Jesus Calls the Twelve

Christ Episcopal Church

Children’s Chapel

January 22, 2017

Epiphany III

Bible Reference: Matthew 4: 18-23

I.         Welcome: Good Morning girls and boys! I am so happy to see you all this morning! Do we have any new friends with us? (Welcome new friends.)

II.       Church Practice: (light altar candles)

We light these candles to remind us that Christ is the light of the world, and we are Christ’s light in the world. On our altar table today, we have a green cloth. 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 third green square which is the same color as the cloth that we have on our altar. We are in the third week of Epiphany in our church calendar year. You will notice in big church that the altar frontal is green and the clergy are also wearing green stoles. Before we begin our Bible lesson today, let us pray.

III.     Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are here to worship and praise you. Open our hearts and minds so that we may hear your words spoken to us through the Bible story today. Give us strength that we may serve you through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

IV.      Introduction: How many of you have ever played "Follow the Leader?" It is a fun game isn’t it? Let’s play a little “Follow the Leader” game right now! I am going to be the leader and you follow along with what I do. Let’s jump in place. Now let’s stand tall like a tree. Now let’s march in place. Now let’s sit down. Now let’s put our hands in our laps. That was fun wasn’t it? “Follow the Leader” is a game that is played and enjoyed by children all over the world. Even in Jesus’ day he asked others to “follow “him. In our story Bible story today we are going to hear about a time at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he asked some people like you and me to “follow” him.

V.        Bible Story: (Read aloud from Children’s Storybook Bible pp 210-213)

Bible Reference for Teachers: Matthew 4: 18-23

¹⁸As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

VI.      Response: I wonder what Simon and Andrew and James and John were thinking when Jesus said drop your fishing nets and “Follow me.”  Do you remember how we played the game “Follow the Leader?” It’s a great game, but in our daily lives we “Follow the Leader” in very real things. In school, in church, in sports, in lots of activities that we do, there are always leaders. But Jesus came to be a different kind of leader than the leaders of the world. Jesus came to be a servant leader who would show others how to love as God loves each one of us. When Simon and Andrew and James and John were asked by Jesus to “follow me,” they felt a wonderful feeling of love that they had never experienced before and they knew that even as they may not know where Jesus was leading them, he would lead them in the right direction. The good news today is that Jesus is still calling people to follow him in the ways of servant leadership and love.  Jesus calls each one of us to “Follow Me!”

VII.    Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus who came to us as a servant leader to show us how to love others in this world as you love each one of us. Strengthen us as we trust in you so that we may follow the ways of Jesus in this world. In your holy name, Amen.

Let us now end or lesson by saying the Lord’s Prayer together.

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