Children’s Message
Easter Eggs in a Basket
Eggs in a Basket to Tell the Easter Story I have used 8 eggs, not the traditional dozen (it’s what I had at my house) The plan is to tell part of the story and then invite the children to guess what might be in the eggs that represent the story I have just shared. Have fun!! Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem: Egg 1 – An antique cardboard Easter egg – inside is a coat (from a Mary Poppins doll), a piece of spider plant (to represent the palms), and a minitaure porcelain stallion. Jesus overturning the tables in the temple:...
read moreRefugee Awareness
In response to the UN’s World Refugee Day (6/20), mindful that 1 in 110 people in the world is currently displaced for one reason or another, and in conversation with Scripture, our church held Refugee Awareness Sunday on 6/23/2019. Here is an outline of our liturgy to inspire you and to be adapted for your setting. Words for Contemplation: “As far as I could tell, the world was not going to stop producing refugees. The plain, irreducible fact of good people being made nomad by the millions through all the kinds of horrors this...
read moreWilderness in a Bag
I am always looking for ways to “extend the sanctuary”…always looking for ways to extend worship for individuals and families into Sunday afternoon and the rest of the week. Fortunately, Lent is such a rich season and provides many symbols and opportunities to do just this! On the first Sunday in Lent 2017 I planned the following for our Children’s message: I took some all purpose sand (about $2.50 for 50# lb bag) and: 1) I poured one whole 50 bag onto a tarp at the front of the church to make a small wilderness area;...
read moreLight the Candle!!!
Below is an Advent wreath liturgy written for a Christmas Eve family/early service using Isaiah 9:2-7. It gives children and adults alike a chance to shout in church and celebrate the birth of the Christ-child. Fun, simple and meaningful. One: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. RESPONSE: [SHOUT] Light the candle!! One: [LIGHT PURPLE CANDLE #1] A light has shined on those living in deep darkness. RESPONSE: Light the candle!! One: [LIGHT PURPLE CANDLE #2] You have made the nation great; you have increased its joy....
read moreYes, you can go there!
As a child, our church’s sanctuary was not a place of mystery or wonder for me, but a place of prohibition. DON’T touch the organ! DON’T go behind the pulpit. DON’T ever touch the altar. As it turned out, the unapproachable sanctuary translated for me into a feeling that our pastor, and God, were unapproachable too. To be fair, that was not the intention of my church or its leaders and I know they would be horrified to hear that. Fostering a sense of the holy, creating a sanctuary space, and keeping the sanctuary...
read moreThrough the Church Year
Below is a detailed liturgy for a single Sunday morning service that walks a congregation through the entire Church calendar from Advent through Reign of Christ. Through Word, explanation, and song, this service is a worshipful way to educate and to help a multi-generational congregation to participate in the rhythms and patterns of the liturgical year. It was originally used in 2006 for a United Church of Christ congregation in Massachusetts. (Note: *= Stand as you are able) Order of Worship Prelude & Meditation Time Greetings,...
read moreConnected: Web of Yarn
Here is an exercise that uses balls of yarn to illustrate community/unity/oneness/body of Christ by physically connecting a worshiping congregation. It could be used: as an illustration for a children’s message as an illustration during a sermon about community as part of reading Scripture (e.g. Romans 12:4-5, John 17:21, Psalm 133:1) Your idea here:________ Procedure: Get some balls of yarn (inexpensive/used/donated). Hard to say how many for your setting, but you will need enough yarn to weave back and forth throughout the...
read moreBass Drop
First things first. WHAT’S A BASS DROP? Well, it’s an EDM (electronic dance music term) used to describe a moment in a song when the bass line rhythm suddenly “drops” or changes. They are sonic intrusions into the natural flow of a song. Bass drops, besides being intrusions, also add structure to a song, mark transitions, build anticipation and excitement, reinforce musical themes, and often evoke an emotional/visceral response that lead to people saying things like: “ah, man, that bass drop is sick.”...
read moreCapturing Lent
Cameras are ubiquitous and inter-generational. Kids have ’em on their tablets and DS’s, teens and adults have ’em on their phones, grandparents and great-grandparents probably have a phone-camera too…if not…they are likely to have one lying around the house. Why not use them for worship and faith formation? Here is an idea we used during Lent 2015 that you might adapt for your own use (could be used in any season). during Epiphany we advertised a Lenten theme of CAPTURING LENT using logo to the right: we...
read moreWorld Communion Sunday: Bread-Gift
In 2011, our church began a tradition on World Communion Sunday (1st Sunday in October) of giving BREAD-GIFTS to every family at the end of worship. The week before the service, we fill gallon size ziptop bags with the following: all of the dry ingredients for a basic french bread dough. We include enough for 2 standard sized boules (round loafs); the recipe with ingredient list (5 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, 2¼ tsp instant yeast, 2 tsp salt, 2 cups warm water) and instructions. Here it is: a. Pour bread mix from the plastic bag into a...
read more