Detectives of Divinity Easter 6 - John 15:13-17

Props: Detective gear, picture of sculpture of a heart, a picture of friends and/or a friendship bracelet, a couple of kinds of fruit.

·         Remind the children that when we don’t have Jesus with us, we need to look for clues about God in other places – today I’m looking at clues from something Jesus said

·         John 15 gives us clues about what our relationship to God is like

·         Put on detective gear and look at clues together:

o   the first clue: friendship bracelet and picture of friends – Ask the kids if they know what kind of bracelet this is?  Has anyone made one?  Jesus said that he doesn’t call us servants.  Instead he calls us friends.  Can you think of someone who is your friend?  You tell each other everything.  You love each other.  You spend lots of time together.  You pick your friends – it’s not like family where you have no choice.  Jesus chose us to be his friends.

o   the second clue: fruit – Jesus said that when he chose us, and when we become friends with him, we will bear fruit.  Do you think he means fruit like this apple?  Or this orange?  Do you remember the song you learned from Bryan about the fruit of the Spirit?  (sing) “The fruit of the spirit is love… joy…peace” (patience, kindness, generosity,faithfulness, gentleness, self-control)That is the kind of fruit that we can learn when we practice being friends with Jesus and with each other.

o   the third clue: heart – what do hearts usually mean?  LOVE.  One of the most important fruits of the Spirit is love.  If we keep choosing to be friends with each other, and with other people, we will keep practicing love.  And love isn’t always just a feeling, it’s doing all the hard things, like being patient, and kind and generous and faithful…all those other fruits that we sing about .  It’s a choice.  But even when we don’t do it so well, Jesus loves us so much and we can count on that always. 

·         This week’s clues are hard…it’s hard to know how to act, or be or what to do when Jesus isn’t right here telling us.  So, just like always we need to look to each other and count on our friends to help us.

Detective of Divinity - Easter 4 Children's Story – The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-18 – The Good Shepherd

Props: Detective Gear, sheep, staff and shepherd for evidence box

·         Recall with the children the ways that we’ve looked for clues about Jesus in past weeks – we’ve always had Jesus right there as the biggest clue

·         Today we’re looking for clues about Jesus and what he’s like – and about what God is like – in a story that Jesus tells (these clues might be very familiar if you’ve spent time in the Atrium)

·         Put on detective gear and look at the clues together:

o   the first clue: sheep – what do we know about sheep?  They really need someone to take care of them.  They’re not very smart.  They run around in packs – herds – with other sheep.  They’re vulnerable – that means they can’t protect themselves.

o   the second clue: shepherd’s staff – one way to protect them.  Hook them out of the way, scare away mean animals like the big bad wolf, guide them all together

o   the third clue: shepherd – biggest clue – the one who cares for all the sheep, keeps them safe, knows each of their names and calls to them, they all know his name too and know to follow

·         The story about the Good Shepherd was Jesus’ clue to how much he loves and wants to protect us and care for us.  A clue to how special we each are to God.

Detective of Divinity: Easter 3 Children's Story

This story is actually the one that directly precedes this weeks lectionary reading. But we've had one Jesus-revealed-in-a-locked-room story already, I thought I'd do a prequel of sorts. In our service we'll do the children's story right before the Gospel reading.

Luke 24:13-35 – On the Emmaus Road

props: detective hat, coat and magnifying glass, evidence box, Jesus figure, Bible or scroll, bread

· remind the children of the story of Jesus appearing Mary and then to the disciples – Mary didn’t recognize him right away and his friend Thomas needed to touch him before he believed that Jesus was alive

· recap or read the story of the Emmaus road from Luke 24:35

· Put on the detective gear and tell the children: Now it’s time to look at the clues! Let’s be witnesses!

· Look at the clues in the evidence box

o the first clue: Jesus himself – but the disciples didn’t recognize him – just like Mary didn’t recognize him at first – they weren’t expecting to see him – sometimes we don’t recognize people out of context, like when we see our teacher at the supermarket

o the second clue: scripture – Jesus talked with the disciples about how scriptures told of God’s love for the whole world and about how he – Jesus would die but be alive again (they still didn’t get it)

o the third clue: bread – break the bread as for Communion and ask the children where they’ve seen that gesture before. The disciples had seen Jesus do that too. They might have eaten with him many times, finally they recognized him.

