Script 42 Jairus s Daughter Proper 8 Mark 5:25-34 THEME This is a gift of a Gospel to introduce the children to the idea of intercession the way Christians on Earth, and in Heaven, pray for each other. SET UP The liturgical color is Green. Pictures from the CD-ROM. A copy of The Magician s Nephew by C. S. Lewis. A sheet of paper and a ribbon to make a scroll (see below). If possible, read the Gospel to yourself before the liturgy, and try to do as much as you can off the cuff. The pictures are numbered and you ll find the story flows quite easily. The salient points are: 1 Jairus running up to Jesus to tell Him his little daughter is ill. 2 Jesus hurries away with Jairus at once. 3 A woman touches Jesus as He goes through a crowd. She d been ill for years and is healed. 4 Jesus knows somebody has touched Him and insists that whoever it is should come forward. 5 The crowd thinks He s being ridiculous. 6 The woman identifies herself, and Jesus confirms her cure. 7 On to Jairus house, people rush out saying it isn t worth it, the child s dead. 8 Do not be afraid, says Jesus, only have faith. She is not dead but sleeping. 9 He turfs out the mourners and says to the little girl, Talitha kum ( Little girl, get up ). The child gets up at once. 10 The parents are overjoyed and Jesus tells them to give their daughter something to eat.
Script 42 Jairus s Daughter 231 As the children must hear a real sentence from the Gospel, make sure you say Jesus actual words in your re-telling. WELCOME the children and lead them in The Sign of the Cross X (p. xxxvi). THE KYRIE God our Father, you know and love each of your children, Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord Jesus Christ, you came to find us, Christ have mercy. Christ have mercy. God the Holy Spirit, you live in our hearts, Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Ask the children to repeat The Prayer for Forgiveness after you (p. xxxvi). OPENING PRAYER God our Father, As we come before you this morning, We thank you for always being ready to hear Our prayers, The prayers of our friends, And the prayers of the saints in Heaven. Amen. BEFORE THE GOSPEL Pick up The Magician s Nephew and a chair and sit among the children, as if you were going to tell them a story. Leader Today we are going to think about prayer, and we re going to do that by listening to a story from this book. Hold up The Magician s Nephew. See if anyone knows it, or the Narnia books and films. Can you tell me something about Narnia? Accept everything, but home in on the fact that in the Narnia stories, animals can talk. Move on to the great Lion of Narnia. What s his name? (Aslan)
232 Proper 8 Ask the kids about Aslan or tell them yourself if the Narnia stories aren t being read at the moment. Narnia is watched over by Aslan, the great Lion of Narnia. He is the Son of the Emperor over the Sea and, as we read the Narnia stories, we realize that the Emperor over the Sea must be God and Aslan (in Narnia) is an image of the Son of God, Jesus. Well, in one of the books, Aslan sends two children, Digory and Polly, off on an adventure. They ride away on Fledge, the flying horse, but it all takes longer than they expected, and on the second day the children realize they haven t got any food. (Fledge is all right, he can eat grass.) Open the book this bit is half way through chapter 12: Polly and Digory stared at each other in dismay. Well, I do think somebody might have arranged about our meals, said Digory. I m sure Aslan would have, if you d asked him, said Fledge. Wouldn t he have known without being asked? said Polly. I ve no doubt he would, said the Horse, But I ve a sort of idea he likes to be asked. Shut the book. Leader Aslan is like God: he s always there, he can do anything but he likes to be asked. Let s think about that as we listen to the Gospel. THE GOSPEL PROCESSION THE GOSPEL Mark 5:25-34 Run this freely, using the pictures. CD42.1 CD42.9 AFTER THE GOSPEL Leader That story was about two people who needed Jesus. Who were they? (The sick woman and Jairus s daughter) The sick woman crept up on Jesus, she had been suffering for years, and when she touched Him, she was begging for help. Of course she was cured, but Jesus still wanted her to talk to Him properly. Prayer isn t magic; you don t just touch something and it happens. In prayer you talk to God, and He talks to you.
Script 42 Jairus s Daughter 233 Jairus s little girl was so ill she couldn t pray to Jesus but her parents could. They interceded for her. That means they prayed for her. God loves it when we pray for each other, so when the little girl s father came and interceded for her, Jesus ran back with him at once. Jesus is always ready to help but He likes to be asked. He doesn t just barge in, we have to invite Him. We pray for ourselves, and we intercede for others. And if there s one thing kids are good at it s praying. The Church really needs your help: let s think of some of the things we could pray for. ACTIVITY Make a list of intercessions. Start with the children. This Gospel normally happens in the summer, so pray for a happy time on vacation and for children who are going to a new school in the fall. Move over to the Church, pray for anybody you like: priests, people on the sick list, anyone the kids come up with. Only include the needs of the world if there s a major issue the children are concerned about: don t linger the prayer shouldn t be too long. Write your intercessions down, roll them up in a scroll and use the scroll as your Final Prayer. FINAL PRAYER First let us pray for ourselves... Now let us intercede for others... We make all these prayers through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. You could finish by asking Mary to intercede for us. Hail Mary... (see p. xxxvii). Tie up the scroll with a ribbon and... REHEARSAL Practice your presentation for when you go back into church (see below).
234 Proper 8 BACK IN CHURCH If the children return in time for the Offertory, ask the priest whether the children could offer their prayers, by placing the scroll on the altar. If the children arrive after Communion, offer the scroll to the priest as something that could be used in the week. In either case, make sure a child hands the scroll to the priest. Child 1 This Sunday we thought about prayer. Child 2 We heard how Jairus interceded to Jesus for his little girl and we have thought of some intercessions we d like the church to offer for other people. Child 3 They re in this scroll and we d like to give them to you now. Hands the scroll to the priest. (CD42.3) (CD42.2) (CD42.8) Sample cartoons for this script
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