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© 2023 Copyright Strandz

Christ the King Sunday
Ko te Karaiti te Kīngī

21 November 2021


Bible readings for today

  • 2 Samuel 23:1-7
  • Psalms 132:1-18
  • Revelation 1:4-8
  • John 18:33-37

Collect

Christ our Redeemer,
you have crushed the serpent's head;
you have freed us from our sin;
rescue all your suffering world from evil
that attracts us still.
Hear this prayer for your name’s sake. 
​Amen

Christ the King (John 18:33-37)

Jesus is our king and he wants to be involved in our lives.

Christ the King!

What you need: Crown (cardboard and foil) (you can use real crown or pictures of a crown)
What you do: Show the crown and say something like, “What is this?”  That’s right, it’s a crown.  Do you know who gets to wear crowns like this?  (Allow different answers).  Those people are called royalty- kings and queens and princes and princesses. We have a queen. What’s her name? (Allow answer).  What do you think queens and kings do? (allow answers). Those are good answers.  

Today is Christ the King Sunday.  That means it’s the day when we think about Jesus being our king. Kings and queens are rulers, they help govern and lead their people.  Jesus is a king because he’s our ruler.  He doesn’t live in a palace or meet with other important leaders in the world.  But like Queen Elizabeth, he was born to rule. The thing is, even though he’s a king, we have to choose to let him be our king.  He wants us to let him be the ruler in our lives. It’s easy to want to do things our way and to be our own boss, but Jesus doesn’t want to boss us around.  He’s not that kind of king.  Instead Jesus wants us to let him gently lead us into doing good things, loving others and asking him for help.  He wants us to choose to let him be king and help govern our lives.

Christ the King!

What you need:
  • Narrator
  • Jesus
  • Pilate
  • Optional-Simple props for Jesus and Pilate, eg beautiful cloak for Pilate, rag cloak for Jesus
    ​
Narrator: Then Pilate went back inside the palace. He called Jesus to him. 
Pilate: “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus: “Is that your own question, or did others tell you about me?”
Pilate: “I am not a Jew. It was your own people and their leading priests who brought you before me. What have you done wrong?”
Jesus: “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it belonged to this world, my servants would have fought to keep me from being given over to the Jewish leaders. But my kingdom is from another place.”
Pilate: “So you are a king!”
Jesus: “You say that I am a king. That is true. I was born for this: to tell people about the truth. That is why I came into the world. And everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.

Edible crowns

Make a pretzel crown of thorns, covered in chocolate. Instructions here
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What do you think of royalty?

When you think of royalty, of kings and queens, what comes to mind? We asked this in our church service, and sharing ideas and feedback from all ages. It was fascinating how negative the conversation was, sharing views of 'a redundant monarchy', to 'colonialism', to 'rich and opulent'. 

The next question we asked was: What about Jesus being a king? The Bible uses many words to describe Jesus, but one of them is a king. King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Prince of Peace. With those reflections in mind, how do we feel with Jesus being a king? And what about our identities as sons and daughters of a king? 

A servant king

If you have a moment, google 'Jesus king' on Google images and see what pictures come up. Probably lot of revelation type images with Jesus on a throne, many angels around him, a crown resembling something from the Tower of London, and a lot of sun rays. 

In juxtaposition, Jesus is described as a servant king. A king who comes to serve and to save the lost. This king is humble, loving, lays down his power and authority. This kingdom is about kinship, about love. 

I wonder questions

  • I wonder what you’d do if you met Jesus in person
  • I wonder what you think it means to have a King like Jesus
  • I wonder if there are things that you do for yourself that Jesus might want to help you with.

Tip of the week

Do you remember reading “Goodnight Moon” or “Hairy Maclary” to your children every single night for a very long time? Or how about a favourite game or song?  You know, the ones that make you feel that you’ll scream if you have to read, sing, or play it one more time! Children, especially young ones, love repetition.  As adults we often like to mix things up, try new ways of doing things, and while older children might love and appreciate the changes, often our youngest children can find that difficult. So this week, look at ways of encouraging gentle repetition.  Re-read your children's favourite stories, sing the same songs, and more. You’ll find your youngest children eager participants in stories, songs, poems and games when they’re able to anticipate what’s coming next.

Preparing for Advent

Advent begins next Sunday, the countdown (and time of anticipation) to Christmas.
​
Our Advent and Christmas ideas (Strandz)

Advent Ideas

​Advent Calendars
  • Generosity Advent Calendar - Salvation Army NZ
  • Busted Halo Advent Calendar​
  • Advent Conspiracy 
  • Advent Spiral
  • An Aotearoa Advent Circle (SUNZ)

All-Age Advent
  • Christmas on the Move, our 2016 advent resource with a travelling nativity​
  • Engage Together - Advent: Lectionary-based Children’s Talk + Multi-age activities for Sundays in Advent 
  • Engage Together – Intergenerational Worship Resources for Advent 2017​​
  • ​Advent & Christmas (Messy Church Pinterest)​

Advent Prayers
  • Advent Prayer Stations (Building Faith)
  • Interactive Prayer Stations (Theresa Cho) 
  • More Advent Prayer Stations (Ministry2Youth) ​

Advent at home
  • Christmas Family Faith Trail (UCA)
  • Our Strandz Journey Through Advent Packs
  • Advent Wonder
  • 2017 Multi-Age Advent Ideas for Households (United Methodist Church)​​
  • Picture Advent: Daily devotions, Photo-a-day challenge, Youth and Family activities, Church Resources ​
  • Jesus Storybook Bible: Advent readings using this great book, by Zondervan.​​

Jesse Trees
  • Jesse Tree (SUNZ)
  • Make a Jesse Tree (Bath and Wells Diocese, UK)
Picture

Advent Wreathes

Basic Advent wreaths have 5 candles; 1 for each week of Advent and then a white candle for Jesus which we light on Christmas Day (or Christmas Eve). Traditionally the four candles are purple.  Sometimes the Joy candle is pink, but you can make each candle any colour.  The four candles represent Hope, Peace, Joy, Love.

What you need: A base for the candles- a wreath pre-made, a Styrofoam ring with can be decorated, 5 candlestick holders or…
  • Decorations- leaves, vines, buttons, berries, glitter.  Whatever you’d like to use to make your wreath special.
  • 5 candles including 1 white one
  • matches

What you do: Create your Advent wreath using whatever materials you have.  You won’t light it until next week, but you can work together to make it beautiful.

  • Advent Candle prayers - spelling out the words ​
  • Advent Candle image with prayers​

Memory Verse challenge

Memory Verse download for John 18:37
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Bible Explore
Developed by Strandz for the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia
© 2023 Copyright Strandz. All rights reserved.
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