Lectionary Links (NL): July 26, 2020
8th Sunday After Pentecost
Year 2: July 26, 2020
How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers
(Written for ages 3-7)
Comment: Most of this passage is fairly abstract, which can be difficult for kids to understand. Paul is writing words of encouragement to the Corinthians, urging them not to be dismayed at their own weakness, but to recognize God working through them – and to maintain hope. In Jeffers’ book, the little boy wants to capture a star, which seems to be impossible. The boy tries various methods to catch a star, but to no avail. He is thwarted time and again – just as Paul writes that “we are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed … struck down, but not destroyed.” Despite his many failures, the boy is persistent. In the end, he does catch a star…fish! Sometimes we have to re-imagine our goals; our achievements don’t always look the way we expect them to. The eyes of faith help us to maintain hope in the face of defeat and see success in unlikely places. You can remind children that this was a letter Paul was writing to his friends. What kinds of disappointments must they have been facing? What kinds of things are your children facing? What do they hope for?
Thanks to Joshua Andrzejewski, Union Presbyterian Seminary alumnus and chaplain for the pediatric and women’s health units in the VCU Medical Center, for writing the Year 2 Narrative Lectionary Links.
Lectionary Links (NL): July 26, 2020 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
