Mercy

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 

And what does the Lord require of you? 

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. 

Micah 6:8 

This past week we talked about mercy.

Mercy is a hard one for kids to define. 

We defined it as abundant kindness!

We continued with the same songs we have been singing, 

but will change them next week. 

We used these in worship - which we also use in the sanctuary. 

Which is pictured here. 

(Isn't she beautiful dancing with them?)

God's abundant kindness was illustrated by Cale. 

He used a cup with a mixture of vinegar and salt 

and a handful of dirty pennies. 

First he showed the kids the dirty pennies. 

He talked about how they might have gotten dirty. 

He asked the kids what they thought. 

Then he talked about how we sin. 

He put the pennies in the cup, and stirred them up. 

As we did, the kids counted to 30. 

And when they came out - they were clean!

God's mercy does the same thing for us!

The kids each got a clean penny to take home!

After more worship songs, we broke into our small groups!

And here are our small group questions:

What is mercy?

 When has someone shown you amazing kindness?

  When is it hard to show kindness to someone?  

   Jesus calls us not just to be merciful, but to “love mercy.”

 How is that different? How is that harder?

May God's mercy flow on you today!

Peace, Pastor Katie

Love that Fills Us

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

This week for Student Worship, we talked about love. 

God's great and abundant love. 

A love that centers us. 

A love that fills us. 

A love that transforms us. 

Powerful love!

We sang the same songs as last week, 

to build up familiarity:

Every Move I Make

Hold Me

Blessed Be Your Name

How Great is Our God

One of the amazing parts of the time Sunday 

was the prayer requests.

The children opened their hearts, 

praying for their friends and family, 

but also thanking God for our church.

One child prayed for people who don't know God's love. 

Their prayers were so heart-filled, I was moved to tears!

Our message centered on the understanding that God's love fills us.

Led by one of our amazing youth, Benton, 

he did this experiment again and again -

much to the children's delight -

and so they could understand that God's love fill us, 

again and again!

We took a small baking pan and filled it with colored water. 

(the color doesn't matter). 

In the center of the pan sat a candle. 

Attach it to the pan either by hot glue (like we did)

or with a ball of clay. 

Just make sure it stays still. 

Then, light the candle. 

Put a glass jar or cup over the candle and watch what happens. 

Benton told the children that when we put God 

at the center of our lives, 

like the candle was in the center of the jar, 

we are filled. 

And the jar was filled. 

The jar gets filled. 

The bigger the candle, the more it gets filled. 

After the message, 

we broke into our small groups and shared these questions:

Here are our small group questions:

What does love feel like? What does love look like?

Who do you love? Who loves you?

How is God’s love different (greater) than our love?

How does God’s love fill you?

How do you share God’s love with others?

It was a wonderful day! 

Rise and Shine friends! 

Peace, Pastor Katie

Leaning into Grace

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, 

that it should leave me. But he said to me, 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, 

so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 

Week One

  Week one of our worship experiment went well! We had about 20 people - adults included. 

Our theme was Grace, which - lets be honest - is a hard concept even for adults! 

God's great and unmerited love towards us. 

Covering us, claiming us, holding us. 

So we sang this song - 

Hold Me by Jamie Grace -

which happens to be on repeat in my personal playlist. 

While some of the lyrics talk about adult issues of work and relationships, 

the refrain is powerful. 

I love the way you hold me. 

AMEN!

(We also sang Every Move I Make- and that is this photo-

as we are doing the hand motions!)

And one of our young people, Cale, led the message on Grace. 

It was interactive. 

Each person got a foam heart. 

We purchased the foam sheets from the local craft store and 

cut them into hand-sized hearts. 

Using light colored washable-markers, he invited each child

to write their sins - their mistakes - on the hearts. 

Once we covered the hearts, Cale invited the children to come

and wash their hearts. 

We used bins with soapy water, we placed at the foot of the cross.

Their sins washed away. 

And then we wrote in permanent marker "God's Grace"
on each of their hearts.

Cale then told the kids that God's grace washes our sins away.
All of our mistakes. 
Every last one. 
(AMEN!)

And then he tried to wash off the words
"God's Grace."

And they wouldn't come off. 
Ever. 

Because God's grace is forever. 
Regardless of our sins. 
(AMEN!)

Then we broke into small groups, by age, 
and the children shared their understanding of the message. 

We asked these questions:

What is grace? 

When have you experienced grace this week? 

When did someone unexpectedly treat you nicely?

Why do we talk about God’s love as grace in our life?

What has God done for you?

How can you share God’s grace with others?

And each group closed in prayer. 


It was beautiful. 
Beautiful to see the youth lead. 
Beautiful to see the children follow. 
Beautiful to see the future and current church.

And the next day, a grandma came by the church office to tell us 
that her three-year old grandson told her not to worry - 
God's grace washes away our sins. 

And, this preacher says, 
AMEN!

Windows

Our worship space has huge windows.

Huge old windows. 

Which are a bit grimy. 

And no so uplifting. 

So we made faux stained glass windows

using window markers. 

And they look awesome!

And each week we are going to add symbols of what we have learned to them. 

How cool is that?

A Simple Plan

The plan is simple. 

Praise and Worship

Scripture

Message

Response

Small Group Reflection

Prayers of the People

Personally, I am most excited about the chance for small groups. 

As we break the children and youth into groups by age - facilitated by adults, 

I am praying we find connection and community. 

I am praying we find real and lasting relationships. 

Pray for us - we start next week!

Growing in Grace

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, 

but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Proverbs 13:20

When I was discovering my call to ministry, 

I was blessed that the pastor of my church let me lead. 

(Sometimes it was a mistake -

which is making me so thankful for God's grace!)

We have a handful of young people at New Hope 

who are called to leadership in the church.

(Both the church of today, and the church of tomorrow.)

And to bolster that - to help grow in grace - 

a key linchpin of this Student Worship is the chance for them to lead. 

Not just reading. Not just repeating. 

But developing. 

Which is still in development. 

But the hope, the design, is that everyone will grow in grace. 

The children. 

The parents. 

The youth servant leaders. 

God's Doing A New Thing

Behold, I am doing a new thing; 

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? 

I will makeQ a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19

Sunday School is not working. 

It was created for a different purpose than what we are doing today. Back in the day Sunday School, in the Methodist Church, was intended to educate children. For adults, Class Meetings of small group accountability were transformed into Adult Education classes. And youth, well they are just lost somewhere in between.

 What we have made Sunday School is not working. 

At least at our church. 

Hey, I am just being honest. 

And someone has to be. 

Because God is calling us to do a new thing. 

A new thing. 

A NEW THING!

At New Hope, God is doing a new thing. 

And we are calling it Student Worship. 

Not sure it is going to work. 

Not sure what it will look like. 

Not sure how it will unfold. 

But God is doing a new thing.

And I am excited!