Ordinary 16

20 July 2025

Bible readings for today

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52:1-9
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Liturgical Colour: GREEN

Collect

E te Atua, te mātāpuna o te hari,
tukua mai tēnā harikoa
e kore nei e taea e tētahi te tango atu i a mātou,
nō te mea, he mahi hei mahinga whaioranga;
i roto i te hari o te whakapono e tutuki ai.
E īnoi ai mātou i roto i a te Karaiti tō mātou Kaiwhakaora.
Āmine.

God of all delight,
grant us that joy which none can take from us,
of having a work to do, a life to live;
that joy in believing which will carry us through.
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen.

National Bible Sunday

The Bible Society New Zealand have a great range of resources to help unpack the Bible, and the story of Bibles in New Zealand. This year they are celebrating 175 years of the Bible being in New Zealand.

Ngā Timatanga / Beginnings - the early story of the Bible in New Zealand

Books to share The Story of God

The Garden, The Curtain, and The Cross Storybook
Written by Carl Laferton, illustrated by Catalina Echeverri
This storybook takes children (and adults!) on a journey from the Garden of Eden to God’s perfect new creation. Beautiful pictures and engaging words.

Purchase from the Good Book Company
Free downloads, including a beautiful read-through by illustrator Catalina Echeverri are also available from the Good Book Company

WOW! The Gospel in Four Words
Written by Dandi Daley McKall and illustrated by Annabel Tempest.
This whimsical and fun book for preschoolers outlines the big story of the bible in a simple and memorable way (for both adults and kids!).

Purchase from Manna or Pleroma book stores.
Or check out 'Storytime with Sue' from the Nelson Diocese.

Five Ways to Retell a Bible Story with Kids

A great way for kids (and adults!) to remember God’s story and to experience it more deeply is to retell it in ways that engage their head, heart, and hands. Check out these easy ideas for retelling a Bible story. (Dwell, Faith Alive)

Conversation starters

When we start chatting to kids about the stories or bible passages they hear, we can help them dig deeper into it and work out what difference it makes to their everyday lives. Here are some conversation starters you can use with any age. (Parenting for Faith)

Jesus visits Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)

Input for Leaders

Visio Lectio
Another great illustration from Rev. Sarah West, shared with permission here.
PNG Download
Terms of Use

Gospel Conversations 2025: Coming soon.

Gospel Conversations 2022: Mary and Martha are fascinating characters in the gospels. We only meet them three times, but those short encounters give us vivid glimpses of this family who were dear to Jesus. This week it is the famous Martha-vs-Mary story with Martha busy and Mary sitting at Jesus' feet.

Intergenerational Worship

Ordinary Time Year C 2025 Intergenerational Worship Series
(Angela Blundell, Auckland Dio Intergenerational Ministry)
This resource has 8 weeks of worship ideas (from July 6 to Aug 31) to help your community connect to God and each other through worship, sharing and creativity.

A collection of resources and ideas (Intergen Australia)
Written and compiled by Rev Sandy Brodine. Bible references: Colossians, Luke.

Kids Talks

At Mary and Martha's (Faith in kids) - A full set of lesson plans which are broken into separate teaching materials for 3-5s, 5-7s, 8-11s and mixed age groups, and include worksheets and handouts for parents to help start the conversation at home. Stand alone session, but can also be used as part of a series of 9 lessons in Luke’s Gospel that explore who Jesus chose to sit and eat with.

Mary & Martha (Kids Church Ideas) Full lesson plans for Kindergarten, Grades 1-3, Grades 4-5

Mary and Martha (Ministry to Children) - Slow down and be…we don't have to earn God's love.

The most important thing (Sermons 4 Kids) - Don't forget the main thing!

At the feet of Jesus (Sermons 4 Kids) - Keeping our attention on what is important.

Jesus invites Martha to be still (RFour) - Ask, Tell, Share

Mary & Martha (Mission Bible Class) - emphasis on choosing the most important things.

Quick questions

What do you think Martha’s home looked like inside?
Why do you think Martha was worried?
Why do you think Jesus didn’t tell Mary to help Martha?
Do you worry? How often do you worry?
What can we do when we’re worried?
Mary spent time just sitting with Jesus, listening to him speak. How can we listen to Jesus and spend time with him like Mary?
What is something you wonder about in this story?

Games & Activities

Stop Go games

Play a game of Simon says but instead of the usual rules substitute Martha & Mary. When you use "Martha" kids must do the action. When you use "Mary" kids must remain still.
“Rest, Martha!” Freeze dance game. Have students act “busy” or dance to music, but pause and call on them to stand still by shouting “rest, Martha!” or saying “Mary was still.”
Red light/green light: Play the classic playground game, or vary it by calling out “Martha/Mary” instead of “red light/green light.”

A weeks worth of activities!
Discuss how time is spent, and create a chart of ways that kids spend time. What takes up the majority of time? Are there ways that we can make more time for Jesus?

Listen listen
Have a selection of sounds on your phone. Ask kids to listen and identify each one.

Mary and Martha activities (Flame Creative) - includes both reflective activities (e.g. labyrinths, glitter bottles) and kindness/serving with a focus on Jesus.

Pray it!

Listen to Jesus

Ask all the kids to find a quiet place in the room.
Ask them to close their eyes and ask Jesus to speak to them.
Let them listen to Jesus.
Ask the kids to come back and see what they heard.

Spend time with Jesus through art. Think about offering resources for kids to make art too.

What do you see?
What part of the bible / God's story is this painting about?
What might this show us about Jesus? About people? About our world?
What do you think is important in this picture?
Does anything in this picture have more than one meaning?
I wonder what God might be saying to you through this picture today?

Martha & Mary - He Qi

Preschool Play

Here are some ways you can invite your preschoolers to play their way into the bible story and spend time with God.

Share the Story

This is a fun story to act out if you have enough leaders. Set up a low table with yummy snacks on for 'Mary' and 'Jesus' (and all the kids) to sit around, and have a variety of cleaning and preparation items for Martha to bustle around with. Afterwards you can sit and snack together while you chat about the story.
The Best Thing To Do by Steph Williams is a lovely retelling of the Mary and Martha story for littles. One of the 'Little Me Big God' Series
Full preschool lesson (Mrs Jones Creation Station)

Many hands make light work - clean up together
You will need a selection of safe cleaning items. Try a carpet sweeper or hand vaccum, some spray bottles with just water in, wiping cloths, small baskets to gather toys etc.
Little kids love helping with jobs especially if it's fun. You might like to talk about how if everyone had pitched in before Jesus arrive the jobs would have already been done. At the end of the session after you have prayed together, pop on a fun song and clean up together.

Listening Space - Make a quiet space where kids can sit and be with God. You might like to include some books or some reflective activities (Flame Creative).

Focus on Jesus binoculars - Make some simple binoculars (Smithsonian) to help us focus.
Talk about - distractions, how Martha got distracted from the important thing, what distracts us and how we can focus on what's important.

Stop Go games - try some of the Stop Go games from our Games & Activities section.

Additional collect

God our home,
in Christ you are always with us;
in all our daily activities
help us not to be so worried and distracted by many things
that we forget the one thing we need,
and lose the better part, which will be ours forever;
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.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time