Youth Ministry

Ashes to Go

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My church is having pancakes and ashes on Tuesday night. We will enjoy a time of fellowship over tasty pancakes made by the youth and then everyone will leave with a baggie of ashes and a piece of paper with the following words.

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow. This special day is the beginning of the
season of Lent. For the next 40 days, we will focus on the life of
Jesus preparing ourselves to follow him as witnesses of his death and
resurrection. Lent is a time to focus on following Jesus through
prayer, Bible reading, sharing what we have with each other, and
asking for forgiveness when we are wrong. As you place these ashes on
your head, consider how you will follow Jesus this Lenten season.

Bible Reading from Joel 2: 12-16a

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
   “return to me with all your heart,
   with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
   and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
   and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast,
   call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the
assembly; bring together the elders,    gather the children.

Blessing of Us as We Receive the Ashes

Holy God, you created humans from the dust of this earth. You created
us in your own image. We are grateful to be your beloved children. As we receive these ashes, help us to remember your love and your call
for us to return to you. We admit we have sinned and we know that
these ashes are a sign of your forgiveness and your love for us.
Through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who we are following today and each
day, we pray, Amen.

Imposition of Ashes-

You can place the ashes on your own head or have someone else place
them for you. As the ashes are placed say-

Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Or

Remember God’s amazing love for you and that you belong to God today
and everyday.

Closing Prayer and Blessing (Psalm 51:10)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen.

Fruits of the Spirit Interactive Sermon

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I wanted to do a different sermon when I preached earlier this summer, so I decided to have the congregation take an active role in a sermon focusing on the Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.

First, I gathered some actual fruit and a Sharpie. I used bananas, lemons, and oranges. On each fruit, write one of the fruits-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control.

And my friend designed these awesome question sheets on Canva.

And then I wrote an introduction and a wrap up for the sermon.

Just before these verses in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia are a list of do not dos. We will not be reading those verses today because we are focusing on the to do! The fruits of the Spirit are actions that pour out of us as a response to God’s love.

The fruits of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control-are not things we do to be saved. Jesus already took care of that . The fruits of the Spirit are our response to God’s love living inside of us. Because we are filled with God’s love, we can be fruit trees bearing lots of fruit. And this text isn’t just talking about us as individuals-it is talking about the church. So because Buckingham Presbyterian Church is filled with God’s love, our grateful response is being a church that shares all of these fruits.

It is easy to say these fruits so fast that we don’t even think about them. Instead today we are going to dive deep into this fruit salad. We are going to divide into groups and answer the questions on our sheet about our fruit. Then we will come back together and share what we said.

After each group has shared, it is time for the wrap up!

I want you to be on the lookout for these fruits in the coming days. I am giving everyone a Fruit of the Spirit Bingo Card. When you see a fruit or you put one of these fruits in action, cross it off your card. When your card is full, bring it back to church and give it to me. I will have a special prize for you (spoiler alert-it is fruit snacks). We are going to work together as a community of faith to be people who respond to God’s love by sharing love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, generosity, gentleness, and patience. Amen.

Thanks to my creative friend for making these question and Bingo cards.

Giving Thanks and Turning Off the To Do List

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My wonderful sister sent me this gift recently.

It is a jar filled with 120 Scriptures. They are color coded and one is invited to select one when feeling-happy, anxious, lonely, thankful, sad, or angry.

I was so excited that I dove right into the jar and started pulling out Scriptures and reading them. And then my brain kept going (like it often does). I was thinking this is such a great idea. I could create something like this for my families at church. How wonderful would that be. And yes, it would be wonderful. And yes, it might still happen in the future. Not today. Today, I am going to enjoy this gift. I am going to avoid adding another thing to my to do list. I am going to smile when I pull a Scripture from the jar. I am going to give thanks for the gift and for the giver of this gift. And that will be enough for today.