· Say: Even though we don’t see Jesus with us, the way the disciples did, one of the ways we experience God’s love is through eating together, through caring for people who don’t have enough to eat and accepting the good food that people offer us – in each other’s homes, here at church, on picnics.

· Say: When the disciples finally recognized Jesus, he disappeared, but that didn’t stop them from running all the way back to Jerusalem to tell all of their friends, Jesus is alive!!

· Say: If you listen carefully to the next story when it’s read, you’ll hear about Jesus eating with his friends again. (Luke 24:36-48, the scripture reading for this Sunday)

Detective of Divinity: Easter 2 Children's Story (Lectionary Year B)

John 20:19-31

Props:
trench coat, detective hat, magnifying glass, box for evidence, small model or picture of a door, empty jar for ‘breath’, figure of Jesus with marked hands and feet or picture of hand and feet or picture of Thomas touching Jesus like the one above

• Ask children if they remember the story from last week. Remind children about what it means to be a witness and about how Mary was a witness to Jesus.
  
• Put on costume props and invite the children again to be witnesses and look at the clues together.
  
• Talk about the disciples who were not yet witnesses.
  
• Look at the clues in the evidence box:
  

the first clue: a door – the door was locked because the disciples were afraid that they would be associated with Jesus. Jesus was killed and maybe they would be in danger too. But Jesus got into the room even though the door was locked tight

the second clue – Jesus! The hand and feet of Jesus were scarred. The disciples could see that it was him, the man who had been badly hurt and killed – he’s alive!

the breath in a jar – Jesus breathed on them – a dead person can’t breathe! And he told them that it was his Spirit

• Say: “Thomas had to see all of these things to believe that Jesus was alive. Just like Mary didn’t believe it until she heard Jesus say her name.”
• Say: “Jesus told Thomas that his disciples might need to believe even though they don’t see – which means we need to look for clues to Jesus in the stories we hear, in the way we see people acting, in the love we feel”
• Pray: “God, help me to see the way you and your Spirit are with me always. Amen.”

Detective of Divinity: Easter Sunday Children's Story (Lectionary Year B)

Through this season of Easter, our congregation is worshiping with the theme "Witness to the Light" based on the numbers of times in Acts and John people are named as witnesses to Christ's ministry, his death and his resurrection. They see and tell. Usually we have the benefit of using Leader magazine's resources but since this year they didn't publish Easter materials, I was tasked with coming up with my own Children's Story for the worship series.

I was somewhat inspired by Bryan Moyer Suderman's newest album Detectives of Divinity to think about the ways that the biblical witnesses have the clues set before them...and how we do too. So the first Sunday of Easter, I'm starting with Mary Magdalene, witness to the risen Jesus, and having the kids help me look for the clues she found that he was alive.

I'll post the story every week until Pentecost.

Easter Sunday – John 20:1-18

props: trench coat, detective hat, magnifying glass, box for evidence, stone, bandages, figure of Jesus

· Ask if children know what it means to be a witness

o meaning one: to see something with your own eyes

o meaning two: to tell about what you’ve seen

· Often the word ‘witness’ in association with police or detective or the courtroom – like being on the ‘witness stand’ when a witness tells about the crime that they saw.

· Put on costume props and say “Today I’m going to be a detective and you are going to be the witnesses and together we’re going to look for the clues that Jesus is alive – just like in the story from John 20”

o the first clue: a rock – Mary saw the rock rolled away and that was her first clue that Jesus was missing. Talk about where there was a stone out of place in the story.

o the second clue: the cloths that wrapped Jesus’ head and hands – these were left in the tomb but the body wasn’t there. Talk about what the cloths were for and the disciples who saw them.

o the third clue: Jesus himself – Mary thought he was the gardener but she learned that it was Jesus himself. Talk about Jesus’ conversation with Mary.

· Ask: “What did Mary do when she figured out all the clues?” She was a witness who witnessed; she went and told her friends what she had seen: ‘Jesus is alive!’

· Say: “Even though we don’t see Jesus, we do have clues that God is at work in our lives: in the Bible, in the love we feel and receive from our friends and family, in the stories we hear at church and in Sunday school, and in many other way. We just need to keep looking.”

Illness and Wholeness and Jesus

I've been reading a lot about Jesus healing people this week, as I prepare for a sermon on Mark 1:29-39. This is the story of Jesus healing Simon's mother-in-law, falls directly on the heels of the story of how he cast an evil spirit from a man in the synagogue and in the same day at sunset healed crowds of people who gathered at his door after hearing about the two miracles above.

