SUMMER SUNDAYS WITH KIDS

Summer time; taking a rest from Godly Play; kids unruly and bored during sermons; time to stay home? No! It's too easy to lose track of one another and kids miss seeing each other. Summer Sundays provide an opportunity to explore different ways of involving our children in worship and fellowship. Veggie Tales upstairs during the sermon; more "kid-friendly" tunes during the opening praise/worship? Anyone else have ideas? Blog away. Also, feel free to speak to our Children's Ministry Deacon, Teresa Elenbaas. Let us not give up meeting together, nor keep our children from worship.

FREELY RECEIVE; FREELY GIVE

GOSPEL READING: Matthew 9:35-10:23

35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

NOTES: At this point in Matthew's account, Jesus has preached a Kingdom message, and demonstrated Kingdom activity; now he sends his Apostles out to spread the Gospel, in Word and deed. He sends them out w/specific commandments and a new identity, as Kingdom workers in the field. Life will never be the same for them. There are a lot of broad commandments Matthew includes in this lengthy discourse, many of which are spread through Mark and Luke's accounts, in different places. But in Matthew, this commission of the Twelve follows immediately on the heals of a flurry of healing and miracles, and Jesus' commandment to pray for workers in the context of a shortage (9:37-38). There is urgency to develop the Apostles from being mere beneficiaries of his teaching and miracles, to producers of teaching and miracles themselves. In 10:8 we find a Jesus teaching peculiar to Matthew's account, which sums it up: "Freely you have received, freely give." This story tells us a lot, about moving from hearers to doers, about not waiting until we feel fully equipped and ready, about the eventual goal of our discipleship, and all the lessons in these broad commandments, about the nature of Kingdom work, both ups and downs. Much of Paul's Epistle material sheds autobiographical light on his own experience of becoming one of the "workers in the harvest field." Romans 5:3,4 especially speak to the dark times of following and being sent. To any person, Paul or otherwise, with a real sense of their own salvation, their own journey with Christ, this Matthean passage stands as a timeless reminder: "Freely you have received, freely give." It begs reflection on where we are, perhaps remaining in Matthew 9, perhaps being thrust into Matthew 10....

FOR YOUNG ONES: Given the dramatic "shove out of the nest" encountered in Matthew 10, this story is one of those narratives that invites reflection on the feelings of the Apostles. What did they think about Jesus' commissioning of them, immediately following his pronouncement about the shortage of harvest workers in a world ripe for harvest? What about his predictions, some of which are scary? We are often forced to take journeys, or enter situations, we feel less prepared for than we would like. How is following the Lord like that? Perhaps there are stories of such journeys, risks, or situations you can share and help the kids share. Perhaps an adult asked them to take on a responsibility or chore they did not feel equipped to handle, but realized they had been prepared for all along. Perhaps God does not even give us what we need for the journey until we trust him to go (reminds us of Abraham's story and Hebrews 11). What would it be like for Matthew 10:20 to come true? How is Jesus' pronouncement, "Freely you have received, freely give," a "life motto" or basis for our Kingdom identity?

GOD'S CURRENCY: MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE

GOSPEL READING: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.

NOTES: Jesus leads with deeds, and responds to empty religious criticism with deeply religious words. "Mercy, not sacrifice!" That's how Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea; a pithy summary of Jesus' teaching and reorientation toward God's Law in this "Jewish" Gospel of Matthew, written to show continuity and fulfillment of Moses - laws of love, not loveless laws. How are we tempted to hide behind policy, or put programs before people, in our life? "Mercy, not sacrifice" echoes from Hosea, from Jesus, to our ears and wrenches us back into life of faith/words based on God's currency, currency of the heart. This is Good News for those feeling bereft of "sacrifice" materials, or even smaller congregations bereft of big program resources: anyone, any church, can be rich in mercy, compassion, faith, and love.

