The Greatest Commandments

Children’s Chapel

October 29, 2017

Bible Reference: Matthew 22: 34-40

·             Welcome: Welcome all and ask if we have any new friends. Introduce new friends.

·             Church Traditions and Liturgical Calendar:

Who can tell me what liturgical season we are in right now? If you take a look at our liturgical calendar you will see that we are almost at the end of the season that we call Ordinary Time.  We have three more weeks until the beginning of the church calendar year which is the season of Advent The color we use for Ordinary Time is green so you will see that the cloth on our Children’s Chapel altar is green. You will also notice that in big church the altar frontal, church dressings, and clergy stoles are green.  Who would like to move the arrow on our liturgical calendar? (Allow one child to come up to the calendar to move the arrow forward one week.) The arrow is now pointing to the twenty-first green square.

·             Lighting of candles

(As one adult lights the altar candles, say.) We light these candles to remind us that Christ is the light of the world. We also remember that God is always with us, that Jesus lives in our hearts and that we are inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit. Before we begin our Bible lesson today, let us pray the Collect or prayer of the week. (In grades 1-5, you may ask a child volunteer to read the prayers.)

·             Children’s Collect for October 29th:

Let Us Pray:

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of

faith, hope, and love that we may be able to love you and others as you command us to do, through Jesus

Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy

Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

·             Introduction: Over the last several weeks we have read the Apostle Paul’s letters to different cities around the Roman empire. We have talked about how Paul wrote letters to people in neighboring cities to spread the good news that Jesus is the son of God who came to rescue all of us so that we can have everlasting life with him. In last week’s Bible reading, Paul wrote a letter to the Thessalonians encouraging them and reminding them of Jesus’ teachings on God’s greatest commandments. Today we will read aloud form the New Testament in the Gospel of Matthew. We find the book of Matthew in the second half of the Bible. In today’s reading we will hear Jesus tell us in his own words what are God’s greatest commandments. Let’s listen.

·             Bible Story: (Read Aloud)

With Children in grades 1-5, have several children volunteers read aloud a couple of verses each to the others.

Matthew 22:34-46

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

·             Response:

Jesus tells those who ask him that God’s Greatest Commandments are to love him with our whole heart, mind, body and soul, and the second thing God asks us to do is to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is not easy for us to do by ourselves. The good news is that we don’t have to do this by ourselves. Jesus is always with us and through him we are strengthened and able to follow his example of love in the world. We can rejoice knowing that Jesus also came for each of us to teach us how to love one another and God. Through our faith and the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to also go into the world to do God’s work that he calls each of us to do in the world.

Let us pray.

·             Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your son Jesus who taught us how to love you and to love each other. Strengthen us through your Holy Spirit so that we may do the work you have called each of us to do daily. In your holy name, Amen.

·             Response Activity will be provided.

Strengthened through the Holy Spirit

Children’s Chapel

October 22, 2017

Bible Reference: 1 Thessalonians 1-10

·             Welcome: Welcome all and ask if we have any new friends. Introduce new friends.

·             Church Traditions and Liturgical Calendar:

Who can tell me what liturgical season we are in right now? If you take a look at our liturgical calendar you will see that we are almost at the end of the season that we call Ordinary Time.  We have four more weeks until the beginning of the church calendar year which is the season of Advent The color we use for Ordinary Time is green so you will see that the cloth on our Children’s Chapel altar is green. You will also notice that in big church the altar frontal, church dressings, and clergy stoles are green.  Who would like to move the arrow on our liturgical calendar? (Allow one child to come up to the calendar to move the arrow forward one week.) The arrow is now pointing to the twentieth green square.

·             Lighting of candles

(As one adult lights the altar candles, say.) We light these candles to remind us that Christ is the light of the world. We also remember that God is always with us, that Jesus lives in our hearts and that we are inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit. Before we begin our Bible lesson today, let us pray the Collect or prayer of the week. (In grades 1-5, you may ask a child volunteer to read the prayers.)

·             Children’s Collect for October 22nd:

Let Us Pray:

Almighty and everlasting God, in Jesus you have shown us

your glory to all people of every nation. Strengthen us with your love and grace so that we may grow in faith to do your work in the world

    through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

·             Introduction: Over the last several weeks we have read the Apostle Paul’s letters to different cities around the Roman empire. We have talked about how Paul wrote letters to people in neighboring cities to spread the good news that Jesus is the son of God who came to rescue all of us so that we can have everlasting life with him. Paul’s letters to the people are included in the Bible and we call his letters Epistles. Even though they were written many years ago, Paul’s letters were inspired by the Holy Spirit and offer us good news and encouragement in our everyday lives. Today we are reading another letter that Paul wrote to the people who lived in Thessalonica. Let’s listen.

·             Bible Story: (Read Aloud)

With Children in grades 1-5, have several children volunteers read aloud a couple of verses each to the others.

1 Thessalonians 1-10

1 I, Paul, together here with Silas and Timothy, send greetings to the church at Thessalonica, Christians assembled by God the Father and by the Teacher, Jesus Christ. God’s amazing grace be with you! God’s robust peace!

2-5 Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you’re in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Teacher, Jesus Christ, before God our Father. It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn’t just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.

5-6 You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated Jesus. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!

7-10 Do you know that all over the regions of both Macedonia and Achaia, believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing Jesus’ Word, not only in your cities but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even have to say anything anymore—you’re the message! People come up and tell us how you received us with open arms, how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.

·             Response: In Paul’s letter, he encourages the Thessalonians and recognizes their faith in God saying that through the Holy Spirit their actions have inspired others in other cities to give up their old practices and idols in order to follow the life of Jesus and his teachings. Paul continues to encourage the Thessalonians by telling them that even though they have had difficult things to go through at times, their faith in God has strengthened them in order to do the work of God in their city and that word of their work has spread to others without them having to go from their own homes.

For all of us today, Paul’s letter is also encouraging. We can rejoice knowing that Jesus also came for each of us to teach us how to love one another and God. Through our faith and the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to also go into the world to do God’s work that he calls each of us to do in the world. The first thing that God asks us to do is to love him with our whole heart, mind, body and soul, and the second thing he asks us to do is to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is not easy for us to do by ourselves. The good news is that we don’t have to do this by ourselves. Jesus is always with us and through him we are strengthened and able to follow his example of love in the world.

Let us now pray.

·             Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your son Jesus who died on the cross and rose again to new life so that we too may have life with you through him. Strengthen us through your Holy Spirit as we continue to trust and follow you in everything that we do in our lives. Amen

·             Response Activity will be provided.