Proper 20 B (September 19): Like a Tree/The Art of Being a Deadset Legend

 

I am dedicating this blog to a deadset legend, Lynette Adams: she never failed to check Mustard Seeds out each week and invariably left a comment or an encouraging emoji for me. Lyn died this week from this ghastly virus - a creative church and children's worker gone far too soon. Vale Lyn. You kept me at this when I was ready to chuck it in. 

Bible Readings: Proverbs 31:10-31, Psalm 1, James 3:13-4:3,7-8a, Mark
9:30-37

About the images:

Upper Left: The Bundarra river in the Victorian (Australian) High country. It is my photo so please feel free to use it for worship and related activities. If you want to know more info about this beautiful, isolated part of the world visit http://www.blueduckinn.com.au/blue-duck-history.html

Upper Right: This images comes from http://www.chreader.org and permission is given on the site for the use of the image for worship and related activities.

Middle Left and Lower Right: These are free images from the Heartlight site - see  my link column at left.

Middle Right: This is my image and you are free to use it for worship and related activities.  It is the remains (with good provenance) of Peter's mother in law's house in Capernaum. 
Lower Left: A free image from Unsplash by Vincent Chin with my text. 

Resources for the Mark Reading:

Film: Spotswood

There are a number of scenes in this film where Russell Crowe's character, Kim, tries to make Carey (Ben Mendelsohn) look inferior, appear silly or look like a loser. This is a really good film with lots of useful clips (pictured at right).

Drama: Waiter, Waiter.

Found in Mega Drama 4 by Verena Johnson, Open books, 2002, ISBN 0859109186, page 20 (pictured at left)

 

Drama: My Church is Better Than Your Church

Found in 40 Devotions That Work With Youth by Geraldine Anderson (Ed.), JBCE, 1983, ISBN 0858194147, page 40 (pictured at right). This adapts easily and well for adults.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, When You Took a Child

Found in Present on Earth by Wild Goose Worship Group,Wild Goose, 2002, ISBN 0901557642, page 86 (pictured at left).

Resources for the Psalm Reading: 

Listening Song: Like a Tree

By Christ Falsen on his album, A Tree By The Water (pictured at right).

Kid's Time: A Real Success

Found in Fun Group Devotions for Children's Ministry by various authors, Group Publishing, 1993, ISBN 1559451610, page 61 (pictured at left).

Youth: Cable Surfing All Alone

Found in Could Someone Wake Me Up Before I Drool on the Desk by Kevin Johnson, Bethany House,1995, ISBN 1556614160, page 55  (pictured at right).

Response Activity: A Leaf from God's Book

Found in Multi-Sensory Together by Ian Birkinshaw, Scripture Union, 2005, ISBN 1844271641, page 15 (pictured at left).

Kids: Tina the Tree

This is another brilliant book  by Andrew McDonough, Lost Sheep Resources, 2012. This goes with the Psalm reading.  The great thing about these books is that they only around $A5 and for a further $A10 (or instead of) you can buy on line the story in any format you need to project the pictures in church.  There are also free activity sheets and for a cost activity books for both teachers and children.  Visit www.lostsheep.com.au to check out all the excellent resources.

Resources for Season of Creation: Isaiah 65:17-25

Film Clip: All Things New

From the Work of the People - see my link column at left

Liturgies

Lots to be found in The Abingdon Worship Annual 2013 by Mary J. Scifres and B. J. Beu (Eds). Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2012, ISBN 9781426746796, pages 267-272

Illustration: Forgiveness and Forgetting

Story No. 520 in 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching by Michael P. Green,(Ed.) Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 1989, ISBN 0801063302.

Also:

Resources:

Lots to be found in Resources for Preaching and Worship Year C compiled by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2003, ISBN 066422508, pages 286-289

Lots of Useful Stuff: A Leaf from God's Book

Found in Multi-Sensory Together by Ian Birkinshaw, Scripture Union,2005, ISBN 1844271641, page 15.  Based on the Psalm reading.

Complete Service based on all the readings: Finding Wisdom

Found in In this Hour by Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Desbooks, 2001, ISBN 094982433X, page 75ff. 

Kids: The Magic Saddle

By Christobel Mattingly and Patricia Mullins with lots of ideas for a whole worship service found in Worship is For Everyone by Julie Pinazza, Openbook Publishers, 2000, ISBN 0859109259, page 2 (pictured at right). 

