A story on the theme of Luke 10.25-37

Topic: Growing into an Emotionally Healthy Adult

Theme: Spiritual maturity has less to do with knowing or even keeping “the rules” and more to do with learning to love others in healthy ways.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Justin was walking home from school one day with his friend, Lucas. Justin was just a second grader and he loved the fact that Lucas, who was a fifth grader, would walk with him. He thought it might be because they both went to the same church and were in the same class together. There was just one class for all the grade schools kids and Justin and Lucas had become friends.

Justin really looked up to Lucas because he was older and bigger and in Sunday School class he knew all the Bible stories and could memorize Bible verses really easily.

Justin had just looked up the block and saw a few kids stopped in a small group. He knew right away what they were doing. They had Kenny a little kid from the third grade and they were punching him. They did that lots of the time and sometimes they threw his books around or even stole money from him. Justin couldn’t figure out why they did it. He liked Kenny, even if Kenny wasn’t so good at games or in small groups in class.

When Justin saw what the kids were doing, he looked over at Lucas, wondering if Lucas would try and stop the kids from bullying Kenny. Lucas didn’t say anything. He just shook his head and crossed the street to the other side. Justin couldn’t believe it. If Lucas had just yelled at the kids they would have stopped. He was much bigger and stronger and they respected him. But he didn’t do anything to stop them.

Justin wasn’t sure what to do. He knew what those kids were doing to Kenny was wrong. He knew that he could probably stop them, but he might get beat up himself. Or worse, they might jump him at school the next day. But he couldn’t help himself. It was wrong what they were doing to Kenny. So he took off running and yelling. He called for Lucas to come with him. He at least wanted the kids to think that there were two of them, but Lucas just kept going across the street. What was wrong with Lucas, Justin wondered?

Even if Lucas hadn’t come with him, he saw his plan was working. One of the kids in the group had heard him and ran off. The others started to scatter and by the time he reached Kenny, they were all gone. 

Kenny had a big red spot on his forehead and his shirt was torn and his books were on the ground. Justin started picking up his books and backpack. Kenny rubbed the spot and tucked his shirt back in. “Thanks, Justin,” Kenny said, “If you hadn’t come along I would really be hurting. You saved me from getting beat up worse.” Justin just sort of nodded and kept helping Kenny.

When he looked around to see if the kids were coming back, he saw Lucas down the street. Lucas wasn’t looking at them. He was just looking the other way and walking. “I wonder what happened to Lucas. I thought he would know better.” thought Justin.

A story on the theme of Luke 2.8-20

Theme: Jesus comes to us as we are -- ordinary, even messy people and asks us to let him value us and use us.

“Hurry! Hurry! Maria! cried her Aunt Eva, “Come help us! We’re ready to give Grandma her birthday present.”

Maria was at her aunt and uncle’s house with all her cousins and aunts and uncles. They were there to celebrate her grandma’s birthday. Maria thought she remembered that it was number 75 for her grandma. That was 70 more years than Maria who was just 5 years old.

Her aunt had told her when Maria and her mom and dad arrived that sometime after dinner and before dessert -- which was going to be a cake with lots and lots of candles on it...well, before dessert all the grandchildren were going to bring in Grandma’s present which was a beautiful new dress that her Aunt Eva had made. 

Now the time had come, but Maria wasn’t ready. Maria wanted to be all cleaned up and wanted to change from her play clothes back into her party dress. she was afraid that her grandma wouldn’t like it if she was dirty.  She and her cousins had put on their old clothes to play in the back yard while the adults were finishing the dinner dishes. They had gotten pretty sweaty and dirty and now there wasn’t time to change. They only had time to wash their hands under the hose that Uncle Abel was holding outside in the back yard and to dry them with the towel.

Maria felt so bad and so embarrassed to be so dirty for her grandma, but Aunt Eva needed her -- right then -- so she put down her head so her grandma wouldn’t look her in the eye and took hold of part of the dress and marched into the living room with her other cousins holding their part of the dress while all her aunts and uncles sang happy birthday to her grandma.

