The Good Samaritan

Christ Episcopal Church

Children’s Chapel

July 9, 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 fifth 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: Today in our Bible story we are going to hear about the ways in which God asks us to love one another. First though lets talk a little bit about what love is. Raise your hand and tell me what is love (Allow answers.) Those are all wonderful examples of love. We love our moms, and dads, our sisters and brothers, our friends and families and our pets too! Do you think it is easy to love someone? Sometimes it is, right? But what about when someone is not so nice to us, or if we don’t even know who they are, or if they seem strange or different from us. Before you answer that question let’s listen to the Bible story called “The Good Samaritan.”

·             Bible Reference: Read aloud from the “Tomie de Paola’s Book of Bible Stories” pp 102-103 (The Good Samaritan)

·             (Teacher Reference) Luke:10:25-37

²⁵Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” ²⁹But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ ³⁶Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

·             Response: In the story of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan came across a man who had been robbed and beaten almost to death. Samaritans and Jewish people did not really associate with each other in those days, but not even the beaten man’s own people would help him. The Samaritan put aside his fears and had compassion and great love for this poor man left in the street to die. He took him to a place to be cared for and paid with his own money for his care. The Good Samaritan saw the man who was different from him as what he really was, God’s treasure. We are all God’s treasure no matter what we look like or how we speak or where we come from. God loves each of us equally the same. God asks us to look at each other and see in each other that we are God’s treasure. We may have some fear of others who are different, but if we trust in God, his love will strengthen us and he will use us to spread his love in the world. Here at Christ Church we help children from other countries who are refugees. A refugee is someone who has been forced to leave their home. We share the treasure of God’s love with the refugee children who come here to Christ Church Preschool, giving them a safe place to learn and grow.

·             Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, we give thanks for your love that you give to each one of us. Strengthen us with your love and help us to love one another and you with our whole hearts. In your holy name, Amen

·             Response Activity will be provided.