This coming Sunday we begin the long green season of Ordinary Time. As I was prepping for this week's readings, I found it very timely that our Gospel reading involved Centurions given that it is Memorial Weekend. This gave me a springboard for a great sensory table and Children's Sermon idea that I hope will not prove too controversial.
Let's begin with the color green. Ordinary Times is marked with the color green and I think it is great to explain to our youngest worshipers that this helps remember this is a growing time. We don't have the fanfare or excitement of some other celebratory weeks, but we know we are growing in our faith and understanding. For this reason, I filled the sensory table with lots of piece of green ribbons, fabric, rick rack and the like. I have found adding lots of soft material like this helps keep the noise level low. When there is too much clinky stuff in the sensory table, we have more volume issues.
Now to connect this week's Gospel reading and Memorial Weekend. Given that this week's reading is about a Centurion, or soldier, and it is also Memorial Weekend, I decided to add little green army men to the bins. In an effort to keep the violence level low, I did sort through and remove any of the guys with big machine guns. I hung onto the ones with the metal detectors and walkie talkies. I was able to cut the guns out of the few fellows as well.
Students will be invited to search through the green bins to hunt for the soldiers and when they find one, they are encouraged to say a prayer for our soldiers. They will also be invited to take home one soldier as reminder to continue to pray for our soldiers.
Here are the activity directions:
We are now in the “Ordinary Season” part of the church year. This is a season where we hear stories to help us grow in our faith.
Today’s story involves centurions. Centurion is an old word for soldiers. A centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, and Jesus did!
This weekend we celebrate Memorial Weekend. It is a time when we remember people who have died, especially soldiers.
Look through the green in the bin to find a solider. Think about how Jesus helped the solider in today’s story. Pray for our soldiers.
Take home a solider to remind you to keep praying for our soldiers.
