food4thought

Walk from the back of the school hall dressed in a Spiderman costume. Don’t say a word. Hold your finger to your lips to encourage the school to be quiet.

Read the John 3:16 in Greek! No really! 

Who can tell me what I’m saying?

I’m saying this. Put the Greek on the Power Point.

Who can tell me what it says? It’s hard isn’t it? That’s because it’s in another language. Let me translate it into English or turn it into English. Read John 3:16 in English.

If you wanted to summarise what the whole Bible is about in one sentence that’s a pretty good place to go.

We’re going to think about someone who thought that everyone should have a chance to hear that. This term you’re thinking about heroes and heroines. So we’re carrying on thinking about Christian superheroes.

What superhero have I come as today?

Christian superheroes are just ordinary people like you and me who did extraordinary things for God. Our Christian Superhero for this morning is this man. Put his picture up on PowerPoint. He was called William Tyndale. He lived from 1494 to 1536. About how long ago was that? It was roughly the same time as William Shakespeare.

William Tyndale is a Christian Superhero because He was the first man to turn the Bible into English and smuggle it into England.

I went through our house to find the Bibles that we own and here they are. These are the grown up Bibles with longer words and these are the kid’s Bibles with shorter words and pictures. 500 years ago in this country you could have been arrested, put in prison and killed for having just one of them. The Government decided that it was illegal for normal people like you and me to have a Bible. But William Tyndale thought it was really important that everyone could read a Bible if they wanted to. He thought that what the Bible said was so important that everyone ought to be able to hear it in language they understood. He could do that because he was very good at speaking other languages.

Who can speak more than 1 language?

Who can speak more than 2 languages? That’s fantastic.

But William Tyndale could speak eight different languages! Most importantly he could understand Greek and Hebrew which are the languages that the Bible is written in. He was very clever. But he learnt lots of things by asking his parents lots and lots of questions. Which I think must have driven them up the wall. But William Tyndale worked very hard and he used his skill at language to help other people. In 1524, when he was 30, He asked the authorities whether he could turn the Bible into English and he was told that he couldn’t. So he ran away to Holland and Germany where he lived for the rest of his life, away from his friends and his family. He worked secretly. Risking his life so that everyone could have a chance to read about God’s love in the Bible. Lots of people in England wanted the Bible. They thought it was really precious. But they couldn’t order one from Amazon or buy one from WH Smiths because they hadn’t been invented. And the authorities didn’t want people like you and me to have a Bible. So Tyndale smuggled his Bibles into England. The Bibles were hidden, wrapped up in cloth and then put on a ship. And so this special book was passed onto people. In the end the authorities found him, put him in prison and then killed him.

William Tyndale is a Christian Superhero because he turned the Bible into English and smuggled it into England.

He believed that the Bible’s message was so important that people should be able read about it if they wanted to. He thought it was worth risking his own life for. Because he did that it means that I can read any of these Bibles and understand them and so can you.

A children’s slot for pre-school and infant children to accompany a baptism

[You Need: small tent, wellies and a bucket full of water]

We’ve just come back from a camping holiday. We stayed in a tent a little bit bigger than this. But it would have taken ages to put up. Now there’s one important thing to remember about living in a tent.

You can’t come in unless you’re clean.

We had a bit of rain whilst we were away. And so we were glad we took our wellies with us. But what do you think I’d say to you if you come up to my tent wearing dirty wellies?

You can’t come in unless you’re clean.

I’m not going to let you in. You’ll mess up my tent. And so you need to wash your wellies and your feet before you come in.

OK, I need a volunteer.

[Get them to put the wellies on and try and get into the tent, tell them that ‘they can’t come in unless they’re clean’. Then get them to take off their wellies and clean their feet in the bucket so that they can go in. Put them in the tent for the rest of the slot watching what’s going on!]

The key thing to remember when camping is what?

You can’t come in unless you’re clean.

God says the same thing about heaven. He won’t let dirty people come in. He only wants clean people. But he’s not talking about mud. He’s talking about sin. Sin messes up heaven the way that mud messes up a tent. And God won’t let dirty sinners into his clean heaven. So we need to be clean. But unlike wellies and mud we can’t get the sin off to make ourselves clean. We need someone else to cleanse us from our sin. And that’s what Jesus did when he took away our sin and he died on the cross. He took away our sin and he made us clean.

