Children’s Chapel
May 21, 2017
Easter VI
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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.)
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Church Practice:
Today is the sixth Sunday of Easter. Alleluia! We
remember that the season of Easter continues for 50 days past Easter Sunday
ending on Pentecost where we see the red square on our liturgical calendar. The cloth on our Children’s Chapel altar is white
today because we are now in the season of Easter. 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 sixth white
square which is the same color as the cloth that we have on our altar. You will also notice that in big church the
altar frontal, church dressings, and clergy stoles are white. (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. Before we begin our Bible lesson today, let us
pray.
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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.
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
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Introduction: There are many
rules and laws that we are expected to follow in our homes, at school, in our
cities, in our country. These rules are meant to help help us, to keep us safe,
to help us get along with one another. In the cities we live in, we may have
laws about how fast you drive, about where you dump your trash, and even about
how we treat one another. In our schools, we may have rules about raising our
hands when we want to speak, or walking quietly in line, and also about how we
treat one another. In our homes, we have rules about picking up our toys,
putting our dishes in the sink, and how we treat and care for one another. In
God’s kingdom there are a set of rules too given to Moses called the Ten
Commandments. After Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, he spoke to his
apostles about following God’s commandments. Let’s listen to Jesus’ words from
the Gospel of John.
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Bible
Reference: John 14:15-21
15”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you
forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he
abides with you, and he will be in you.
18”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In
a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I
live, you also will live. 20On that day you will know that I am in
my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21They who have my
commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
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Response: When Jesus
talked to his disciples he said, “If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.” If this was all that Jesus said to his disciples, this command
would have been really difficult to do. Following the rules is sometimes easy,
but not always. The good news is that Jesus knew that we could not perfectly
keep all of the commandments. He loved his disciples so much that he told them
that he would send an “Advocate” or a helper that would be with the disciples
and strengthen them as they trusted in God to help them love one another and
keep his commandments. That Advocate is the Holy Spirit. Jesus also loves each
of us and sends the Holy Spirit to each one of us too. We can rejoice in
knowing that God is always with us and that through his love and the power of
the Holy Spirit we are strengthened so that we may live as God calls us to live
each day.
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Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your love and
the gift of the Holy Spirit. Strengthen us through the power of the Holy Spirit
so that through you we may love one another as you love each of us. In your holy name we pray, Amen.
Response Activity: An
activity will be provided.
