Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Note of Explanation
I am going away for a few weeks. I am therefore working on getting a few blogs up ahead of time so that when I am away no Sundays will be missed. This means that you will have to scroll down the page to find the Sunday that you want or find it in the "previous posts" column on the left hand side of this page underneath the weather/search/booksearch/visitor-map icons.
Proper 17 B (August 30): New Beginnings
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Proper 16 B (August 23): Grace of God/Prayer/God's Armour
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Nasty balloon weilding meanies enter and are foiled as follows:
Nasty balloon: Nobody in this group likes you. Go and play with someone else! Piece of Armour: Belt Armour message: God loves me!! Nasty balloon: Come on, let’s grab their footy. They’ll be too scared to do anything about it. Piece of Armour: breastplate Armour message: No, I‘d rather play with them than mess up their game. Nasty balloon: How dumb! Do you really go to church?? Piece of Armour: Shoes Armour message: Come with me and find out how much God loves you. Nasty balloon: Ha ha ha, I got you into trouble. Piece of Armour: Shield (umbrella) Armour message: At least God knows I was right. Nasty balloon: You can’t have any, you don’t deserve it ! Piece of Armour: helmet Armour message: God gives me heaps of great gifts. Nasty balloon: You’ll never be good enough to join our group. Piece of Armour: sword-bible Armour message: There are heaps of messages in here which tell me how special I am. Talk it through with the kids... Written by Rosemary Broadstock and Ann Scull.
Story: Men Story 426 in 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers by Craig Brian larson and Leadership Journal, Baker Books, 2002, ISBN 0801091551 (pictured in an earlier blog).
Discussion questions: There is much talk in this reading of evil forces and what they throw at us. 1.How are these forces demonstrated in our lives? 2.How do they infect our church? 3. How do they infect our community – our social and political structures?
Film Clip: Romero
From the film Romero (pictured at left) show the scene where Archbishop Oscar Romero goes to the village that is under martial law and confronts the soldiers who have transformed a church into a barracks - start the scene at the point where he first arrives at the church and end it when he is leading the service. This is a very powerful film clip and sometimes reduces people to tears.
Discussion: Romero How is Romero able to withstand evil with such strength?
Response Activity: Project a picture of the armour complete with labels and give everybody a 1 cm or so cube of self hardening clay. Ask: I wonder if there is a piece of God’s armour that you use less than you could? A piece going rusty or a piece that until today you never knew God had given you. With the small cube of clay which you have been given, model that piece of armour and while you model, talk to God about how you can use that piece of armour better. Resources which suit all three readings above:
Music video clip: My Will
By dc Talk on their The Supernatural Experience video.(pictured at right). This track is one of their best. It talks about depending on God’s strength to do the things he has called us to do and it acknowledges that our own discipline, knowledge and will may fail us from time to time but that God never will. An anonymous reader of this blog offered the following information: the audio track for DC Talk's "My Will" can be found on the Exodus(1997, Rocketown Records). Various artists include Michael W. Smith, the Katinas, Jars of Clay, and Chris Rice.
Listening song: Breathe Your Name By Sixpence None the Richer on their album, The Best of Sixpence None the Richer (pictured at left) or on their album Divine Discontent or on the album WOW 2004.
Response Activity: As people arrive, ask them to write their name on a small square of paper - even better, make business cards with a photo or clip art of praying hands (see above) leaving enough space for people to write their name on the card. Collect all the cards. During the last hymn or song, ask some helpers (kids like to do this) to distribute the cards, making sure that no person receives a card with their own name on it and making sure that everybody receives a card. Encourage people to take home the card and pray for the person who is named on their card over the next week/month/year.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Proper 15 B (August 16): Wisdom
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