August 7, 2022 19th Sunday Ordinary Time C

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C

Welcome children to their worship space.

Introduce

             Ask:  Does anyone remember what our symbol was last Sunday?  <show the symbol of the treasure chest>  Does anyone remember what the treasures are that we talked about?  The treasure of heaven?  <love, forgiveness, etc.>

Explain:  God is interested in what we do with our lives, how we follow Jesus, not in the gold and money we earn or save here on earth.

Introduce symbol

Say:  Today’s symbol <hold up the symbol> is an oil lamp.

Explain:  We will hear about the oil lamp in today’s Gospel.  If we used a symbol of today, we might use a flashlight.  What would you use a flashlight for?  <to show the way in the dark>  Do you have flashlights at home ready for an emergency?  We need to be ready to show our lights for Jesus.

Ask:  Can anyone tell me the best way to get ready for anything?  <prepare and practice>  We have to practice being the kind of people God wants us to be.  We have to practice our faith to keep it strong.

Say:  Let’s look at the poster.  What does it say? <O Lord, hear my prayer.>  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

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

Say: Today’s first reading is from the New Testament letter to the Hebrews. (Heb 11:1-2, 8-12)  This reading talks about FAITH.  Can anyone tell me what faith is? <discuss – Faith is believing>  We will hear about a man who had a lot of FAITH in God.  Let’s listen closely and see if we can hear the message God wants us to hear today.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask:  Who was the man who believed in God?  <Abraham – and Sarah>  What happened to them?  <they kept believing in God even when it was hard and finally had a child>  Great things happen for those people who keep their faith in God strong. 

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

O Lord, hear my prayer.

Say:  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of St. Luke.  (Luke 12:35-40)  If you were up late and waiting for someone to come home, what would you do?  <leave the lights on>  Would you do that if you didn’t think that they were coming?>  Jesus has a teaching story (a parable) for us to hear today about servants who kept their lamps burning while they waited for their master to come home.  Let’s see what Jesus said about keeping your lights ready for him.    

Say:  Now we will get ready to hear the Gospel.  Please stand up.

Say together: Alleluia, Alleluia.

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

Read:  Read the Gospel

Ask:  What happened?  <the servants kept the lights ready for their master>   Why would they do that?  <because they knew he was coming home>

Say: “Knowing that he is coming home” is another way to say “believing that he is coming home” or “having FAITH that he is coming home”.  We keep emergency flashlights and batteries because we believe that we will have times when the electricity goes out.  Jesus asks us to believe that he will come back to us.  The light that we need to keep ready is our FAITH in God.

Ask: What are some things you can do to keep your faith strong (or your lights burning!)?  <read the Bible, pray, be kind to others, forgive someone, etc.>

Hand out the poster & Offertory symbols to color  (The symbol is an oil lamp).  Ask the children to write their names on the small poster symbols (flames).

 

Explain: Color this symbol of the oil lamp and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about believing in God no matter what.

Ask the older children to write one thing that they will do this week to keep their faith strong.

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 flame graphic for the communal poster

Use this graphic of an oil lamp for the banner symbol and the Offertory gift

Parent Letter

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  C

Dear Parents,

           Today is the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  The children listened to the same readings you did: Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-12 and Luke 12:35-40

Symbol:  Oil Lamp

To reinforce at home:

In our readings today, we talked about keeping our faith strong.  In the parable Jesus told, the servants kept their lights burning all night because they knew their master was coming home.  We drew a parallel between working to keep lights burning and working to keep our belief in Jesus alive.

Activities to do at home:

*With your child, make up a prayer you can pray this week to help you remain faithful to God.

*Create a quiet time each day this week to read the Bible together.  Talk about how the message in Scripture applies to your life.

*Make or decorate a candle to use for prayer at home.

Thank you for sharing your children!