15 June 2025
Bible readings for today
Liturgical colour: WHITE Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Today is also Disabilities Awareness Sunday |
CollectE te Tokotoru o te Aroha,
te kaihanga o te ira tāne me te ira wahine kua rite nei ki tōu ake āhua, āwhinatia mai mātou ki te whakaae ko mātou ēnei, me te mōhio ki ō mātou atawhai tētahi ki tētahi. Whakarongo ki tēnei īnoi i runga i tōu aroha. Āmine. Trinity of Love, maker of man and woman in your image help us to accept ourselves as we are, and to know our need for each other. Hear this prayer for your love’s sake. Amen. |
Matariki
Matariki is celebrated every winter when the seven-star constellation, ‘Matariki’ (also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters) appears in the dawn sky. The dates for Matariki change every year around the mid-winter moon cycle, but it’s usually around late May to mid July (this year it’s going to be marked on the Friday 20 June 2025).
While Matariki is an ancient festival for Maori – it’s also known as the Maori New Year – it has been adopted in wider New Zealand culture. Non-Maori are also learning and embracing this event as part of our calendar – and it’s a part of our pre-school and primary school curriculum.
So even if Matariki is not something you’re familiar with, it’s good to find out more - and to discover that even while its origins lie in Maori mythology, Matariki is also an opportunity for families of faith to learn more about and celebrate the goodness of our God. Families reflect on the people who have gone before them (their tipuna), and reflect on the beginnings and endings. The appearance of the group of stars reminded people to start preparing their gardens to plan their crops, and give thanks for the food we have stored and preserved. It is a time to share ideas, to remember the past and celebrate the future.
While Matariki is an ancient festival for Maori – it’s also known as the Maori New Year – it has been adopted in wider New Zealand culture. Non-Maori are also learning and embracing this event as part of our calendar – and it’s a part of our pre-school and primary school curriculum.
So even if Matariki is not something you’re familiar with, it’s good to find out more - and to discover that even while its origins lie in Maori mythology, Matariki is also an opportunity for families of faith to learn more about and celebrate the goodness of our God. Families reflect on the people who have gone before them (their tipuna), and reflect on the beginnings and endings. The appearance of the group of stars reminded people to start preparing their gardens to plan their crops, and give thanks for the food we have stored and preserved. It is a time to share ideas, to remember the past and celebrate the future.
It is the LORD who created the stars,
the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land Amos 5:8 |
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Resources
Useful Websites
Scripture Union New Zealand
Presbyterian Church
Our friends in the Presbyterian Church have some great resources listed on their Kids Friendly website. Some of our favourites include:
Te reo to learn
- Kiwi Families Matariki
- Matariki Teachers’ Resource (Christchurch Libraries)
- Matariki Classroom Resources (Te Papa)
- Matariki at Messy Church (Messy Church NZ)
Scripture Union New Zealand
- Scripture Union have two great pages on their website for Matariki - page 1 here and page 2 here.
- SUNZ Matatiki 2017 Resource Ideas
Presbyterian Church
Our friends in the Presbyterian Church have some great resources listed on their Kids Friendly website. Some of our favourites include:
- Columba College Matariki Stars template, Stars chain Instructions, Matariki Verses, Matariki Worksheet, Matariki Answers
- St Andrew's on the Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Te reo to learn
- Nga Whetu - stars
- Te Marama - the moon
- Nga Ranginui - the sky
Media
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When the Spirit comes (John 16:12-15)
Today's gospel reading comes from a passage in the Gospel of John, where Jesus is telling the disciples of what is yet to come. That he will have to leave, but that God's Spirit will come. “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.' "
Quick Questions
Holy Spirit WindmillsAn activity based around the verse 'God's spirit gives new'
What you need: A copy of the template, a pencil for each child, thumb tacks, crepe paper in red, orange, yellow and blue, stuff to decorate with.What to do: Cut out the template. Get the children to decorate it. Cut down the dotted lines on the template.Pull the four corners with a * into the middle. Take a thumbtack, and carefully push through the centre of the template and all four corners. (note: leaders will have to help do this for the younger children) Take a pencil and push the thumbtack into the pencil. Make sure that you don’t push it all the way. Attach crepe paper streamers to the windmill. You may like to wrap them around the pencil. Or have them attached to the wind mill. Test that it works by blowing it. Story CraftCreate a three-sided stage showing scenes from the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus.
This craft looks at the life of Nicodemus, as displayed in John’s Gospel. The composition is really simple for this craft, with the hardest element being cutting the shapes – if you have younger children you may want to pre-cut in part. There are two options for making the scenes -- either printing in colour (much quicker), or printing in black and white and having the children colour in. Detailed instructions are found here The template for making the scenes in colour is found here The black and white template is here Balloon ChallengeA game for younger children.
You will need: Balloons, chairs or cones What to do: Give everyone a blown up balloon. Get them to line up at one end of the room. When you say go, they have to get to the other end of the room as fast as they can by touching the balloon with only their heads.Once they get to the other end do it again. This time, change the body part. E.g. Only touching the balloon with your left ear etc. The game ends when ever you like! Balloon BallA game for older children
You will need: A balloon, a two goals (two chairs a metre apart) at each end of the room. What to do: Divide the children into two teams. Give each team a goal. The object of the game is to get the balloon into your team’s goal. You can make this interesting by calling out which part of their body they can use to move the balloon e.g. ‘head’ or ‘left hands’, or ‘tummies’. The winning team is the team with the most goals after 10mins. |
Gospel ConversationsTrinity Sunday is notorious for being a tricky Sunday to preach on, and yet when Gillian, Esther and John get together with Michael, it becomes a thing of dancing and mystery and joy! Join them as they grapple with this strange and wonderful belief at the centre of our faith.
