9 June 2024

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Bible readings for today

• ​1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15),16-20, (11:14-15) 
• Psalm 138:1-8
• 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1 
• Mark 3:20-35 

Liturgical Colour: GREEN

Collect

E te Atua o te aroha,
whakahōhonutia, whakanuitia ō mātou aroha ki a koe kia whakarerea ō mātou hara ki muri kua oti nei hoki i a koe,
te whakaora i a mātou, kia mahi ki a koe i roto i te pono, te tino tika.
Ko Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Kaiwhakaora.
Āmine. 
​
God of compassion,
deepen and increase our love for you so that we may leave behind the sins from which you have redeemed us,
and serve you in perfect freedom;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
​Amen. 

We'd love your ideas!

Bible Explore is a team effort, and on tricky days like today, we'd love your ideas and wisdom! Send us any great ideas for Bible Explore and we'll pop them on here for everyone to share!
[email protected]

Jesus is accused (Mark 3:20-35)

Intergenerational Worship

Intergen ideas for all of the lectionary ideas today, written and compiled by Beth Waldron Anstice for Intergen Australia. You can find them here

Tackling tricky passages!

If you're putting together children's ministry plans for this Sunday, you may be a little surprised about today's choice of the gospel reading! It's certainly not for the faint hearted... 

While "“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16), perhaps not all scripture is age appropriate for children to engage with. 

If you're up for taking on this passage, do your prep: read, talk to wise people, pray and remember the kids in your group! 

Gospel Conversations

We often note how tricky some of these Gospel passages are, and this week is another great example of that. Jesus apparently ignoring his family. A sin "against the Holy Spirit" which is apparently unforgiveable. How do we understand these things and learn from them? Jonathan Gale, Emma Wilson and Anne van Gend join Michael this week to wrestle with some of the issues - and joys - of this puzzling passage.

Israel Asks for a King (1 Samuel 8:4-20, 11;14-15)

We want a new king!

The elders of Israel have rejected Samuel as a leader, and are demanding a new one. This passage skims over a few chapters of this story, so you may like to read the inbetween text to hear about how Saul was chosen and anointed by Samuel. 

Bible Story video

This Fishnet story covers the Bible reading well today.

Follow the leader

• Choose a child to lead the line of people.
• They must copy all the actions and movements of the leader (run when the leader runs, do jumping jacks, turn around and take 3 steps forward, etc.) 
• Anyone who does not successfully copy a movement is out. The last child still following at the end is the leader in the next round.
• For a more inclusive version, you could get the leader to go to the back when they have done a couple of instructions, and give children a change to have a go at leading. 

Media

The media below includes the wider story of Samuel anointing Saul as king

Psalm 138

Psalm 138 piece by piece

A creative break down of Psalm 138, line by line with simple illustrations to represent each part. Spend some time reading through the psalm with your chidlren and coming up with your own images for each line. Perhaps they could choose their favourite line to memorise, or stick up at home where they can see it each day. 

Download here