Welcome. You have found a collection of ideas to help you contemplate the RCL readings. While designed to be used during a Sunday service at church or by zoom, these readings can also be used during the week to help you remember and build on what you experienced on Sundays. My objective is for faith to be a lived experience and for children to learn how to worship and explore the Bible and pray by participating in Worship with you. The goal here is not for them to learn names or facts though they may want to do that for themselves, but rather to find ways of connecting with the text and sharing that with others. The ideal is to form a life long love of Christ, for the Word of God and to participate in Worship.
If you are worshipping from home you may like to set up a worship area and define it with a GREEN placemat, or ribbons, a candle then add the things that remind YOU of God, a Cross, a Bible that everyone likes to read from, a special object, even something from one of the readings.
If able to worship in the Church buildings pack a special backpack, as well as filling, it with your Covid Safe equipment, add the books or materials required to help your young ones relate to today’s readings.
For adults and older students, you might like to use a journal with which to record anything that grabs your attention during the service. This could be a special, bound book or use your ipad or iphone. You could write a precis of the message (traditional words or pictures), draw, keep a record of emotions and hymns that you did or did not like. You could use a template like this free download. Remember, this is for you, you do not have to show anyone what is in it unless you want to, and you feel safe to do so.
CONGREGATIONAL USE: Though parents are the best at sharing their faith with their children. If you are a small congregation where children are a very small, or rare part of your congregational life, please feel free to make these suggestions available to your congregation. I am very happy for you to copy and paste ideas from here into your own Order of Service or for you to supply a link to this page. An acknoledgement though is always appreciated.
THE LORD’S PRAYER:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
INTRODUCTORY SONG Hey Ha Ha from the Full of the Spirit Album by
Heather Price Music
FIRST READING: Habakkuk 1:1-4 and 2:1-4
READ: Why? by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
A Storypath Suggestion
DO? Create a question Box. Use a used Tissue Box, Decorate it, then write questions you might have about God or for God, and put them in the box. Every now and again, pull them out and see if you have found an answer.
PRAY
You are a mystery
Help me to understand
that I don’t need to understand
Everything
Amen
PSALM 119:137-144
READ A terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes and Sasha J. Mudlaff
Psalm 119, is the longest Psalm in the Bible, each stanza starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Today’s Stanza is based on the theme of Responses to a Crisis, so I have chosen a book that talks about different responses to a crisis
SECOND READING: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4 and 11-12
READ:Paul writes a letter by Chris Raschka, My friends in Thessalonica
OR Thank you God By J. Bradley Wigger
SING I see God in You by Heather Price on the I am Loved Album
PRAY
Name those people that you are thankful for
YOu could write there names or draw a picture of the person on each page of a sticky note pad, then stick them around your worship space
GOSPEL READING: Luke 19:1-10
READ: The Jesus Storybook Bible, The man who didn’t have any friends (none) pp.264 – 270
Make: Create a simple tree on the long side of an A4 sheet. (brown strip of paper then cut out a treetop shape from green paper and stick on the A4 sheet. Cut a ribbon the length of the paper. Cut 2 slits in the paper one at the base of the tree and one in a straight line above the first slit in the tree tops. Thread the ribbon through the slits. Draw or cut out a picture of Zacchaeus and stick him on the ribbon, then move the ribbon up and down so that Zacchaeus goes up and down the tree.
SENDING SONG Tell the World by Hillsong Kids Learn the actions here
Blessings
Wendy L.
Please check local guidlines before using items that are not mine especially if you are using this page for congregational use. If you find this page useful an acknowledgment is always appreciated. Thank you.
I am writing this on Wurundjeri land and wish to pay respect to all Elders, past, present and emerging.
The Cross in My Backyard 