Category: SSCSJ
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.
The Sacred Steps: Lent 3
- One might talk with the children about being thirsty. What is that like? Is anyone thirsty right now? Though I am not fond of object lessons, it might help children think about how God can be present in them by talking of God as the water that helps them when they are thirsty. Bring some water to share at the end.
- You might take this opportunity to talk with the children about how the Psalms have inspired many hymns, secular songs, and art. Spend some time with your hymnal and see how many of the “favorite” hymns of your congregation are based on a psalm. You could talk to the children about that list.
- One could have the children help create a prayer based on this psalm. Do a simple word- game with the children to create a prayer. Roll out some paper on the floor. Ask the children to draw a picture or write a word that they think of when they hear the following phrases: “walk in your ways, praise you, follow you.” Create your own words or phrases from Psalm 63. Post the banner somewhere in the sanctuary or church building. If you or the preaching minister is a quick thinker, this prayer of words and pictures from the children could be used as part of the morning’s pastoral prayer.
- This is an opportunity to talk with the children about knowing what is good for us versus what may be bad for us. You may want to choose one or more of the commandments and talk to the children about how they help us all live together and with God. If your congregation is following a Lenten theme you could incorporate this into the learning of what is good.
- One could choose to set a table (maybe the communion table) and invite the children to join you there. The conversation around the table could focus on God’s kingdom being like a place where all the food and drinks are free. What would that be like?
- Talk with the children about what the biblical story is for you and for your expression of Christian faith. These stories are supposed to help us know something about God. Do you have a favorite story or two? Do the children have a favorite story? What do those stories teach?
- Talk with the children about what it means to be an example for others. You may have had this conversation with the children earlier, but it is a common biblical theme, and it is the responsibility of Christians to be examples in our living. Thus, it cannot be visited too much with children.
- Talk with the children about what the parables of Jesus are. You could introduce the word “riddle” to the children and talk about what a riddle is supposed to do. A couple of classic riddles that sound like children’s jokes.
1) Where is the ocean the deepest? [the bottom]
2) What does an invisible person drink? [evaporated milk] - You could highlight this parable in Luke and talk with the children about your favorite parables.
- This is an opportunity to introduce the children to the words “repent” and “repentance.” Be ready with a simple, but not an oversimplified, definition to give them. How does your congregation speak of repentance? Is it a one-time change in heart, attitude, behavior, or do Christians practice repentance daily? One option would be to talk to the children about the last time you “repented” or felt, “repentance.” How is your example a teaching story that helps the children on the sacred steps think about times when they “repented” or felt, “repentance?”
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