Giver of All Good Gifts, Remind us that it is okay to say thank you and enjoy a gift. Every great idea does not need to be acted upon immediately. You remind us to be still and know that you are God. So today, help us to be still. Slow down our ideas that make us more work. Let us be still and rest in you. Amen.

A Prayer for the Garden

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I was raised by parents who had a garden. I spent my summer helping the grandparents in their gardens. Somehow the growing and gardening gene just didn’t make it to me. My church has a garden, and I enlisted support of people who have a green thumb to get the plants in the ground and help them grow! Last night was the first night of planting. Now it is time for that which I feel is more in my skill set-praying for the garden! Join me in a garden prayer.

God of All that Grows, Thank you for the gift of gardens filled with plants and hopefully someday filled with tasty foods. In our speedy society, it can be hard to wait for our garden to be ready. Give us patience as we watch it grow. Give us perseverance as we pull so many weeds. Give us steadfastness as we water when the rains don’t fall as we would prefer. Above all, give us a spirit of thankfulness as we tend and care for the land you created and share what we grow with your children. Amen!

Keep These Words-a Sermon on Deuteronomy 6:1-9

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It was brought to my attention that the last time I preached here (in March), I preached on the 10 commandments and today I am preaching on the chapter after the 10 commandments. It seems I am preaching a very long and drawn-out sermon series.   

If you find yourself thinking, didn’t I just hear about the 10 commandments recently. Then, you were probably here last week enjoying the amazing play presented by our youth-Away from a Manger. I would love to share with you these lines about the 10 commandments from the play. For those who missed the most amazing play ever last week, let me set it up for you-in the midst of the dress rehearsal for the Christmas play, the baby Jesus doll goes missing and all the actors are suspects in mystery. The part about the 10 commandments comes as Stage Manager 1 is questioning the Lamb.

Stage M:

You seem to know a lot about your Bible. Can you tell me the Ten Commandments?  

Lamb:

Number 1, you shall have no other Gods before me. Number 2-  

Stage M:

Okay, skip to, oh, let’s say Number 7.  

Lamb:

Seven, you shall not commit adulterness. A-dult-err- something that means don’t be an adult. Or at least a mean adult. Right?  

Stage M:

You know what? I think I meant to say Number 8.  

Lamb:

Eight, you shall not steal.  

Stage M:  

Aha! Do you know it means to steal?  

Lamb:

Taking someone else’s things.  

Stage M:

That’s right. (Speaking slowly and deliberately) So you must know that it makes God very sad when we take things that belong to someone else.  

Lamb:

Like when I took my brother’s bike and crashed it into a tree?  

Stage M:

Lamb nods. 

Exactly. And you want the magic doll, don’t you?  

 Stage M:

Have you ever thought about taking it for yourself?  

Lamb:  

No. I didn’t take it.  

Stage M:  

(After a pause) Okay, keep going with the commandments. Number 9?  

Lamb:

You shall not bear false testimony.  

Stage M:

Aha! And that means don’t lie about not stealing!  

Lamb:

I thought it meant don’t lie about anything.  

Stage M:

It does. What I meant to say was that whenever we’ve done something wrong, lied or stolen something, we just need to apologize and ask for forgiveness.  

(This script came from skitguys.com)

I love this exchange about the 10 commandments. It reminds us that some of the subjects covered in the Bible are challenging topics and when we teach them to those who are younger-our words matter. I think translating the seventh commandment as don’t be a mean adult is fabulous even if a little different from the original translation.  

Back to our Scripture for this morning from Deuteronomy, Moses has just delivered the 10 commandments to the Israelites who at this time have been wandering around in the wilderness for the past forty years. The time is coming for God to fulfill the promise made-the Israelites will be entering the land promised to them. We only have to watch the news to see that this promise of being given land already inhabited remains an issue. You may have noticed that our Scripture for today does not include any information about the people there in Biblical or current times living in the land flowing with milk and honey. And if you’d like to talk more at another time about the many challenges throughout the centuries with this land, I would be glad to have that conversation with you. Let me summarize it by saying-it is and has been very complicated. 