Older Kids Group DiscussionTalk about : Read the passage from the bible and talk about the story. Talk about being born again. It is a phrase we hear a lot in Christian circles but what does it mean? Jesus says you have to be born again in order to ‘see the Kingdom of God’. It’s a bit like later on he says you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you receive it like a child. Jesus really rated children, he is on your side! He loves so many things about you, he tells the grown ups to try and be more like you....
So another way to think about being born again is to think of the caterpillar/butterfly cycle. It is truly amazing how a green stripey caterpillar transforms into a Monarch butterfly. But it really happens. You know what? God’s love inside someone can transform them in the same way - a huge transformation. It is also amazing to look at say your Dad or teacher and know that they were once a tiny baby inside their mother’s tummy! They have been transformed by time, as they have grown up. God offers everyone the chance to be transformed. If we accept his offer, his gift of love into our lives and accept that He should lead the way in our lives, then we can be changed into so much better people! Follow with the caterpillar craft (see other activity on this day) Butterfly Talk and ActivityYou will need: Tiny pompoms, glue, pegs, googly eyes, pipecleaners, ziplock bags, lollies (milk bottles, raspberries/blackberries, marshmallows), cheerio cereal. Print outs of the caterpillar template, or your own version
. Instructions: Get them to choose 5 pompoms and hold them while you talk about....butterflies. Who has seen any Monarch butterflies this summer? Watched them lay eggs, watch the caterpillars grow, seen the beautiful chrysalis and the amazing butterfly come out? Well.... Lay your pompoms out on the table as you listen to this story: Our bible reading today is when Jesus talks to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a very important and clever Jewish teacher and he came to ask Jesus some questions (at night!). He could see that the things Jesus was doing were more amazing than an ordinary man could do. He was very surprised when Jesus said to him that everyone, including him, would need to be ‘born again’ to be able to be with God. Nicodemus was confused! How can you be born again? Well you can’t! Unless you think about a change that happens in your heart. Your heart can be transformed just like a caterpillar is completely changed into a butterfly. Because to be ‘born again’ is talking about the change that happens inside you. That change can happen when you want God in your life and want to try and put Him first. So let’s build our caterpillar and then transform him/her into a butterfly! Butterfly craftSo, you have 5 pieces of a caterpillar: caterpillar body x 2, pompoms, antenna, ziplock bags for wings. Stick the caterpillar card to the peg, the side with writing on goes on the bottom. Then glue the pompoms to the peg. The head will be the end that opens. Add a pipe cleaner if liked for an antennae. God’s love and learning more about Jesus from the bible is like a gift to us that transforms us. So I have a gift for you, to help you remember God’s love is like a gift, you only have to accept it! Who is going to accept my gift?! (lollies) The lollies are going to be your butterfly wings, so you will want an even number. You can choose 2 milk bottles, 2 blackberry/raspberries and 4 marshmallows and few cheerios. Put them in the ziplock bag, half on each side. Then close the bag and hold it in the middle with the peg. |
What is the trinity?
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Psalm 8
"O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!" Psalm 8:1. This psalm just bursts out with praise and adoration at God's creation.
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Disabilities Awareness Sunday
Resources
Sunday resources (Elevate Christian Disability Trust)
Anglican Taonga article (Anglican Taonga)
Avoiding Abelist Language (Augsburg.edu)
A simple reflection tool (Erik Carter) - a resource for schools, but you could replace the word 'student' with 'children' and reflect on how you are creating a space for all children to belong in your churches.
Anglican Taonga article (Anglican Taonga)
Avoiding Abelist Language (Augsburg.edu)
A simple reflection tool (Erik Carter) - a resource for schools, but you could replace the word 'student' with 'children' and reflect on how you are creating a space for all children to belong in your churches.
Church resources and reading
My Body is Not a Prayer Request
Amy Kenny "Much of the church has forgotten that we worship a disabled God whose wounds survived resurrection, says Amy Kenny. It is time for the church to start treating disabled people as full members of the body of Christ who have much more to offer than a miraculous cure narrative and to learn from their embodied experiences. Written by a disabled Christian, this book shows that the church is missing out on the prophetic witness and blessing of disability. Kenny reflects on her experiences inside the church to expose unintentional ableism and cast a new vision for Christian communities to engage disability justice. She shows that until we cultivate church spaces where people with disabilities can fully belong, flourish, and lead, we are not valuing the diverse members of the body of Christ. Here is an Facebook Live interview with Amy Kelly Soujourners Article (Amy Kenny) |
Children's BookThe Big Wide Welcome is a book by Trill Newbell, and published by the Good Book Company.
This beautiful hardback Bible storybook for 3-6-year-olds uses the Bible’s teaching on favoritism from James chapter 2 to encourage children to love and welcome people regardless of their wealth, personality, or background, just like Jesus does. Download a "Our churches should be big-wide-welcome places – places where there are no favorites, and everyone is loved" colouring sheet |
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