Year A: October 19, 2014
First Reading: Exodus 33:12-23
Images of God for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval
(Written for ages 5-8)
Comment: The Exodus passage for this Sunday describes God in terms of human anatomy. Moses is able to see the back of God, but is covered with God’s hand, as God’s front passes by. Moses is not allowed to see the face of God. Imagining what God looks like is a fun and difficult task for children and adults alike. The scriptures and the culture in which we live shape the image of God we develop over our lifetime. I think it is safe to say that most Americans have at one point pictured God as an old man with a long beard. But the scriptures are filled with images and descriptions of God. In Images of God for Young Children, Marie-Helene Delval draws the different images of God from the scriptures and describes them in terms children will understand. Delval describes over 30 different images of God ranging from the familiar ones of shepherd, light, word and strength to the less drawn upon images of night, tears, secret and justice.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Corduroy Writes a Letter By Alison Inches
(Written for ages 5-8)
Comment: Letter writing is a lost art and for most of the young children today it might be an unknown concept. Communication today is done in an instant and in short bursts. The reading today is the beginning of a letter Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica. Paul’s purpose in writing this letter is to encourage and lift up the Christians, and Paul begins by reminding them of their importance to him and successes so far. In Corduroy Writes a Letter, Corduroy and Lisa write letters to businesses around their community to let them know what each business can do to be better. They learn the difference that can be made when we write a letter with the purpose of encouraging and uplifting the recipient of the letter.
Note: This book is out of print and you will be astounded at how much a paperback used copy costs from the link above! A check of WorlcCat shows that nearly 1000 libraries hold a copy of this book. If you think you may want to use this book, we strongly recommend using interlibrary loan to borrow the book from another library if your public library doesn’t have it.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:15-22
Church Harvest Mess-tival by Mike Thaler
(Written for ages 6 and up)
Comment: Halloween is just around the corner. If Jesus and the Pharisees were here today, I can imagine the Pharisees asking Jesus about celebrating Halloween as a Christian. I expect Jesus’ answer would be similar to what the little boy in Church Harvest Mess-tival learns. His mom has told him he can’t celebrate in the traditional way of trick or treating or dressing in scary costumes. Instead he has to go to church and be dressed as a biblical character. This little boy is expecting to sit in the pew, but his mom continues to describe what is planned for the festival, and he begins to get excited about it. Jesus says to the Pharisees “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.“ The good and difficult news for us is that everything belongs to God. God wants to be involved in every aspect of our life. We don’t have the luxury of boxing God into an hour on Sunday mornings. Giving to God what is God means we get to include God in all our celebrations, including Halloween.
The Lectionary Links this week are written by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Elizabeth Boulware Landes.