Sunday 02 October 2016

Transcription

1 Sunday 02 October 2016 Jesus brings life Bible passage: Luke 7:11 17 Session aim: To be encouraged that Jesus acts in response to our pain This is the first in a series on the love and compassion of God as seen through Jesus encounters with different characters. In this session, Jesus meets a woman who is utterly distraught. Her son is dead. Her means of income and support is gone! All hope has departed. Anyone recently bereaved will identify with her sadness. Play some sad music as introduction for example, Samuel Barber s Adagio for Strings. What thoughts does that bring to people s minds? How does it make them feel? Explain that there are many reasons why people are sad. For example: life is tough, they are ill, they may have lost something, someone they love has died, they may be lonely or they may feel that God is far away from them. Read Lamentations 3:1 13 slowly, asking people to think of things that make them sad or that have made people they know sad. But first explain that this was written at the time when God s people living in Jerusalem were suffering badly. They felt that God had left them. (This was before the time of Nehemiah (remember the series in August), when the walls were being destroyed, which Nehemiah then rebuilt!) Then read Lamentations 3:21 24, explaining that just after the writer wrote the previous words, he wrote down these words. Emphasise that God can be trusted. Prayer activity You will be aware of people who are sad in the congregation or of sorrowful situations in the News. Pray very specifically for these issues, that people will be aware that God is with them in their pain. Extra idea If you wanted to hold a time of interactive prayer, show a large tear drop on an acetate or sheet of card and invite people to come forward to write down the names of people or situations in the world where there is sadness. Use that to inform your prayers. What a load of rubbish! Bitesize Bible Songs CD Leave all your worries Bitesize Bible Songs CD Call to me Bitesize Bible Songs 2 CD God is an awesome God Light for Everyone CD Jesus hands were kind hands kidsource 194 Great is thy faithfulness Songs of Fellowship 147

2 Sunday 09 October 2016 Jesus brings freedom Bible passage: Luke 8:26 39 Session aim: To realise that Jesus came to set people free Download a photo of a maze from Hampton Court or another national stately home. (Or show an enlarged maze from a puzzle book: the 5 to 7s may be experiencing a maze during the storytelling in their session.) Talk about how difficult it is to find your way out of a maze if the hedges are really high and all paths look more or less the same. Make sure that children are engaged in this discussion because high hedges are even more of a challenge for them because of their height. What experiences do people have when finding their way out? What helped them? For example: the position of the sun, a tower in the middle, or someone to guide them out. What does it feel like to feel trapped literally or emotionally? If possible, invite someone to talk about a situation where they felt trapped and could not see any way out of it, but God helped them see what choices were open to them, and a resolution was found. This needs to be appropriate for children and young people, so the details of an unhappy marriage would not be suitable, however helpful for adults! For example: a difficult job situation, house relocation, recovery from an illness, bullying at school. Explain that today s story is about a man who was trapped and not free. Prayer idea Display the words of the Lord s Prayer and ask people to focus on the following phrases: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Say that sometimes we feel trapped because we have done something wrong that damages our relationship with others and God. We need to ask for forgiveness. God has promised to forgive us if we ask him and he will keep us safe. Say the Lord s Prayer together very slowly, pausing after each of these phrases. Ask everyone to speak with God in the silence of each pause. Extra idea It would be appropriate to pray for those who suffer for their faith or are even imprisoned. For more details see Christian Solidarity Worldwide at What a load of rubbish! Bitesize Bible Songs CD Leave all your worries Bitesize Bible Songs CD Call to me Bitesize Bible Songs 2 CD God is an awesome God Light for Everyone CD Jesus is a friend of mine kidsource 195 Jesus never kidsource 602

