10 December 2023
Bible readings for today
Liturgical colour: VIOLET Today is Human Rights Day - adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 |
CollectGod for whom we wait and watch,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare for the coming of your Son: give us courage to speak the truth even to the point of suffering. This we ask through Christ our Saviour. Amen. E te Atua, e tāria nei e titiro nei mātou ki a koe, i tonoa e koe a Hoani Kaiiriiri hei whakarite i te ara mō te haerenga mai o tāu Tama; kia mataara, kia māia ai mātou ki te kōrero i te pono āhakoa pēhia e te taimaha. E īnoi ai mātou i roto i a te Karaiti tō mātou Kaiwhakaora. Āmine. |
2nd Sunday of Advent
Rangimarie - PeaceOur te reo word for the week is rangimarie, which means peace. You can download these Kiwi Advent Illustrations on our Strandz website
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Advent Wreath liturgyA simple liturgy for lighting your candles in the Advent Wreath, from Build Faith (Use the second week!) written by Rev. Matthew Kozlowski
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Songs
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Prepare the Way (Mark 1:1-8)
Today's story looks how John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus. John the Baptist anticipated a messiah who would be greater than himself. John is portrayed as the forerunner of Jesus who prepares the people for Jesus' ministry. John baptised Jesus and was beheaded by Herod.
ActivitiesYou can find more about John the Baptist in Matthew 3! Here are some activities that you may like to include, if you end up doing a deep dive on John.
I wonder...
Gospel ConversationsAdvent 2, and we launch into the Gospel of Mark properly from the beginning. The strange, challenging figure of John the Baptist calls us to get ready, to prepare, to be open to Christ's coming, and this week Michael Holdaway, Mannie Marara and Anne van Gend join Michael Godfrey to ponder what that might look like.
Intergenerational ideasSometimes we can feel that God is quiet, very quiet, too quiet.... but In what feels like the silence of God, we realise God is patiently working. An intergenerational resource from Intergen Australia, written by Elizabeth Waldron Anstice. Check it out here
Prayer Of Confession
Supplies: Bowl of water, towel
One way that John the Baptist helped prepare the way for Jesus was by getting people to tell God they were sorry for the bad things they had done, or to stop doing things that got in the way of their relationship with God. John the Baptist would help people to understand the new start they were making by dipping them below water in the river and having them come back up again. This was a way of showing everyone that this person wanted to change the way he or she was living. We can use this bowl of water today to help us prepare our hearts for Jesus this Christmas. If you'd like to pray then one by one we will cup our hands with water and let it trickle back into the bowl. This is a sign of us asking God to wash away the things we do that we know we shouldn't. You can wipe your hands dry with the towel and after everyone has prayed we'll finish by praying together... "Dear God, thank you for the work John did getting people ready for Jesus. We thank you that through Jesus we get a fresh start and power to change the way we live. Please help us to walk in a way that pleases you by the things that we do and the choices we make, especially as we focus on you this Christmas. Amen." Red Light, Green Light
Use this stop/go signpost game to introduce the theme of John the Baptist being a signpost to Jesus.
Supplies: Two circles of card: one red, one green To play, one person is chosen to be the traffic cop. All the players stand on the starting line about 5 metres away from the traffic cop who has his back to the rest of the players. When he says "green light" and holds up the green circle behind his back, players try to run to the finish line to "Win" But if the traffic cop says "red light," he quickly turns around and players have to stop in their tracks. If the traffic cop catches a player moving, he sends them back to the starting line. First person to cross the finish line wins and becomes the new traffic cop. Debrief: Talk about where children see stop lights (eg: traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, train crossings) and what other signposts they've seen on the road that point out things ahead (eg: school ahead, horses crossing, elderly people ahead). Explain that today we will be hearing about John the Baptist who was like a signpost pointing the way to Jesus coming. |
Road Sign talkSermon given on Luke 3:1-6, where John the Baptist talks about making the way straight to the Lord.
Talk uses roadsigns as a visual prompt. What you'll need:
Road Sign QuizWhat you need:
Interactive journey prayersWhat you need:
A journey to JesusWhat you need:
Create a simple obstacle course, but keep a clear path down the middle from the beginning of the course to the end. Make sure the beginning and end are clearly marked. Invite 3 people to come up and go from the start to the finish. (note- have the second and third people turn their backs to the course so that they can’t see what the people ahead of them have done). Some people might choose to go through and around the obstacles, others might go straight from one end to the other. Say something like: When roads are built, the engineers who design them work really hard to make the roads as easy as possible to drive on. They work so that the mountain roads aren’t too steep. Sometimes if the mountain is too high and rocky, workers might build a tunnel straight through the mountain to make driving easier. Instead of scarey, wild turns, engineers smooth the roads as much as possible so that they’re mostly straight. In our course, there was both a twisted obstacle way to go and a simple, straightforward way to go. Some people chose to go through the obstacles, others went straight to the prize. (if that’s the case) In our Bible reading today, we heard about John the Baptist helping people get ready for Jesus’ coming. Can you think of some ways that we get ready for Christmas? (allow answers- buying gifts, going to church, lighting Advent candles, putting up the Christmas tree, etc). Those are good answers and you’re right. December is a really busy time for most of us with all the getting ready that we do! Some of it’s really important and maybe some of it isn’t so important, but it’s easy to get caught up in all the excitement of the season. In our Bible story today, John is a bit like a road engineer. He wants it to be easy for people to get to Jesus, so he reminds them about what’s really important. John the Baptist was living in the desert. He was helping people get their hearts ready, not their houses or their clothes or anything like that. He wanted people to be able to recognize Jesus when he arrived and to know that Jesus was coming to offer them love and forgiveness. By helping people open their hearts to Jesus and his love and forgiveness, John the Baptist was making a straight, easy road for people to follow. Today it’s the same. We are asked to spend time getting ready for Jesus, opening our hearts to him and being excited that he’s in our lives. Sometimes with all the busyness and craziness in our lives- especially in December, it can feel like we’re on a steep and wildly curvy mountain road, but it doesn’t have to be like that. We can take the straight and gentle path to Christmas. Gospel ConversationsA video from a previous year - a new one will come soon!
Enter John the Baptist! Preparing the way for Jesus, preaching in the wilderness, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy of one who will point towards a time when all people will know the salvation of God. A wonderful Gospel this week, and Michael Godfrey is joined by Alec Clark, Judy Ringland and Anne van Gend to unpack it together. Memory VerseIn the desert someone is shouting, “Get the road ready for the Lord!” Luke 3:4 (Good News Translation)
What you need:
For younger children use “Get the road ready for the Lord” Luke 3:4 Journey gameWhat you need:
Have the groups play the game by rolling the die, moving their marker and doing what’s written on the board. Note: you can make enough game boards to send one home to each family. If possible, include 4 playing pieces and a die in a small bag. 
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