In a moment we’re going to baptise Isabella. It’ll involve getting Isabella wet with water. Because she’s only little we’ll only use a little bit of water. The water reminds us that we need God to cleanse us if we’re ever going to get into heaven. It’s a great help isn’t it to remember what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

Let’s pray.

A kids’ slot for infant and pre-school children - it lacked visual stimulation - I should have got someone up to dress as a king and then compared them after each point to the powerful, servant, eternal king that Jesus is. But this is what I did.

What would you like to be when you grow up?

Who knows what this boy is going to be when he grows up? [picture of Prince William]

He’s going to have the job of being King of this country.

What have we been thinking about for the last few weeks? Jesus’ jobs

Who can remember how many jobs Jesus has? Three

Who can remember what they are? Prophet, Priest and King

We’ve already learnt that

• Jesus is a prophet and so he speaks for God
• Jesus is a priest and so he fixes things with God

And today we’re going to learn that

• Jesus is a king and so he’s in charge like God

Because a king is someone who’s in charge.

In the Old Testament part of the Bible God put people like Saul, David & Solomon in charge of His kingdom. But then one day God sent an angel to a girl called Mary to tell her this

‘Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, 31 and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. 33 He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end’. Luke 1:30-33

God always wanted to put Jesus in charge of His kingdom because Jesus is the best king we could ever wish for. There are three reasons why Jesus is the best king in the whole world.

1. Jesus is a powerful king

Being powerful means that you can do everything that you want.

Who is the most powerful person you can think of?

Jesus is more powerful than anyone we can think of. Jesus is the most powerful person in the whole world. Jesus is as powerful as God because he is God. That means that Jesus can do everything thing that he wants to do and no one can stop him. Jesus really wants to take us to heaven to be with him. And nothing and nobody can stop him.

In the Old Testament there were some really great kings who had lots of power. But there were lots of kings who had no power at all and so they couldn’t really do anything. Jesus isn’t just a great king he’s the best thing because he can do everything that he wants.

2. Jesus is a servant king

Being a servant means doing lots of things for other people. It means looking after people and making sure that they have everything that they need.

Who looks after you and makes sure you have everything you need?

Jesus is a better servant than all of them. Jesus is the best servant in the whole world. Jesus really wants to look after us and make sure that we have everything that we need. That’s why we should pray to him and ask him for all sorts of things.

In the Old Testament there were some kings who looked after God’s people really well. But there were lots of really bad kings who only looked after themselves. Jesus isn’t just a great king he’s the best king because he’ll always look after us.

3. Jesus is an eternal king

Being eternal means always being alive.

Who is the oldest person that you know?

Even though they’ve been alive for a long time Jesus has been around even longer. Jesus is the king who is never going to die. He died once didn’t he? But God made him alive again so that he’d live forever. Jesus will always be alive and so he’ll always be around to be our king and protect us.

In the Old Testament there were some great kings but they never lasted long. They got old and then they died and then things went wrong. Jesus isn’t just a great king he’s the best king because he’ll always be alive.

Conclusion

Jesus is our King

• He’s a powerful king so he can take us to heaven to be with him
• He’s a servant king so he wants to look after us
• He’s an eternal king so he will always be around to protect us

How amazing is that. God’s given us the best king that we could ever hope for.

A kids’ slot for pre-school and young infant children. I’m not sure it worked. We should have gone for the gazebo but I bottled it!

Who can tell me what jobs people might do if they had one of these?

• A stethoscope: A Doctor [dress someone up as a Doctor]
• A big spanner: A Mechanic [dress someone up as a mechanic]
• A hairbrush: A hairdresser [put a wig on someone and become a hairdresser]

All these three people have jobs in which they fix things

• A Doctor someone who fixes people
• A mechanic is someone who fixes cars
• A hairdresser is someone who fixes bad hair!

Who can remember how many jobs Jesus had? Three

Who can remember what Jesus’ three jobs were? Prophet, Priest and King

We’re thinking this week about Jesus being a Priest. And a Priest is someone who fixes things. Here’s a verse from the Bible to help us understand that. It’s taken from Hebrews 5:1

Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.

