Lectionary Links: Sunday, November 17, 2013
Year C: November 17, 2013
First Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25
Uno’s Garden by Graeme Base
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…” This is a beautiful text of restoration and harmony that acknowledges the brokenness of the past, yet provides a vision of hope for the future. As we hear of this place that God is creating, believers are, according to Carolyn J. Sharp, “left longing for that place of unending reconciliation and joy.” (http://www.workingpreacher.
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: The focus on this text is not a simplistic understanding of what it is to have a good work ethic, but a focus on what it means to live together in community. We are invited to consider our life together as a church community. We might ask ourselves: “are we a community where a few to do the work for many, or do we seek to find balance, encouraging the gifts and time of many, rather than a few?” Farmer Duck helps children to see what becomes of a community where the workload is not shared. In doing all of the work on the farm alone, the duck becomes physically and emotionally exhausted. Eventually the other animals take action, driving out the sloth of a farmer, and joining the duck in caring for the farm. Using this text and story, wonder together with the children of your church about the ways your community is called to share the work of serving God.
Gospel Reading: Luke 21:5-19
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: As his time with his followers approaches an end, Jesus warns them to be aware that they will likely need to endure through persecution, betrayal, danger, and a number of hardships, all because of their faith. As unbearable as this sounds, the results of a life of faithful endurance do not lead to an end, but a beginning, as Jesus describes: “not a hair of your head will perish…. [and] you will gain your souls.” To help your children understand what it means to endure, read them the classic tale of faithful living, Horton Hatches the Egg. Horton endures bad weather, persecution from his friends, endangerment from hunters, and being taken from his home and sold into the circus all because he gave his word to sit on an egg. Throughout these difficult times, Horton’s faith helps him to endure and in the end he finds himself in a new beginning, restored to his home and Papa to a baby elephant-bird.
Lectionary Links from this cycle three years ago can be found here.
The Lectionary Links this week were written by regular contributor Noell Rathbun-Cook.
Lectionary Links: Sunday, November 17, 2013 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.