Ordinary 13

2 July 2023

Bible readings for today

Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13:1-6
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

Liturgical Colour: GREEN

Today is Refugee Sunday in the Church Calendar. You can find resources for this day at the bottom of this page.

Collect

Almighty Father,
grant that we your children
may never be ashamed
to confess the faith of Christ crucified,
but continue his faithful servants
to our lives’ end;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

E te Matua kaha rawa, kaua mātou,
āu tamariki e tukua kia whakamā ki te whāki i te whakapono o te Karaiti i rīpekatia,
kia ū tūturu tonu āu pononga ā,
mate noa. i roto pū i a Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki.
Āmine.

Welcome (Matthew 10:40-42)

Welcome questions

"Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me"

Jesus talks about how important it is it welcome people -- and that when we are welcomed, or welcome others, Jesus is welcomed too.

How can we welcome people well?
How can we welcome new kids at church?
If you were going to a new place, how would you know that you were welcome?
What things can you do to make sure children are welcome at your home, school or church?
Can you remember the last time you were given a really warm welcome?
Why do you think the Bible says that anyone who welcomes you, welcomes Jesus?

Craft - welcome mats

What you need:

Outdoor natural coir mats -- you can buy them from Bunnings for approx $10
Tester pots of outdoor paint. (Resene often donate these to community groups, although you might not get the colours you want!) Outdoor paint lasts well, although there are no guarantees in a high traffic area.
A thick paint brush for stippling paint onto the mat
Masking tape
Paper templates with 'welcome' or 'kia ora' printed in a typeface you like, and cut out using a craft knife or scalpel. Don't use a font that is too fine -- chunky sans serif typefaces are good!

What you do:
Children work together to design and decorate the welcome mats. These can be used at church or given away to new people in the community, such a new refugee family.

Have a template cut out in advance, with the letters for WELCOME or KIA ORA. Where a letter has a counter (e.g. the inside of an o) you might like to stick those down separately with masking tape. Secure the whole template to the mat with masking tape

Doing one colour at at time, dip the paint brush into the test pot and dab it onto the mat, keeping the brush vertical. Complete one layer, and you might like to add another layer once that one is dry. You could do a different colour per letter.

Give the mat to a new family in the area, or use them at church to welcome the community when they arrive.

Game - welcome relay

A fun, active game to help kids think about welcoming people well. You could do this as one group, or divide the children into teams

What you need:

2 chairs
2 cushions
small table -- light enough for one or two kids to carry
2 plastic cups filled with water
jug of water
A non breakable vase with a flower in it (such as a tall cup)
plate of biscuits or snacks
A bible
You can add other props if available, e.g. table cloth, your church newsletter, teapot.

What you do:

Choose a child to be the 'visitor' who arrives at your door unexpectedly. If you have lots of children in your programme, you could do multiple visitors and houses.
You welcome them into your house and then realise that you have nothing to welcome them.
Children run a relay race bringing things from one side of the room to the other, so that the guest is welcomed well. You could race teams to be the first team to finish, when everything is on the other side of the room.
Children should think about what order they should send things (eg. you need a table to put the cups of water on first!
Repeat if you have time.
Highlight the importance of welcoming people well. It's not about having material goods, but making sure that we are prepared to be kind and hospitable to those who need us to be Jesus to them.

Manaakitanga

Manaakitanga means hospitality, kindness, generosity, support - the process of showing respect, generosity and care for others.

Strandz put together a video for the Wellington Diocese about Manaakitanga and Faith 5, introducing how we could invite Jesus to be a part of our meal times.

Reward questions

What would be your ideal reward?
Have you ever received a reward?
As a Christian, what reward do we have?
Why do you think ‘Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person’ means?

Reward chart

What you need: lots of stickers, a copy of the template, cardboard, stuff to decorate with, glue

What to do. Glue the template to the cardboard. Decorate.

In the spaces provided, get the children to choose some things they would like to work on. Eg helping show hospitality, learning a particular bible verse off by heart, helping to clean up without being asked, praying before they go to bed, using kind words to welcome new children at school.