I have heard many commentators talk about how healing people of their diseases not only healed their physical ailments but also restored them to their place within family and society. No longer are they outcasts, but whole members of society. I myself have preached something similar - I remember a particular sermon about the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark 5:25-34 which had those kinds of overtones.

A preaching blogger, Sarah Heinrich said this:

...illness bore a heavy social cost: not only would a person be unable to earn a living or contribute to the well-being of a household, but their ability to take their proper role in the community, to be honored as a valuable member of a household, town, or village, would be taken from them. Peter's mother-in-law is an excellent case in point. It was her calling and her honor to show hospitality to guests in her home. Cut off from that role by an illness cut her off from doing that which integrated her into her world. Who was she when no longer able to engage in her calling? Jesus restored her to her social world and brought her back to a life of value by freeing her from that fever. It is very important to see that healing is about restoration to community and restoration of a calling, a role as well as restoration to life. For life without community and calling is bleak indeed.

I suppose all of this is true, but these days there is something about that which does not sit quite right, especially as I consider preaching this message in a contemporary context. It is equally true now as then that illness and disease cuts people off from their callings and roles. it is equally true that people with illnesses - whether they be mental or physical - struggle with questions of identity, self and relationship to community, when they are unable to fulfill what has been set before them because of their illnesses.

Another blogger, Brian Stoffregen, asked this question:

How do we proclaim Jesus' power to heal that takes seriously both these biblical passages of healing and the present reality that mental and physical ailments are not usually instantly removed through prayer and evoking Jesus' name and power over the ailments?

Exactly! We do not (usually) have the miracle of healing available to us and yet I believe that the text still has power because of how Jesus responded to people who came to him in their illness. It is important that he did respond. Although in their communities, these individuals may not have had value, may have been untouchable, to Jesus their value was still clear and obvious. Simon's mother may not have been able to serve and care for her family and guests, as previously had been her role and perhaps even her calling. But she was still of immeasurable value, perhaps of even more value, as Jesus attended to her in a special way.

In life and ministry I have encountered or been in relationship with several individuals who have seen terminal illnesses or mental illness interfere with their ability to fulfill their passions and callings. These same illnesses often are isolating, cutting off persons who struggle with them from their communities and friends, making them unable to reach or or take initiative. It is incredibly painful to live with a longing for relationship and the living out of calling and to be trapped in a body that prevents it.

Fortunately we have the clear perspective of history. We, who are Jesus disciples now, are called to restore or maintain the ill person’s role in community. Unlike the crowds and the families of lepers and diseased persons in Jesus' milieu, we can see the value in friend and stranger whose illness can be a dividing wall. We are not able to perform miracles, but we can offer the gift of time and presence. We can offer the intentionality of looking through the eyes of Christ instead of the eyes of the crowd.

Chalking the Doors

This past Sunday, in addition to being New Year's Day, was the Sunday that we celebrated Epiphany. There were few children present, but with those who were, we blessed the church at 3120 NE 125th St in a new-to-me tradition using chalk colored chalk and the initials of the wise men who visited Jesus two millenia ago.

Now, the wise visitors may have been three - or fewer or more - we know they brought three gifts. They may have been advisers to kings, although they were almost certainly not kings themselves, in spite of what songs and stories say. We do not know their names, but tradition has dubbed them Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. They were philosophers, students of scripture, history and culture, who saw a star, read old prophesies and made a connection.

They did, as the song says, 'traverse afar' and they were strangers in a strange land when they were received into the home of Mary and Joseph and Jesus. When we chalk their initials onto our door frames, we bless our door with the prayer that we too may be gracious to visitors, that those who come may bring blessing and be blessed, that we may offer hospitality in the manner of the holy family, and that visitors to our homes may find safe harbor in their coming in and in their going out.

A variation on the prayer below is what I used in worship and what i send home on cards with the children and others from the congregation who wanted to chalk their own doors. You can be certain that it is a wonderful novelty for kids and adults alike to be given permission to write on the walls.

Door and Chalk Blessing:
C+B+M+2012

God of doors and homes, bless this home this year and every year.
Bless all who come and go through this door, both those who live here and those who visit.
May all who enter through this door come in peace and bring joy.
May all who come to this door find welcome and love.
May the love and joy in this home overflow and spread into the community and the world.