Moses is giving the people one more reminder that God has set forth the ways to live well in relationship with God and in relationship with each other. If the people can remember the way God wants them to live, they will “multiply greatly” and “things will go well with” them. How do we think it goes? 

The story of God’s beloved children down through the ages (spoiler alert-this is cliff notes version of the Bible) goes like this. God loves us. God gives instructions for our well-being, our ability to live together in community and in relationship with God. And we listen for a bit and then we start to drift off thinking we know better. So, God sends judges like Deborah to show people the way. And good news, it works for a bit and then nope. We want our own way again, thinking we know better than God. The people want a king (which God says will be a bad idea) and so they have a king. And God sends prophets to get the king and the people back on the right track. And each time the people forget, God reminds them. 
Finally, God thought if I send my son, they will listen and remember. You know, Jesus was born into this world to show us the way. To be the truth. To give us life. And friends, just like our ancestors in the faith, we forget and need reminders. This is the beauty of celebrating Christmas every year. It is another reminder to write these words of God’s love and faithfulness on our hearts so we may pass them along to the next generation. What good news this is! 

So, I’m wondering, people of faith- what are those stories, lessons, verses that are so dear to you that you have written them on your hearts? What hymns and songs do you love so much that you sing them to your children (or the children of the church) and you sing them when you are at home and when you are away? What memories of people of faith are so special to you that you think about them when you go to bed and when you rise? I want you to think on these questions. I also wonder if anyone is feeling brave enough to say something out loud today. What words are written on your heart? What do you want to ensure we together pass along to the next generation here? 

While you are pondering your answer or answers, I’d like to share one. Many of you met my Dad when he visited last year. You haven’t had the opportunity to know my Mom because she died almost four years ago. She was a woman of deep faith who lived out her faith with her actions. I could share countless stories of how she inspired me and encouraged me to live out my faith. Instead I’ll share the words to the song that always make me think of her that we used as the final hymn at her funeral. It is called Hymn of Promise by Natalie Sleeth. 

In the bulb, there is a flower 
In the seed, an apple tree 
In cocoons, a hidden promise 
Butterflies will soon be free 

In the cold and snow of winter 
There’s a spring that waits to be 
Unrevealed until its season 
Something God alone can see 

There’s a song in every silence 
Seeking word and melody 
There’s a dawn in every darkness 
Bringing hope to you and me 

From the past will come the future 
What it holds, a mystery 
Unrevealed until its season 
Something God alone can see 

In our end is our beginning 
In our time, infinity 
In our doubt, there is believing 
In our life, eternity 
In our death, a resurrection 
At the last, a victory 

Unrevealed until its season 
Something God alone can see 

Now that I got us started, does anyone have verses, stories, songs, etc that shaped your life that you know God is calling you to share with this faith community and future generations of the faithful?

I think you know what we have to do. God has entrusted us with these stories. Just because passing on the stories doesn’t make the big 10 (commandments) doesn’t mean we aren’t commanded/required/expected/encouraged by God to tell these stories. We must tell the stories and live out God’s love with our words and actions. We do this because God is relying on us to keep these words and not keep them hidden (under a bushel No!)…keep them in our hearts and share them with our words/actions/lives. It is important work we have been given to do. And the good news is that God doesn’t send us out to this work alone. Instead, God invites us to find a community like this one, where we can be fed with God’s word and supported by our faith family as the seeds of faith planted within us continue to grow as we pass it on by singing the old, old story in our new way. Amen.  

Jonah Chapters 3 and 4 (for youth)

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My goal for this final time with Jonah was to share the end of the story and include time for a recap of the whole story. I decided today to do this by sending the youth to stations set up around the space.

Here’s how we did it. We divided up into two groups. Each group went to the stations in any order and did what was stated on the information sheet at the station. Then, they took their station information sheet and went to the next station. The stations can be competed in any order. This is because the final step is assembling the story in order using the information sheets from each station.