JESUS GOES UP: WE GO OUT - ASCENSION SUNDAY

These Luke/Acts readings can be joined; same author, one follows the other
Perhaps your text from Godly Play is from Matthew 28; I'm not sure from the title on the blog, but it fits well with our Ascension Sunday texts, a week before Pentecost 

GOSPEL READING:  Luke 24:44-53

44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
50When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Acts 1:1-11
1In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
6So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

NOTES: God's goal is Incarnation multiplied: to fulfill what Paul envisions and articulates in Ephesians 1:22, that the church become Christ on earth, multiplication and realization of the Spirit in Flesh to the ends of the earth. In these joint texts, two points of irony stand out: Luke 24:53, in contrast to verse 49, and Acts 1:6, in contrast to verse 8; it is hard for people to comprehend the power/mission God's given us. The first generation of disciples tended to default to religion as they'd understood it; we disciples today still have a hard time moving from ritual to incarnation. But this is why it says so often that Jesus needed to "open their minds" to the Scriptures; and God is not efficient, by our standards, for the process was messy, clumsy, for the disciples and early church to move from Jerusalem on out, including a wider range of people, relationships, etc., letting go of competing/conflicting "restore the Kingdom" visions (Acts 1:6). Where are we along that continuum? "Why do you stand here looking into the sky," asked the two men dressed in white. Are we waiting around? Isn't there a lot for us to do? Are some of us stuck in 24:53? What was the spiritual journey like from Ascension day, to Pentecost, to the point where Paul describes a community in which "...there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all" (Colossians 3:11)?

FOR YOUNG ONES: The idea that Jesus ascended, but is not gone, and that he ascended in order to empower his Kingdom, is something that takes concrete expression in many ways. How can we experientially communicate this? Are there other common relationships analogous to this? Parental perhaps, or teacher/mentor? When do we first get "pushed out of the nest"? When does a leader ask us to follow, but goes quite far ahead of us? Can we trust Jesus to help us move from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth? How have the "ends of the earth" come close to us in our day and age? Do our young ones recognize this Kingdom activity, missional activity, in our church? Why or why not?

WHICH WAY TO GOD? HERE: I AM THE WAY. John 14:1-14

GOSPEL READING: John 14:1-14
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

NOTES: Jesus said "I am the gate"; now Jesus says "I am the sidewalk, road, path, etc....THE WAY" Another metaphor, another "I am..." statement from John's gospel. Often, Christians recite this particular pericope as foundational in the doctrine of the exclusivity of Christ; Jesus says he is God's single chosen agent of salvation; i.e. "I am THE Way..." Certainly this is one aspect of Jesus' promise you can't easily ignore. But there is more here than mere identification, especially when we examine the context of this promise, how it was spoken AS A WORD OF COMFORT, to stressed out disciples. This promise - that God's savior Son is the way, truth, life - is primarily a word of assurance, a promise of truth meant to encourage, strengthen, guide. When the comfort of this promise is left out, the promise is reduced to a mere "belief/knowledge ticket," a fact one must possess simply to make the right choice. It isn't necessarily good news, just news. But when Jesus responds to Thomas, 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him," then a few moments later to Philip with "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.... it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work," Jesus is offering liberation and relief: relieving God-seekers, liberating them, from the pressures of figuring out the confusing cosmology riddle, or the pressure of the moral conformist, the legalist, the religionist, mystic, etc. Jesus says to Thomas, Philip, and the others, "I am here with you right now; God is here with you right now; if you're with me, you're with God; the way to God has come to you! That is the truth, and it gives life!" This is good news; that being with God, life with God, is promised by this Jesus, who invites anyone and everyone, who demonstrates and commands forgiveness, who demonstrates that God is all these wonderful things, and commands us to live up to our created calling to live in God's image, not as a condition of acceptance, but to restore all things. To each of us, looking for God, reading the Bible and being dissatisfied with it's "answers," trying to live right and failing, unhappy with God's distance, worried about missing our destiny, impatient for God to do something great in our lives, praying and waiting for an audible answer, wondering whether God will fall in line with our expectations, Jesus asks the same thing he asks Philip: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?" The disciples, and we, overlook what is here in and among us: the presence of God, in Spirit, in the Word, in the Body; looking for the right "temple" or worship experience or program, Apostle Peter reminds us in our Epistle Reading of I Peter 2:2-10 that God is making us the temple where the presence of the God connects with our world. How do we live in this reality? What gets in the way of walking in THE WAY?