3 Sunday 16 October 2016 Jesus brings challenge Bible passage: Luke 18:18 30 Session aim: To see that Jesus helps us to see the truth about ourselves You will need to arrange for someone to be your plant in the congregation. Use a washable marker (check first!) to make a prominent mark on your face. As you welcome everyone to the service your plant should interrupt you, saying that your face is dirty. Using humour, deny all knowledge of the mark (as you cannot see it) while your plant encourages the congregation to agree that there definitely is a mark. In exasperation, call for a mirror (make sure your plant has one in case no one else offers) and discover that you do indeed have a dirty face. If it is impractical for you to be the one with the dirty face, arrange for someone else with a mark to come to the front (eg to give out a notice). You then point out the mark on his or her face. Use this introduction to point out that sometimes we cannot see the truth about ourselves and need someone else to show us what we are really like. Say that the children will be hearing how Jesus helps us see the truth about ourselves. Prayer idea Write the word IMPORTANT down the side of a flip chart. Ask for suggestions of things that begin with these letters that are important to us. (The congregation could discuss their ideas in small groups first.) Choose one suggestion to write beside each letter. Topics can be vague or specific, for instance use people s names or The could start the T words. A sample list could read: Ice cream; Mothers; Pauline; Older folk; Rules of the road; Travel; Animals; Nurses; The community Read out the list and agree that all these things are important for various reasons and in varying degrees. Either say a prayer to thank God for these things that matter to us, or ask everyone to shout out any one of them after you say, Thank you God for But as important as these things are, there are other things even more important, like knowing, loving and serving God. Sometimes we ignore the most important for the quite important. Ask the congregation to join in the response in the following prayer of confession: Father God, it is important to listen to others, but sometimes we forget to listen to you. Forgive us when we forget the things that are important to you. It is important to spend time with other people, but sometimes we forget to spend time with you. Forgive us when we forget the things that are important to you. It is important to have money, food and good things in life, but sometimes we forget to share these with others who have little or none. Forgive us when we forget the things that are important to you. Come back Bitesize Bible Songs CD Call to me Light for Everyone CD I try to do what s good Reach Up! CD Lord, you have searched me Reach Up! CD Abba, Father kidsource 3

4 Sunday 23 October 2016 Jesus brings salvation Bible passage: Luke 19:1 10 Session aim: To discover that Jesus came to bring back those far from God Display a large globe or map of the world. Ask someone to point to where we are. Mark this place with a sticker or flag. Invite the congregation to chat in small groups about people they know who are far away. Ask them to write down some of these people s names on separate flags or stickers to display in the appropriate places on the map or globe. Look at the map together and see which people are the furthest away. Choose one person who would be known by several people (eg a missionary from the church or a family who have relocated abroad) and think about how long it is since the congregation saw them. Ask what you would all do if this person or people were coming to visit you soon. Get enthusiastic about planning an imaginary party or special event because it would be so exciting to have your friends coming back to see you. Say that when people we love come back from being far away it is always exciting to see them. Sometimes we go away from God and his plan for us, but he is always ready to welcome us back. The children will be hearing how Jesus helped someone come back to God. Prayer idea Provide two large, strong strips of card or wood to make a cross shape. Keep them separate to begin with, but have some way to fix them together. Show the shorter strip and ask for suggestions about what God is like, then write these on the strip, eg kind, faithful. Spend time praising God for who he is, either by singing a song or having a time of confession, saying that we do not live up to God s standards. Produce the second strip. Explain that God came down (hold the strip vertical) to bring us back to him. Join the strips to make the cross shape. Ask the congregation to think of someone (or perhaps a group of people) who is far from God and needs to be brought back to him. Suggest they symbolise that person or group on a sticky note by drawing an image or symbol of them to preserve privacy. Invite them to come and fix their sticky notes to the vertical arm of the cross. Say the following prayer or similar: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to earth and dying on the cross to bring us back to God. We pray for anyone we know who is still far from you. We ask you to bring them back to yourself. So far Bitesize Bible Songs CD God s love Light for Everyone CD Deep love Light for Everyone CD Anyone can come to God Reach Up! CD Amazing grace kidsource 9

