Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost- Week of Aug. 22, 2021 - Proper 17
Praying
Begin your devotion time by praying this prayer: Holy God, you equip us to love and serve you. Give us the strength and courage to stand up for truth and share your love with the world. Amen.
Reflect on the Way of Love together: This week’s practice on the Way of Love is PRAY. What are the prayer practices you do in your household? How might you make prayer a regular part of your everyday life?
Reading
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10-20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
Ephesians 6:10-20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
Reflecting and Responding
Adult and Small Child
Ephesians 6:10-20
Reflection: There is something about people that is broken. We forget that God warns us not to fight against each other. Instead, we should fight against evil ideas that confuse us and divide us. Whatever confuses and divides is not from God. To be strong against evil, we will need some tools. We will need to know what is true. One truth is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. That truth is salvation. Salvation protects our minds from confusion and division. Faith is believing that God is working invisibly, creating good things that we can only imagine right now. Things that have never been seen before. Faith stories can protect us from minding the little stings of life or from giving them. Faith is a tool that we get from knowing Bible stories and stories of our ancestors. We can understand those stories better if we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us. What else can the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit can give us courage to do the right thing. The Holy Spirit can make us quick to bring peace. Salvation, faith, Bible stories, prayer, courage, and peace are the tools to stop confusion and division.
Respond: When you feel like you want to fight a person, stop and pray. Try to think of a wrong idea to fight together instead. If your friend is not taking turns, they might not be mean. Maybe they do not know how to tell time. The solution might be a timer. Everyone is happier when we do not fight against each other and are quick to make peace.
- Lea Colvill
Adult and Elementary
Read: Ephesians 6:10-20
Reflect: Prayer is a wonderful way to offer thanks and praise to God or to spend time with God in a way that quiets and soothes our spirit. Prayer is also a powerful way to invite God to make very real changes in us and our life. Jesus and the apostles spoke to God regularly in prayer and it gave them strength to do very important, and sometimes difficult, things. ‘Putting on the armor of God’ is a special prayer that reminds us of all the gifts we have that offer us protection and strength as we seek to live in the Way of Jesus. Can you find them all in the passage? Did you find truth, righteousness, peace, and faith? What about salvation and the word of God? Does picturing them as pieces of clothing that go on different parts of your body make them easier to picture or remember? Try asking God to help you wear this “armor” throughout the rest of your day and picture yourself putting protective covering on the different parts of your body as you ask God for that protection or thank God for that gift.
Respond: When we put on the armor of God we become the Biblical version of superheroes, with special protections that make us much stronger and able to do wonderful things. Because we have God’s power with us, we are able to stand against the devil and the forces of evil, which is pretty exciting. Think about yourself as a superhero for God. What would your superhero name be? What would your helmet and belt and shield look like? If you enjoy art, try making a comic book page or a graphic novel page. You could also design a shield cut out of cardboard with your favorite Bible verse about faith on it. Your helmet of salvation could be a baseball cap decorated with paint or beads. Just like every superhero has different abilities, so do we. Celebrate your own superpowers through God who strengthens you!
- Carla Christopher Wilson
Ephesians 6:10-20
Reflection: There is something about people that is broken. We forget that God warns us not to fight against each other. Instead, we should fight against evil ideas that confuse us and divide us. Whatever confuses and divides is not from God. To be strong against evil, we will need some tools. We will need to know what is true. One truth is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. That truth is salvation. Salvation protects our minds from confusion and division. Faith is believing that God is working invisibly, creating good things that we can only imagine right now. Things that have never been seen before. Faith stories can protect us from minding the little stings of life or from giving them. Faith is a tool that we get from knowing Bible stories and stories of our ancestors. We can understand those stories better if we pray for the Holy Spirit to help us. What else can the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit can give us courage to do the right thing. The Holy Spirit can make us quick to bring peace. Salvation, faith, Bible stories, prayer, courage, and peace are the tools to stop confusion and division.
Respond: When you feel like you want to fight a person, stop and pray. Try to think of a wrong idea to fight together instead. If your friend is not taking turns, they might not be mean. Maybe they do not know how to tell time. The solution might be a timer. Everyone is happier when we do not fight against each other and are quick to make peace.