In other words a Priest is someone who fixes our friendship with God. We need someone to sort it out because we’ve messed it up. So let’s think about the problem that needs fixing and the way in which the Priest fixes it.

1. Sin puts us in the wrong with God.

Who has ever done something naughty? Who has told a lie? Who has said something horrible? We all have. Turn round and you’ll see that the grown ups have got their hands up as well. All those things are called sins. We all do them. But even though we all do them God takes them very seriously. They make him angry because it’s not what He wants us to do. And so our sins put us in the wrong with God. We need someone to fix things if we’re ever going to be in teh right with Him.

2. Sacrifice puts us in the right with God.

God doesn’t want us to be in the wrong with Him. He loves us and because He loves us He found a way that we could go from being in the wrong to being in the right with Him. It had to do with a Priest and a sacrifice. Let me explain [if you’re being really adventurous then making a tabernacle out of a gazebo and getting one of teh kids to be our representative priest is a must!]

In the OT, God chose a man to be a Priest. The Priest would represent us, which means stand in for us. He would do something that would affect us all. The Priest went into the Temple with an animal and the animal would be killed instead of us. This shows how seriously God takes our sin. God is angry at sin. But God wanted His people to know that one day our proper sacrifice, a real person who could be our proper substitute would be punished instead of us. And so  by offering an animal the Priest fixed our friendship with God.

The NT says that Jesus is our priest. God chose him to do something that would affect us all. He didn’t go into the Temple he went into the real place where God lived, he went into heaven. He went there after he’d died on the cross. You see he didn’t offer an animal as a sacrifice he offered himself. God was angry with him so that he wouldn’t have to be angry with us. Isn’t that fantastic! And so Jesus is the one who fixes our friendship with God.

Conclusion

Jesus is the perfect priest who offered the perfect sacrifice so that we could have a perfect friendship with God. Jesus is our Priest. He’s fixed things between us and God. Even though our sin puts us in the wrong with God our Priest puts us in the right with God. So if we want a friendship with God we have to ask Jesus to fix it.

A kids’ slot for all age church

Does anyone know the three jobs I’ve had as a grown up?

Here are some clues [use clothing]

• the first job I did was to be an officer in the Royal Navy
• the second job I did was to be a teacher in a school
• the third job I did was to pastor a church

Jesus had three jobs when he grew up. And I thought we could think about those over the next three weeks.

• He was a prophet
• He was a priest
• He was a king

We’re going to think this morning about Jesus’ job as a prophet. In a book in the Old Testament called Deuteronomy God was talking to Moses and God explained what a prophet is,

18 [God said] when I want to speak to them, I will choose one of them to be a prophet like you. I will give my message to that prophet, who will tell the people exactly what I have said.

God explains to us what a prophet is. He said you had to have 3 things to be a prophet.

1. A prophet had to be chosen by God

So you couldn’t just decide to be a prophet like choosing to a Ballerina or a Fireman. God had to choose you.

2. A prophet had to be listen to what God said

So you weren’t allowed to pretend and make up what you heard. A prophet had to listen to what God said in special dreams, special visions or in what He said directly.

3. A prophet had to explain what God said

So you weren’t allowed to just say anything you were supposed to say what God said.

Really a prophet is one of these [PowerPoint picture of mouth]. A prophet is a mouth.

Now before we go on I’m going to need some help. I wonder whether Flora could come and join me at the front. I’d like her to be my prophet. [whisper the following instructions to her]

‘Please do what I say?’ ‘Please stand up’ ‘Please say ‘hello’ to the people around you’ ‘Please sit down’

Flora was my prophet. She was my mouth. I chose her, I told her what to say and she said it. If you wanted to know what I wanted you had to listen to Flora.

In the NT part of the Bible, in the book of Hebrews the writer said this

1 Long ago in many ways and at many times God’s prophets spoke God’s message to God’s people. 2 But now at last, God sent his Son to bring his message to us.

What this means is that if God’s people wanted to know what God had to say they had to listen to His prophets. But now, if we want to know what God says we need to listen to Jesus.

God has given Jesus the job of prophet. He is the one who helps us understand everything that God has said. And so Jesus is the one who tells us what God has done for us and what God wants from us.

