Lent II

Children’s Chapel

March 12, 2017

Lent II

Bible Reference: Psalm 121  

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. We 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. The cloth on our Children’s Chapel altar is purple because we are in the second week of the season of Lent. 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 second purple square which is the same color as the cloth that we have on our altar.  You will also notice that in big church we the altar frontal, church dressings, and clergy stoles are purple. 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. During this season of Lent draw us near to you and 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 every needed help doing something. Let’s think of some things in our lives that we may have needed help with. (allow answers.) We may need help for lots of things. We may not be able to tie our own shoes and we need help from mom or dad or a big brother or sister to help us tie our shoes. We may need help reaching something that is too high for us in the closet. We may need help when we are learning to ride a bicycle. We all have needed help doing things. Even adults need help. Long ago, a man who was named David wrote songs called Psalms. This man eventually became a king and was known as a great ruler. It is from King David that Jesus’s family comes from. David wrote many songs talking about God. Today we will listen to one of his songs in the book of Psalms in the Old Testament.

V.         Bible Story: Psalm 121 (Read Aloud)

¹I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?

²My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

³He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

⁴He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

⁶The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

⁸The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

VI.       Response: The season of Lent is a special time in the church calendar because it is a time in which we remember that God is always with us and that God is always there to help us. In the Psalm that David wrote, he said, “from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” David further says that God will not only help us but that he will care for us and protect us day and night, not just for one day and not just during the season of Lent, but forever! That is an amazing gift that God gives to us every single day!  Sometimes we may forget that God is there to help us. We may try to do things all by ourselves. Adults are especially known for trying to do things all by themselves without help. But what would happen if you tried to do something really hard all by yourself without asking for help? You may get hurt, or you may accidentally hurt someone else, or you may get frustrated and feel sad and angry because you could not do the thing you were trying to do without help. The good news is that even though we may try to do things by ourselves without help, God sent Jesus to be with us who is always there to be our help. Jesus lived among us and showed us each how to turn towards God for help. We have hope because we know that through Jesus, we are never alone and that God is always with us. During the season of Lent we practice turning our eyes towards God as Jesus taught us to look for our help. Even though this church season is only for 40 days, we can use the Lenten practice of turning towards God and looking to him for our help every single day of the year. Let us pray.

VII.     Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your son Jesus who lived among us and taught us each how to look to you for help. We try to do things by ourselves and forget that you are always with us. Help us to turn our eyes towards you so that we may remember that you are always with us looking out for us and caring for all of our needs. Strengthen us in our weakness as we trust in you. Amen.

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