- Lea Colvill
Adult and Elementary
Read: Ephesians 6:10-20
Reflect: Prayer is a wonderful way to offer thanks and praise to God or to spend time with God in a way that quiets and soothes our spirit. Prayer is also a powerful way to invite God to make very real changes in us and our life. Jesus and the apostles spoke to God regularly in prayer and it gave them strength to do very important, and sometimes difficult, things. ‘Putting on the armor of God’ is a special prayer that reminds us of all the gifts we have that offer us protection and strength as we seek to live in the Way of Jesus. Can you find them all in the passage? Did you find truth, righteousness, peace, and faith? What about salvation and the word of God? Does picturing them as pieces of clothing that go on different parts of your body make them easier to picture or remember? Try asking God to help you wear this “armor” throughout the rest of your day and picture yourself putting protective covering on the different parts of your body as you ask God for that protection or thank God for that gift.
Respond: When we put on the armor of God we become the Biblical version of superheroes, with special protections that make us much stronger and able to do wonderful things. Because we have God’s power with us, we are able to stand against the devil and the forces of evil, which is pretty exciting. Think about yourself as a superhero for God. What would your superhero name be? What would your helmet and belt and shield look like? If you enjoy art, try making a comic book page or a graphic novel page. You could also design a shield cut out of cardboard with your favorite Bible verse about faith on it. Your helmet of salvation could be a baseball cap decorated with paint or beads. Just like every superhero has different abilities, so do we. Celebrate your own superpowers through God who strengthens you!
- Carla Christopher Wilson
about three minutes to watch and listen
Check out an entire playlist about this scripture by clicking on the image
Connecting
Mom Pie by Lynne Jonell
(Written for ages 5-9)
Comment: These bread texts can be weird, even for adults, yet Jesus as the Bread of Life is an important enough concept that the lectionary dwells on it for several weeks in a row. A book called Mom Pie parallels well with this text, exploring what it is that Jesus as bread teaches or reveals to us. In the story, boys who are aching to spend time with their mom make a pie out of things that remind them of her. For we who are aching to know and dwell with God, Jesus is like that pie, he is the thing that can be touched, smelled, tasted, heard, to better help people connect to God.
Connecting through story
“Something Inside So Strong” is a song used every day in the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools. The servant leaders (college students) and student scholars (grades K-12) have added motions. In this clip, servant leaders (current and alum) have gathered for CDF’s 40th anniversary celebration. You can learn more about Freedom Schools here and here.
(Written for ages 5-9)
Comment: These bread texts can be weird, even for adults, yet Jesus as the Bread of Life is an important enough concept that the lectionary dwells on it for several weeks in a row. A book called Mom Pie parallels well with this text, exploring what it is that Jesus as bread teaches or reveals to us. In the story, boys who are aching to spend time with their mom make a pie out of things that remind them of her. For we who are aching to know and dwell with God, Jesus is like that pie, he is the thing that can be touched, smelled, tasted, heard, to better help people connect to God.
Connecting through story
“Something Inside So Strong” is a song used every day in the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools. The servant leaders (college students) and student scholars (grades K-12) have added motions. In this clip, servant leaders (current and alum) have gathered for CDF’s 40th anniversary celebration. You can learn more about Freedom Schools here and here.
- What is the message of this song?
- What is the “something” inside each person that is so strong?
- Why is the “something inside so strong” important?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue:
- What does it feel like to be hungry or thirsty?
- In what ways does it interrupt life?
- What do you think Jesus meant when he said “I am the bread of life”?
- Jesus was talking to a group that included his fellow Jews. What story from their faith do you think they thought about when the heard the phrase “bread from heaven”?
- How is God providing bread in the wilderness and God providing Jesus as the bread of life similar or connected?
- The Jew’s ancestors complained in the wilderness and they are complaining now. Why do you think they are complaining?
- Jesus is not literarily bread, so how does he provide life?
- What does it mean for Jesus to give us life?
- The text mentions “they shall be taught by God.” What were the ancient Israelites taught by God giving them bread to eat each day in the wilderness? What is God teaching us with Jesus as the bread of life?
- How is living in Christ different from just living?
- What empowers us to live as Christ raised us to live?
- What gives you strength when we are struggling?
- What is the “something so strong” in you that gives you life and strength?
