Category: SSCSJ
The Sacred Steps: Lent 5
- If you have the time in the service, you could create a “Rejoice Banner” with the children, while you tell them this psalm. Get a large piece of butcher paper or whatever works in your congregation, markers, and crayons, and write these words across the top: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced” (v. 3). Enlist the help of some of your high school youth to help the children. Ask the children to draw or write words about the persons or things they rejoice in or are thankful to God. To do this well, be prepared for a ten-minute children’s sermon. Ask the youth to help you hang the banner in the sanctuary or take it to the narthex so the congregation can see it.
- Another way to teach this psalm is to use a story from your congregation’s history. Was there a time when your congregation felt restored, and it was like a “dream”? Was it moving into a new building, renovating a part of the building, or rebuilding the church? Was there coverage by the local media, and did people say, “The Lord has done great things for them” (v. 2c)?
- Maybe your congregation helped build a habitat house, and that home helped bring laughter and joy. Be creative with your present-day telling and remind the children that we have examples of rejoicing from Psalm 126.
- This is an opportunity to talk with the children about the word “exile,” which they may hear during worship or Sunday school from time to time. Many people may be exiled today when a broader understanding of this word is applied. Children experience “exile” through “being left out,” intentionally or unintentionally, at school, at play, in family life, and in congregational life.
- Does your congregation support a refugee ministry or help settle refugees in your state, town, or city? These persons have fled their homelands for many reasons, but they can also help the children understand the word “exile.” If you have a refugee family in your congregation, talk with them about joining you on the sacred steps and telling a bit of their story as a way of helping the children understand what this portion of Isaiah might mean for Christians today.
- Another option for this text could be to focus on the broader meaning of “return” or “reconciliation.” When have the children helped someone be included at school, in their neighborhood, or at home?
- Because the lives of children are a constant “new thing,” this might be a good place to craft a children’s sermon. Each week, when they come to the sacred steps, odds are they have experienced something new about God, but they may not have “perceived” it. Their lives, energy, and questions are new for your congregation each week. This would be a daring question to start your time on the sacred steps, “What new thing about God did you see or learn this week?”
- If you have not taken the time to introduce the children to the prophet Isaiah of the Exile (represented by the words found in Isa 40-55), this is an opportunity to do so. The Book of Isaiah is a favorite of those who practice the Christian faith. A children’s sermon could be crafted that introduced Isaiah of the Exile as a character in the bible, and you could create a short list of important details that will help the children understand a bit about who this prophet was, his/her (some think this prophet may have been a woman) importance in the First Testament, and in the story of Israel. A creative way to do this is to think about creating a Facebook page, on paper or a PowerPoint slide, for Isaiah and sharing that with the children. What would be on Isaiah of the Exile’s profile?
- One way to approach this text could be for the adult or a youth group member to talk with the children about their faith journey or show a faith map. Paul recounts his journey in faith, and having someone in the present do the same could model for the children a way to talk about their own experiences with God.
- Another option would be to enter the theology of this text by talking with the children about the goal of being more Christ-like in our living. Paul is working to help the Philippians struggle with these kinds of questions, and maybe this is a place to begin with the children as well.
- Talk with the children about the stories that all the gospels have in common. Make a list, or create a word search, for the children to have. Are these the most important stories? That may not be the question to ask. Another question could be, “Do these stories have a characteristic that makes them relevant to all the gospels, no matter the context?” Do you have a favorite story that is in all the gospels? You could share that and encourage the children to learn a story that is in all the gospels, like the one for today. You could highlight the gospel reading for the day as a reference to talking about the stories that all the gospels have in common.
- If you desire to dip a toe into the perfume of the story with the children, I suggest focusing on Mary and her recognition of who Jesus is for her. This moment resembles Peter’s “aha moment” in Mark 8: 27-30. What do the actions of Mary and Peter tell us about who Jesus was for them? Can you or someone else in the congregation tell the children who Jesus is for you? How do the children describe Jesus? Listen to their responses to recognize that they may see something in Jesus that adults do not.
The Sacred Steps: Lent 4
- Introduce the children to the word “transgression” or “sin”. Which word does your congregation use when saying the Lord’s Prayer (transgression, debt, or sin)? Be prepared to give a definition of that word. You could talk with the children about what it means to confess our “sins/transgressions/debts”. Children will relate this to “fessing-up” or admitting to having done something wrong or being caught breaking a rule.
- Ask the children to help you understand the “steadfast love” of God. What do they think this means? How can we, or how have the children, experienced God’s steadfast love?
- Is there a time in your life when you acknowledged the healing grace of God? The psalmist tells of her/his experience. How can you translate your experience for the children in a psalm of Thanksgiving?
- God provided manna in the wilderness for the Israelites and safe passage into the Promised Land. One could talk with the children about how God provides for people today. How does God provide for the children? For the Church? For the Earth? Are there ways that the children can help God provide for others?
- Another option would be to talk with the children about the celebration of Passover, which includes a special meal, and what Passover means for Jewish people. For more information about this Jewish festival, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/holydays/passover_1.shtml or http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm. Just as the Jewish people have a special meal to remember who they are, Christians also have a special meal to remember who we are. How does Communion/Eucharist/the Lord’s Supper remind us who we are?
- This is another opportunity to introduce the children to Joshua, as a character in the bible, and help them learn a few facts about him and his relationship to the story of the Israelite people. Did you create a “Bible Character” list for the children? If not, this would be a good time to start, so that when you do introduce a new character you can pull out the list to help the children remember who they have met in the biblical stories. Today you could add Joshua to the list.
- Introduce the children to the word “reconciliation,” which is one of those “big church” words that children often hear. Be ready to give them a simple, but not oversimplified, definition of reconciliation. This is an opportunity to talk with the children about the different ways your congregation does the work of reconciliation.
- Has your congregation ever received a grant to support your reconciliation work? In the Disciples of Christ tradition, congregations can apply for “reconciliation grants” to further their work of being communities of reconciliation. If you received a grant, talk with the children about how that money helped your work or project.
- Talk with the children about reconciliation by telling stories about what you have witnessed the children doing that meet the definition of reconciliation. This will help the children recognize what they are already doing and how they participate in your congregation’s mission of reconciliation.
- Many will talk with the children about being ambassadors for Christ. If you choose to do this, I encourage you to give the children concrete ways they are representatives of Christ. For example, a person is an ambassador of Christ by helping people make peace on the playground or standing up for someone being teased or bullied.
- You could talk to the children about how Jesus told parables. You could introduce the word “parable” to the children and talk about what a parable is supposed to do. You could highlight these parables in Luke and then talk with the children about your favorite parables.
- Children will understand the idea/feeling of being lost. You may have your own story about being lost and found or searching for something or someone lost. This is one way to approach these texts, inviting the children to express feelings and consider what God seeks or looks for, each one of us with the same urgency they did when trying to find something lost.
- These texts lend themselves to another “images of God” children’s sermon. If you created a chart or page listing all the images of God you discover with the children from the bible stories, it is time to get that out. If not, you might want to create one and begin with these parables.
- Another option would be to talk with the children about where we would find Jesus today. Can they name the food bank, homeless shelter, or emergency rooms for those seeking work, migrants, immigrants, refugees, or those suffering from illness? If you have an older group, you might talk with the children about who is considered “untouchable” or outside our culture’s boundaries of grace or acceptance.
Next page →
← Previous page