Give each child some stickers. Explain that whenever they do one of the things they have listed, they can put a sticker next to it on the chart. When they have five stickers by an item, then the next time they come to Children’s Ministry, they can share about what they did, and what it was like or what they learned and they will get a special reward. (this might be a pencil or bookmark. The main point of this is to get them to share with the group about their experience and what they learned.)

reward_chart.pdf
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Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14)

Children's talk

Flame: Creative Children's Ministry have partnered with the Diocese of Newcastle (UK) to put together some resources for this week’s worship, on the story of Abraham and Isaac. To join in this week’s prayer activity you will need a glass of water and some card.

Each week they produced a video with a short service including sorry and thank you prayers, a story and a creative prayer activity that people at home can easily join in with. For this Sunday they looked at the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac and how God provides what he needs.

Click here to download the words to the simple liturgy if you'd like to join in the words.

Click here to access a set of resources to accompany the story, written by a collection of children's ministry bloggers, hosted by Kate at Jesus Without Language.

Match game

A printable matching game from Sundayschoolzone.com for kids to play the game 'pairs'. Print out two copies of the cards, and get the children to play them in groups of two.

Media

Kids on the Move have a short 6 minute YouTube video on the story of Abraham and Isaac which is useful for explaining this Sunday's lectionary reading from Genesis 22-1:14.

Song - Not Afraid

Not Afraid is a wonderful song by Rend Co. Kids, with a simple and beautiful message for all ages.
Chords and music here on Worship Together

Psalm 13

Liturgy: call to worship

Intergenerational Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 13)

We’ve come to worship,
to sing and pray and hear God’s Word, because:
God’s love lasts forever!
Even when God seems far away, we know:
God’s love lasts forever!
Even when nothing is going right, and we’re ready to give up, we know:
God’s love lasts forever!
When people treat us badly, we know:
God’s love lasts forever!
When we’re all alone,
and we feel like no one loves us, we know:
God’s love lasts forever!
Let’s worship God together!

~ Christine Longhurst, re:Worship

Refugee Sunday

As the number of refugees passes 26.4 million (2021), we are now more aware of displaced people more than ever. And with growing calls to increase the refugee quota here, the church has a great opportunity to extend grace, manaakitanga and love to refugees arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand.

‘When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt.’
Matthew 2:13-14

Why do people become refugees?

People are forced to flee—from war and violence; from natural disasters; from religious persecution, political oppression, and ethnic injustice; from food crisis, drought, and famine. They have no choice but to leave behind their land, their homes, their belongings, and their sense of identity. They run in fear for their lives, either within their own country (internally displaced people) or to another country entirely (refugees). And the heaviest toll is felt by the children.
- World Vision

Refugee Numbers

Check out these most recent figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency (updated 1 July 2021)

82.4 million displaced people worldwide at the end of 2020, as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order.
48.0 million people are internally displaced
26.4 million are refugees
4.1 million were asylum seekers
68% originate from just five countries: Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar.
39% hosted in five countries: Turkey, Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda, Germany.
35 million refugees are children
1 million children were born as refugees
285,400 refugees returned or were resettled
86% are hosted in developing countries.
4.2 million stateless persons
73% hosted by neighbouring countries.

Operation Refugee

Christian World Service asking you to remember refugees and displaced people in your prayers on Refugee Sunday. As a member of ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together), CWS is in touch with many local organisations working with them.
Christian World Service is challenging churches to join this year’s Operation Refugee. Individuals, teams or churches can eat from the Food Box equivalent refugee rations for five days, organise a banquet or feast or undertake a walking challenge. Funds raised will mean the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees can help Syrian, Palestinian and other refugees with food, education and medical care in Jordan and Lebanon. Contact organiser, Eric Park to find out how you can take part: eric.park@cws.org.nz or phone 022 377 6606. Operation Refugee runs from June 20 to October 24.

Worship Resources

Worship resources from CWS may help you profile Refugee Sunday in your worship services. Download here

Lost Sheep
Jesus was a Refugee - get the book/graphics on the Lost Sheep website and you can watch the story being read here

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time