Lectionary Links: Sunday, November 6, 2011
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A: November 6th, 2011
First Reading: Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25
I’ll Follow the Moon by Stephanie Lisa Tara
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: In this passage from Joshua, he puts a choice to the people of Israel: who will they serve as their God? Who will be their guide through the coming years? Who will they follow? It’s an important decision, and there is no turning back. They must go forward with their choice. And so the Israelites look back at the faithfulness God has shown them, how God has always been with them, how God has always been their guide, and they make their choice. They know what is right, and that is to follow God. In the same way, the little sea turtle hatchling in I’ll Follow The Moon has to figure out where he will go, how to get to his mother. But he reiterates “I’ll follow the moon”, because he knows what is right for him, what is his guide. He does, and is led to his mother. The Israelites choose to serve God and follow God’s leading and are taken where they are supposed to go—the promised land.
Second Reading: I Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope”, Paul writes. Their hope is found in Jesus’ resurrection and the hope of being joined together again one day. In The Invisible String , Liza and Jeremy‘s mother tells them that everyone is joined by an invisible string, a string called love. That way, even when someone is gone or dies, they are connected to them through that invisible string. And so in our lives, though we may be sad, we grieve with hope since we are connected by the love of Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 25: 1-13
In Case There’s A Fox by Aya Katz
(Written for ages 4-8)
Comment: This parable of Jesus’ is another difficult one to convey to children. The concepts are even a little challenging for adults, too. So one good way to approach it is to focus on Jesus’ final statement, “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” The foolish bridesmaids were unprepared—they took no oil with them, but the wise were prepared. Being prepared doesn’t literally mean having oil with you—it means trying to always live a Christ-like life, not just when an adult can see you or so you won’t get in trouble. The book In Case There’s a Fox illustrates the idea of preparedness. In it, a young girl walks through the country with her dog by her side, not because she sees a fox—but in case there’s a fox. She is prepared, like the wise bridesmaids, as Jesus wants us to be, for we “know neither the day nor the hour.”
This Lectionary Links post is written by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Sara Anne Berger.
Lectionary Links: Sunday, November 6, 2011 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