Station 1-Call from God!

I would have loved to have a telephone with a prerecorded message when they picked up the phone with God’s call to Jonah. What I had was a picture of a telephone and one person was asked to be the voice of God and call Jonah!

Station 2-Build a Boat!

If Jonah is going to flee on a boat, he needs you to build him one. Make a boat using the materials on this table. The boat must float for 10 seconds.

For this station, I sent out a big bowl of water and a random assortment of items from the craft closet (popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, small cups, glue, etc).

Station 3- Rock, Paper, Scissors

While on the boat, the sailors cast lots which could be something like rock, paper, scissors to see who was causing the problem on the boat. Play rock, paper, scissors until someone is the winner-this person is your Jonah and needs to be thrown overboard.

Station 4-Jonah into the Fish

This station requires a cup, string, tape, a tiny figure to be Jonah. I borrowed this idea from somewhere online that I cannot find again to give them credit. The goal is to catch Jonah in the cup, so you need to tie the string around Jonah and then attach the string to the cup. Each person takes a turn being the fish who swallows Jonah.

Station 5-Write a Prayer in the Fish

Working together as a group, talk about how Jonah might have been feeling inside the big fish for three days and three nights. He didn’t know God was going to save him. Pretend you are Jonah and write a prayer to God together.

Station 6-Go to Nineveh!

God called to Jonah a second time. Be like Jonah and walk all around the city (or this room) yelling, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Station 7-Repent with the People of Nineveh!

Instead of sitting in ashes, we sat in scraps of paper. And in place of sackcloth, we used old painting shirts from the craft closet.

Have someone read out loud-The people heard Jonah and changed their ways. They promised not to eat (fast). They put on sackcloth (old, not fancy clothes) and sat in ashes. They hoped God would see the changes they made in their lives and forgive them. And guess what? It worked. God saw their changed behavior, and God forgave the people of Nineveh.

Station 8-Sit Under a Tree

You might think Jonah would be happy that God was kind and forgave the people of Nineveh. Nope! He got mad. Jonah said, “God, I know you are merciful. I didn’t even want to come here because I knew you would forgive them.”

Take turns sitting in this chair under the tree being grumpy like Jonah was. Remember that God forgives us and loves us just like God forgave the people of Nineveh and grumpy Jonah too.

Once all eight stations have been completed, it is time to put the story in order and tell it to the awesome adults waiting to hear the story.

Jonah Chapter 2 (for youth)

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So, friends for chapter 2 of Jonah we need to get ourselves into the belly of a big fish (some people still say whale and I think there are better things to argue about than fish vs whale).

You can search online and find great plans for huge tarps that you inflate with a fan. This sounds like a bunch of fun. I didn’t have the time, energy, or budget to make this happen.

My cheaper option required 18 blue plastic table cloths, blue duct tape, painters tape or masking tape, a ladder and a hallway at church!

Step 1-Hang up your table cloths!
Keep on hanging them until your whole space is blue.

Next, you need a mouth, so you can get swallowed by the big fish.

I was told it looked like a monster at this point.
Finished fish!

The hard work is done. Now on to the lesson for the youth. Begin by reviewing what happened in Chapter 1. Last time we left Jonah floating in the sea, and now he gets swallowed by a big fish.

Everyone into the fish. You can sit or stand for this part. Ask wondering questions. I wonder what Jonah was thinking? I wonder what you are thinking since you are now in the belly of a fish? I wonder what Jonah did to pass the time? I wonder how you would spend your time in here? I wonder what it smells like in the belly of a fish? (It was suggested that I place open cans of tuna fish around the room to help create the ambiance. I didn’t. You can if you would like).

Read Chapter 2 of Jonah out loud. You can divide it up and have different youth read. Stop before Jonah gets out.

Ask the youth what they would have said or prayed in this situation?

