Fruits of the Spirit

Children’s Chapel

June 26, 2016
Proper 8C

Introduction for Teachers:  In our lesson today we will be looking at a reading from the book of Psalms. In the reading the author praises God for his creation drawing specific reference to how God created man to care for creation. As children of God we are made in his image and given many gifts and talents that are ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen each one of us as we serve God and care for his creation. As we trust in God we grow in the fruits of his Spirit.

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

Preview: That gift is the Holy Spirit who is a part of God and lives in each of our hearts to strengthen and inspire us as we grow in God’s love every day. Today we will listen to a reading from the book of Psalms which is a collection of prayers and songs written to God.

           

The Bible Reading: (Read Aloud)

Psalm 8

¹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

⁷all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

⁸the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Respond to the Story: In the chapter of Psalm that I just read to you, the author is praising God for the gift of creation. He says as God’s children God has “crowned [us] with glory and honor [and has] given [us] dominion over the works of [God’s] hands . . .” God has given us all of creation to care for. That’s a big job isn’t it? But God does not ask us to do this all by our selves. Just as we learned last week, God is always with us and through the power of the Holy Spirit he gives us certain gifts and talents from his own heart that give us the ability to care for his creation. God works through each of us his children to allow his love to flow into the world and to care for all of his creation. Just as the author of the Psalm we just heart had a grateful heart, we too may have grateful hearts knowing that God has made us his children and has given us the Holy Spirit to help us as we care for his creation. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God plants seeds that become Fruit of his Spirit. When we trust in God the fruits such as love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness are produced within us through God’s grace.

Galations 5: 22-25: ²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Pray:  Thank you God for making us each one of us in your image and calling us all your children. Thank you for your creation and for your Holy Spirit who lives in one with you and your Son Jesus. Strengthen and inspire us through the power of the Holy Spirit that we may grow in the fruits of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Response Activity: Children will make a Fruits of the Spirit craft. (Materials and supplies will be provided and set up for craft response activity.)

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.

God Always Forgives

Children’s Chapel

June 12, 2016
Proper 6C

Theme: God always forgives 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: How many of you have every said “I’m sorry” or have had someone tell you “I’m sorry.”  What do the words “I’m sorry” mean and why do we say it? Sometimes we may do something that hurts another person’s feelings either by what we say or do. We may do something that we know or maybe don’t know is not a good thing to do. We are made in God’s image, but we are human so that means that we are not perfect and that’s ok. We are God’s children and even when we do something that is not good, God still loves us and forgives us. Today we are going hear a Bible story about God’s forgiveness.

           

The Bible Story: (Read Aloud)

Luke 7:36 - 8:3

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. ³⁷And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “Speak.” ⁴¹“A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. ⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” ⁴⁸Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Respond to the Story: In the story we just listened to Jesus has dinner with a Pharisee who in Jesus’ time was a very important religious man. A woman came in and began washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointing his feet with expensive oil. This may seem really strange if someone did this today. But in Jesus’ times, they wore sandals and their feet got dusty on the dirt roads that the people traveled. It was not strange for a person to be offered a bowl of water to wash their feet when they came to a person’s home. But the Pharisee did not offer Jesus a bowl to wash his feet. The woman who came into the room where Jesus was had done many things she for which she was very sorry. She recognized that Jesus was a very holy man. We know that Jesus is God’s Son and is God himself. When the woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears he knew that she was very sorry and he told her that she was forgiven. No matter what we do or say that may be hurtful or wrong, God always forgives us. We may feel great sadness for what we have done as the woman who cried over Jesus’ feet did. We can find peace and hope in knowing that God always forgives us.

Pray:  Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us as your children and for always being with us. Thank you for always forgiving us even when we have done something that hurts others. Help us to follow your ways of love. In your holy name, Amen.

Response Activity: Forgiveness craft