7 September 2025
Bible readings for today
Liturgical colour: GREEN The Season of Creation begins. This starts on 1 September and ends on 4 October and is an annual celebration of prayer and action to protect God's amazing creation. Father's Day is also celebrated on the first Sunday in September. Lots of different options this Sunday! Below you'll find resources for each of these plus our usual weekly reading resources. |
CollectE te Atua pononga, hōmai he mahi mā
mātou, tukua mai kia kaikā mātou ki te mahi ki a koe i ia rā i ia rā; inā hoki ko ngā mea e mahia ana e mātou pērā te awhi tētahi ki tētahi, waiho hei tākoha mā mātou. Whakarongo ki tēnei īnoi i runga i tōu aroha. Āmine. Servant God, grant us opportunity, give us willingness to serve you day by day; that what we do and how we bear each other’s burdens, may be our sacrifice to you. Hear this prayer for your love’s sake. Amen. |
Being a disciple (Luke 14:25-33)
This week's reading is a challenging one as it talks about the cost of being a disciple.
Input for leaders
Challenging verses!
It's passages like this one that make the lectionary hard work! How do you navigate such difficult passages, such as this one in Luke, as an adult -- let alone explain it to children? We believe that there are age appropriate scriptures, and certainly there are some things in the Bible that might not be suitable for them to hear yet. However, it is our role and responsibility to steward these scriptures with love and care, and help our tamariki unpack them in a way that kindles their faith and grows their love of God. Take time to think about how you will approach this passage. Perhaps you don't read it all? Perhaps you choose a couple of verses to focus on. Perhaps you paraphrase, explain, unpack, and sensitively translate. Remember that for children, their families are their safety nets and most important people in their lives, so to hear that Jesus says we cannot be his follower if we love our parents more than God, is tough to digest at such a young age. A couple of the activities below highlight the importance of 'commitment' -- this is a great concept for kids to grasp, and a foot in the door to help them understand perhaps what Jesus meant in Luke 14. |
Gospel Conversations 2025: Another tricky gospel passage! We seem to be having a few at this time of year, but it's all part of following Jesus on the road to Jerusalem.
Gospel Conversations 2022: This is the sort of gospel reading that might make you think it was a good Sunday for preaching on the Old Testament... but maybe that's exactly the attitude Jesus is addressing here! How do we face the tough demands of Jesus' teaching, and why would we want to?
Visio Lectio
Another great print design from Rev. Sarah West at Visio Lectio, shared here with permission. PNG Download Terms of Use 
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Intergenerational worshipA collection of resources and ideas (Intergen Australia)
Written and compiled by Chris Barnett. Bible references: Luke, Psalms. 
Kid's TalksThe cost of discipleship (RFour)
A Children’s Sermon on Luke 14:25-33 (Gary Neal Hansen) Counting the cost (Sermons 4 Kids) Counting the cost (Ministry to Children) - possibly better for slightly older kids Object lesson with scales (Sunday Children's Focus) - the benfits of following Jesus far outweigh the costs! Following Jesus (Kids Bible Lessons) Commitment
What is one thing that you really enjoy that you couldn’t live without? Why is it important to you? (Pause for discussion) In today’s story, Jesus was telling the crowd that in order to follow him, they had to follow him with all their heart and make it the top priority in their lives. Wow! That’s quite a commitment!! Why do you think it was important to Jesus that his followers made him a priority? (pause) Well, I think that Jesus was teaching the people about commitment. How many of you are part of a sports team, or have been in a school play or have done a group project for school? What is it like when someone doesn’t turn up and they are supposed to, how does it make you feel? (pause) Well, I feel upset because if they had a specific job to do, then someone else has to cover for them, and if it’s a practice then I get annoyed because they won’t know what to do when they do turn up. Its very frustrating. So when Jesus is asking his followers to make him a priority, I think he is trying to tell them to not let other things distract them from learning from Jesus about the Kingdom of God . So what does this mean for us do you think? What are some things we can do to make following Jesus a priority? (pause) Give them time to think of ideas, including reading the bible regularly, praying and talking to God, going to church, loving others like Jesus would love them, forgiving people, being kind, etc. 
Questions to think about
Pray it!Labyrinths have been used by Christians as a spiritual practice for many centuries. A labyrinth is different from a maze because it only has one path - just like Jesus is the one true way.
You may like to make some labyrinths during your activity time with the kids. Flame Creative has lots of easy fabulous different versions to make including:
To pray, simply get the children to sit on their own and silently follow the pathway with their finger. encourage them to think about Jesus and ask Jesus to show them how they can follow him this week. |
Games/ActivitiesWorksheets
Active Activities!
Art projects (Sermons 4 kids)
“What’s your excuse” game - Play this game but instead of the usual words, say "I was going to follow Jesus but oh no...." and add an excuse (e.g. I couldn't find my socks). Talk about what might stop us from following Jesus and how we can follow Jesus. Preschool Play
Starter - why not lay out a trail of footprints from church to kids church or from the back of church to the front of church. Get kids to "follow" the footprints to your lesson space.
Sharing the Story
Rolling balls - Tape some paths along the floor with some masking tape. Make some simple and some harder. Then give the kids soft balls to roll along the tape. Talk about - it is hard or easy to follow the tape? Why? Why not? Is it hard or easy to follow Jesus? Why? Why not? Active - Follow the leader. Play a simple game of Simon says or follow the leader. Or change it to "God says". Talk about listening to someone else and doing what they say. Is it easy? Is it hard? How do you know whether to listen to them or not? Are there people we should listen to? Are there people we shouldn't listen to? Footprints - Set up a making footprint making station with some plastic animals and a damp sand tray, or with some paper and a paint tray. Talk about - the footprints are all different. Do we all have to be the same to follow Jesus? Sensory Prayer Path (Flame Creative) - a sensory pathway for kids to walk along and connect with God. Household ConnectionsCarry on the conversations this week with this great resource for families. Shared with permission from Lisa Carlton, Parish of Johnsonville, Churton Park & Ohariu Valley. Coming soon...
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