point us to
Jesus?
Faith
+Close: At the end of your Faith + Share time extinguish the
candle and share one word/phrase about the conversation on Mark 10. Leave a
little time for silence and then either use the Faith + Blessing below or close
with a simple “amen.”
Faith
+ Serve: We have lots of opportunities to serve here at LCM.
This month, let’s send 50 children from Molholm Elementary school to the
outdoor lab! Without some assistance many children at Molholm may not be able
to participate in the outdoor lab. We will be doing a baked goods sale in
October at LCM to support this project so look for more information soon! But
in the mean time have a jar or a glass set aside in your kitchen that you can
label “Called into the world.” Every time you or a family member eats a piece
of bread or other baked good place some spare change in the glass. Even a penny
will help! Collect this change throughout the month of October and bring it in
on October 28th-Reformation Sunday-and watch how a little bit from
each of us combines to great abundance!
Faith
+ Blessing: As you leave for work or school each
morning make on the sign of the cross on the back of each other’s hand and tell
the other person, “Remember Jesus is calling you.” Jesus calls us to him and
into the world to share God’s love with everyone!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Children's Sermon Sept. 30th, 2012 18th Sunday after Pentecost Mark 9:38-50
Faith + Open: As children come forward, randomly put them into two distinct groups preferably (depending on your space) with some separation between them. Make sure that no one migrates and make it clear that this is where they need to be. Don’t have them sit down.
Faith
+ Share: Take one group (this will be group 1 for reference)
of the children and say “Ok you are with
me. Let’s go over here for a little bit and talk.” Lead them away (maybe
down one of the side aisles towards the back of the worship space) and don’t
even acknowledge the other group( group 2 for reference). Begin talking to your
group in hushed tones occasionally looking at and pointing to the other group still
up front. Do this for only a minute to two. Then bring the groups back
together.
Say to group 2: “How
did it feel to be left up here alone not knowing what was going on? (Accept all
answers) Did you wonder why you didn’t get to go with the other group? Did you
wonder if you were different or had done something not quite right?”
(Accept all answers) Turn to group 1: “How
did you feel to go with me? Like the “in” crowd or like you were special for
some reason?
Well
in our story this morning there were two groups of people- the disciples who
were with Jesus and another group who weren’t directly with Jesus but were
helping people in Jesus’ name. The disciples thought that the other people were
too different and shouldn’t be allowed to talk about Jesus. But Jesus tells the
disciples that anyone who tells people about him ARE part of his group! Anyone
who loves Jesus, tells people about Jesus, and helps people in Jesus’ name are
important to Jesus and Jesus includes or welcomes anyone who believes! Pretty
neat! Jesus tells the disciples “to have piece with each other” and this means
to not worry about someone who is a bit different from themselves but welcome
into God’s family!
We
have a part of our worship service where we do this: it is called the “passing
of the peace.” We do this because Jesus wants us to welcome everyone and so we
shake hands or give a hug to let everyone here know that they are wanted and
welcome here! So when we say “peace be with you” we are really saying “God’s
peace and we are so glad you are here!”
How
else can we let people know that we are glad that they are with us not just in
worship on a Sunday morning but in our lives as well?
Faith + Blessing: Today when we pass the peace I want all of us to say that to each other, “God’s peace and I am so glad that you are here!”
Faith + Close: Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank you for loving everyone. We want everyone to feel you love for them, help us to welcome everyone we meet for you. We all belong to you and we are so thankful! Amen
~BW
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Weekly Devotions - September 30, 2012 - 18th Sunday after Pentecost - Lec 26B
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Children's sermon Sept. 23rd, 2012 Pentecost 17 Mark 9: 30-37
Faith + Open: Gather the children to your children’s sermon space. Begin by asking them a series of questions about themselves. Such as what is their favorite color, food, brothers and sisters, favorite games, etc. Then say, “Wow! By asking all of these questions I have learned a lot about all of you this morning! Have I learned everything about you though? (NO!) I will need to ask you a lot more questions and talk to you for a really long time to learn everything about you! It would take me my whole life to learn everything about even one of you!! Now I am going to tell you something about myself. (Say something in a foreign language if you can or say something with ridiculously big/difficult words.) So what do you now know about me? What did I just say? (Looks of confusion should abound!) You didn’t understand what I just said about me? What questions could you ask to find out? (Accept all answers.)