Her grandma was so surprised. She was so happy she just glowed. She took her dress and held it up and then grabbed each of her grandchildren and gave them a big hug and a kiss.  “Yuck,” thought Maria, “We’re all so dirty and smelly, but Grandma is so happy that nobody seems to notice.” And Maria felt happy, too -- and very proud that she could help make her grandma happy.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter at all that we’re messy -- when we’re picked to do something so special.

A story on the theme of Luke 1.39-46

Title: “The Unsuspecting Mother: Mary’s Story”

Theme: The supportive role Elizabeth played in mentoring her during those significant first three months of pregnancy is a model for older Christians in the church.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Maria loved her Aunt Liz very much. You see, Maria had lost her mother when she was very little and she didn’t remember much about her, although she liked to look at the pictures of her mother holding her as a baby. Maria had grown up with her dad and brother and sister. Her Aunt Liz lived just down the street and Aunt Liz had been like her mother. 

She loved to go down to her Aunt Liz’s house. They talked and cooked and did crafts and gardened and lots of other things. She could talk to her Aunt Liz about anything.  She loved to cuddle up with her and read books. But sometimes when Aunt Liz was working in the kitchen, Maria would sit by herself and read a book and listen. What would she listen to? She’d listen to her Aunt Liz sing. Aunt Liz had a pretty voice and knew lots and lots of songs. Some of them were songs they sang in church, but there were lots of other songs. Some of them were from what Aunt Liz called “musicals”. Those were plays where the actors not only spoke, but also sang songs. Maria asked her Aunt Liz where she had learned them. Aunt Liz said that she had learned them from watching and listening to many musicals, but she had also been in some musicals.

That was why when Maria heard that her school was going to have a musical, she wondered if she could be part of it. She heard that to be part of it, you had to go to a special room and sing a song for the teacher. A couple of days after she heard about the musical she went down the block to her Aunt Liz’s house and told her about the musical, but she said that she knew that she probably couldn’t be in it because it was too scary to sing alone for the teacher. 

Aunt Liz, right away, pulled her close to her and gave her a big hug and reminded her that when Aunt Liz was singing in the kitchen Maria sometimes sang along with the songs she knew. She said that Maria could carry a tune, that meant singing the right notes, and that she had a very nice voice. Maybe they should practice a song -- a song from one of the musicals that Aunt Liz knew. 

For the next week, Maria went to Aunt Liz’s house every day after school and practiced a song -- a song from the musical that was going to be performed at her school. It turned out that Aunt Liz new lots of songs from that musical.

The day that Maria needed to try out for the musical, that is, sing the song for the teacher, she came to Aunt Liz’s house before school and practiced the song. It really helped because when she sang the song in the afternoon, it was easy. She could remember all of it and she as she sang, she just thought of how she and Aunt Liz had sung it together. She left the room wondering if she would be chosen for the musical, but even if she didn’t, it had been wonderful being encouraged by her wonderful Aunt Liz.

A story on the theme of Luke 1.1-56

Theme:  God has a plan and uses ordinary people to accomplish it.

· This sermon is about God.

· This sermon is about God who has a plan.

· This sermon is about God who has a plan by using his people.

·This sermon is about God who has a plan by using his people in loving, yet troubling ways. 

· This sermon is about God who has a plan by using his people in loving, yet troubling ways and accomplishes it.

(Alternate beginning: The kingdom of heaven is like a little girl whose grandma asked her to do something that she was sure she couldn’t do...)

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Jamie couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Her grandma had told her that Jamie would be baking the special Christmas bread for Christmas. The big braided loaves. But she was only 8 years old. How could she bake everyone’s favorite bread? It’s the first thing that got eaten up at Christmas. If she didn’t bake it right, everyone would be disappointed. But her grandma insisted. Jamie was really nervous.

Her grandma saw that Jamie was nervous, but she said, “Don’t worry. I have a plan. I’ll teach you how and I’ll be around while you’re doing it. I won’t leave you alone. I just have so many other things to cook and bake, I need some help and it’s about time I taught you to bake.

