Rebecca S. Ramsey's Blog, page 11

The Second Sunday of Advent

Welcome to the celebration of the Second Sunday of Advent, this Sunday, Dec 6. At First Baptist Greenville, we’re still meeting virtually, so we’re sharing the story, and encouraging kids to make something at home to celebrate it, but I’m including art response prompts in case that’s helpful to you.

Christ the King? Or Christ the Shepherd?

This children’s sermon was given November 22, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys. I’m so glad you’re with us today.

Did you know that this is a special day in the church year? It’s not Thanksgiving Sunday. I’ll give you a hint. (show crown.) It’s Christ the King Sunday. It’s the last Sunday of the church year, before Advent starts, and we celebrate that Jesus is the King of the Universe!

So far in worship, we sang a song Come Thou Almighty King and we heard A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, but so far we’ve also heard words that made God sound more like he might hold this (show staff.) Who holds this? A shepherd. So which is it? Is God like a king? Or is God like a shepherd.

To help us think about this, I’ve got some questions for you.

Who rules over everyone?          Is God like that?

Who keeps the ones he loves from danger?              Is God like that?

Who knows the name of every single person he’s in charge of?  Is God like that?

Who is in charge of the whole universe?        Is God like that?

Who wears the fanciest clothes and has the fanciest stuff?         Is God like that?

Who is willing to step in front of danger to take care of others? Is God like that?

Who has the most power?          Is God like that?

Who would you bow down to and praise?     Is God like that?

Who lives among with the ones she cares for?         Is God like that?

Who ‘d leave the rest to gather in one who was lost?        Is God like that?

So is Christ more like a king? Or more like a shepherd? What do you think? I want to pick a third choice- a kingly shepherd. Someone who knows and loves us deeply, but with power, deserving of our praise. I don’t know any kings like that but Jesus.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for Jesus, the king of our hearts. We love you, God. Amen.

The post Christ the King? Or Christ the Shepherd? appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

Advent, Week One

Welcome to the celebration of the First Sunday of Advent, this Sunday, November 29. At First Baptist Greenville, we’re still meeting virtually, so we’re sharing the story, and encouraging kids to make something at home to celebrate it, but I’m including art response prompts in case that’s helpful to you.

The Exile and the Return

Hi Godly Play Teachers!

Welcome to the Exile and Return, the Godly Play story scheduled for this Sunday, November 22.

It’s an interesting story in light of the times we’re living, in a pandemic, when we can’t worship as we normally do, with those we normally worship with, and in our traditional places.

Last week we shared the story of the ark and the temple, and talked about meeting God in a special place and honoring him with certain routines that both honored God and helped remind the worshipers of the sacredness of being close to God.

At the end of the lesson, we read Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the Temple, where he prays, “But God, will you really live here with us on earth? The whole sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you. Certainly this Temple that I built cannot contain you either…” This week, we think about this again as we learn about what happened when God’s people were taken away from Jerusalem and its temple, which they had believed to be God’s home.

Some themes to explore:

Where do we find God? What if we suddenly have no temple or tabernacle or special routines or things to honor God? Can we still meet God?
What do we do when we’re very afraid, when bad things happen to us? What do we pray for? What does God want us to do?
What does it mean to be homesick? What were God’s people homesick for during the story? Were they homesick for God?
What changes have you been through that have been hard or scary for you? What did you do? Who gave you help? What should we remember when those times come?
What does it mean to be faithful? How is it different to be faithful in hard times versus in easy times?

Some activity ideas to add to your own, to help children make a gift to God in thanks for the story:

Reproduce the story.

Children could make their own physical elements of the Godly Play story, with blue yarn for the rivers. (Or maybe they can think of another way to represent them.) Pieces of wood for the cities. Can they make a chain out of pipe cleaners or strips of paper? (While they do this, teachers can talk about what the chain means–what it means to be in exile.) What could they use to make the people of God?
They could draw or paint with watercolors a scene from the story: the destruction of the temple, the sad journey away from Jerusalem, the happy rebuilding of the temple.
Older children could use markers to trace the path of God’s people on a photocopied map. Could they make a map of their own? One for the class
Children could use colored sand to make a desert scene.

Explore themes from the story.

Children could take a large sheet of paper, divide it down the center into 2 parts, label the left side Times We Are Sad Or Scared, and the other side What We Can Do. Then the children can draw or paint pictures to illustrate both sides.
Children could draw or paint or do a collage on the subject of Where and When I Meet God Today. Is it in nature? In church? At home reading the Bible? Being with friends? This would be a great addition for our new bulletin board. This could also be done as a class project on butcher paper (like a mural.)
What does it mean to be faithful? Children could make a collage or drawing or mural showing what it means to be faithful to God. Does it mean coming to church and worshiping together? Bringing an offering? Praying? Trusting? What else?
Children could draw or write about a time they were homesick. What helped them get through it? What would God want us to do when we feel homesick?

