Pentecost Sunday B

Pentecost Sunday 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.

Introduce

       Say:  This the Feast of Pentecost!  This is the feast we have been waiting for, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the official birthday of the church.

Ask:  Does anyone remember all the things we have read about in Scripture that tell what Jesus wants us to have in this church we are building for him?  He wants us to have peace between each other, to read his holy Word, to love one another and to pray!

Introduce symbol

Say:   Today’s symbol is a dove.  This particular dove has some colors all around it – red, yellow and orange. 

Ask:  What do you think these colors might mean?  <fire> 

Explain:  In the readings today, the Holy Spirit appears to Christ’s followers in the symbols of wind and fire.  What does fire do?  <burns old things away to make room for new, kills germs that spread disease>  What does wind do?  <blows things away, brings new things in>

Ask:  What do you think these symbols tell us about what the Holy Spirit can bring to the Apostles’ lives?  What about to our lives?  <clear away wrong thinking – promote understanding, give us strength to share Christ’s teachings, make us receptive to new ideas> 

Ask:  Jesus’ friends, the Apostles, were waiting for the Holy Spirit to come to them like Jesus promised.  Why do you think they would do that?  What would the Holy Spirit do for them?  <try to lead the children to think of the qualities that the Apostles would need to have in order to spread Christ’s word all over the world- strength, wisdom, understanding, love, patience, etc.>

Explain:  Today, Pentecost, is the birthday of the church.  This is the day that we celebrate the beginning of our work on earth spreading Jesus’ teachings with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Say:  Let’s look at today’s poster.  What does it say? <Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.>  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 again from the New Testament book of Acts of the Apostles. (Acts  2:1-11) This reading tells us what happened that night in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles.  What you will hear is the basis of the Catholic sacrament of Confirmation that you will receive when you are older.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask:  What did you hear?  <let the children retell the reading>  Where was the wind and fire?  <there was a noise from heaven that sounded like a might wind, the tongues of flame that appeared above each person’s head> And each person began to speak about Jesus in a different language.

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

Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.

Say:  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of St. John.  (John 20:19-23). The Gospel reading today tells us how Jesus sent the Apostles out to spread his word among all people.  There is a Sacrament mentioned here too.  See if you can figure out what it is.

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

Ask:  Did anyone hear which Sacrament Jesus mentioned?  <Reconciliation>  He gave the Apostles the ability to forgive sins in Jesus’ name.

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

Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a dove).  Ask the older children to write one they could ask the Holy Spirit to help them with this week.

 

Explain: Color this symbol of the dove and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about needing the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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.

Make these small for the poster project - use light flame colors - yellow and orange

This graphic makes a really pretty banner symbol.  I did this in layers of shapes... bottom layer is red, then orange and yellow.  The dove is on top in white

 Use this graphic for the full-sized coloring sheet Offertory symbol

 

Parent Letter

The Feast of Pentecost B

Dear Parents,

             Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.  The children listened to two of the same readings you did: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11; John 20:19-23.

Symbol: Fiery dove

To reinforce at home:

Today we celebrate the birth of the fledgling church that was charged to carry on the work of Christ.  We talked about the coming of the Holy Spirit and what that meant to the Apostles.  We talked about the symbolism of wind and fire, the symbols associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We also talked about what the Holy Spirit can do for us.

Activities to do at home:

*Have a small celebration at home to mark the birthday of the church

*Join in your parish Pentecost celebration.

*Talk with your child about the role the Holy Spirit fills in your life.

Thank you for sharing your children!