18 August 2024
Bible readings for today |
Collect |
Liturgical Colour: GREEN |
E te Taro o te Ora,
whakahuihuingia mātou, ki te kai, ki te inu i tōu taha. Tukua mai tōu tinana me ōu toto hei hono i a mātou tētahi ki tētahi, ā, ki a koe anō hoki. E īnoi ana mātou i runga i te ingoa o Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki. Āmine. Living host, call us together, call us to eat and drink with you. Grant that by your body and your blood we may be drawn to each other and to you. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
Bread and Wine (John 6:51-58)
Today's gospel story may seem a little complicated to unpack with children, as it is rich in metaphor and imagery. We can use this story to remind the children about why we have communion, and what the purpose is for our symbolic ritual.
Kid's TalkHere’s what happened at the end of Jesus’ speech — at least this is how I imagine it....
Jesus finished off his big speech saying, “So there you have it! I’m the Bread of Life. If you want to live forever you have to eat my body!” Well the people in the crowd were pretty confused about that. One of them said, “No way. How am I supposed to eat his body?” Someone else said, “That’s not okay at all. People are not supposed to eat other people.” They were muttering and complaining. But then one kid who had been listening very carefully snuck up behind Jesus and bit him on the leg. “Ouch!” said Jesus. “Somebody bit me!” (Want to find out what happens next?) Creative Bread PrayersWhat is CommunionToday is a great opportunity to talk about communion, and what it means. As Anglican Churches, communion is a central element to how and why we meet together -- but have you taken time to explain this with children, young people and families? Why do we do it? What do the bread and wine represent?
Some ideas include:
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Quick Questions
Game: Fruit SaladPreparation: you need a circle of chairs or cushions facing inwards
What to do: have all the children sitting on the chairs and the leader standing in the middle. Go around the circle and give each child a ‘fruit’. Only use 3 or 4 different fruit so that there is at least 2 ‘apples’ etc. Explain that you will call out a ‘fruit’ and when you do, all the children who are that fruit must get off their seat and sit in another one. The leader will also try to get a seat. There should be one person left in the middle. This person then calls out another ‘fruit’ and repeats the exercise. This is a great game for helping children get familiar with the names of things in church. You could use bread, grapes, or words like ‘chalice’, ‘paten’ and ‘stole’. Make sure you explain what these things are though! Communion CraftActivity: Chalice and Paten* (Wine and the Bread)
*Chalice is the name for the cup that holds the wine in communion. The Paten is the name for the plate that the bread or wafers are put on. What you need: cardboard, print outs with the words (or you can write these out for children to copy) small plastic cups (2 per child), tape or glue, scissors, things to decorate with Preparation: Try making an example. As an added extra, you could set up a small display that looks like the altar in your church on a small table. What to do:
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Media
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Psalm 111
"Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom; all who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!" Psalm 111:10
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Create your own psalm
During various Covid levels, our congregation was not allowed to sing, and we came up with creative ways to worship using the psalms.
- To replace this corporate aspect of worship, we created a 'Build your own psalm' on Direct Poll. Using a QR code, the congregation used their phones to scan it to start the poll, and we kept track of the most popular votes.
- We provided 4 options for people to select, and if there was a tie, we did rock/paper/scissors to choose which was to be included! At the end, we read through all the responses at the end. This worked well for all ages, and we had a few extra devices on hand to include those who may not have one.
- The first question was: What our response should be? Answers included e.g "blessed be your name", "you are a good, good God", "your love never fails" etc. After each of the refrains, we would use the chosen response.
- Further questions covered all aspects of psalms - from celebration, declaration, lament and praise.
- An example of a question was: Select one option - Your love is: "unfailing and trustworthy", "like a mother hen protecting her chicks", "like a loving father", etc. We praise you because: "you have done so much for us", "your love is unending", "your mercies are new every morning"
- We had someone typing up the responses directly into the powerpoint, so they could be read together once the poll had been completed.
- Choose 6-8 of these topics and then read out your corporate psalm together.