15 August 2021

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Bible readings for today

Collect

• 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
• Psalms 111:1-10
• Ephesians 5:15-20
• John 6:51-58

St Mary, the Mother of Jesus

• Isaiah 7:10-15 
• Psalm 132:6-10,13-14 
• Galatians 4:4-7 
• Luke 1:46-55 or 2:1-7

Holy God,
grant us grace to receive you
without resistance, fear or pride;
that we might fully know
that we are your people.
May we truly love,
not only our friends, but also our enemies,
following the commandment of love.
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

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 if for our symbolic ritual.  

Bread and Wine

Quick Questions

I am that bread from heaven! Everyone who eats it will live for ever. My flesh is the life-giving bread that I give to the people of this world.
They started arguing with each other and asked, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus answered: "I tell you for certain that you won't live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you.
The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. The bread that comes down from heaven isn't like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live for ever."

• What do we ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ in church? How might that connect with today’s story?
• What do we call that time in the service? 
• Why do you think we have the bread and the wine at communion?
• How do you feel about communion? Is it important to you? Why/Why not?

Creative Bread Intercessions

Another great idea from Flame Creative, using bread in your all age prayers

Fruit Salad 

Preparation: 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!

​What is Communion

Today 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:

• Make your own small version of the communion table and let children play with the different pieces
• Invite a priest to come and explain what they do at communion and what the words mean
• Invite the children up to the altar for communion, to watch closely and help with the eucharist. 
• Depending on your parish, you might like to think about a communion class for children who want to understand more, help with the communion, or ask questions about their faith.

Communion Craft

Activity: 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: 

• To make the paten, glue/write the words onto the cardboard. Cut out the two pieces, including the shaded bit in the middle of the first piece. (smaller children may need help with this.)
• Glue the pieces together so that the words can be read through the circle. Refer to the photo if you are unsure.
• To make the chalice, glue/tape the bottoms of the two plastic cups together to form the chalice. Glue/tape the words around the base of the chalice. 
• Decorate both paten and chalice however you like. 

Variations: You might like to explain what the words are, or change them to reflect what you say in your parish.

Luke 1:46-55 or  2:1-7 

Gospel Conversations

This week we think about the song the young Mary sang as her life was turned upside down. We are led by three people who each have a wide experience with young people themselves. Gillian Townsley, Auckland chaplain John Goodwin and Invercargill-based Diana Abercrombie meet with Mike Godfrey to discuss the challenges Mary gives us, together with the hope she holds out for a confused world.

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

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.