6th Sunday of Easter B

6th Sunday of Easter Cycle B

Welcome children to their worship space.

Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.

Introduce yourself and your helpers.

Review

Ask:  It is the 6^th Sunday  in the season of Easter.  In the Easter season, we are waiting for something just like we did in Lent.  Does anyone remember what feast we are waiting for?  <the feast of Pentecost>

Ask:  What is Pentecost?  <the day we celebrate the birthday of the church, the time when the Holy Spirit came forward to help all of us now that Jesus is gone>

Ask:  Does anyone remember what the symbol was for last week?  <the vine and the branches>  And what did the vine and branches stand for?  <to remind us that Jesus is the source of our strength and that our church represents Jesus on earth>

Explain:  We have learned several things that would help the Apostles build the new church.  What are the things we have heard in Scripture in the last few weeks?  <to have peace between each other, to read the Bible to understand what God wants us to know, how our leaders take care of us, and remembering that our strength comes from Jesus>

Introduce symbol

Say:   Today our symbol is a heart.  What does a heart symbolize?  <love>

Say:  Today we are going to hear a lot about love.  We will hear Scripture that tells us what Jesus expects from the love we have for each other and for him.

Say:  Let’s look at today’s poster.  What does it say? <The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.>  This is our Responsorial Psalm for today.  The Responsorial Psalms also come from Scripture, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.

Introduce readings

We have two readings today.

Say:  Let’s light the candle to show that we are ready to listen to the Word of God.

Say: Today’s first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48)  It will tell us how everyone can receive the Holy Spirit.  At that time, people believed that only the Jews were God’s chosen people.  They had a lot of difficulty understanding that Jesus’ message was for all people.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask: What did you hear? <let the children retell the reading, basically that Jesus came for Gentiles as well as Jews>  I want you think for just a minute – no talking out loud.  Think in your mind of a person you really don’t like.  Don’t say their name – just put their name in your mind.  The message in this reading is that the person you are thinking of is God’s special child just like you are.  Jesus died and rose for that person too.  Is that hard to remember?  <discuss>

Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm.  Your part is to say:

The Lord has revealed his saving power to the nations.

Say:  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of St. John.  (John 18:9-14).  This reading tells us about a time that Jesus was talking to his friends about love.  Listen closely and see if you hear something special for us to learn.

Say:  Now we will stand and get ready to hear the Gospel

(hold up card)  Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”

Read:  Read the Gospel

Say:  Let’s give each other the sign of peace that shows God’s love to each other.

Give the sign of peace.

Ask:  What did you hear Jesus say?  <that we nee to love each other the same way that he loves us>  Wow!  Do you think that this will be easy?  <sometimes>  Some people are easy to love.  Do you know someone that you love a lot?  <discuss>  Now think of the person you thought of earlier.  This is the person that Jesus asks you to love the way that Jesus loves you. 

Hand out the poster cut-outs of a heart so that the children can write their names on them for the poster.

Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a heart).  Ask the older children to write one thing they can do this week to show love to someone that they don’t really like.

 

Explain: Color this symbol of a heart and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about loving others the way that Jesus loves us.

If there is time, ask questions and go over the lessons one more time to help the children remember.

Give out stickers and hand-outs as they leave.

Use this graphic for all 3 symbols - small for the poster, mid-sized for the banner & large for the Offertory gift

 

Parent Letter

6th Sunday of Easter  B

Dear Parents,

             Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter.  The children listened to two of the same readings you did: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 and John 15:9-17.

Symbol: heart

To reinforce at home:

The message today is to “love one another as I have loved you.”  Jesus tried hard to explain what love is and how we are to show it to one another.  Children are naturally loving and forgiving. Talk to them about how much you love them.

Activities to do at home:

*Encourage small acts of kindness this week.  Each time you and/or your children do something nice for each other, write it on a slip of paper and fold it up and put it in a bowl in the center of your table.  By the end of the week, you will have a tangible sign of your love for each other in your household.

*Make valentines for or write love letters to each other so that your family can tell each other how much you love one another.

Thank you for sharing your children!