24 November 2024
Bible readings for today
Liturgical Colour: WHITE |
CollectE te Karaiti tō mātou Kaihoko,
nāu i kotē te ūpoko o te nākahi; kua mahea mātou i ō mātou hara; wetekina ngā mamaetanga o te ao mai i te kino e rata tonu nei mātou ki te mahi. Whakarongo ki tēnei īnoi i runga i tōu ingoa. Āmine. 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. |
The Season of Advent
Advent begins next Sunday! Advent is a four-week season in the Church calendar dedicated to anticipating the hope-filled arrival, or "advent," of Jesus. It's also the beginning of the new church year.
Advent WreathsBasic 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:
Advent Candle prayers - Here's a different way to mark the weeks of Advent - an interactive all-age lighting of the candles. Calendars and Countdowns
Jesse Trees
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Intergenerational AdventIntergenerational Resources for all the weeks of Advent
5 Week Lectionary-based Advent + Christmas Series: Something is Coming
Christmas on the Move, our travelling nativity resource Intergenerational Christmas resource (Mainly Ministries). Rags to Riches - An intergenerational all age service (SUNZ) Engage Together - Advent: Lectionary-based Children’s Talk + Multi-age activities for Sundays in Advent Art in AdventIf you want to mark Advent in a simple rich way, how about creating a space where your kids can spend some time with Advent art. Two of my favourites advent depicting artists are John Swanson and He Qi.
Try these questions or make up your own: What do you see? What is different from the bible story? What is the same? What might this show us about God? About people? About our world? What do you think is important in this picture? Does anything in this picture have more than one meaning? I wonder what God might be saying to you through this picture today? Advent Prayers
Advent at Home
Need more ideas?Check out loads more Advent and Christmas ideas on the Strandz website.
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Christ the King (John 18:33-37)
Jesus is our king and he wants to be involved in our lives.
Leaders inputWhat is a King?
As you prepare this week, be mindful that kids may be unfamiliar with or having only the most basic concepts of kings (and servants). You may like to start your session by asking them what a king is? 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. Try googling "Jesus servant". How are these different? How do each set of images make you feel? |
Gospel Conversations 2024: Coming soon...
Gospel Conversations 2021: When Jesus resisted those who would make him king, why do we have a Sunday celebrating "Christ the King"? Join Michael as he talks with Bishop Steve, Fiona Hammond and David Wright about the different sort of kingship and different sort of King we follow. Visio Lectio
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IntroWhat you need: Dress up crown or pictures of a crown
What you do: Show the crown and ask, “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 King. What’s his 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 King Charles, he was born to rule. The thing is, even though he’s a king, he lets us choose if we want him to be our King. 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. Games to get you goingIs he a king?
You will need: sticky notes, a pen. Ask for a volunteer. Write the name of someone the children will know (try superheroes, one of the kids church leaders, someone famous) and stick it to their forehead. The child then has to guess who they are by asking questions that can only be answered with a yes or no. [a fun selection of games from sermons4kids.com] You will need: a selection of hats (try and include a crown) Scavenger hunt Hide hats around the room and get the kids to hunt for them. (These can then be used for the next game). You can also hide verses or words relating to the story in the hats for an additional step. Hat Race 2 or more teams will run a relay to a pile of hats, put a hat on and run back to their team, so the next team mate can then run down to the pile of hats for their team and put on another hat. This will continue until all the hats for each team have been put on and everyone is back on their team line. When their team is done, they will all sit down and say together JESUS CHRIST IS KING!! - - Make sure each pile has a 'crown' of some sort. - This can be hilarious with the right selection of hats. - If you are talking about the Backward King - you might get the kids to run the relay backwards. Musical Hats Option 1: This can be played like musical chairs but as the music plays, the children will pass hats around (1 hat less than there are children) until the music stops and the child without a hat is allowed to take one hat and take a seat (so there will still be one hat less than there are children). Option 2: Played like musical chairs but only ONE hat could be passed around and the child that is holding the hat can leave the game and go to the chalkboard to write one of the words from the story inside a hat that is drawn on the board, while the "musical hat" continues. Kids TalksJesus the backwards King - short active talk about how Jesus was a King not like any other King.
Christ the King Story - short talk covering John 18:33-37, the Church Year and Christ the King. :33-37 The Truth Teller King - children's sermon on John 18:33-37. Also covers the church year. Christ the King - clever video talk with drawings talking about how Jesus is the King and the many names he has. |
I wonder questions
ActivitiesMake a pretzel crown of thorns, covered in chocolate. Instructions here
Make your own crowns - easy craft for preschoolers
Printable crown templates - if you want something a little more fancy Free printable colouring book about what it means to follow Jesus
Intergenerational WorshipWhat 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? Christ the King Intergenerational Resources
This extra-special Christ the King resource highlights four different lectionary-aligned sources that can be utilised not just for the Year B Christ the King Sunday but also throughout the entire Lectionary Cycle. This are StoryPath, (our very own) Bible Explore, Mustard Seeds, and Worshiping with Children. [From intergen.org.au] |
Media
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Worship Songs
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