FOR KIDS: it's a great surprise to discover how the things you really need are already with you. This is a biblical truth, part of Jesus' admonition not to worry or be anxious about the clothes we wear, or how we'll be taken care of, etc. This is also one of the lessons of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, where the Lion who is cowardly, the Tin Man (machine) who thinks he's unfeeling, and the Scarecrow who thinks he's dumb, learn that they do have courage, heart, and brains; Dorothy discovers that her silver slippers, the ones she's had all along, are all she's needed to get home to Kansas. Whether or not Baum was inspired by Jesus and the disciples for his "you've-had-the-answer-all-along" kind of story, the wisdom is similar: Jesus has to spell it out for Thomas, Philip, and others: "The WAY to God is ME; being with me, in me, alongside me, is being WITH GOD." There's no special magic or religious ceremony that needs to take place. This is a comforting truth, a life-giving truth, that Jesus needs to impress upon his disciples, as they are about to have their whole world turned upside down. This is the comforting promise we need, too. To effectively tell this story to kids, it's important to draw out the types of emotions, stress, and confusions that Thomas, Philip and the others, may have experienced. Did they imagine the WAY to God being something like a yellow brick road? What did they expect Jesus to show them? A special, hidden tunnel beneath the Temple in Jerusalem? A sacred spot on a mountain, or a cave? Did they imagine they'd be lost and abandoned? Jesus promises to be with them, and promises that as they remember him, pray, keep his words fresh, love each other as he has loved them, etc., his Spirit, his Counselor, will remain in them and help them to remember what's most important. And Jesus' presence IS the presence of God their Father. 

GAME IDEA: A leader pretends to think that they're blind; with eyes closed, they complain, cry, grope around - but their companions, the other kids present, tell them "Open your eyes," which the leader finally does and exclaims astonishment about being able to see. This silly, but illustrative, exercise could be repeated with many variations:
"I can't walk! I'm stuck!" "Use your legs!"
"I can't pick anything up; my fists can't hold this object!" "Use your fingers!"
"I'm scared; I'm all alone!" "Look at us we're right here!"
This may get the younger kids laughing for a while and they might want to each act it out a few times. Don't know about the older kids.
ANOTHER RELATED EXERCISE: Peter's lesson from I Peter 2:2-10, our Epistle Reading, is that God is building a temple out of us people. What kind of church, cathedral, temple building would God like to inhabit? Where could we find it? How could we build it? Do we know this place? In the same way that Thomas and Philip asked "Where is the way?" and Jesus says "I am the way; the way is right here, it's me with you," we might ask "Where is God's house, where is the temple," and Peter says "You are the temple, you are God's house." This is a deep mystery for the kids to interpret in drawing. What kind of walls, rooms, roof, floors would the temple have? How beautiful would it be? How can people be like the aspects of a holy temple - strong, beautiful, supportive, sheltering, warm, tall, majestic, interesting, etc.?

I AM THE GATE - JOHN 10:1-10

GOSPEL READING: John 10:1-10
1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
7Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

NOTES ON GOSPEL READING: Jesus says he is a piece of architecture (think of the capstone, the Temple), by identifying with the GATE. He invites listeners to discern between spiritual claims and competing authorities; Jesus claims unique, exclusive access to salvation, as the GATE, to spiritual safety, yet promises freedom, i.e., "come in and go out, and find pasture," whereas spiritual leaders/authorities who avoid Jesus, the GATE, and attempt to scramble into the fold some other way, try to lead, steal, harm, exploit sheep with malicious intent. What does it mean to enter "through" the gate? Jesus refers to those who "came before," imposters; who are the false shepherds, the thieves, of our time? Though we're likened to sheep, we are invited to choose a shepherd wisely - sheep with a conscience, free will; do we stray?

