26 August 2026

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Bible readings for today

• ​Genesis 45:1-15
• Psalm 133:1-3
• Romans 11:1-2, 29-32
• Matthew 15:(10-21)21-28

Liturgical Colour: GREEN

Collect

Come Holy Spirit with new fire; 
when our prayers seem to fail, 
when we hear no voice nor any answer, 
rouse us and light our way. 
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. 
Amen. 

Haere mai e te Wairua Tapu, me he ahikā hou; 
ki te kore e ū ā mātou īnoi, 
ki te kore tōu reo e rangona, te whakahoki kōrero rānei, 
whakaarahia mātou, whakamāramatia te huarahi ki a mātou. 
E īnoi ai mātou i roto i a te Karaiti tō mātou Kaihoko. 
Āmine. 

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The Faith of a Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:10-28)

In this Jesus praises a mother's great faith and heals her sick daughter after she refuses to give up asking him for help. It can be a challenging passage to unpack with kids with it's themes of who is in and who is out, not to say anything about Jesus' rudeness! This story is also found in in Mark 7:24-30.

Input for leaders

Gospel Conversation 2023 Matt 15:10-28 (Dio of Dunedin)
The story of Jesus and the Canaanite (or Syro-Phonecian) woman is one of those that tends to strike dread into the heart of the preacher. What do we do with this Jesus who seems to be acting so out of character with all he is and tells others to be?

Intergenerational worship

Yr A Pentecost 12, 2023:  (Intergen Australia)
A collection of resources and ideas written and compiled by Chris Barnett. Bible references: Matthew

Talks

Matthew 15:10-28 (Gary Neal Hansen) - paraphrased retelling with wondering questions. See also his talk on Mark 7:24-37

Trust and persist (Ministry to Children) 

Expect the unexpected (RFour) - ask, tell , share.

Faith and assurance (Kids Bible Lessons) - full lesson plan.

The Faith of a Canaanite woman (Ministry to Children) - full lesson plan.

​Kids Talk

• How far would you go to help a friend? 
• What would you be willing to sacrifice? (pause for discussion) 
• How far would you go to help someone that you didn’t like? (Pause) 

In today’s story, a woman whose daughter was full of demons was desperate to get Jesus to help her. Well, we know Jesus loves everyone so it would be normal to think that Jesus would help the woman. However, there is something that this story is trying to get across that has nothing to do with the daughter with demons being healed. In Jesus’ time, people who were Jewish believed that there were two kinds of people; those who were Jewish and those that weren’t. And Jews didn’t mix with non Jews. The woman in today’s story wasn’t a Jew and she would have known that Jews didn’t like mixing with non Jews. But she took a risk for her daughter and begged Jesus to help heal the daughter. 

At first Jesus didn’t answer her, but she kept asking, risking being embarrassed, verbally abused or worse because of her faith that Jesus could help. Finally Jesus told her that ‘It isn’t right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs.” This is quite important because Jewish people sometimes referred to non Jews as dogs as a kind of insult.

Yet even after this, the woman still persisted and replied that even dogs get the crumbs the fall from the table. Then Jesus did what we would expect, he healed the daughter. 

Although we today may not see this as remarkable, it would have been a big deal to the disciples because Jesus made two important statements with this act. One, he confirmed that he had been sent primarily for the Jewish people. But Jesus also showed that we need to break through walls such as Jew versus Non Jew. 
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A lesson for us today is perhaps to look at our own lives and pin point places that we may have been using differences with other people as an excuse for not getting to know them. If Jesus can do it, so can we.

Questions

• I wonder how the woman felt when Jesus first spoke to her.
  
• I wonder why she didn't give up.
  
• I wonder what Jesus wanted the disciples to learn.
  
• I wonder how the disciples felt when they found out Jesus loved people they didn’t like?
• I wonder if you've ever felt left out or not included.
• I wonder who it can be hard to welcome or love.
  
• I wonder how we can show others that everyone matters to God.​

Games & activities

Dogs and leftovers (Ministry to Children)
Choose one student to be the Master. They turn around with the rest of the students behind them. They then throw a ball or paper wad. The rest of the students are the Dogs who try to catch the 'leftovers'. The one who catches the ball or picks it up then has to run from the rest of the Dogs to keep their prize. If they make it in front of the Master, they’re safe and become the new Master. If another Dog tags them, they’re out of the game, and the Dog who tagged them becomes the new Master.

Finding Faith (Ministry to Children)
Before class, hide strips of paper around the room with the word “Faith” written on them. Then, divide kids into two or more teams. When you say, “Go!” the team members search the room to find the slips of paper. The first team to have all their members find a slip of paper and make it to their team’s starting area wins. 

Celebrate You Card
You will need:- A large piece of paper, a large envelope, stamps, magazines/ newspapers, felts and crayons, glue, scissors

• The aim is to create a big group letter/card to send to someone celebrating who they are. It is a good idea for you to prepare earlier two or three ideas for people you could send it to.
• You could choose someone in the parish that the children don’t know very well. Or you might like to choose articles from the newspaper that talk about people who have been hurt that you could send a letter to. Or pick a local hospital, vet, shopkeeper, person in the community and do it for them. You will need an address for them if they aren’t in dropping off distance.
• With the children’s help, choose who you want to do the giant celebrating you card for. Get the children to brainstorm about that person. What they know about them, what they do, why they wanted to choose this person etc.
• Decorate the card. Inside get one of the older children (or yourself) to write a message to the person. You might like to explain why you are sending them this card! Include an appropriate bible verse if you like. Get all the children to sign it. Post or deliver it.​

Similarities and differences game
You will need:- you need a circle of chairs or cushions, one less than the amount of people in the group.

• Have everyone sit on a chair including any leaders. The person who is running the game should stand in the middle of the circle. Explain that the person in the middle is to complete the following ‘My name is ……… and I ………….’. eg My name is Annette and I like the colour red. 
  
• If anyone sitting in the circle agrees with the statement (eg they like red too) then they must get up from their seat and swap places with someone else. The person in the middle has to try and get a seat. Who ever is left without a seat becomes the person in the middle and starts the next round by  saying ‘My name is …….. and I ………..’​

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​​Joseph forgives his brothers (Genesis 45:1-15)

Introduction

Much has happened in the story of Joseph between last week's reading, and today's. Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and rose to become vizier, a high official and the second most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh, where his presence and office caused Israel to leave Canaan and settle in Egypt. In today's story, Joseph forgives his brothers for their betrayal. 

Yr A Pentecost 12, 2026:  (Intergen Australia)
A collection of resources and ideas written and compiled by Jillian Ross. Bible references: Genesis, Isaiah, Psalm, Romans

Media

Saddleback Kids Saddleback Church have an animated video on their YouTube channel about 'Joseph Forgives' which is suitable for children to watch. This will be a useful video for this weeks Old Testament reading from Genesis.

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​Psalm 133:1-3

A song of ascents. Of David.
​1 How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life forevermore.

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