5 Sunday 30 October 2016 Jesus brings light Bible passage: John 8:12 Session aim: To understand that Jesus is the Light of the World Before the session, dress slightly strangely put on odd socks or shoes, wear mismatched top and trousers/skirt etc. Do whatever you can to make it look like you have dressed in the dark. (Alternatively, you could get a member of your church to do this, and then to come to the front at the right time.) Also, prime some volunteers to have (appropriate) stories of things that have gone wrong for them when they weren t able to see. Let the congregation realise what you have done if they need some prompting, say that you had to leave the house early, in a hurry this morning, and you didn t turn the lights on because you didn t want to wake anyone else up! By the time you realised that you had dressed so strangely, it was too late! Invite the stories from your volunteers and then, once you have finished, point out the power of light to both enable us to complete tasks and see clearly, but also to show up mistakes. Prayer activity If you can safely do so, give everyone a candle. If not, share round torches, storm lanterns and electric tea lights. Light the candles (or ask everyone to switch on their lights), and encourage people to look at their lights and think about what it means to follow Jesus. After a moment, ask people to put out their candles/lights and sit in the comparative darkness. Comment that even when the literal lights are out, if we follow Jesus, he is our figurative light. We will always have that light that gives life. Ask people to think about what in their lives might need to be brought into the light. Encourage people to talk to Jesus about that now. If possible, have ministry teams to pray with people if they d like to do so. Extra ideas Sing the Learn and remember song Follow Me (from the Bitesize Bible Songs CD, Scripture Union) together this is the text of John 8:12. Put together a PowerPoint presentation of lots of different sources of light, and set it to music. Finish with a picture of Jesus and John 8:12. Before you show the presentation, ask people to think about how powerful each source of light is, including Jesus. Follow me Bitesize Bible Songs CD Light for everyone Light for Everyone CD Light of the world Tell the World CD, Hillsong Kids Here I am to worship Here I Am to Worship CD, Tim Hughes

6 Sunday 06 November 2016 Our choice Bible passage: Genesis 4:1 16 Session aim: To understand that it is best to choose God s way You will need three identical tins or boxes, or make three individual parcels that look the same. Label them: Delicious, Valuable and Funny. Put a wrapped sweet or chocolate in Delicious, a coin of small value in Valuable, and in Funny put a silly photo of a church member (make sure they will not mind) or something such as a funny hat or a cartoon from a newspaper. Ask for a volunteer to choose and open just one of the boxes, assuring them they can keep the contents. Make a fuss of reading the labels, speculating what something valuable, delicious or funny might be. At last let the volunteer open the box of their choice and claim their prize. Talk about how difficult making choices can be. In this instance, the volunteer had very little information to go on. Sometimes it is like this with more important choices, and sometimes we have very little time to choose. Say that involving God in our lives each day will help us make the right decision when an important choice has to be made. The children will hear today about two people who had to decide whether to choose God s way or not. Prayer idea Ask (in advance) different people to read out the sections of this prayer and introduce them appropriately. Or you could tailor your own version. Invite the congregation to join in the emboldened response. A mother or father in a family with children: When there are important things to decide at home; when things get busy and fraught; when everyone in the family wants to do something different help us to choose your way. A school child: When the teacher gives us hard things to do; when people in our class want us to join them in doing wrong things; when our friends fall out with us help us to choose your way. An employed person: When relationships with work colleagues get diffi cult; when we see things happening that aren t right; when there is more work than time to do it in help us to choose your way. A retired person: When we have to organise our time; when we meet up with sad or lonely people; when we have big decisions to make help us to choose your way. Extra idea Emphasise the idea of making the right choice by playing a game of noughts and crosses. Draw a large grid on a flip chart (or similar) and divide the congregation into two teams. You could ask questions on any subject, for example, this morning s Bible reading, the life of the Minister or general knowledge. Choose one person from each team to fill in the grid. They should make the decision themselves and not be influenced by the rest of the team. Point out at the end of the game how important it was to choose wisely where to put the symbols. Alternatively, a version of hangman could be played to emphasise good choices. Love the Lord Bitesize Bible Songs CD I try to do what s good Reach Up! CD Abba, Father kidsource 3 Jesus, be the centre kidsource 587

