© 2023 Copyright Strandz

19 March 2023

Bible readings for today

  • 1 Samuel 16:1-13​
  • Psalm 23:1-6
  • Ephesians 5:8-14
  • John 9:1-41

Liturgical colour: VIOLET

Collect

God of unchangeable power, 
when you fashioned the world 
the morning stars sang together 
and the host of heaven shouted for joy; 
open our eyes to the wonders of creation 
and teach us to see all things for good, 
to the honour of your glorious name; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

E te Atua o te kaha e kore nei e memeha,
mai i tāu waihangatanga i te ao,
ka waiata ngā whetū mārama o te ata,
ka umere ngā rangi katoa i te koa;
huakina ō mātou karu kia kitea ai ngā mīharo o tāu nei ao,
whakaakona hoki mātou kia mārama te pai o ngā mea katoa,
kia whai hōnore tōu ingoa korōria;
ko Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki. 
Āmine. ​​

Healing the blind (John 9:1-41)

The gospel reading today tells the story of Jesus healing a man who had been blind from birth.

Quick questions

  • I wonder how the blind man felt when he met Jesus?
  • I wonder what Jesus was thinking when he saw the blind man?
  • I wonder which part of the story stood out the most to you?
  • What do you think Jesus meant when he said "I am the light for the world”?
  • Why do you think the Pharisees didn’t want to believe that Jesus healed the man’s sight?
  • If you could be someone in today’s story, who would you be and why?

Scavenger Hunt

A game for older children
Preparation
  • You need a list of questions about your particular space. (if the children can go outside, then include questions that will mean they have to go outside as well.)
  • The questions should be ones that require the children to go somewhere and find the answer. Eg. “How many windows are in the hall?’, “What is written on the bottom of the poster by the door?’etc. 
  • You will need to prepare the question sheets, with gaps between each question so that people can write their answers. You will also need pens to write the answers with
​
What to do
​Depending on numbers either give all the children a copy of the questions, or divide them into groups to answer the questions. See who can do it the fastest, or has the most correct answers.

Peace like a river

A great reminder that God can give us joy, love, peace deep down in our soul. Crank this up and play it loud! ​

Gospel Conversations

Here we have the next of our long, long Gospel readings from John! It's the complex story of a man who was born blind being healed, and of his interactions with the religious establishment. It's a story of light and darkness, of hope and new direction, and of some deep challenges as well. We have an all-Dunedin team on this week, with Michael being joined by Natalie, Andrew and Anne.

Visio Lectio

A great illustration from Rev. Sarah West for this passage from John 9, shared with permission
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Sermon: The Blind Man

The Wellington Diocese have put together a series of Lent sermons on the theme of repentance and freedom. 
This sermon is shared by Rose Morris, the leader of Blueprint Church in the heart of Wellington. 
Length: 15m32s, available on YouTube

What's missing?

A game for younger children
Preparation
You need a tray with lots of different things on it. Cover it with a tea towel.
​
What to do 
  • Get the children to sit in a circle. Put the tray covered with the tea towel in the middle. Tell the children that you are going to lift off the tea towel and give the children a minute to look at all the things on the tray. They can touch them if they want to.
  • After a minute or so, get all the children to close their eyes. When they have, you need to take away one thing from the tray. 
  • Ask them to open their eyes again. See if they can guess what is missing from the tray.

Seeing the whole picture

What you need: A copy of the template for each child, felts and crayons to decorate
Preparation: For some of the younger children, you may like to pre-fold some of the templates.
​
What to do:
  • Get the children to draw, decorate and colour the pictures for the three windows on the template. The first is a picture of Jesus putting mud on the blind man’s eyes, the second is a picture of the man washing off the mud and being able to see, the third is the man telling everyone that Jesus healed him!
  • Next, get the children to fold up the picture like a fan, using the dotted lines as a guide.
  • When the sheet is folded up, you should be able to see two boxes instead of three, and none of the words will make any sense!
  • When the picture is folded up, what we see doesn’t make sense. In order to see the picture clearly, we need to open it up!
  • In today’s story, the disciples thought (mistakenly) that the reason the man was blind was because he or his parents had sinned. But Jesus showed them a different way of seeing the blind man when he used him to perform a miracle!
craft_template_-_blind_man.pdf
File Size: 106 kb
File Type: pdf
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Media

Psalm 23 (The Lord is my shepherd)

Storytelling

Know my voice

What you need/Preparation
  • Record an audio clip of famous people’s voices. (eg. Jacinda Ardern, Peppa Pig, the vicar, yourself!)
  • Paper and pens for each group.
What to do
​Divide the children into two teams. Explain that you will play voices of famous people. As you do, the teams have to write down the name of the person that they think it is.
At the end, check the answers and see how they did!This could lead into a discussion about how we recognise people by their voices. Whose voices/ opinions do we listen to most? How do we listen to Jesus?

Psalm 23 Bible Study

Following her Psalm 23 tour in 2021, Bishop Eleanor Sanderson has compiled a four-week study guide around this theme. Designed for small group discipleship and mixing video, story, discussion and reflection, this guide is perfect for beginner and exploring Christians to go deeper in intimacy with Jesus.
​For more information, see the Movement Online website

Resources

Psalm 23 Creative Prayer stations

Picture
Download this file for instructions and a list of things required.

Let children absorb and engage with Psalm 23 as they make their way through different stations. As the children are moving around from station to station, you might like to stagger the start time, so they have time and space to enjoy each station.
Stations include

  1. Sheep
  2. Blanket
  3. Paddling pool
  4. Drink
  5. Labyrinth
  6. Tunnel
  7. Banquet
  8. God's house
 Let us know how you got on! 

Media

Worship songs
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Bible Explore
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