11 July 2021

Bible readings for today

Sea Sunday
Ordinary Sunday

Collect

Living God, 
the prophets faithfully served you, 
fearlessly speaking your truth. 
Grant us courage to follow their example, and witness to your truth, 
so that we might live lives worthy of your calling. 
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

Sea Sunday

From the Sea Sunday website: "The second Sunday in July, is when we come together across the globe to celebrate the role seafarers play in our daily lives. To thank them for the hardships they face and the sacrifices they have been forced to endure due to the Covid lockdowns. You can join with your church, community group, school or individually.
From London to Lagos and Manila to Melbourne, our community gathers together to give something back to these essential workers who spend months away from their families in often difficult conditions to help keep our global economy afloat.

​Mission to Seafarers Wellington - Facebook Page

Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:35-41)

 Calming the storm is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels

Stories

This book is a wonderful retelling of the bible story found in Mark 4, with vivid illustrations and an engaging prose. 

You can watch the story on YouTube here, narrated by a New Zealander! Or buy yourself a copy on Book Depository here.

Activities

Boat Race

A game for younger children
​What you need: Large boxes from the supermarket.
What to do: Give each child a box and get them to line up at one end of the room.
Get them to kneel inside the box so they can push themselves along with their hands.
When you say ‘Go!’ they have to try and get to the other side of the room first!

Crossing the Sea Tag

A game for older children
​What you need: Nothing!
What to do: Choose someone to be ‘In’. Have them stand in the middle of the room. Get the rest of the children to stand at one end of the room.
The person who is in, calls out ‘Crossing the Sea!’ and all the children have to try and run to the other end of the room without getting tagged. The person who is in tries to tag as many people as they can. If a child gets tagged, they must freeze where they are. They are now also ‘in’ but can only tag people that they can reach without moving. The next round starts when the person who is in calls out ‘Crossing the Sea!’  The game ends when there is no one left to tag!

Prayer in a Bottle

Boat prayers
What you need: paper, pens and felts, bottles (1 per child). Soft drink bottles are ideal! Paddling pool filled with water, or a piece of large blue material to represent water.
What to do: Get each of the children to write/draw a letter (prayer) to God for help with something that scares them or they are having trouble with. 
Roll up the letter and put it in a bottle. Write ‘SOS!’ in large letters on the bottle.
Tell the children about how in the past people would write messages in bottles and throw them out to sea in the hope that someone across the sea would find the message -- either a stranger, or someone they loved (if you were a hopeless romantic!). 
With either the paddling pool or the piece of material, get the children to one by one put their bottle into the ‘water’ and remind them that God hears their prayers, even in the storms. 
We used these origami boats to pray for the plans that God has for us in the weeks ahead. They are a bit tricky to master first time, so you might like to make some in advance, and then get people to decorate or write prayers on them. And then float your boats in a paddling pool or tub! Instructions here. (the video is helpful!)
Picture
Source: One Little Project

Media

Quick Questions

  • If you could be one person in the story, would you be Jesus or the disciples? Why?
  • Can you think of a time when you have been really afraid? What did you do?
  • Have you ever prayed for help? What happened?

Intergenerational Art

Beth Barnett has put together some fantastic Intergenerational resources for Intergen, part of the Centre for Theology & Ministry in Melbourne. 
Today's creative art ideas can be found here. Well worth a look! 

Psalm 24

Psalm 24 tells of God's amazing world

Earth craft activities

There are lots of great creative ideas to help celebrate God's amazing earth -- where do you start? Here are a few craft ideas that might be suitable for younger children (click on the pictures below to go to the website)

 The Death of John the Baptist - Mark 6:14-29

This week's RCL gospel reading is a difficult one - the beheading of John the Baptist. We wouldn't necessarily advocate for this story to be told in children's ministry programmes or in an intergenerational context, but adults may like to chew this passage over in a sermon. However, a story like this reminds us that a sermon can never 'only be for adults' - there are often young ears in the room, even if you have a full children's programme. Please be sensitive to this, when preparing any material for main church services!

In this passage, there are themes of prophecy, power, and truth that connect this passage to the Amos reading. For more information, have a read of the Church of Scotland's resources for today

Gospel Conversations

+Steve, Gillian and Alec tackle a rather difficult gospel passage together. What do we do with the story of John the Baptist being beheaded? Where is the good news in this "gospel of two halves," and who do we say Jesus is?

Ephesians

The New Testament reading for today marks the start of seven weeks of Ephesians. If you are looking for a series to dig into, during Ordinary Time in the calendar, then perhaps this might be for you. You can find more about Ephesians here

Ephesians 1:3-14

What's the plan?

Have you ever wondered what God's plan for you is? Or for your church? Your neighbourhood, the world? Good news! Just have a read of Ephesians 1:10, which lets us into the answer: 
"This is the plan: At the right time he (God) will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth." (NLT). God has a confident, clear and hope-filled plan. 

Adopted and loved

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ" - Ephesians 1:5.

Ephesians can be a beautiful, hard, confusing and amazing book to read - all in one! While I have had many a conversation about the theological complexities of predestination around this passage, the concept of adoption is a beautiful one to unpack with children. Chosen, not out of obligation or duty, but loved unconditionally through choice. God is "so rich in kindness and grace" (v.7)
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