7 Sunday 13 November 2016 Flood warning Bible passage: Genesis 6:1 8:19 Session aim: To see that God needs to deal with wrongdoings and that he helps those who want to follow him Ask for three volunteers. Parade them as you describe their dreadful misdemeanours: the first (horror of horrors!) has been scrumping apples in Mr X s garden; the second (disgraceful!) forgot to wash behind his ears; and the third (how could she?) played a muddy game of football in her best shoes. All three should look suitably ashamed. Such dreadful crimes must, of course, not go unpunished. You will have to look in the punishment box for suggestions. Bring out a suitable box containing three cards that you read out, namely: Help Mr X to pick his apples ; Have a bath every night this week ; and, finally, Clean everybody s shoes. Ask for help in making the punishments fit the crimes, and then allow the three miscreants to leave suitably chastened. Point out that even minor wrongdoings spoil God s world. God is holy and clean but still wants to be involved with the people in his world, so he has to deal with wrongdoings. The greatest thing he did was to send Jesus to die for us, and by his Spirit, he helps all those who trust and follow him to live his way. The children will hear about something else God did to deal with the wrongdoings in the world. Prayer idea Teach the congregation hand gestures for the following phrases: Stop! (flat hand held upright); You call us (hand beckoning); and You will help us (one cupped hand being held by the other). Suggest that they use these gestures as their response in the prayer below: Lord God, when we think wrong thoughts, help us to stop. You call us to follow you, and you will help us to see what is right. Lord God, when we are about to say wrong things, help us to stop. You call us to follow you, and you will help us to see what is right. Lord God, when we do wrong things, help us to stop. You call us to follow you, and you will help us to see what is right. Lord God, when we make wrong friendships, help us to stop. You call us to follow you, and you will help us to see what is right. Come back Bitesize Bible Songs CD So far Bitesize Bible Songs CD Eyes fixed Bitesize Bible Songs CD Reach up Reach Up! CD I try to do what s good Reach Up! CD One more step kidsource 273

8 Sunday 20 November 2016 Rainbow promise Bible passage: Genesis 8:20 9:17 Session aim: To thank God for providing for those who trust and obey him Display a home-made cake or plate of biscuits. Ask the cook to tell everyone about the ingredients, which are on display a bag of flour, some eggs, butter and sugar. Invite different children to hold these up. Ask the first child where the flour came from. In the first instance, the answer might be the supermarket, but gradually get back to the fact that God made the wheat grow. Give the child a label saying God to hold in exchange for the flour. Ask the second child where the eggs came from, reaching the conclusion that God made the hen, and give them a label saying God. Go through all the ingredients in the same way. Eventually you will have a row of children all showing the word God. Point out that God provides everything for people on earth. God provides even more for people who trust and obey him. He gives us, among other things, knowledge of himself, security and eternal life. Prayer idea Give at least one small brightly-coloured card to each person present. Try to include as many different colours and shapes as possible. Each card should have a hole punched near the edge. Loops of yarn could be fixed to each card, or these could be attached later. Display a bunch of bare twigs. Say that they look dull and lifeless, and this is what our lives would be like without God to provide for us. Ask everyone to think of something they would like to thank God for. Give out the cards and ask people to write or draw their prayers on them before hanging them on the twigs. If possible, invite all to stand around the rainbow tree. Say a prayer such as the following: Lord, we are your people who trust and try to obey you. Thank you for being our provider. We praise you now. Extra idea Make a joint banner saying Thank you, God. Invite small groups to collage the letters separately using rainbow colours. Fix the letters onto a strong background and invite all those who trust and obey God to write their names around the words. So amazing God Light for Everyone CD God s promises Light for Everyone CD Father God, I wonder kidsource 52 Oh! Oh! Oh! How good is the Lord kidsource 266 (make up your own appropriate verses)

