Monday, August 10, 2009

Proper 15 B (August 16): Wisdom











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Bible readings:1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14, Psalm 111, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58 

  About the Images: Upper: A Corel Free clipart to which I added the text. Lower: My reading glasses, my dictionary, my photo - feel free to use them all. Listening Song: Deep Calling Deep By Margaret Becker on her album, Grace (pictured at left) or on WOW 1996. Kid's Activity: Based on Ephesians 5:18b Take a large clear glass of lemonade and drop some sultanas in it. Together watch the sultanas (golden raisins) repeatedly sink and then rise again. Discuss how the Holy Spirit is all around us,(like the lemonade around the sultanas) but we are not always aware of the Spirit’s presence. God's Spirit can lift us again and again giving us strength, courage, hope, faith etc – whatever we need to be Christians in this world. Film Clip:Stigmata Use the scene in the film Stigmata (pictured at right) where Frankie bumps into the priest in the market place. As they have a coffee together the priest tells Frankie that he was an organic chemist before he was a priest. She asks him why he became a priest and he tells her that he discovered "too many holes" and that science could not explain everything. He continues on to explain that the explanation he needed could only be found in God. Discussion questions to get people thinking after the OT reading: What is wisdom? Can we be as wise as Solomon? How does wisdom work in the 21st century? Story: Choosing Wisdom This story can be found in Betsy Devine and Joel E. Cohen's book, Absolute Zero Gravity, Simon & Schuster or at http://www.bible.org/illus.asp?topic_id=1689 Story: The Holy Spirit Found in 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers Teachers and Writers by Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal (Eds.), Barker Books, 1993, ISBN 0801091551, Story No. 307 (pictured at left). This story goes well with the Ephesians reading. Story: Stopping at the Lights Found in 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching by Michael P Green, Baker Books, 1989, ISBN 0801063302, story no. 428 (pictured at right). Goes well with the Ephesians reading. Response Activity: Ask people to get in to groups and together write an acrostic prayer using the word "wisdom". It would be useful to have A3 or A4 sheets already brightly printed with the word. At the end of the activity display all the prayers and allow people some quiet reflective time to walk around and pray/read all the prayers.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I have tried the sultanas (golen raisins in the USA) for my children's message: in the lemonade and they didn't rise! Then I tried water...then iced tea...hmm! What's the trick?

Unknown said...

The sultana experiment has not worked for me: in lemonade or water or iced tea. I had hoped to use it for the children's message. Any suggestions?

ann said...

Susan, the lemonade has to be aerated/fizzy/whatever the word is for the sultanas/golden raisins to rise