Filename: Winter16-17WR—Children’s worship
Children’s worship—Lent 1: Restore us, O God! We hunger.
Our hungering can lead us into temptation. This worship time for children is designed to give a visual picture of what we hunger for, besides food, and what temptation looks like. The end result is that they will know that only God can truly satisfy our hunger.
● Connecting with the focus: What does it feel like to be hungry? What does it feel like when you eat after being hungry? Have you ever been tempted to take someone else’s food or to steal a cookie when Mom or Dad wasn’t looking, because you were hungry?
● Object lesson: Option1: Fishing rod with gummy worm and a dollar bill (real or play)—represents how Satan dangles things in front of us that we think will satisfy us. Option2: Hat with dangling objects that represent the things in this world that may tempt us.
● Conclusion: We may think that some of the things represented on the hat or at the end of the fishing line will make us happy, but it is God living inside of us that makes us happy and at peace with life. We are restored!
Children’s worship—Lent 2: Restore us, O God! We wonder.
Children wonder about many things in the world around them. As they wonder, they learn what things are and how they work. Use this time to encourage children to wonder not just about things in the world around them, but also about God. Our hope is that as they wonder about God, the church can answer their questions and make them aware of God’s presence in their lives.
● Connecting to the focus: What do you wonder about? (How birds fly, what is out in space, what will Mom or Dad fix for dinner, and so on.) When we wonder about things, we don’t always know the answer. (Note: If your church uses the Shine curriculum for Christian education time, those materials use wondering questions to reflect on the Bible stories each week.)
● Object lesson: Option 1: Use a wrapped gift and wonder about what’s inside. By opening it, we can know what it is. In the same way, Jesus gives us answers to our wonderings in his Word. Option 2: Show a picture of a maze. Sometimes our wondering is like going through a maze—we don’t know the way ahead of us. In the same way, we don’t know what will happen to us in the future. But God promises to always be with us and provide what we need.
● Conclusion: When we trust God as we wonder about things, we don’t have to understand everything right now.
Children’s worship—Lent 3: Restore us, O God! We thirst.
We need water to survive. Just as children need water for their bodies to survive, so they need love for their souls and spirits to live. Children experience love from their parents and close friends, but this love is not always consistent or unconditional. Only God can fill their need for consistent and unconditional love so that they can be restored when the people around them struggle to show them love.
● Connecting to the focus: Have you ever been thirsty? I wonder what it feels like to be thirsty. I wonder how you quench your thirst.
● Object lesson: Option 1: Give children two to three saltine crackers each and invite them to eat. Offer them a drink of water to quench their thirst. In the same way, God’s love for us quenches our need for love. Option 2: Use a water grow toy (search online for “water grow toys”) that morphs into shape after it’s submerged in water—God restores us with his love. Option 3: Use a plant that is dead and one that is alive to demonstrate how water restores things to life.
● Conclusion: God’s love is like the water that quenches our thirst and/or restores us to a shape again, so that we can be who God created us to be.
Children’s worship—Lent 4: Restore us, O God! We see.
We can see many things with our eyes. But God sees what’s inside—the heart of a person—and not just what is visible (1 Samuel 16:1-13). The man born blind saw Jesus as a healer (John9:141).
● Connecting to the focus: Show some pictures (from a magazine, coloring book, book, etc.) and ask children what they see. Encourage them to look for details.
● Object lesson: Hidden picture page and/or hidden jesus word plaque (search online). Have them try to find objects in the larger picture.
● Conclusion: Jesus helps us see people the way he sees them. Jesus helps us see who he is.
Children’s worship—Lent 5: Restore us, O God! We breathe.
We all feel sad or discouraged sometimes. We can pray to God and ask to be filled with God’s Spirit. God hears our prayers and “breathes life” (hope) back into our lives. We can feel restored because we know God loves us and will care for us.
● Connecting to the focus: Today we are talking about breathing. What are some things that need air to live? The Bible tells us that God breathed life into a set of bones that were all dried up, and that Jesus brought his friend Lazarus back to life again. In the same way, God breathes hope into us and makes us feel alive.
● Object lesson: Option1: Breathe air into a balloon—ask what is inside the balloon. Let some air out. Ask children if they have ever felt like a deflated balloon (sad or discouraged). Ask: “I wonder when you have felt sad or discouraged.” When we breathe air into a balloon and tie it closed, it comes “alive.” Option 2: Use bubbles to illustrate breathing life into something. Option 3: Use a large balloon shape with compressor (as you see on lawns during holiday seasons).
● Conclusion: In the same way, God breathes hope into us when we are sad or discouraged and makes us feel alive again.
Children’s worship—Lent 6: Restore us, O God! We hope.
(Since this is Palm Sunday, you may want to invite the children process to the front waving palm branches as the congregation sings.)
Jesus shows us how to be a humble servant by giving up his life so that we can be saved from our sins and have hope.
● Connecting with the focus: Ask: “Have you ever made plans to do something fun only to have something happen that prevents you from doing it?” (Possible responses: sickness, someone needs help, etc.) The children of Israel planned for, or expected, that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem and deliver them from the Romans. Instead, God’s plan was for his son Jesus to die on a cross to save his people.
● Object lesson (on humility): For this activity you will need enough small prizes (pencils, stickers, etc.) for each child or for a small group of children who will demonstrate this. Try to make sure that it is something children will think is pretty cool to have.
1. Have the children sit in rows. Tell them that you have a special prize for them. Purposely give a prize to every child in a row except for the last one. If that child possibly asks why you forgot him or her, simply explain that you didn’t forget.
2. Next, tell each person in the row to pass their prize to the child next to them. This will leave the first person in the line with nothing, and the last person will receive a prize. Ask the first person who now doesn’t have a prize how it felt to have to give up their prize to someone else. Ask: “Is it important for us to give up what we have in order to make sure that someone else has what they need? Today we are talking about how Jesus humbled himself and gave up his life to die on the cross so that we can be saved from our sin.”
● Conclusion: When things don’t go as expected and we have to give up our plans, we can remember that Jesus cares about us and takes care of us, while at the same time we wonder who he is and how he will do this. (Note: Be sure to give a prize to each of the children who ended up without a prize.)
Children’s worship—Easter: Restore us, O God! We live.
Jesus is the one who brings us hope when things don’t go as expected.
● Connecting to the focus: Say: “Have you ever been so happy that it was hard to hold it in? Yes? What are some of the reasons you have had to be happy? (Allow time for children to share.) Wow! Those are great reasons to be excited and happy. Now, I am wondering if anyone here can show me, without using a word, that they are happy? Can someone here act out being happy for us without shouting or making any noise? (As time permits, let a few children act out their expressions of happiness.) Amazing! I could tell that each of you were happy and you didn’t have to say a thing. In the story of the women going to the tomb and meeting Jesus, we find the women so happy that they could not keep it in, so they ran to tell the other disciples.”
● Object lesson: Use a jump rope to illustrate how the women were hopeful when Jesus entered Jerusalem (jump rope). Then hope was dashed when he died and was buried in a tomb (stop jumping). Hope, joy, and life are restored when Jesus meets them in the garden, and they realize that Jesus is alive again (jump rope again).
● Conclusion: We sing, dance, and jump for joy because Jesus is alive!