IDEAS FOR THE YOUNG: Jesus as the Gate seems kind of abstract for kids; but one actual, real life gate kids might relate to is a toll; imagine a game in which there is a toll collector, or a gatekeeper, and everyone else is trying to get through; the gatekeeper could make up all kinds of rules, tolls, taxes, fees, etc., which the travelers must pay; let the kids rotate through the roles, acting out the demanding toll keeper and the frustrating travelers. AFter the kids have fun getting into the gatekeeper and frustrated outsider roles, explain how Jesus is a special kind of "gate" or "gatekeeper," in terms of "opening the Way" for us to be close to God again, as God first intended for us to be; help the kids imagine what it would be like to come to worship one day and have scary greeters at the door who wouldn't let them in to worship; might we feel afraid of entering into God's presence, here or after this life, because we haven't been exactly God-like? This is the unique way Jesus is a gate, and the only gate: he has paid any fees, taxes, requirements, for us; all other "gates" or "gatekeepers" in life demand some other kind of tax, fee, price, etc. Do people always accept us into their fold, unconditionally, even after we've let them down, or are perceived to not be good enough? Ask the kids if they've ever been left out. Is God like that? Explain how the religious leaders of Jesus' day, and even in our own day in some places, try to use a different kind of gate, with different requirements, to keep people out of their "temples".

RETURN TO EMMAUS ROAD

Notes on Gospel Reading of Luke 24:13-35: The aspect of good news in this story is that Jesus is beside us, ministering to us, even when we do not see or acknowledge him, which for us finite beings who "see through a glass darkly", is a message of hope. Remember Luke's entire two-part account (this Gospel and Acts), is to set forth "evidence" - that is personal testimony - about Jesus Christ's identity/purpose; this story within Luke's post-resurrection accounts, bears signs of such intent: names and places are preserved (Emmaus, Cleopas), as well as details about what transpired (their conversation with Jesus, including summary of content; their inability to perceive him at first; the miraculous recognition at dinner; their emotions; the report to the Eleven). But the aspect of good news, that Jesus walks alongside us, even when we do not know it, and that Jesus ultimately reveals himself, is the ultimate message and purpose of Luke's writing. We take this message to heart personally, but it also must be takend missionally; that is, as Jesus is sent, so he sends us; as Jesus walks alongside us, so we walk alongside others. As the Road to Emmaus was a real journey and process of discovery and revelation, so are spiritual journeys and processes today. What does this look like, in our context?

Ideas For Kids: Q: Have you ever been disappointed with someone you love, like a parent, teacher, etc., who made decisions you did not understand, but later you realized those decisions or actions were in your best interest? Q: Have you ever been helped by an unseen, or unidentified helper? Ever have a "secret Santa"? How about the unseen help of family, financial or otherwise, that we don't understand until later? Q: Have you ever heard a story you did not understand at first? How did Cleopas and the other person feel when Jesus began to explain the meaning of the books of Moses and the Prophets in a new way? Q: Have you ever walked alongside someone and helped them? Who in your life might Jesus want you to walk alongside? Q: What if God only showed himself to the smartest people, or the people who "discovered" God all by themselves? What if Jesus would not walk alongside people, or show himself to sad people, as he did to Mary near the tomb, or all the blind people who's eyes he opened?
Game idea: Blind/Kind Game: basically, help kids experience blindness/kindness; take turns having to "go on journey" blindfolded, helped by an unseen kind person. Kids can alternate roles of being blind and being kind; could talk about feelings experienced; project into life situations....