Kids: The Sea-Breeze Hotel 

By Marcia Vaughan and Patricia Mullins with lots of ideas for a whole worship service found in Worship is For Everyone by Julie Pinazza, Openbook Publishers, 2000, ISBN 0859109259, page 13 (pictured at right). This goes well with the gospel.

Service Starter: What Jesus Wants

Based on the James reading, this is found in The All-Age Service Annual Volume 4, published by Scripture Union, 2010, ISBN 9781844275199, page 15 (pictured at right).

Proper 19 B (September 12): Finding Wisdom/Taking Up Your Cross

 

Bible Readings: Proverbs 1:20-33, Psalm 19, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

About the Images:
Upper Left: This is a free Microsoft clipart image with my text added to it.

Upper Right: This is my photo, my hand, pen, lamp, desk etc so please feel free to use it for worship and related activities.

Middle Left: This is a free image from Scripture Pics - the site seems to have disappeared off the web - can anybody can tell me where it has gone

Middle Right: This is a free image from Church Galleries - see my link column at left.
Lower Left and Right: These are my images. Please feel free to use them for worship and related activities.

Listening Song: Edge of the World

By Iona on their album, Beyond These Shores (pictured at left). This goes well with the Proverbs reading.

Kids Story: God's Greatness

Have a quick discussion about what proverbs are and what the word "wisdom" might mean and then ask them where wisdom comes from. Conclude by using Story 250 in 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers by Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal, Baker Books, 1993, ISBN 0801091551 (pictured at right).

Film Clip: Psalm 19a
By Sons of Korah

Dramatic Illustrated Reading:

This can be used as an introduction to the sermon or the reading or you can use the last line as the start of a discussion. Use two readers and illustrate what they are saying either with projected images or mimes. Make sure the readers read smoothly but with enough time for people to take in the image or mime action.

1. Think for a minute about wisdom

2. And foolishness.

1. Wisdom outshines foolishness

2. As light outshines darkness

1. The wise man has his eyes in his head

2. But the foolish man walks in darkness.

1. A wise man listens to advice.

2. But the way of the fool is right in his own eyes

1. The wise man trusts God.

2. The foolish man trusts only himself and takes pleasure in his own opinion

1. The wise man quietly holds back when he is annoyed and irritated

2. The foolish man lets everybody know about it.

1. So...

2. Tell us…..

Both: Where do we find true wisdom?

Story: The Subversive Cross
Found at http://www.elsalvadorperspectives.com/2009/11/subversive-cross.html
This story goes well with the Gospel reading. 

Quote:

"Wisdom consists of all God's ideas about how the world should be and how we should treat one another" - Carolyn Brown in Forbid Them Not: Year B, page 151 (pictured at left). Thanks for the info and source of this quote, Sandra.

Quotes, Cartoons and Film Clips by Leunig

Just about anything from the pen and mind and heart of Michael Leunig works well for this theme - particularly when you think of how we can recognise wisdom. If you don't know where to start, I suggest you look at the DVD Leunig Animated, Fruitcup Films, 2001 (pictured at right) or trawl through A Common Prayer: A Cartoonist Talks to God by Michael Leunig, Harper Collins, 1990, ISBN 1863717404 (pictured at left). Enjoy!!!

Meditation: Bearing the Cross II

Found in Meditations from the Iona Community by Ian Reid, Wild Goose Publications, Trowbridge, 1998, ISBN 1901557022, page 92 (pictured at right). This goes well with the gospel reading.

Also:

Kids: Gabriella's Song

By Candace Fleming and Giselle Potter, Simon and Schuster,  with lots of ideas for a whole worship service found in Worship is For Everyone by Julie Pinazza, Openbook Publishers, 2000, ISBN 0859109259, page 25 (pictured at left). This goes well with the Psalm reading.

Taize Service: Losing  Your Life

Found in Worship Feast by Taize, Abingdon Press, 2004, page 10 (pictured at right). This is based on the Mark reading.

Prayer Exercise: Praying in Nature

Found in Prayer: Heart of the Pilgrimage by Jenny Youngman, Upper Room Books, Nashville, 2007, ISBN 0835898369, page 56 (pictured at left).  This is based on the Psalm reading.

Complete Service: Who do you say that I am?

Found in In this Hour by Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Desbooks, 2001, ISBN 094982433X, page 61ff. 

Sermon ideas: The Cross is the only Way to Glory

Found in Life on the Road by Athol Gill, Herald Press, 1992, page 58.  This is based on the Gospel reading. 