Let’s pray and thank God for sending Jesus so that we could know what God said.  

Not everyone will be able to use this kid’s slot, because they won’t agree with it, but for those of us with paedo-baptist convictions might find it useful…

This morning Jessica is going to be baptised. If she was a grown up we’d have a massive bath and she’d go down under the water and come back up again. But because she’s little I’m going to hold her over the water and then pour it over her head. We need to understand what baptism means.

Baptism helps us remember the good news of Christianity. It reminds us what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus.

It’s a symbol that helps us understand something. It doesn’t actually do anything except get her wet. Jessica’s not going to be changed by her baptism. But as she grows up it ought to remind her of three things.

1. Baptism reminds us that we belong to Jesus

When someone becomes a Christian they become someone who loves and follows Jesus. Baptism is like having something that reminds us that we belong to Jesus.

It’s just like deciding to follow a rugby team. In our house we support Harlequins. And we wear things to show that’s the case. [Get a volunteer up to the front to be drssed] We might wear their shirt, wear a cap and wave a flag to show who we belong to.

Baptism reminds us that we’re on Jesus’ team.

2. Baptism reminds us that we’ve changed sides

Baptism shows that we’ve become new people. We used to do what we wanted to do but once we start following Jesus we start to do what he wants us to do. We’re saying that the old me has gone and the new me has come.

If you support Harlequins you don’t support Northampton. We went to watch Northampton against Harlequins with Rufus’ cousins a few months ago. Even though their family supports Northampton we cheered for Harlequins. That was hard for me because Saints used to be my team. It’s where I grew up and I actually played a couple of games for them. [Underneath the Harlequins shirt is a Northampton Saints shirt]

Baptism reminds us that we don’t support the old selfish me any more.

3. Baptism reminds us that we’re part of church

Baptism shows that we’re part of group of people who also love and follow Jesus. When someone becomes a Christian they join God’s church and therefore they’ll want to meet up with others like them.

Because we support Harlequins we try and go and watch them play. When we go, we meet up with thousands of other people. There are a few more of us here. [Someone else in the congregation stands with a shirt on, someone else waves a flag!] See there are others who think the same way that we do!

Baptism reminds us that church is full of people just like us who follow Jesus.

Conclusion

Baptism reminds us that we belong to Jesus, that we’ve changed sides and that we’re part of church. Because Jessica is very little she can’t say she wants these things for herself. But let’s pray that one day she will.

A kid’s slot for All Age Church on the subject of what comes out of our mouths.

We’ve been thinking the last few weeks about how to be smart and how not to be stupid. God has given us a book that especially helps us to be smart. Can anyone remember what it’s called?

It’s called Proverbs.

We want to think today about how we can be smart about the things we say. God has lots to say in the book of Proverbs about what we say but let’s just look at one. Let’s pick up our Bibles and turn to page. Find chapter 12 and verse 18.

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Now there are some complicated words in there but really it’s very easy to understand.

The first part of the sentence means

1. nasty words hurt

We can all say nasty things. We do that when we call other people names. We do that when we’re rude to our Mummy or Daddy. We do that when we shout at our brother or sister. We can all be nasty with our words.

God thinks it’s stupid to use nasty words. We don’t want to be stupid do we? But what’s stupid about saying nasty words? What do nasty words do? What does God say nasty words are like? He says they’re like swords thrusts.

Here’s a sword. What happens if I was to thrust this into your tummy? It hurts doesn’t it!

Nasty words hurt. We need to remember that our words can sometimes hurt people and make them very sad.

The second part of the sentence means

2. nice words help

We can all say nice things to other people. We do that when we’re kind to someone else. We do that when we tell someone that they’re good at something. We do that when we remind people that God loves them.

God thinks it’s smart to use nice words. We’d like to be sensible wouldn’t we? But what’s sensible about saying nice words? What do nice words do? They heal. They help make us better.

Here’s some medicine. The great thing about medicine is that once we take it, it helps to make us better.

We need to remember that our words help people and make them feel better.

Conclusion

Shall we check that we’ve understood this proverb? I’ll say some words and you need to say whether they’ll hurt or help.