Some great verses to get children thinking:

“We sat down and cried by the rivers of Babylon when

we remembered Zion. How can we sing the song of the

Lord in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:1, 4)

“Praise the Lord, all nations! Praise Him all people! For

His loving-kindness toward us is great. And the truth of

the Lord lasts forever. Praise the Lord.” (Psalm 117)

See my Pinterest page for the story here for more ideas. [image error]

You Are the Light of the World!

This children’s sermon was given November 15, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary (except for the children present to lead children’s sabbath virtually.) I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.Good morning, girls and boys! I’m so glad you’re here with us!

Today as we worship God, we’re celebrating that we have these beautiful Bible stories like the ones Jesus told that some of our fifth graders acted out. We’re celebrating that over thousands of years people have shared these stories with their children, and then those children grow up and they share them with their children. You will too one day. And that’s a beautiful thing!

But lately I’ve been thinking about how grateful I am that we don’t just have stories about the people in the Bible. We have your stories- how you find God’s love & share it with the people around you. You do that- in your own way.

I want you to hear from our friend Ben Hamilton, who is part of our church family. Like all our leaders today, he’s a fifth grader at East North Street, and in this video, his teacher is asking some questions about how he shares love.

(Transcript)

Teacher: What do you do to show your family that you love them? Do you hug them?

Ben: Yeah.

Teacher: Yeah.

Teacher: What do you do to help your family out?

Ben: When Mommy is sick I can help mommy to get better.

Teacher: How do you share your joy and happiness with your family?

Ben: Big smiling!

Teacher: What do you do that makes your family laugh?

Ben: Eat!

I wonder what he does when he’s eating to make them laugh. You kids are so good at making us laugh and find joy in life. I don’t know if you know this, but that’s a really important gift that God has given you- especially now, with this virus, when life is so upside down and we can’t do the things we normally do.

Jesus said, you are the light of the world. And kids, you really are! You bring light and joy and God’s love to your families & those around you. We’re so grateful.

Now I have one more thing to show you. Do you remember back in the spring, I sent each of you a piece of art paper and asked you to help me with an art project? You traced a hand and colored it in, and this week I finally put all of your hands together, to make a beautiful sun.

Here it is! All your hands extending like rays of the sun, with the verse, you are the light of the world at the center. It will go on our Children’s Hall, reminding us of that crazy time in 2020, when life turned upside down, but you brought us sunlight and hope and helped us make it through. We see God’s light in you. We’re grateful to God that God gave you that gift!

Let’s pray together. Dear God, thank you for children and the light and love and hope that they bring to our world. We love you, God. Amen.

 

The post You Are the Light of the World! appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

The Ark and the Temple

Welcome to the Ark and the Temple, the Godly Play story scheduled for this Sunday, November 15.

For a girl who could spend days moving furniture and little people around a dollhouse, I simply adore this lesson! I also love it because it explores the idea of God’s abiding presence and helps us question exactly where God is. Where can we meet God? If it is in a church or temple, how do we keep that space sacred? If God truly meets us everywhere, anywhere, then what does that say about the sacredness of the space we occupy in our everyday lives? Which makes me think of a favorite song of mine, but that’s another story. (Go here, if you want a treat!)

This story works wonderfully as a continuation of The Ark and the Tent, and then Ruth and David’s stories. Before, the people took the tent with them as they traveled, and learned that God goes with them wherever they go. Now, the people have settled and learn that God is not only present during times of transition but in ordinary times of daily life.

Another interesting theme to address is the idea of the usefulness of things in the worship of God. When the ark and the commandments were taken during battle and they didn’t physically have them in the tent, were they really lost? When King David returned them, dancing into Jerusalem, what was he really celebrating?

Another very important theme to cover is that there is no physical place that can contain God. I’ll have Solomon’s temple dedication prayer typed up and in your room by Wednesday night this week. If you’d like to make it into a scroll to read during the lesson, as the script suggests, feel free. I believe we have some dowel sticks in the resource room. Balling up the paper and staining it with tea makes it look older and makes for a more dramatic presentation, if you like.

One other thing I didn’t mention before was the idea of making/offering sacrifices. Do we still offer sacrifices to God today? What kinds of sacrifices would God love? What kinds are important and why?

I wonder if a trip to our own sanctuary might be interesting to the children, after they study the temple. What is alike and what is different? What kind of sacrifices do we still make? Is there a way we make ourselves more acceptable to God before entering?

Some activity ideas to help the children get started:

Pieces of the temple

A few of the classes began a few weeks ago making special parts of the temple/tent. You could continue that this week, and you could even set up the items in a temple of your own making. Kids could make an ark, the ten commandments, a table with 12 pieces of bread, a menorah, a laver, and an altar. (See all the ideas and photos here.)