Drama: Tongue Twisted

This links with the James reading and is found in Mega Drama 4 by Verena Johnson, Open Book, 2002, ISBN 0859109186, page 19.

Service Starter: New Understanding

Based on the Mark reading, this is found in The All-Age Service Annual Volume 4, published by Scripture Union, 2010, ISBN 9781844275199, page 52

Who is Jesus?

Found in Messy Church 2 by Lucy Moore, The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2008, ISBN 978 1 84101 602 3, page 176-7. This is based on the Mark reading.

Poem and Comment: Jesus

Found in Disturbing Complacency by Lisa Bodenheim, Wild Goose Publications, 2007, ISBN 978 1 905010 37 0, found under the second Friday of Advent.  This is a Christmas preparation book, but is very useful for other times of the year as well. This entry is based on the Mark reading.  

Proper 18 B ( September 05): Crossing Boundaries/Promises for our Future

 

Bible Readings: Proverbs 22:1-2,8-9, 22-23, Psalm 125, James 2:1-17, Mark 7:24-37

About the images:

Upper Left: Found at Cerezo Barredo's weekly gospel illustration page at http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/indexBgraf.html These are brilliant free illustrations - and there is one for each week of the lectionary.

Upper Right: I thought it was interesting to see this kangaroo in our garden crossing a boundary to drink from the bird bath because water is scarce in this part of the country - and the birds, who can be quite aggressive when they want to be, allowed the kangaroo to share their water.

Middle Left: This is a free image from the Heartlight site - see my link column at left.

Middle Right: This is a free image from the Hermano Leon site - see my link column at left.
Lower Left:  Palestinians on the West Bank have to live behind this oppressive "Separation Barrier", over eight metres high, which restricts their right of movement.  Here is a non-violent protest painting on the wall.  This is my image so please feel free to use for worship and related activities. 

Lower Right: Free clipart from the Misioneros Del Sagrado Corazón en el Perú.

Kids Story: Who Are You?
By Pamala Egan, Benjamin Books, ISBN 0715103490 (pictured at right).A lovely little story about crossing boundaries.

Introduction to the Gospel: Who Am I Game

Read one clue at a time and wait a second after each clue in case somebody has worked out the answer and is prepared to have a go at identifying the person:

When I was born, I was named Agnes.

I was the youngest of three children

I was born in Macedonia.

At the age of 18 I went to Ireland to further my education.

I left Ireland and in 1928 I began to teach at a school for girls.

In 1946, on a long train ride on the way to a retreat and to recover from suspected tuberculosis, I had a life-changing encounter with the Living God.

I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless - to be God's love in action to the poorest of the poor.

In 1952 I received permission from city officials to use a portion of the abandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of transition and destroyer of demons.

It was here that I established a Home for the Dying.

I and my fellow workers gathered dying people off the streets and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died.

In 1953 I opened our first orphanage.

In 1957 I and my workers began working with lepers.

Ever since then, more that 42,000 have been taken from the streets.

Approximately 19,000 of those have had the opportunity to die in an environment of kindness and love could feel that they also were children of God.

For those who didn't die, we tried to find jobs for them or they were sent to homes where they could live happily some more years in a caring home.

My homes (I called them "tabernacles") have been established in hundreds of locations in the world.

My main centre is still in Calcutta, India.

I am Mother Teresa.

Rearrange the clues to make it harder if you want to. After the Who Am I is solved read out the remainder of the clues and conclude by saying that Mother Teresa is a 20th C example/picture of this week's gospel reading.

Discussion Question

What do the stories of Jesus and the woman from Syria, Jesus and the deaf man from Tyre and Mother Teresa and the poor and dying in India have in common?

Listening Song: Psalm 125: Like Mt Zion

By Sons of Korah on their album, Resurrection (pictured at right). 

Drama: Racist or Redeemer

Found in Present on Earth by Wild Goose Worship Group, Wild Goose Publications, 2002, ISBN 0901557642, page 99 (pictured at left). This drama is based on the gospel reading.

Story: Who's Who?

Found in When You Walk by Adrian Plass, The Bible Fellowship, 1997, ISBN 0745935524, page 56 (pictured at right).This story is based on the James reading.