They started backing before Thanksgiving -- practice baking that is. Jamie learned how to measure the flour and break the eggs and mix everything together.  She learned how to knead the dough and let it rise - twice! She learned how to make long ropes of dough and them braid them, like she braided her hair. She learned how long to bake the loaves. They practiced a lot. They had to throw away some of the bread. They enjoyed keeping their secret from the others. They ate lots of delicious Christmas bread, even before Christmas.

Then the big day came. Jamie woke up nervous. She knew that she was going to be doing it all alone and she wasn’t sure she’d get it all right, but she knew her grandma would be close by, cooking and baking other things.

She measured and mixed and kneaded and braided and now that it was the real thing, they sprinkled on some sugar and pressed some cherries into the top of the loaves and then put them in to bake. While the oven baked the bread, she waited, wondering how it would come out. Wondering how her grandma could trust her to do something so important.

It turned out to be beautiful and delicious and everyone said how good it was and were amazed when they found out that Jamie had baked it for this Christmas. How proud she was to have been able to do something that she couldn’t imagine she could have done alone.

God is like Jamie’s grandma.  Sometimes he asks us to do things that we don’t think we can do. Make something for someone. Help something with something important. Be a friend to someone who doesn’t have any friends. We may not believe we can do it, but he does and he’ll help us and never leave us alone. I wonder if God is wanting you to do something like this?

Prayer:  Thanks, God, for trusting us to do your work where we live and helping us do it.  Amen.

A story on the theme of Matthew 26.31-44

Topic: Enlarge Your Soul Through Grief and Loss 

Theme: God encourages us to embrace our human limitations by grieving well through the losses we face.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Katie was very, very sad. All she could think of was her grandma. Her grandma was her best friend, ever. She couldnʼt remember any time without her grandma from her earliest memories. Her grandma had always been there. But her grandma had not only always been there, her grandma had loved her in a very special way. She loved her mom and dad -- and her sisters and brother, and her grandpas, but she loved her grandma in a very special way, too.

Grandma taught her wonderful songs that just the two of them knew. She remembered that grandma had a special song she sang when Katie was going to sleep and she slept best of all when her grandma sang her to sleep.

Her grandma read to her her favorite books. Her grandma knew English and Spanish and could read in either language. Listening to her read, Katie began to learn Spanish.

Her grandma told her stories about when her grandma had been a little girl and her grandma had her own grandma. Katie asked for those stories again and again.

She taught Katie how to cook and they made their favorite cookies together and once they made tic-tac-toe sandwiches. (Youʼll have to ask Katie what those are.)

But she didnʼt have her grandma any more. Her grandma had gotten sick and had to go to the hospital and then came home, but she was very weak and couldnʼt get out of bed. Then her grandma died. Katie was just a little girl and she wasnʼt quite sure what that meant and what had happened. But she knew that she no longer had her grandma to tell her stories or go for walks or play with dolls or sing her to sleep.

She cried a lot after her grandma died and she kept turning around thinking that her grandma would be right there, but she wasnʼt any more. All she had left of her grandma was her memories. She was mad for a while from missing her grandma, although she didnʼt really know who she was mad at. She just wanted her grandma back.

But she finally stopped crying a lot and began remembering more and more of the wonderful times that she had had with her grandma. She sang the songs to herself that grandma taught her so she would remember them. She said the poems that theyʼd said together. Sometimes she asked her mom to help her bake cookies that sheʼd baked with her grandma. She imagined cuddling with her grandma and reading books.

It was hard not to have her special friend, grandma, but she knew her grandma had loved her so much that it made her feel very special and loved. And she knew thatʼs what her grandma would want her to remember.

A story on the theme of Matthew 6.5-15

Theme:  Prayer is our key connection with God, but in private, not in public.

Change the names and parental genders as works best for your context.

Benny liked to say his nighttime prayers with his mom or dad or both. He’d lay down in his bed and close his eyes and start with a short prayer that he had learned, but then he or his mom or his dad might add things. Sometimes, he told God how great God was for the whole world that God had created or for how much he loved Benny and his family. Sometimes he thanked God for things that God had given him that day, like his favorite french fries for supper or the chance to play after school with his friend, Eric, who had come over to his house. Sometimes he told God that he was sorry for something he had done to hurt someone else that day -- like his big sister who he had hit because she wouldn’t share her candy bar and he asked God to forgive him. He usually asked God to help or heal or feed someone in his family or someone he’d heard about in the world who was sick or needed food or a place to live. And, of course, if he was going to be doing something hard at school the next day like taking a test or trying out for the soccer team, he asked God to be with him and help him do his best. He’d end his prayer with a soft ‘Amen’ and then his mom or dad would give him a hug and kiss and ask God to bless him while he slept. 

