The Lord's Prayer

Children’s Chapel

July 24, 2016
Proper 12C

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

Theme: The Lord’s Prayer         

Bible Story: “The Jesus Storybook Bible” pages 222-227 (read aloud)

Bible Reference: Luke 11:1-13

11He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ²He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” ⁵And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. ⁹“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Response: Today we are going to talk about the prayer Jesus taught us to say.  There are some big words and hard things to understand in this prayer, so we are going to think about them out loud together. 

The prayer begins:

Our Father, who art in Heaven
(Pull out the collage of people and animals and hand to a child who will hold it while you speak.)

Some people find it helpful to think about God’s love for us like a father’s love for his children. You can also think about God’s love as being like the love of the person who knows you and loves you the best such as your Mom and/or Dad’s love for you, or the love of your sister or brother, or the way your grandparents love you. God’s love for us is bigger than any love, but our love that we feel in our families helps us to think about God’s love by remembering how we feel when we are with the person who knows us and loves us best.

Hallowed be thy Name
Get ready with your “holy” poster.

“Hallowed” is a funny word, isn’t it?  Does anyone know what it means?  “Hallowed” is a word that means “holy” (Hand a child the poster with the word “HOLY” on it) or “special.”  And God’s name IS special and holy. 

Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven
(Hold up the globe)

We ask God to help us do God’s will and to help us make the world the way God wants it to be – just like God sees the world in Heaven. 

In this part of the prayer, we are asking God to use us to help make the earth the way God imagines it can be. (Hand the globe to one of the children.)

Give us this day our daily bread
(Take out the loaf of bread and hand it to another child.)

I wonder what this could mean?  Back in the times when the Bible was written, bread was the basic necessity of life.  In the prayer, bread is a symbol for asking God to make sure we have what we need.  What do you think are the things we need? 

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
Hold up the “No trespassing” sign and pass it off to another child

“Trespasses” is another of those big words that we need to think about.  Have you ever seen a sign like this one?  What do you think it means?  When we “trespass” against someone, we do something wrong, something that is hurtful to or disrespectful of another person. We ask God to forgive us and to help us forgive others.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
Pull out the Monopoly money or the gem

“Temptation” is another big word. “Temptation” can be lots of things.  What tempts you?  It can be something as big wanting to steal from other people or as small as sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar when Mom or Dad has said, “Not until after dinner!”  We ask God to help us stay away from the things that we know are wrong for us to do.  And that is how “deliver us from evil” gets into the prayer.  In the “trespasses” line just before this one, we prayed about forgiving others from the wrong they have done to us and we ask for forgiveness for the wrongs we have done to others. 

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever
Pull out the crown and hang on to it

This last part of the prayer reminds us that everything in the world, even our very selves, belongs to God.  Even the things we think we own, really belong to God.  In telling God that we know all the blessings and good things we have come from him, we tell God that we trust him to lead us in our lives and to help us take good care of the gifts God has given us. 

Now, let’s say the whole prayer together.  I will say a line and you repeat it back to me. 

Pray: The Lord’s Prayer

Response Activity: “The Lord’s Prayer” craft