7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C:  July 28, 2013

First Reading: Hosea 1:2-10

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: “Name him… Name her… Name him…” If you are looking for a way to approach this difficult text with children, consider reflecting on the ways the meanings of names are woven through God’s instructions to Hosea. The text’s repetitive act of naming can be a springboard to help children explore the fact that names carry important meaning in the bible. This idea is not relegated to biblical writings but comes up in multiple cultures and families. In Wabi Sabi, a cat goes on a journey to discover the meaning of her hard to explain name. Use this lovely story to inspire the children in your congregation to seek out the meanings of their own names.

Second Reading: Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)

Singing With Momma Lou by Linda Jacobs Altman

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: Rodger Y. Nishioka refers to this passage as “an invitation from Paul and Timothy to the community in Colossae to remember where they came from and to live faithfully out of that powerful source of remembering.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 3, p 282) Memories are an important part of our identities. The act of remembering helps us to understand who we are individually and together. In Singing With Momma Lou, Tamika tries to help her grandmother remember who she is by bringing in pictures, relics, and stories from her past. In the process, Tamika learns more about her own identity as well. Some of your children may connect with Tamika’s experience of having a grandparent with Alzheimer’s. Often it is our collective Christian memory that lives the longest in the minds of those who endure this disease; my own grandmother could sing hymns and recite the 23rd Psalm long after she’d forgotten my name. Use this text and story to explore the ways we remember in our congregations and families.

Gospel Reading: Luke 11:1-13

Seven Fathers retold by Ashley Ramsden

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment:  In response to his disciples request to learn how to pray, Jesus suggests our prayers and our lives, we must be persistent in seeking and working for God’s kingdom. As followers of Jesus we are called to pray and live for a world where all would be nourished and in right relationship with one another trusting Jesus when he says, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” This is not about an answer to prayers for prosperity or ponies, but a deep rooted longing for the world to be as God intends it to be. Seven Fathers is the story of a traveler who is close to death from hunger and  lack of shelter. He spends the book asking, searching, and knocking, until the doors to a great banquet and warm bed are opened to him. In reading this story, explore the ways our own spiritual journeys are like the traveler’s journey.

The Lectionary Links this week were written by regular contributor Noell Rathbun-Cook.

Lectionary Links, July 28, 2013 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.