6 March 2022

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Bible readings for today

• Deuteronomy 26:1-11
• Psalms 91:1-2,9-16
• Romans 10:8-13
• Luke 4:1-13

Collect

Holy God, 
tested by the evil one, your Son did not yield, 
defend us from the deceits of wealth and power, 
shield us from despair, 
and hold us fast to you, our rock and our truth. 
Through Jesus Christ our Liberator, 
who is alive and reigns with you, 
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
one God, now and for ever. Amen

Desert Times (Luke 4:1-13)

The Devil duels with Jesus, debating where power resides and what it is for. Jesus decides it is about serving. A highly symbolic tale of the Christ who walks our every point of pain, our every temptation – and even redeems us when we fail. For we will. True fact. And he will love us still.

All Age Talk: Temptation!

Lent is the time when we get ready to hear the story of Good Friday and Easter. This time is so important that we spend time preparing ourselves. This talk introduces the idea of temptation, looking at Jesus' temptation in the desert.
What you need:Lollies (enough for the whole group)
A plate or serviette to put the lollies on
A bread roll and a rock
A map of the world or globe
Legos or duplo to make a tower


What you do:

1. Put a few lollies on a plate or serviette  (put the rest away— you'll need them in a minute) in the middle of your group.
2. Say something like, "I have these delicious lollies and I'm going to eat them after the service today. These are really yummy lollies, but please don't eat them— they're mine.
3. Wait a moment and then say, "Today we're going to talk about a time when Jesus was tempted.  Do you know what tempted means? (allow answers).  That's right.  Tempted means when you really want to do something that you know you're not supposed to.  It's like having to sit near these yummy lollies and not being allowed to eat them!  I bet you've been tempted to eat them, since they look so good, but it would have been wrong for you to take them when they didn't belong to you. How did you feel when I told you that you weren't allowed to eat any of them? (allow answers).  Well, I'm not gong to keep tempting you.  Everyone can have a lolly (give one to each person).  
4. Today is the beginning of Lent— a time when we start to prepare ourselves to hear the story of Jesus' death on Good Friday and his coming alive again on Easter Sunday.  This story is about a time when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert.  Jesus was hungry and thirsty and tired, but even though the devil tempted him, Jesus didn't yield to temptation. 

The story (say something like): After Jesus was baptised, he spent 40 days in the desert getting ready for the important work that God wanted him to do.  During that time he didn't eat anything and so he was very, very hungry!  The devil came to Jesus and said, "Why don't you turn these stones into bread?  That way you can eat all you want!  You don't need to be hungry."  Jesus said, People don't live only on food!"
Then the devil showed Jesus all the countries in the world (show the map or globe).  The devil said, "You can have all the countries in the whole world.  You can rule all of them if you just worship me instead of worshipping God."  But Jesus said, "No!  We're only supposed to worship God!"
Then the devil brought Jesus to a tall tower (point to the duplo tower).  "If you're really God's Son, throw yourself off this tower, and show me that you won't be hurt!"  Jesus said that even though he knew that God's angels would catch him and keep him safe, we aren't supposed to test God like that.  Jesus wouldn't do it.  
You know, Jesus was tempted with all three of those things;  food, power and showing how much God loved him by getting angels to keep him safe.  But he didn't yield to those temptations.  He knew that even though those things might feel good for a moment, the plan to help the world wasn't about turning stones into bread or jumping off towers or being a ruler over all the countries.  Jesus knew that he needed to do something else to change the world and bring God's love and forgiveness to everyone.

I wonder...

• I wonder what you think is the most important part of this story.
• I wonder why Jesus didn't turn the stones into bread.
• Jesus didn't change the world by turning stones into bread, or taking over the whole world or jumping off a tower.  I wonder how he did change the world.

Baking Scones

Jesus said you cannot live on bread alone... 
You can use your own recipe, or try this one. This recipe makes 12-15 scones.

What you need:

• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 115 grams of unsalted butter (cut up, not melted)
• 1/4 cup sugar (use 1/3 cup for slightly sweeter scones)
• 2/3 cup milk
• Cinnamon, if desired, for sprinkling on top
• Sugar, if desired, for sprinkling on top

What do do:

1. Heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius (425 degrees Farenheit)
2. Put flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; stir mix well.  Add butter and rub in with your fingers, until the mixture looks like fine granules.
3. Add sugar; toss to mix.
4. Add milk and stir with a fork until dough forms.
5. Form dough into a ball and turn smooth side up.
6. Pat or roll into a 6 inch circle.
7. Cut each circle into 6 or 8 wedges.
8. Place wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet- slightly apart for crisp sides, touching for soft.
9. Sprinkle desired amount of cinnamon and sugar on each scone.
10. Bake about 12 minutes, or until medium brown on top.

Cup stack

What you need:

• 10 plastic cups per player of the same colour
• 1 plastic cup per player of a different colour

What do do:

1. Give each player a stack of 11 cups with the different coloured cup on the bottom.
2. When you say 'go', have each player take the bottom cup and put it on the top of the stack, repeating this action until the different coloured cup is back on the bottom.
3. The first one to complete the stack is the winner.

After the game is over, you can ask something like, "Was this an easy thing to do?"  Some people might have found it easy, but for some it might have been hard to work so quickly.  Ask, "Were you tempted to cheat by taking more than 1 cup at a time?".  Say something like, "It's good that you didn't cheat!  God doesn't want us to give in to temptation and cheat, even when things get hard!"  We can remember how Jesus resisted temptation in the desert and we can try and do the same.