And then together, get vomited out of the fish back onto dry land like Jonah. Give thanks to God for caring for us and sharing Jonah’s story with us. Encourage the youth to come back next week to hear the rest of the story!

Jonah Chapter 1 (for youth)

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My youth asked for ways they could be Jonah, so for three weeks we are making Jonah’s story come to life.

Week 1 was chapter 1 (except the last verse). We left Jonah floating in the water with a to be continued and come back next week.

So for chapter 1, my friend and I built a boat.

We used cardboard and paper and tape from church. We used empty boxes from church as the cargo to be thrown overboard.

And then I rewrote the chapter into a youth friendly play. One of their favorite things they took from the lesson was that casting lots was something like rock, paper, scissors. We are doing more rock, paper, scissors now since they see the connection to the Bible.

We had a great time enacting the story and learning more about God through Jonah’s story.

Book Review-Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn’t Have to Heal From by Meredith Miller

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You should read this book! I keep talking about it to anyone and everyone.

This book is my recommendation for the parents to read at the church I am serving. Let me tell you why!

This book is very readable. In Part 1 (Chapters 1-4), she encourages families to find their own way to be faithful families. We are not given one right way to live our faith. Instead we are encouraged to live out our faith in our families and communities in ways that work for us. One of her ideas that I love is replacing the idea of a wall of faith that we build higher and higher with a web where the strings support each other and it grows stronger by connections. If your web has a string that gets weaker or breaks (a new understanding or change in your theology), your web is still strong and able to adapt unlike a wall that would tumble. She also pushes us to use all Bible stories to focus back on God instead of as a lesson toward obedience by children or adults.

In Part 2, she gives us 6 examples of what this looks like with different attributes of God (God is Good, Powerful, Just, Joyful, With Us, and Lord). In each chapter, she highlights a characteristic of God with a Bible story, ways to live out this characteristic of God, and suggestions for answering the hard questions.

I encourage you to read this book and let it nurture your faith while you prepare to nurture the faith of the children/youth in your care!

Sink or Float (Matthew 14:22-33)

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Helping make the Bible understandable and relatable can be a challenge. Here’s a fun way I encourage our children/youth to engage in this story of Jesus walking on water from Matthew 14:22-33.

So I did this both as a kid’s sermon in worship and as a longer outside activity for youth on our family faith night. Both were fun!

You will need a clear pitcher or clear bowl if doing this inside during worship or a kiddie pool if attempting outside during youth group. And a bunch of things you are okay getting wet as we are going to drop them in the water to see if they sink or float. I recommend looking around your space and finding a variety of things.

Invite all gathered to guess whether each object will sink or float and then have them place it into the water.

Then read the story from Matthew 14:22-33. I recommend reading it twice. The first time read it as written. The second time read it while pausing to ask questions. Notice that Jesus took time to be quiet in prayer (Matthew 14:22-23). Do you ever need time to be by yourself in silence? Jesus was walking on the water toward the boat (Matthew 12:25). Try to imagine how you would feel if you saw someone walking on water. Peter asks to join Jesus on the water (Matthew 12:28). If you were in this story, would you do the same or would you be like the other disciples watching from the boat? Peter notices all the scary things around him and begins to sink (Matthew 12:30). When have you ever become frightened when you saw where you were and what you were doing?

This story reminds us to trust in Jesus even when we feel like we are sinking or are overwhelmed or scared. Jesus never leaves us. (This is where I ended the kid’s message in worship).

For the youth activity, we made “ourselves” as a reminder that with Jesus we float and can handle the big waves of life. We used a collection of random items from the supply closet including styrofoam balls, rubber bands, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes. Everyone had fun creating and then took their creations home as a reminder of that night’s story.

And a prayer to end the night-

God of the Wind and the Waves and Silence, you never leave us. You never abandon us. Even when life is hard or scary or unfair, you walk beside us on the water and lift us up when we start to sink. We are grateful for your constant love and support. Give us the strength we need for today. And thank you for this community of faith which supports and loves us too. Amen.