But he didn’t stop praying and go right to sleep when his parents left and closed the door behind them. Some nights he just liked to stay very, very quiet and listen, in case God wanted to say something to him. Now he didn’t hear God’s voice like your voice or mine, but sometimes God seemed to put an idea into his head, it was almost always a kind idea about helping someone or a reminder about how someone had helped him. Sometimes when he was very, very still, he just liked to imagine that he was cuddling up to God, just like he cuddled up to his mom or dad when they finished reading him a book and sat quietly together enjoying one another’s company.

He knew that one of the ways he could hear from God was by reading his Bible, but he always felt like praying and just being very, very quiet was another way that he could feel and hear God say how much God loved him. I wonder what he might hear from God tonight?

A story on the theme of Matthew 5.43-48

Theme:  Learning to love ALL - pushes us toward the perfection God desires for us

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Betsy’s head jerked back and she cried, “Ouch!”  This time it wasn’t because her long braid had gotten caught in her desk chair and when she leaned forward, it pulled her head back. It was because someone had yanked on her braid. As she was turning around to see who it was she was saying to herself, “I’m sure it was that mean Janey.” Sure enough Janey had done it, but then she had moved far enough away that if Betsy reached out to hit her, her teacher would certainly see her and scold her.

Why was Janey’s being so mean to her, Betsy wondered. She couldn’t think of any reason. Yesterday, Janey had hidden in a doorway and when Betsy was coming through she stuck out her leg and tripped Betsy and Betsy had dropped all her books and papers and sprawled out on the floor and made everyone around laugh at her clumsiness. She hardly wanted to remember what Janey had done to her the day before and the day before that.

It got so that every day all she could think of was how angry she was at Janey and how she was going to try to get back at her. She got scolded by her teacher for not paying attention. Her other friends didn’t want to be with her. She was no fun. And it wasn’t her fault!

That day when she got home from school, she told her mom what was happening. Her mom asked her if she knew what forgiveness was. Yes, Betsy said that they’d been learning about it in Sunday School. It was when you said that you would let go of all your anger at someone who had hurt you. Sometimes you even did it even if they didn’t apologize. It was something that Jesus did a lot when people tried to hurt him. For some reason it helped you be happier after you had done it and not let your anger ruin your life, even if the people hurting you tried to ruin your life.

That night, as Betsy was lying in bed before she went to sleep, she had a long talk with Jesus about how she wanted to forgive Janey, both so that she wouldn’t do something to really hurt Janey, but also because she didn’t want the teacher to scold her or her friends to avoid her because she was always thinking about how she could get back at Janey. But she would need Jesus help. She felt like he promised to help her and that felt good because she knew Jesus knew what it was like to forgive people who were hurting you -- who were your enemies. And she wanted to be like Jesus.

This is where I’m inclined to end the story, but I’ve created another ending that shows some more resolution.

Janey didn’t stop doing mean things to Betsy the next day, but Betsy didn’t get so angry and she didn’t let those mean things ruin her time with her friends. In fact, they started to protect her from Janey. Eventually Janey stopped being mean to Betsy and sometimes was even nice to her.

Prayer:  Thanks, God, for forgiving me when I hurt you and for helping me forgive other people who hurt me.  Amen.

A story on the theme of Matthew 2.1-12

Theme: Like the Wise Men, we must learn to be "wise" and "savvy" in reading the signs before us that point us to Jesus.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Sarah was like most kids. She liked candy. (Aside to kids in circle: Of course, you don’t like candy, but Sarah did. ) Her favorite candy was peppermint.  She never got much peppermint at Halloween, but at Christmas, there was lots of peppermint - particularly peppermint candy canes. When Sarah ate peppermint she smiled. It was a great day!

