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eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost- Week of Sept 26, 2021 - Proper 21
Praying
Begin your devotion time by praying this prayer: Compassionate God, you are always with us. Remind us of your presence and give us the courage to open our hearts to you. Amen.
Reflect on the Way of Love together: This week’s practice on the Way of Love is PRAY. What prayers have you prayed in the last week? How do you pray?
Reflect on the Way of Love together: This week’s practice on the Way of Love is PRAY. What prayers have you prayed in the last week? How do you pray?
preparing
Prepare to read aloud Mark 9:30-37. Provide some context for the text. Note that when Jesus was alive, children were not viewed the same as they are now. Children were particularly helpless because they had little protection. They could not contribute to households, so they were seen as a burden and extra mouths to feed. Children were not only powerless, they also didn’t have value until they reached an age where they could be productive for their families. Encourage the children you move through this lesson with to hold these ideas in mind as they hear the Scripture reading.
Reading
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
Mark 9:30-37
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Younger Elementary Children - six minutes to watch
Older Elementary Children - nine minutes to watch
Reflecting and Responding
Ask the children to recount how the passage begins. It starts with the disciples arguing about who is the greatest. They try to hide their disagreement from Jesus, but he knows what they have been saying. Jesus then offers his own view of who is “the greatest.” Share that Jesus tells them, “Whoever wants to be first must be the last of all and the servant of all.” Have the children wonder about this statement. What does Jesus mean? What does it mean to be “last” in society? Note that Jesus tells the disciples that those who are considered outcasts or least important by the world are the “first,” or those who will lead the way to God. They will understand what it means to be a disciple. Jesus lifts up a child as an example. Have the children share what Jesus tells the disciples about children. Then ask them to wonder what Jesus means when he says “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Share that Jesus is telling the disciples that children clearly reflect Christ to those who welcome them into a life of faith. Children were not as important as adults and were very vulnerable. By welcoming them, we welcome Jesus.
Continue the discussion by encouraging your child to think about how Jesus might want the church to treat children today. Share that Jesus’ words were spoken to the particular disciples he engaged in ministry with during his life on earth. However, they are also words that all future disciples, including us, listen to and try to follow. Ask the children to think about how the church might come to know Jesus better by involving children. What do children offer? How are children like Jesus? What can adults learn from children?
Continue the discussion by encouraging your child to think about how Jesus might want the church to treat children today. Share that Jesus’ words were spoken to the particular disciples he engaged in ministry with during his life on earth. However, they are also words that all future disciples, including us, listen to and try to follow. Ask the children to think about how the church might come to know Jesus better by involving children. What do children offer? How are children like Jesus? What can adults learn from children?
Connecting
Help your children connect the Scripture reading to their own lives through one or more of these activities:
Connecting with Scripture: Mark 9:38-42
Read the Scripture aloud the first time using the New Revised Standard Version or the Common English Bible.
As the Scripture is read a second time, assign parts of the story to those gathered (Jesus; John; additional options include the disciples, the person casting out demons, the one with the demon, the demon, the crowd). As someone reads the Scripture aloud, have each person silently act out the story.
Connecting through story
Connecting with Scripture: Mark 9:38-42
Read the Scripture aloud the first time using the New Revised Standard Version or the Common English Bible.
As the Scripture is read a second time, assign parts of the story to those gathered (Jesus; John; additional options include the disciples, the person casting out demons, the one with the demon, the demon, the crowd). As someone reads the Scripture aloud, have each person silently act out the story.
Connecting through story
- Watch this short video from UNICEF
- Why do you think UNICEF helped the children in Rwanda?
- In what ways did UNICEF act in ways that are consistent with Jesus’ name?
- In what ways did they remove a stumbling block?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue:
- Why was John upset?
- Why was Jesus not upset?
- What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “Whoever is not against us is for us”?
- In what ways did/do the children in Rwanda “bear the name of Christ,” or in other words, “bear the image of God”?
- Why is that a reason to give someone who is thirsty a cup of water?
- What does giving someone a cup of water have to do with acting with, or for, Christ?
- What is a stumbling block?
- In what ways is giving children clean water to drink removing a stumbling block?
- What are other stumbling blocks for “little ones”?
- Why is it important to remove stumbling blocks?
- In what ways have you participated in removing stumbling blocks?
- In what ways do you “bear the name of Christ”?
Praying
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, community and the world.
Sources:
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:
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.