• You can’t draw
• I don’t want you to be my sister
• That was really good reading
• I love you Mummy
• I’m better than you at writing
• Would you like to play with me?

Let’s pray.

The introductory kid’s slot for a Sunday series in the Proverbs for pre-school and infant children

Who knows what wisdom is? [wait for answers or silence!]

What does wisdom mean? I think it means being sensible

What’s the opposite of wisdom? Foolishness is the opposite of wisdom, which means being stupid

Who here would like to be stupid?!

Who here would like to be sensible?!

How do you think that we can be sensible?

We can learn things from others in books

We can learn from our teachers, from the TV and from our parents. So I’ve got a big book here with lots of information in it, it’s called ‘Perks’ Big Book of Facts’ and if we were to read that we’d know lots of things. That might help us to be sensible and stop us from being stupid. But even if we learn lots of things from others that won’t help us see everything really, really clearly. It’s a bit like putting on these glasses [comedy glasses]. We’ll be able to see some things really well but lots of things we won’t be able to make out at all. To be sensible we need more than what other people think.

We can learn things from God in the Bible

That’s a really sensible thing to do because God made the world, He made us and He knows how best to live. So when we learn from what God has done it’s a bit like using this [telescope]. We can see things really, really clearly.

God has given us one book in the Bible with lots of instruction about how to be sensible. It’s called Proverbs. Why not pick up the Bible near you and get your parents to turn to page 634. Look at chapter 1 verse 7 where God tells us how to be sensible.

‘The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge’

• The ‘fear of God’ doesn’t mean being scared but being serious about following God.
• The ‘beginning’ doesn’t just mean the start but the key thing.  
• ‘Knowledge’ doesn’t just mean knowing lots of things it means knowing how to be sensible.

Putting that all together it means we can’t be sensible unless we’re serious about following God.

In the next few weeks we’re going to be looking at Proverbs. We’re going to be thinking about how to be sensible in the way we make friends, in how we spend our pocket money and how we behave with our parents.

Let’s pray.

A hastily written kid’s slot for an Easter Party for pre-school and infant children.

Me: Hello everybody, would you like to meet a friend of mine? He’s quite big but he’s really friendly. He’s called the Easter Bunny. Are you ready to meet him? Sure? When I shout ‘bunny, bunny, bunny’ you need to shout ‘out, out, out!’ Are you ready? [Ham it up for as long as you feel comfortable!]

Bunny: What are you doing Perks?

Me: I’m about to talk to the kids about Easter

Bunny: Ooooh let me, let me! I can do that.

Me: Are you sure? Do you even know what Easter’s about?

Bunny: Sure I know what Easter’s about. I’m the Easter bunny!

Me: OK why don’t you have a go and we’ll see how you do

[Goes behind curtain and brings out giant Easter egg]

Bunny: It’s about chocolate Easter eggs.

Me: Well it’s true that we give each other Easter eggs at this time of year but it’ not really what Easter’s about. Try again.

[Goes behind curtain and brings out spring flowers]

Bunny: It’s about flowers.

Me: Well it’s true that at this time of year there are some lovely flowers around but it’s not really what Easter’s about. Try again.

[Goes behind the curtain and jumps out]

Bunny: It’s all about me.

Me: Well, it’s true that somehow you’ve got in the act but you’re not really what Easter’s about. Easter’s not really about any of these things even though they’re such fun. It’s about something even better. Easter is about Jesus. Let me explain.

Does anyone know what happened to Jesus at Easter?

Two things happened to Jesus at Easter. On Good Friday he died on a cross. And on Easter Sunday he came back to life. Let’s think about why those are important.

1. Jesus died so that we could be forgiven

Jesus died on a cross so that God could forgive us for all the naughty things we’ve done.

[Ask for two volunteers to come and wear a white t-shirt each]

What are some of the naughty things that we do?

[Write answers on the t-shirt with permanent pen on one of the t-shirts]

[name] is wearing a messy shirt, it isn’t perfect is it? Those sorts of things make God angry because they show that we don’t love Him as we should and we don’t love other people as we should.

[name] is wearing a perfect shirt because Jesus never did anything wrong and he always did everything right.

When Jesus died on a cross he did two things [Get the kids to swap t-shirts]

First, he took all the naughty things that we’ve done and God was angry with him. That’s great news but there’s even more.

