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Woship Resources 2007-2008 — Year A: Passionate for Peace
Return to Year A: 2007-2008
Resource Index
Sunday, October 19, 2008
See through Children’s Eyes
Children’s Sabbath
Ordinary Time (Proper 24)
Scriptures: Exodus 33:12–23; Psalm 99; I Thessalonians
1:1–10; Matthew 22:15–22; Jacob 4:8–16; Doctrine
and Covenants 59:2f–h
Sharing Christ’s Peace
God, the Eternal Creator, weeps for the poor, displaced,
mistreated, and diseased of the world because of their unnecessary
suffering. Such conditions are not God’s will. —Doctrine and Covenants
163:4a
Today is the observance of Children’s Sabbath. Now in its seventeeth year, it
is a day for people of all ages and all faiths to learn and recognize the urgent
needs of children. It is a day to increase our awareness of the need to nurture
and protect children and to seek justice on their behalf. For more information,
order the Children’s Sabbath Resource Manual from
the Children’s Defense Fund. See
www.childrensdefense.org/religiousaction/childrenssabbaths/default-aspx.
Prelude
Gathering Hymn
“As We Gather” NS 3
OR “All Things Bright and Beautiful” HS 18
Welcome
Call to Worship: Doctrine and Covenants 59:2f–h
*Hymn
“This Is the Day” Text and tune by Les Garrett
copyright 1967 and this arr. Copyright 1997, Scripture in Song (A division
of Integrity Music). ASCAP. All rights reserved. International copyright
secured. CCLI 657926. Teach this to the children in
advance and have them sing it as a choir if possible.
OR “Lord, Let Thy Holy Spirit Come” HS 346
*Invocation
*Response
Congregational Reading
People: Lord, we have come. You know us by name.
We have found favor in your sight.
Show us your ways.
Leader: I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found
favor in my sight, and I know you by name.
People: Show us your glory, we pray.
Leader: I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim
before you the name, “The Lord.”
—Exodus 33:12–17, adapted
Hymn
“I Have Called You by Your Name” R-10
OR “All Are Called” R-9
Focus Moment
Have a good storyteller share this story:
Glaud Rodger and Charles Wandell arrived in the harbor of Sydney,
Australia, on January 22, 1874. Soon Wandell became ill and died. Glaud
Rodger was alone from then on.
In time, Rodger wrote to America that the work in Australia was slow but
permanent. As years went by, the church was established on the north coast
and also in Victoria.
In the little village of Glen Eden in Victoria, Rodger built an altar of
stones at the top of a hill. Whenever he was homesick or discouraged, he
climbed to his altar of prayer.
When it was time for Rodger to return home, he wrote a poem and hid it
under the rocks of his altar. He told the young people of Glen Eden that the
first person to find the altar and the poem could keep the poem.
The young people of the community challenged one another and searched for
the altar as if it was a buried treasure. The young woman who found the
altar treasured the poem throughout her life.
—Adapted from Inez Smith Davis, The Story of the Church,
13th ed. (Herald Publishing House, 1989), 529–534.
What gift of love can you give the children in your congregation?
The congregation can ponder this during meditation time.
Meditation Music
Ask a child to offer their gift of music through song or instrument.
Sermon
Based on I Thessalonians 1:1–10
Disciples’ Generous Response
Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to
integrate the message of “share equally” between Local and World Ministries
Mission Tithes. Offertory stories are provided to keep the church in touch
with how contributions to Mission Tithes spread the peace of Jesus Christ.
Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information
as part of your offertory ministry. Visit
www.CofChrist.org/offertory
to print a copy, or contact your pastor, congregational financial officer,
or worship coordinator for a copy.
Note: The Mattie Stepanek poem "Believing for the
Journey" can be found in the print and CD versions of this resource,
available through
HeraldHouse.org. The publisher declined permission for website
use.
Blessing and Receiving of Mission Tithes
Hymn
“How Majestic Is Your Name” NS 16
OR “Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord”
HS 57
Closing Prayer
The prayer could be given by one or more children.
*Closing Hymn
“He Leadeth Me” HS 123
OR “Companions on the Journey” NS 7
*Sending Forth: Psalm 99:1, 2, 9
*Postlude
Sermon Helps
Scriptures: Exodus 33:12–23; Psalm 99; I Thessalonians 1:1–10; Matthew 22:15–22;
Jacob 4:8–16; Doctrine and Covenants 59:2f–h
Exploring the Scriptures
The people of Thessalonica are praised by Paul in his epistle because of the
constancy of faith and labor of love they have shown. They did an amazing thing
and turned from idol worship, a mainstay in their culture, “to serve a living
and true God” (v. 9). Paul praises them as an example, a message to others of
faith, hope, and love in a hostile environment.
There are hostile elements in our cultures today, and children are the most
vulnerable victims. Children make up the largest percentage of our world’s poor,
hungry, marginalized, abused, homeless, sick, and, most of all, powerless. Do we
turn away from cultural pressures, meaningless pursuits, overconsumption, and
corruption to devote our work, money, time, and allegiance to creating a world
that ensures the welfare of children? This is what Children’s Sabbath is all
about: advocating for children’s rights and thus making the world a better
place. The National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths (USA), now in its
sixteenth year, seeks to inspire people of faith to respond to children’s needs.
The Community of Christ and other faith communities are to be praised for the
work they have done on behalf of children, just as Paul praised the people of
Thessalonica. Our work for children is an example, a message to others that with
love and perseverance, being a witness of Christ can overcome a hurting world.
But we cannot stop there; there is much more to be done.
President Steve Veazey has stated that the vulnerable are our lens for
measuring how we are doing. How are we doing with our children and the children
of the world? What would a child in Haiti say to us? a child in Ethiopia? a
child from the inner city or from a rural community? What counsel would a child
from our own congregation give us? On Children’s Sabbath we are encouraged to
see how we are doing through children’s eyes. What would the children say about
how we are doing in making the world a better place for them?
Be passionate about this work for the sake of children so that our children
will affirm what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “We always give thanks to God
for all of you…remembering…your work of faith and labor of love and
steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 2, 3).
Central Ideas
1. Discipleship is not a feel-good, status-quo experience. It is
responding to the needs of others, creating a better world, taking a stand,
and resisting the cultural idols that consume our time and resources.
2. Faithful people have always acknowledged the plight of the
marginalized and worked toward equality. To work for others, to labor in
love, and have steadfastness in hope means to leave behind those idols which
can consume our time and resources.
Questions for the Speaker
1. When has a change of focus or priorities turned your attention to a
new need or concern?
2. Children are our lens on the world. If children are the world’s
poorest, hungriest, most abused, most marginalized, and powerless, how,
then, are we doing? What can you do? Where do you start?
3. Paul’s words of praise also challenge us to consider the message that
our lives proclaim. To whom do you give your work, money, time, and
allegiance? What are you a witness to?
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