Faith + Share: Well, in the first part of today’s gospel lesson from the book of Mark, Jesus is telling the disciples something about himself that they did not understand. Jesus told them that he was going to be hurt by people, so hurt in fact that Jesus was going to die. BUT Jesus also told them that he would rise again. The disciples didn’t understand this at all but they were afraid to ask Jesus questions about it! Jesus wants us to ask questions. Jesus welcomed children and their questions and says that welcoming children and questions is welcoming God into our lives. Just as I learned things about you by asking questions, questions are also how we learn about Jesus. Do we always know all of the answers? (No) but we can talk together, read the Bible together and learn about Jesus together! I want you to write, or have mom/dad/adult you came to church with, one question that you have about God or Jesus and talk about it in your family this week. If you want you can ask another adult in the congregation too!
Faith + Close: Prayer: Dear Jesus, we want to know more about you. Thank you for hearing our questions and thank you for the people in our lives who learn about you with us. Thank you for loving us so much! Amen
Faith + Blessing: Give each child a copy of verse 37 to go in to their Bibles to remind them to ask questions about Jesus!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Weekly Devotions - September 23, 2012 - 17th Sunday after Pentecost m- Lec 25B
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Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Weekly Devotion - September 16, 2012 - 16th Sunday After Pentecost - Lec 24B
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Children’s Sermon for September 16, 2012 - Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, year B, James 3:1-12
Scripture Focus: James
3:1-12
Prepare: If you can find a bridle or a bit for a horse it would be a great illustration piece. You could also bring a leash or a dog harness, but a bit would be the most impressive.
Faith+Open: As the children gather ask them if they have
ever heard anyone say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will
never hurt me!” Ask them if they know
what that means. Then ask if they think
it’s true. Do words really not hurt?
Faith+Share: We’ve
been reading this long letter from the Bible from a man named James. He says that is wrong, words do hurt! And more than that, he says that it is really
hard to never say anything mean. James
says that this is really important, and he gives a bunch of great
examples. One I really liked was about a
horse. Do you guys like horses? Have any of you ever had the chance to ride a
horse? It’s pretty fun, isn’t it! Well, horses are big animals, and I don’t
know a whole lot about how to work with horses, but I’m pretty sure that I
couldn’t control a horse with just my hands.
Fortunately we have some tools to help us control them (and people who
know how to train them, that helps a bunch, too!) I brought this with me, does anyone know what
this is? Yeah, it’s a bit. This goes into a horse’s mouth and then a
rider can control the horse. This little
piece of metal let’s you control the whole big horse!
James says that our
tongues are kind of like a horse’s bit.
What every our tongues say usually becomes how we feel. So, when we use mean words against people, we
often start to believe it ourselves. And
when other people use mean words against us we start to believe what they say,
too. He says that we should think before
we speak, because the same tongue that praises God should not be used make
other people feel bad. We should try our
best to praise God with our tongues, and to share God’s love with each other.
Maybe we should update
that saying from the beginning of children’s time. How about, “Sticks and stones may break my
bones, and mean words hurt, too.”
Faith+Prayer: Loving God, we praise you for all the
love, mercy and grace that you pour out on us.
Help us to speak loving words that show your love to other people. Amen.
Faith+Blessing: May your eyes and ears be opened to see all
the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
~GB
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to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Children's Sermon Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 9, 2012, year B, James 2:1-17
Prepare: Find a partner to help you. You will need someone who knows what you doing so that they can play the part! Have them gather with all the children at the beginning of the children’s sermon
Faith+Open: As you gather the children, pick your
helper out of the crowd and say, “Oh, I didn’t know you were here. Hmmm . . . could you go sit way over
there? I want to make sure that the
children get all the good seats.” Then
ask the children if they can all see and hear you. Indicate your helper and say, “It doesn’t
really matter if they can see, you are the important people here.” Ham this part up, make it fun so that
children understand that it’s a game.
Faith+Share: What
do you think? Was I being a good
neighbor to our friend?
One of the readings
today is part of a letter from a man named James. In the part we heard he is talking about how
we treat each other. He says a bunch of
things that are hard for us to do! He
says that we shouldn’t treat people differently because they are rich or poor,
or powerful or weak. We shouldn’t give
someone special treatment because they have a bunch of neat stuff, or because they
are super cool. We should treat everyone
with love and respect. He even repeats
what Jesus said, that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Then he says that we have more neighbors than
we think we do! Some are rich, or cool,
or have neat things, and some are not rich, or not cool, but we need to love
them all the same. Just like God loves
us!
Now, what about our
friend over there? Should we let them
come sit with us? Yes! Come over here and we’ll all pray together.
Faith+Prayer: Loving
God, teach us to be loving to all our neighbors, the ones who are cool, and the
ones who are not so cool. Help us to
love each other just like you love us. Amen.
Faith+Blessing: May your eyes and ears be opened to see all
the amazing works of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
~GB
Adapted from a children’s sermon by Pastor Paul Judson.
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to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.