Secondly, he also gave us his perfect life. So if we follow Jesus, when God looks at us he thinks we’re perfect! Isn’t that brilliant?!

Who can remember what happened to Jesus on Easter Sunday?

2. Jesus rose so that we could live forever

After Jesus died they put him in a massive tomb. But when his friends came to visit the tomb he’d disappeared. Some people thought that Jesus had recovered but that wassn’t what happened because Jesus had died. Some people thought that Jesus had been removed but that wasn’t what happened because there were soldiers guarding the tomb. But the they realised that Jesus had risen from the dead. God had brought Jesus had come back to life again. He wasn’t dead anymore he was alive.

One of the reasons that Jesus did that was so that the same thing would happen to us. If we follow Jesus then just like him, we can die but come back to life again and life forever. Isn’t that brilliant?!

Conclusion

So let me ask you

• Is Easter really about chocolate eggs?
• Is Easter really about lovely flowers?
• Is Easter really about the Easter Bunny?

All of those things are great and we’ll enjoy them over Easter but it’s even better than that because Jesus dies so that we could be forgiven and Jesus rose from the dead so that we could live forever.

It’s about Jesus.

A kid’s slot for All Age Church aimed at infant children at CCB

William Wilberforce was a Christian Superhero who lived in the 18th Century. That’s over 200 years ago. A Christian superhero is just an ordinary person who does something extraordinary for God. I’ve got a picture of him here.

There are three things we can learn about this man.

1. He followed Jesus

God made William Wilberforce a follower of Jesus. He grew up in a family where no one read Bible stories to him and no one prayed with him. He first heard about Jesus when he was a teenager from a man called John Newton. But he started following Jesus when he was grown up. He went on holiday with one of his old teachers and they talked about God, Jesus and the Bible on the journey. It took him a while to understand things and even longer to accept them. But eventually he became a Christian. He did it even though his best friend who was about to become the Prime Minister of Great Britain tried to persuade him not to. He thought it was more important to become a follower of Jesus even if his friends didn’t want him to.

Every single one of us can decide to follow Jesus. Often our friends will try and tell us that’s a silly thing to do. Usually that’s because they haven’t understood how wonderful it is. We can help them just like John Newton and Isaac Milner helped Wilberforce by telling them all about Jesus. One of the ways we could do that is by asking our friends to come to the Easter party of Tuesday.

2. He loved people

God made William Wilberforce into a very compassionate man. A compassionate person loves people and looks after them to make sure that they’re alright.

Can you think of someone you know who’s compassionate?

Wilberforce was very rich and he had lots of friends. He could have completely ignored the poor people around him in this country. And he could have ignored people from Africa who were being used as slaves to make Britain rich.

Does anyone know what slavery is?

• Show what it’s like to be under the complete control of someone else by telling them what to do so that they do it and not letting them do what they want to do.

But he didn’t ignore the people who needed his help because he loved people. He saw the state that people were in and decided that he couldn’t let it go. They had no one else to help them and he wanted to.

Every follower of Jesus should be like that. Jesus once told a young man that God wanted him to do two things. The first was to love God and the second was to love other people. So God wants us to love people. There’ll be people at school or people who need friends and need help.

3. He changed things

God made William Wilberforce into a man who changed things. He became a Politician when he was young and that was the job he did as he grew up.

What job does your Mummy or Daddy do?

A Politician is someone who works for the Government. The Government make rules for the country so that people know what’s right and what’s wrong. His best friend was the Prime Minister and so he was very powerful. But he had to persuade people by talking to them that they ought to love the other people in this country and in this world.

Most of us won’t be as powerful as William Wilberforce but every single one of us can try and change things that are wrong. Sometimes that’ll mean we talk to people and try and get them to stop. Sometimes it’ll mean that we write a letter to the Government and get them to change what they’re doing. We won’t always persuade them but we need to try. Do you know that it took 46 years for Wilberforce to change the law about slavery. That’s older than all of you put together. It’s older than the oldest person here!

Conclusion

William Wilberforce was a very wonderful man that God used to change this country. Let’s ask God that he might make us like William Wilberforce so that we might follow Jesus, love people and change things.