God's Still Small Voice

Children’s Chapel

June 19, 2016
Proper 7C

Theme: God’s still small voice; God is always with us.

Welcome: Children will enter quietly and sit together on the floor. Welcome all children and ask if there are any new friends today.

Preview the Story: Have any of you ever been afraid? What are some things that make you afraid? Where do you want to go when you are afraid? Do you want to hide? Do you want to be with your mom or dad? In our Bible story today we will hear about what God’s prophet, Elijah does when he is afraid.

           

The Bible Story: (Read Aloud)

1 Kings 19:1-15

19Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. ⁴But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” ⁶He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” ⁸He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

⁹At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” ¹¹He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

Respond to the Story: In the Bible story we just heard, Elijah is afraid and he runs in hides in a cave. He wants to find God, but he can’t. He looks all over for God and thinks he sees him in the strong winds and then in an earthquake, and then in fire. As he sits by himself Elijah hears nothing but silence. The silence scares Elijah even more and he covers his face. Then he hears a very small voice, almost a whisper say to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah realizes this very stil small voice is God and that God has been with him all along.

God is also with each of us all of the time in both good times and sad times and everywhere in between. When we are afraid we are comforted by God’s still small voice that always whispers his unending love right to each of our hearts.

Pray:  Heavenly Father, we give thanks today for the gift of your presence always with us. Let us grow in your love and always remember that you are with us. In your holy name, Amen.

Say The Lord’s Prayer Together.

Response Activity: Father’s Day craft.