9 Sunday 27 November 2016 A surprise Bible passage: Luke 1:5 25 Aim: To hear God explain John s part in his plan Display the SU Bible Timeline at the front of your worship space. Talk about God and his plan for salvation, using the Timeline and these points: God created everything perfectly and people lived in relationship with him. They decided to go their own way, and that perfect relationship was gone. But God never gave up. He honoured Abraham with a family that grew into a nation. He rescued that nation from slavery and called it his own. He gave a homeland to that people. He rescued them time and again, even though they turned against him. He promised he would send a Saviour, a forever King to rule over his people. Point to the part on the Timeline just before Jesus birth. Say that your Bible story this week happens here. People have been waiting and waiting for that forever King. And now, this next part of God s plan is about to swing into action. Prayer activity Give out small versions of the Timeline (mini timelines are available from SU) and encourage people to look at it. Family groups can review what they ve heard about in the service. As the congregation looks at the Timeline, and God s plan to save his people, encourage them to thank God for sending John, and ask him to help them get ready for celebrating Jesus birth. Extra ideas Read Matthew 3:1 12. Marvel at what John the Baptist looked like when he was grown up (you could get someone to dress as John, and say what John said). What do people think of John? What about his message? Give some people in the congregation an unexpected present. Make it something nice a homemade cake, an invitation to the cinema and then ask them what they thought of getting such a present. How must Elizabeth and Zechariah have felt about the news Gabriel brought them? Read Elizabeth s Christmas (Scripture Union) together you could also give everybody a copy to hang on their Christmas tree! God has a plan Bitesize Bible Songs CD Light for everyone Light for Everyone CD Ah, Lord God Mission Praise 6 Good news, good news Songs of Fellowship 739 We have a gospel to proclaim Songs of Fellowship 1583

10 Sunday 04 December 2016 A song Bible passage: Luke 1:57 80 Aim: To explore Zechariah s song about God s plan Before the session, find a song that tells a story. It could be a song from a musical, such as On the steps of the palace from Into the Woods or Feed the birds from Mary Poppins. Or you could use a pop song, such as Leader of the pack by the Shangri-Las, Pearl s a singer by Elkie Brooks or The day before you came by ABBA. If possible, play the extract from the film/pop video, so that the congregation can watch it. In intergenerational groups, ask the church family to discuss what the song might be about. Can they tell what is happening from the discussions they ve been having? Then ask the groups to think about what might be in a song of their lives. After a few moments, gather in a few suggestions! Prayer activity Give out pens and paper and ask the congregation to write a verse of what they might sing to God. How might they describe what God has done in their lives, and his plan for them, in the same way as Zechariah? Give everyone a few moments to write a couple of lines you might want to play some reflective music as they do so. Any children who aren t able to write yet should be encouraged to tell someone older what they d like to say, or draw what God has done for them. After everyone is happy with what they have written, have a time of prayer where people (who are happy to do so) read out the verses of their song. You could repeat verse 68 as a response after each verse of people s songs. Extra ideas Look at other songs of God s goodness, such as Simeon s song in Luke 2:29 32 or the songs of Moses and Miriam from Exodus 15. Review on the SU Bible Timeline what God s plan has been so far (reviewing from last session, or explaining anew). Have a volunteer dress up as Zechariah and tell the story of John s birth. Zechariah can then read out (or indeed perform!) his song from Luke 1: God has a plan Bitesize Bible Songs CD Light for everyone Light for Everyone CD To God be the glory Mission Praise 708 One shall tell another Songs of Fellowship 439

