11 August 2024

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Bible readings for today

Collect

• 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
• Psalms 130:1-8
• Ephesians 4:25-32, 5:1-2
• John 6:35, 41-51

Liturgical colour: GREEN

E te Atua Atawhai,
​nāu i tuku mai tāu tama kotahi hei patunga tapu mō ō mātou hara hei tauira mō te oranga atuatanga;
Āwhinatia mai mātou i runga i te harikoa kia whiwhi i ngā mea katoa i mahia e ia mō mātou me te whai i ōna tapuwae;
Ko Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Kaiwhakaora.
Āmine.

Merciful God, you gave your only Son to be a sacrifice
for sin and an example of godly life;
help us gladly to receive all that he has done for us and follow in his footsteps;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen. ​

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More Bread of Life! (John 6:35, 41-51)

The purpose of today's story is to understand that Jesus is the bread of life (you'll notice that it was a similar theme last week!) This Bread of Life not only satisfies our hunger and thirst but also brings eternal life.

Note that the Bread of Life activities/talks/games here are a repeat from last week. You may wish to do your planning for the next two weeks together so you can split the content over the two weeks. 

Bread Quiz

This is an introductory game to get children thinking about all the different types of bread there are.

What you need: 

• Pen, paper, plates, different types of breads -- you could include a wrap, white bread, rye, sour dough, pretzel, cracker, pita bread, etc. Break off a small piece of each bread, and put on a plate for each group. If appropriate, you could include a communion wafer. 
• Make sure you know the allergy information for your children -- especially those that are gluten free. If you have gluten free children, then perhaps keep this game a as a 'seeing game' rather than a tasting game! 

What you do: 

• Divide the children into groups, with one person designated as the scribe
• Put the plate of different bread types in front of them, and get them to identify what type of breads they are. You could get them to match up different varieties if you wanted, or get them to decide from scratch! (See above re: gluten free children and how this can be a seeing and/or tasting game)
• The group that identifies the most number of breads, wins.

Games

Sandwich relay from ministry-to-children.com

Bread Tasting Contest: Gather lots of different types of bread. Let the kids take turns being blindfolded and see how many types of breads they can identify by tasting. If you have children who are gluten free, make sure you have a separate selection of gluten free breads so they can participate.  

Bread Matching Game - Notice that there are three weeks of bread in the lectionary? So did Flame Creative, who have put together this bread game with printable sheets! Thanks Flame Creative! ​

Questions to think about

• What is your favourite food to eat? What do you like about it?
• Can you name some different types of bread? Which one do you like most? Which have you never tried?
• What do we use the different types of bread for?
• Why do we eat bread?
• Why did Jesus call himself ‘The Bread of Life’?
• Does that mean Jesus was made of bread?
• What do you think eternal life is like?
• Why do you think that Jesus said to work for the food that gives Eternal Life? What is it? Can you think of some examples?

Kids Talks

 I Am: The Bread of Life  from resourcesforkidsministry.com

Jesus is The Bread of Life from ministry-to-children.com

​*these talks both mention gluten-free and keto diets. It's worth pointing out that even keto and gluten-free diets spend a lot of time trying to replicate 'bread'. Perhaps our bodies crave bread, as our spirits crave Jesus?!

Short Children's Talk
In today's story, Jesus was talking about being the Bread of Life. Does that mean that he wants us to eat him? No! So what does he mean? (Pause for answers) Well, I think that what Jesus really means is to feed on what he teaches about faith and God and being the person that God wants you to be. Why do you go to school? (Pause) For me, the thing about school that I went for was to learn and to feed my mind. Well, I think Jesus wants to feed our souls and minds. Cool aye?!?!

So, what are some ways that you can think of that would be feeding our minds and souls for God? (Pause, maybe come up with a list)
​
Well today, we are going to make our own special bread to help us to remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Perhaps we can make enough that you could share it with other people as well!

Making Bread

Making food is always a hit with kids! Here's an easy recipe to make bread on a session. Or try this one for authentic unleavened bread.

• With small groups you can make the dough with the kids by premeasuring ingredients into containers and giving each child a container to add to the common mixing bowl.
• With larger groups, make the dough beforehand and then give each child a portion of dough and a rolling pin (or something similar like a jar) to roll into their own flatbread. 
• An electric frying pan is a good way to cook the bread so all kids can see. Use sensible safety precautions! e.g. draw a chalk circle around the floor which children must stay outside of.

Crafts and Activities

Bread Painting - a fun bread activity from Raising Veggie Lovers. Perhaps you could write "bread of life" on the slice...

​Bread of Life Badges

• Grab some safety pins, tape, cardboard, template for badges, scissors, glue and felt etc to decorate
• Download the file: Bread of Life.pdf
• Glue badge templates to the cardboard (you can do this beforehand if you want). Cut out badges. Decorate. Tape a safety pin to the back.

Leaders input

Gospel Conversations 2024: This is the time in the 3-year lectionary cycle when we get a whole lot of weeks in a row considering Jesus as the Bread of Life. It can be difficult to find new angles to take on this, week after week! Fortunately we call on a wide range of people to be part of these conversations, so here are a whole bunch of new approaches to the theme you've all been considering for a while already. Join David Tombs, Andrew Metcalfe, Emma Wilson and Michael in this practical, grounded look at bread and Jesus.

​Gospel Conversations 2021: From the Diocese of Dunedin: This week we have the second of three weeks in which the gospels look at Jesus as the Bread of Life. David, Trish and Steve challenge us to balance a "spiritual" understanding of the passage with the very real and practical implications of Jesus satisfying physical hunger in a world of inequalities.

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Intergenerational Worship

All-Age Worship Service: I Am The Bread of Life from the Salvation Army.

Intergen Australia have a great collections of resources for exploring the Bread of Life Topic, written and compiled by Rev Beth Nicholls. Make sure you check out their other resources too.

Reflective Colouring Sheet

Creative Bread Prayers

Creative Bread prayers from flamecreative.blogspot.com that could be used in a variety of settings. ​

Bread Basket Prayers

Print out pictures of bread from The Kitchn website and use them as paper to write your prayers on in the church service. People can choose their favourite type of bread, as there is a wide range! ​

Extra Collect

Holy God,
you have shown us the bread that never perishes,
you are the bread of life;
may we hunger for that bread above all else
and seek to feed others with your life giving love.
For you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
​Amen

Media

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Live a life of Love (Ephesians 4:25-32, 5:1-2)

'No put downs'

Intergenerational Worship

The Salvation Army have a great set of children's ministry ideas that tie this Ephesians passage with the teaching in the book of James, about how we use our words to build others up, and not 'put others down'. It can be easy to fall into the trap of using this bible passage to teach a lesson on behaviour modification, but perhaps there is more in the passage than a list of behavioural changes. 

Ephesians 5:1-2 has a beautiful summary of these words: "Live a life filled with love". Think about how your words can build up someone as you live a life filled with love, and how this can be an overflow of a heart for Jesus. Check out the link above for great ideas of how to do this. 

Love looks like this

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God" Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)

​After a long list of instructions, Paul sums up this passage by reminding us what love looks like. Love looks like Jesus, offering his life for us. Love looks like sacrifice, acceptance, grace, humility and faithfulness. 

Intergen Australia have a great collection of resources for exploring this topic, written and compiled by Rev Beth Nicholls. 

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Psalm 130

An amazing free resource from Illustrated Ministries for this psalm can be downloaded here

Psalm 130: I will wait for you, sung by Shane & Shane

Psalm 130: I will wait for you - Keith & Kristyn Getty

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