26 December 2021

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Bible readings for today

RCL

• 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 
• Psalms 148 
• Colossians 3:12-17
• ​Luke 2:41-52

​St Stephens Day

• 2 Chronicles 24:17-22
• Psalm 31:1-8 
• Acts 6:8-10;7:54-60
• Matthew 10:17-22

Collect

Jesus, your ways are not our ways.
You are the Jewish boy,
you are the questioning child the parents lost.
Make us willing to listen
and humble in what we believe is right. 
Hear this prayer for your love’s sake. 
​Amen.

Jesus as a child (Luke 2:41-52)

Today's story helps us understand that Jesus knew who he was, even when he was young.

Story

Game: What's missing? 

(If you have a similar story to start with, use your own.  If not, you can say that you heard a story about....)
Say something like: "When my children were little, we went on holiday and visited the Waitomo Caves.  It was an amazing experience.  We especially liked the glowworms.  All of us, including our six children, went through the cave together, got into the boat and saw the glowworms.  But something happened and instead of 6 children coming out with us at the end of the tour, there were only 5!  At first I thought Tim was with his dad and his dad thought he was with me. You can imagine how frantic we were when we realised that Tim wasn't with either of us. There were so many people and it seemed like such a dangerous place.  My husband and I looked at each other and quietly asked each of our other children if they'd seen Tim.  "No" was there answer.  The older boys went up the different paths to see if perhaps he'd gotten ahead of us, but Tim was nowhere to be found.  Finally while the others were looking, I went back into the entrance of the cave, hoping that somehow Tim had just gotten turned around.  And there he was!  He was standing with another group of tourists, listening to the guide and getting ready to go back through the caves.  After hugging him and making sure he was all right, I asked him, "Where were you?"  He looked up, smiled and said, "Mummy, I love this place. I just wanted to stay longer.  Where were you?"
That reminds me a little of our story today. Mary and Joseph were on their way home and had been travelling for a full day when they realised that Jesus not only wasn't with them, but he wasn't with any of their friends or other relatives. They hurried back to Jerusalem, frantically looking for him, and found him, 3 days after they'd left the city. He was sitting with the teachers in the temple, asking questions, answering questions, listening. The people were amazed at how wise he was. But still, when Mary and Joseph found him, they were so relieved.  It must have been a horrible time not to be able to find their son!  When Mary said, "Where were you? We've been looking for you for three days!"  Jesus answered, "Didn't you know that I'd be in my Father's House?"  Mary and Joseph might not have understood what Jesus meant, but when we hear about that, we can know that Jesus knew who he was.  He knew that God was his father and that He was God's Son!

What you need:

• a tray
• 15-20 small objects
• a tea towel to cover the tray

What you do:​

1. Place the objects on the tray and cover them with the tea towel. 
2. Place the tray where everyone can see it.
3. Lift the towel and give the group 1 minute to memorize everything on the tray.
4. Cover the tray and have the children cover their eyes (look down) as you remove one object.
5. Take the tea towel off and see if the children can discover which object is missing.
6. You can play this a number of times.

Note: For younger children have as few as 5 objects.  For older children and adults, use 15-20 objects

Drinking straw maze

Note: This activity contains marbles so is not for children under 5.

What you need:

• a cardboard box, lid or piece of corrugated (strong) cardboard for each child
• cardboard drinking straws
• glue guns
• scissors
• a marble for each child
• pencils, crayons or felts, if desired
• sello tape

​What you do:

1. Make your own maze to show and demonstrate with the children
2. Give each child a piece of cardboard
3. Show them how to draw a simple maze, explaining that a maze is a difficult way of getting from one place to another.
4. Show your maze and explain that each person is going to get to make their own.
5. Encourage the children to lay out their maze— either by drawing it first or by laying out the drinking straws.  Let them know that they can cut the straws to fit the way they want them to.
6. Once they have the maze laid out, they can come to you and you will help them glue the straws down. 
7. When the maze is completed, give the child a marble and allow them to roll the marble through the maze from start to finish.

Note: This is quite challenging.  If you have very young children, pre make 2 mazes and with supervision, allow them to play with them.
You can use sello tape instead of a glue gun if you find the straws move too much before you're able to glue them down

Media

Saddleback Kids: Jesus in the Temple

Young Jesus is Lost and Found