God's Call

Christ Episcopal Church

Children’s Chapel

July 16, 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:

·             We are now in the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. The cloth on our Children’s Chapel altar is green today which is the 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 sixth 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. 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: Raise your hand if any of you have ever driven a car by yourself. No one! Why not? (Allow answers.) You’re right! You have to be a grown up or at least 16 and have a driver’s license to be able to drive a car all on your own. There are other things too that you have to be older than you are now to be able to do. Let’s put on our thinking caps and think of some things that grown ups do that children are not yet ready to do. (Allow answers.) Those are all great answers! Grown ups may own a house, they may have a job, they may go to college . . . These are all things people do or have when they are adults. As we grow up and learn we are prepared and ready to take on such big responsibilities such as driving a car when we are older and have gone through driver’s education and passed the test for our license. I wonder if that is how it is with God too. I wonder if we have to be all grown up in order to do what God has planned for our lives. Before we answer that question let’s listen to the Bible story from the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament.

·             Bible Reference: (Read Aloud)

Jeremiah 1:4-19

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” ⁶Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” ⁷But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, ⁸Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” ⁹Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

·             Response: In the Bible story I just read to you Jeremiah is told by God that “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you . . .” Did you know that God knew each one of you too before you were even in your mother’s tummy!?!? Isn’t that amazing! God knew each of us and then placed us in our mothers’ wombs where we grew and then we were born into this world. And do you know what else? God also knew the plan he has for each one of our lives before any of were born! Jeremiah was called as a young boy by God to be a prophet or a messenger for him. Jeremiah said to God, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But God said to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy, for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you . . .” God says that to each one of us too! We are all called by God to love others and to spread the good news of his love. We may feel like we are just little children and that it’s too hard to do God’s work. The good news is that we don’t have to do it all on our own. God formed each one of us with a special purpose in life. God also promised to always be with us always. As we trust in God we are strengthened and his Spirit shines through each of us making us perfectly prepared to do his work in the world.

·             Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank you for the gift of our lives. Thank you for loving each of us. Help us to remember that you are always with us as we trust in you. Shine your light of love through us so that we may be strengthened to do your work in the world. In your holy name,

              Amen

·                                        Response Activity will be provided.