Make a Joyful Noise!

Children’s Chapel

October 9, 2016

Proper 23C

Theme: Praising God

Bible Reference: Psalm 66:

Introduction: Good morning girls and boys! Do we have any new friends today? (Welcome new friends.) I am so happy to see everyone here! How many of you have ever had a celebration or a party? That’s awesome! Lots of you have had or been to a celebration. There are all different kinds of reasons that we celebrate? Can you raise your hand and tell me some different things that we celebrate? What great answers! We celebrate birthdays and holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. We celebrate babies being born and when a couple gets married. There are so many things to celebrate! When we celebrate what are some things that we do? (Allow answers.) You all have again come up with wonderful things that we do when we celebrate something. We may have a party with a cake and lots of decorations and food. We may invite our friends and play festive music. We may also exchange gifts with others who are celebrating with us. Did you know that every week at church we are also celebrating? Today in our Bible I am going to read from the book of Psalms. The Psalms were written by King David and some other authors and are a little like songs or poems that about God. Today I am going to read you a part of Psalm 66.

Bible Story: Psalm 66

¹Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;

²sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.

³Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

⁴All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.”

⁵Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

⁶He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him,

⁷who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let the rebellious not exalt themselves.

⁸Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard!

⁹who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

Response: In the Psalm that I just read aloud, the author says, “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!” Raise your hand and tell me, why do we celebrate God. You are right! We celebrate God because he loves us and takes care of all of our needs. In the Psalm, the author says that, “All the earth worships you [God] they sing praises to your name.” Let’s think of some ways in which we celebrate God both inside and outside of church. (Allow answers.) When we are in church we come together and sing songs of praise and worship to God. We thank God for the many blessings he has given us, we celebrate the Eucharist and take communion together. Outside of church we continue to celebrate God and his love for each one of us by saying prayers of thanksgiving for our food when we eat or exclaiming out loud, “What a beautiful sunset!” or by admiring a beautiful flower or bird. We also celebrate God through our actions such as caring for the earth and all of its creatures or by helping others who are in need or by loving our neighbor. There are many ways in which we celebrate God every single day. And God loves to hear our joyful noises celebrating him.  Let us pray.

Pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your love and the many blessings you give to us each day. Help us to see your blessings all around us and help us to know that you are always with us taking care of all of our needs. Let us continue to sing joyful songs of praise and thanksgiving to you each day. Amen

Say the Lord’s Prayer together.

Response Activity (Crafts, Singing, or Another activity will be provided.)

Children will make a musical celebration instrument.