Sermon interruption: In Pairs

To get everybody going I found that it was easiest for me to share my most enbarrassing moment first - a traumatic incident with a wrap around skirt, a farm gate and three car loads of picnickers :-) - however I acknowledge that in some cultures the first question may not work at all or may be inappropriate - it works very well in Australian congregations:

1. Share your most embarrassing moment with the person sitting next to you?

2. Now share the most exciting thing to you about being a Christian.

3. Now talk about which was the easier thing to talk about.

Poem: And You Said

by Jan L. Richardson, In Wisdom's Path, Pilgrim Press, 2000, ISBN 0829813241 page 41 (pictured at right). This goes well with both the James reading and the gospel.

Poem: Ephphatha

By Wayne Saffon in Imaging the Word Volume 1, United Church Press, 1994, ISBN 0829809716, page 23 (pictured at left). This is based on the gospel reading.

Prayer/Listening Song: Sorrowing Song

By Robin and Dorothy Mann on their album, Let's Sing It Again (pictured at right). This can be easily used as a community song for your congregation but it is lovely to just listen to while projecting a few relevant images.

Response Activity:
Silence.

In the silence read last verse of the above song out loud and ask people to pray, thinking about the following:

Think of a boundary you need to cross, a group or a person who God is calling you to reach out to.

Ask God to show you the way to cross this boundary.

Ask God to be with you .

Ask God to help you to be open to his leading.

Silence for prayer.

Response Activity:

Give everyone a Publisher classic paper aeroplane plan (or equivilent)on a sheet of A4 (decals replaced with world globes and the words on one wing saying “The thing that excites me about Jesus is……. “ and the words on the other wing saying “What is it about my relationship with Jesus that my community cannot live without?”) Ask the congregation to fill in their answers and then make the aeroplane. When everybody is finished, altogether, on the count of three, encourage everybody to launch their aeroplane. Ask everyone to retrieve one areoplane - but not their own. Ask them to have a look at the thing which excites people on their new aeroplane and the thing that the community cannot live without. Explain that these words and beliefs shared now in this church, can be shared again and again.

Benediction:

Lord, take our lips and speak through them;

take our minds and think through them;

take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen.

by W.H. Aitken in Little Book of Prayers (I can't source this benediction any further than the information above - if I had the book, I have lost it! I would appreciate any help or comment.)

Also:

Poem/Meditation: Follow Me
By Ruth Burgess in Dandelions and Thistles: Biblical Meditations from the Iona Community by Jan Sutch Pickard (ed.) Wild Goose Publications, 1999, ISBN 1901557146, page 49 (pictured at left). This goes well with the Mark reading.

Poem/Meditation: Canaanite Mother
By Ruth Burgess in Dandelions and Thistles: Biblical Meditations from the Iona Community by Jan Sutch Pickard (ed.) Wild Goose Publications, 1999, ISBN 1901557146, page 58 (pictured at left). This goes well with the Mark reading.

Kids: Pink Balloons

By Beverley McGregor, Ashton Scholastic,  with lots of ideas for a whole worship service found in Worship is For Everyone by Julie Pinazza, Openbook Publishers, 2000, ISBN 0859109259, page 19 (pictured at right). This goes well with the James reading.

Kids: Proverbs

This is another brilliant book  by Andrew McDonough, Lost Sheep Resources, 2018 (pictured at left). It does not relate specifically to the Proverbs reading but is a very useful book for kids on proverbs in general.  The great thing about these books is that they only around $A7 and for a further $A10 (or instead of) you can buy on line the story in any format you need to project the pictures in church.  There are also free activity sheets and for a cost activity books for both teachers and children.  Visit www.lostsheep.com.au to check out all the excellent resources.

Complete Service based on all the readings: Be Open

Found in In this Hour by Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Desbooks, 2001, ISBN 094982433X, page 68ff. 

Drama: When It Comes to the Crunch

This links with the James reading and is found in Mega Drama 4 by Verena Johnson, Open Book, 2002, ISBN 0859109186, page 17.

Psalm 125

Found in The Psalms: An Artist's Impression by Anneke Kaai and Eugene Peterson, Piquant, 1999, ISBN 0 9535757 0 5, page 42. 

Blessing

Found in Messy Church 2 by Lucy Moore, The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2008, ISBN 978 1 84101 602 3, page 149. This is based on the Proverbs reading.

Liturgy based on Psalms 124 and 125

By Jean Helmer and found in Before the Amen by Maren C Tirabassi and Maria I. Tirrabassi (Eds), Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, 2007, ISBN 978 0 8298 1750 8, page 116.