BIBLE EXPLORE / NEW TESTAMENT / LUKE

Book of Luke: Chapter 17

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Faith like a Mustard Seed (Luke 17:5-10)

There are multiple references to mustard seeds in the gospels, and it may be helpful to share both concepts with our children to unpack this powerful metaphor. In this passage in Luke 17, Jesus says "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you." The Gospel of Matthew expands on this illustration, and says "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13: 31-32) Having this extra parable description of faith as a mustard seed may help you retell the story today. 

Mustard Seed Activities

• Small bottle craft (Hunt and Host)
• Bracelet (Ministry Ark)
• Crafts, seed bombs and other ideas (North Scottsdale United Methodist)
• Playdough Mat (Flame Creative Kids)
• Cupcake activity (Flame Creative Kids)

Media

A beautiful retelling of the parable in Matthew. 

Godly Play

You may be inspired by this telling of Matthew's parable story in how you can tell the story to young children. 

Worship resources 

The Church of Scotland have some resources for this Sunday's lectionary readings. You can find them here

Care for Creation

If you are looking at Care for Creation this week, as part of Season for creation, then check out the Church of Scotland's EcoChurch resources for this Sunday. They have a good video resource for the lectionary readings too. 

Visio Lectio

Ooh, we love this week's Visio Lectio from Rev. Sarah West, shared here with permission. Check out her website at visiolectio.com
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Jesus heals 10 Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)

Appreciation

In today’s story, Jesus healed ten men with leprosy but only one of them said thank you. All ten had asked Jesus to heal them, but only one of them said thank you when it happened. Have any of you ever done something for someone and they didn’t say thank you? How did it make you feel? (Pause for answers) Well, I know that it makes me feel like no one would care if I didn’t do it. It also makes me think that I might not do it again.
Can you imagine what would happen if Jesus had stopped healing people because no one said thank you? Or if people stopped making morning tea because no one said thank you to them? It wouldn’t be very nice would it?
Today’s story reminds us of the importance of thanking people and to let them know that what they are doing is important. What are some ways that you can think of that we can let people know that they are appreciated? (pause)

Activities

• Handprint Craft (Sunday School Zone)
  
• ​Paper Bag Leper (Ministry to Children)
• Glove Puppets (Faith Sprouts)
• Leper Dolls (Danielle's Place)
• Game and Craft Ideas (Growing Kids in Grace)
• Handprint Men (The Fantastic Five)
• Storytelling Idea (Shoestring Budgets and Skeleton Crews)
• Chain of Lepers Storytelling (Flame Creative Kids)
• Healed Man Spinner (Jesus Without Language)
• Acting it Out (Buck Eye Bible Buddies)

Quick questions

• Why do we say thank you?
• When is it important to say thank you?
• What are other ways of saying thank you other than using words? (eg write a note, giving flowers etc)
• What happens if you don’t say thank you?

You have been noticed!

What you need: for each child - a wooden peg (plastic can be substituted), paper cup, glue, glitter and other stuff to decorate with, a copy of the ‘You’ve been noticed’ print out
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What to do: 

• Glue the peg to the paper cup as shown in photo one. (you could do this step ahead of time so you don’t have to wait for the glue to dry)
• While the glue dries, decorate the ‘you’ve been noticed’ card and write on the back a personal note to the person it is for. Make sure it says what you are thanking them for!
• Next, decorate the paper cup/peg. You may like to cover it with glue then roll it in a tray of glitter. Or you may like to paint it.  Or you may like to glue pictures from magazines How you decorate it is up to you and what resources you have.
• Finally, stick the ‘You’ve been noticed’ card in the peg, and then give it to the person it is for! 

Other ideas: instead of each child doing one for someone they know, perhaps you might like to do this activity for your own church community. You could get the children to make a list of all the things that are done by people in the community for your community. E.g. Flower arrangements, cleaning, morning tea, counting the money, sides person, creating the news sheet, vestry etc.Then you could allocate children to do one for someone or a group on the list!!

Media