11 Sunday 11 December 2016 A sermon Bible passage: Luke 3:1 20; Isaiah 40:1 11 Aim: To see John living his part of God s plan Before the session, recruit three or four volunteers people who are living out God s plan for them. Make sure you have both people in full-time Christian ministry and those who have been called to other roles, but who share Jesus through their day-to-day lives. You might have people like doctors, teachers, café workers, cleaners, solicitors or drivers. Ask your volunteers to think about how they are playing their part in God s plan through what they do day by day. In the services, interview your volunteers, and draw out what you have asked them to think about. You could include these questions: Why do you do the job you do? How do you play your part in God s plan? Have you had any experiences where you have seen God work through you? You could also ask if any members of the church family (whatever their age) have any questions for the volunteers: you may get some strange questions (particularly from children!), but try to understand what is behind the question and help the volunteer address that. Prayer activity Give out semicircles of paper and pens, and have lots of sticky tape available (you might want to ask the sidespeople to wander the aisles with rolls of tape!). Encourage people to think about those in their lives who don t know about Jesus. To whom could people act as John the Baptist? On both sides of the semicircle, ask the congregation to write or draw people that they would like to tell about the coming of Jesus. Then, after a few minutes, show everyone how to curl the paper round to make a cone a loudspeaker! If appropriate, encourage the church family to shout the names of the people they wrote down through their loudspeaker. Then round off the time of prayer asking God for the opportunities to tell other people about Jesus, and the courage to take those opportunities! Extra ideas If you had someone pretend to be John the Baptist last week, invite them back to act out what John says in Luke 3:1 20. If you have anyone wishing to be baptised, you could include their baptism as part of this service. God has a plan Bitesize Bible Songs CD Light for everyone Light for Everyone CD One shall tell another Songs of Fellowship 439 Make way, make way Junior Praise 427

12 Sunday 18 December 2016 No ordinary child Bible passage: Luke 1:26 56 Aim: To discover that Mary s baby is the Son of God Before the session, ask some new parents if they would mind bringing their babies to the front during the service, and talking about the names that they chose to give them. To introduce the theme for this service to the church family, invite your volunteers to the front and ask them whether their baby s names have a meaning and why they gave the baby those names. Comment that often we give children names that have significance for us because of the meaning or because that name has been in the family for a few generations. Sometimes we choose a name that we just like the sound of! Ask your volunteers how they felt when they found out they were going to have a baby. Try to draw out all different emotions: excitement, fear, hope, love, joy, anxiety. Thank your volunteers and get the congregation to give them a big round of applause! Finally, ask the church to think about how they might feel if they found out that they were going to have a child, when it was virtually impossible for that to be the case. Prayer activity Before the session, ask some volunteers to read aloud and divide up Mary s song of praise (Luke 1:46 55) between your readers. When your prayer time arrives, give out copies of Mary s song of praise to everyone in the congregation, as well as felt-tip pens. As your volunteers read out Luke 1:46 55, ask everyone to write down around the Bible story things they want to say to God. They could also underline anything in the Bible verses that God is saying to them, or challenging them about. (Some younger children may need the help of young people or adults to articulate what they want to say.) Once the reading is finished, allow a few minutes for people to continue their prayers. Then ask if anyone would like to pray aloud something that God has spoken to them as they listened and read. Once everyone who wants to has had the chance to pray aloud, finish by reading verse 46 again. Extra ideas Read A Message for Mary (pages 120 and 121) and Mary s song (page 122) from The Big Bible Storybook (Scripture Union). Show the Bible Timeline (SU) and point out where Jesus birth comes in the whole story of the Bible. Talk about how God s plan for salvation turns on Jesus birth, ministry, death and resurrection. God has a plan Bitesize Bible Songs CD Light for everyone Light for Everyone CD Angel came to Mary Carol Praise 12 Isn t he beautiful? Songs of Fellowship 250