Could we make edible versions of all these things? And then make an edible temple? See my Pinterest site here, for ways to do this. [image error]

The Gift of Quiet

This children’s sermon was given October 25, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys. I’m so glad you’re here. I brought a book to share with you today. It’s called When the World Went Quiet, and it’s written by Tia Martina and Kelly Ulrich drew the pictures. It’s about what a strange thing that’s happened in our world while the virus has been around. I’ll share parts of it, and when we get back to church, you can read the whole thing!

[Read excerpts and show a few pictures.]

Have you heard about this happening? It’s true. I wonder what you think about this.

Quiet changes things, doesn’t it?

When you have quiet, what can you do that you can’t do when there is noise, even happy noise?

I wonder how God can use our quiet times.

I wonder how you can use quiet to speak to God.

Do you think you have to say things out loud? I wonder if you speak to God in the things you do when it’s quiet. What if you were to draw God a picture with your finger?

I wonder if your parents lit a candle for you and let you be quiet with that candle for maybe 3 minutes, what you might hear God say to you.

Or if you sat in nature- under a tree or beside a stream- like a fox in the garden or a monkey in the silent bells of Thailand- what you might hear God say to you.

Maybe you could try it. I’d love to hear about what your experience is like if you give it a try.

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for quiet in our lives. Help us to use quiet to calm our thoughts so we can hear whatever you might be saying to us. We love you, God. Amen.

The post The Gift of Quiet appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

The Story of David

Welcome to the story of King David, the Godly Play story scheduled for this Sunday, November 1, based on 1 Samuel 16-31, 2 Samuel and 1Kings 1-2. You can find the script for the story in the pink Enrichment Presentations for Fall book, p.78-85.

Since we’re in the middle of a pandemic, we’re sharing the story over Zoom. So that means we spend time greeting the children, share the story, ask the wondering questions, and then suggest ways that they might celebrate the story at home with their parents. This could be by retelling it to their family, or by making a gift for God in honor of the story. Teachers are welcome to talk about project ideas with the children, such as the ones below.

Can We Be Angry At God?

This children’s sermon was given October 18, during our global pandemic, so it was experienced virtually rather than by children in the sanctuary. I’m posting it here in hopes that it can be helpful to someone.

Good morning, girls and boys! I’m so glad you’re with us today!

Who loves you the most in the whole wide world? Maybe they’re here with you today! When you love someone, you love them through all their feelings, when they’re happy, sad, sorry, angry, … When you feel loved, you can share all those feelings with those who love you. You don’t have to hide your feelings. You can share them, even when those feelings are hard to hear- and that’s healthy!

But some emotions are harder to deal with than others, don’t you think? I saw that this morning when I looked through children’s books and tried to find pictures of characters with those emotions. It was easy to find happy characters, like the girl at the end of A Bad Case of Stripes. It was harder to find someone feeling sorry (David in David Gets In Trouble) and scared (The Bad Seed) and sad (Bad Apple.) But the hardest one to find of all? A character who’s angry. (The Bad Seed)

It’s hard to understand it, but God loves you even more than your family and best friends, even more than your parents. Is that possible? It is.But can you share all your feelings with God? What if you’re angry at God? Can you share that? Or sad, or worried?

Over thousands of years, people God loves have been sharing their feelings with God- even angry and sad and worried ones- and God has stuck with them and loved them through all of it. Want proof?

Joyful-Psalm 47 Clap your hands, all you people! Shout joyfully to God with a joyous shout! Because the Lord Most High is awesome, God is the great king of the whole world.

Angry- Psalm 44: God, I’ve always heard about how you took care of people and set them free. So why are we having such a hard time, God? Why do you hide from us? It’s not fair! Help us, God!

Sorry- Psalm 51 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my mistakes! Wash me completely clean of my guilt;

Scared- Psalm 31 Listen to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.

Sad- Psalm88. God, day and night I cry out to you. Hear my words! Listen to my crying because my whole body is filled with sadness and stress.

God wants to be close to you in all your feelings- not just the happy ones. I’m glad we love a God like that.

Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for being ready to hear all our feelings, when things are happy and when things are just hard. We love you, God. Amen.

The post Can We Be Angry At God? appeared first on beckyramsey.info.

The Story of Samuel

Welcome to the story of Samuel, the Godly Play story scheduled for this Sunday, October 25, based on 1 Samuel 1-28:3. You can find the script for the story in the pink Enrichment Presentations for Fall book, p.72-77.

Since we’re in the middle of a pandemic, we’re sharing the story over Zoom. So that means we spend time greeting the children, share the story, ask the wondering questions, and then suggest ways that they might celebrate the story at home with their parents. This could be by retelling it to their family, or by making a gift for God in honor of the story. Teachers are welcome to talk about project ideas with the children, such as the ones below.