- How do you know it’s there?
- What can you do to remind yourself that Jesus (the Holy Spirit) continues to live in you and give you life and strength?
Teaching points that can be incorporated into your discussion:
- Last week we explored the story of the ancient Israelites in the wilderness who were hungry and complained to the point of wishing they were still enslaved.
- God heard their cries and gave them bread from heaven to eat and relieve their hunger.
- They were taught God’s ongoing providential care through the command to only pick up enough bread for one day. They learned to trust that God would provide.
- Jesus’ people, the Jews, had waited and hoped for a very long time for God to send the new Messiah. They had endured exile and a significant loss of power through the years as a consequence of their own unfaithfulness. They had lived for many years under the rule of other government. They wanted their own sovereignty and power to be restored and believed in the prophets’ message that a new Messiah would be sent by God to deliver them.
- Christians believe Jesus was the new Messiah sent by God and the fulfilment of the prophecies.
- Jesus’ idea of deliverance was very different than his people’s expectation. They had in mind a military messiah as a means of release from bondage.
- Jesus as Messiah came to set captives free from all that shackled and kept people from full, abundant and faithful life.
- In the preceding verses in John 6, the disciples and the crowd ask for a sign so they would know they could continue to do the work Jesus’ had set before them. Jesus, the rabbi, took the opportunity to teach them that it is God who does the work. It is God who gives life through the bread the God provides. In verse 34 they reply, “Sir, give us this bread always.” It is here today’s passage picks up.
- It is God, through the gift of Jesus, that gives and empowers life. It is the continuing presence of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit that makes us strong and faithful — not our own doing or the doing of any one leader, but God’s work and presence in and through us.
Play the song “Something Inside So Strong” again and this time stand and join in the singing and the motions as a reminder that the Bread of Life, Jesus, lives in and through you, giving strength and courage.
Praying
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, community and the world.
Sources:
Exodus Passage
REBECCA DAVIS is the associate professor of Christian education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. A teaching elder and certified educator, she served congregations for over 20 years before moving into academic teaching. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, her passion is child advocacy and ministry.
John Passage
JOELLE BRUMMIT-YALE is the director of children’s and youth ministries at Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When not at the church, she can usually be found at home with her son and husband caring for their many animals and developing their family homestead.
Sources:
Exodus Passage
REBECCA DAVIS is the associate professor of Christian education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. A teaching elder and certified educator, she served congregations for over 20 years before moving into academic teaching. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, her passion is child advocacy and ministry.
John Passage
JOELLE BRUMMIT-YALE is the director of children’s and youth ministries at Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When not at the church, she can usually be found at home with her son and husband caring for their many animals and developing their family homestead.
PRAYground is Open on Sundays in Worship
8:30 am, 9:00 am, and 11:00 am
PRAYground pictures
8:30 am, 9:00 am, and 11:00 am
PRAYground pictures
The Nursery is open again inside on Sundays
Children of all ages are always welcome outside to roam around the PRAYground during All services 8:30, 9:00, and 11:00 am services.
Meet Janae and another caring adult will be caring for our cherished children.
Message from Janae Gipson:
"I have always loved working and being around children. I volunteered for four years at St. Paul’s Catholic Church nursery every Sunday. I volunteer weekly at Gigi’s Playhouse, a Downs Syndrome Achievement Center and at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary. I really enjoy children and believe that they make the world so much better. Although I have the most experience with nannying and babysitting with children of all ages, I prefer to work with infants and babies under two years. I’ve just graduated from Brooks-Debartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa and am entering Hillsborough Community College in the fall in Child Development. I am CPR and first aid certified. I’m looking forward to spending time with the children at Palma Ceia."
"I have always loved working and being around children. I volunteered for four years at St. Paul’s Catholic Church nursery every Sunday. I volunteer weekly at Gigi’s Playhouse, a Downs Syndrome Achievement Center and at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary. I really enjoy children and believe that they make the world so much better. Although I have the most experience with nannying and babysitting with children of all ages, I prefer to work with infants and babies under two years. I’ve just graduated from Brooks-Debartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa and am entering Hillsborough Community College in the fall in Child Development. I am CPR and first aid certified. I’m looking forward to spending time with the children at Palma Ceia."