Forgivness

Christ Episcopal Church

Children’s Chapel

June 11, 2017

·             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.)

·             Church Practice:

Last week we celebrated Pentecost Sunday in which we remember the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This Sunday we enter into the first week of Ordinary Time. The cloth on our Children’s Chapel altar is green today which is the liturgical color we use during Ordinary Time.  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 first green square.  You will also notice that in big church the altar frontal, church dressings, and clergy stoles are green. (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.

·             Children’s Collect:  Let us pray, 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

·             Introduction: 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.

·             Bible Reference: Luke 7:36 - 8:3 (For Teacher Reference)

Read Aloud: The Jesus Storybook Bible pages 280-285

·             Response:  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.

·             Closing Prayer: Say the Lord’s Prayer together.

·             Response Activity will be provided.