That’s why she was so excited one day in December when she sat down at her chair in school and looked up at the teacher’s desk and saw a big jar of candy canes -- peppermint candy canes!

She knew that they were going to be a reward for kids who did something in class and it looked like there were so many that some kids would get more than one.

Her teacher gave them the assignment to work on and she began to work on it, reading her book and writing on her paper. She worked as fast as she could, but also as well as she could. When she did things well at school, she smiled. It was a great day!

She finished a little early and as she was waiting, the girl next to her whispered that as they went by the jar -- if the teacher wasn’t looking -- they should slip an extra candy cane out of the jar.  Wouldn’t that make Sarah smile twice and it would be a great, great day!

But then Sarah remembered the lesson she had in Sunday school class last Sunday. It was about stealing things that didn’t belong to you. The Bible said it was wrong. And when she thought of times she had taken one of her sister’s special stickers, she remembered how bad she felt. She had frowned and it had been a bad day. 

As she walked toward the front and saw her friend slip out an extra candy cane, she thought about doing it, but remembered that it was wrong. When she got to the jar on her teachers desk, she only took one candy cane. And she smiled. And it was still a great day.

A story on the theme of Matthew 1.18-25

Title: “The Unsuspecting Father: Joseph’s Story”

Theme:  Joseph, an unsuspecting father’s radical actions reveal God’s nature of compassion and grace over being a “law-abiding citizen.”  

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Everyone in her class seemed to like Becca. Most of them had a small group of friends that they stayed close to, but they didn’t have much to do with the other kids in the class. In fact, sometimes the groups would fight with each other. But Becca didn’t seem to belong to any one group. She seemed to have friends in every group. Maybe it was because she was able to be nice to everyone. She treated everyone like they were her friend. She would talk with them when no one else would. She would help them with their school work if they seemed to need help. She might ask them for help if she needed it and they always gave it to her. For some reason when Becca talked to you, it was like there was no one else in the room for her except you.

Their teacher didn’t seem to treat Becca better than she treated anyone else. Their teacher was very fair. However, their teacher often asked Becca to help her with other kids in the class, particularly with those kids who got pushed to the side or left behind by most of the class.

And that’s what the teacher did one day about half way through the year. A new student joined the class after the Christmas holiday. He was kind of funny looking in a way that’s hard to describe. His clothes were pretty worn and usually dirty. He even smelled some mornings so it was hard to sit next to him. He never seemed to have much for lunch and he’d sometimes steal from other kids lunches. He was a pest. He always needed something that he’d forgotten to bring to school. There really weren’t any good reasons to like him or spend time with him. And what no one could figure out was why he seemed to pick on Becca. No one picked on Becca, she was too nice to everyone and you never knew when you’d need her on your side, but the new boy did something mean to her every day. If anyone had reasons to stay away from him, she had the best reasons.

That’s why everyone in class felt bad for Becca when they overheard their teacher ask Becca to help the new boy with his math problems. That would just make it worse for Becca. She have to be close to him and he could pester her even more. But Becca who was good at following the classroom rules and doing was the teacher asked, began to spend some time each day sitting with the new boy and working on their math problems.

Somedays she must have had to hold her nose. Somedays some of the kids wanted to hit the boy for Becca because he was so mean and she wouldn’t fight back. They wondered how she could stand it? As they watched her, she seemed mostly to ignore his meanness and not react to his pestering. After a while, he didn’t seem to be pestering her as much and after a couple of weeks not at all. In fact, he started acting nice to Becca and the nicer he got to Becca the nicer he was to everyone else and pretty soon he was able to make some other friends in the class. Becca had shown him and them how to be a friend. I wonder if you could be a friend to someone like that boy? The way Becca was?

A story on the theme of Isaiah 9.2, 6-7

Title: “Jesus, Light of the World”

Theme:  Jesus is the Father's gift to our dark world and our needy hearts

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Bethany bumped her head into the piano -- very hard. “Ouch! That hurt.” But she couldn’t see a thing and for a minute couldn’t quite figure out where she was in the house. She was afraid to move, to step on the presents, or knock over the tree.

Her whole family was there for Christmas. They had just enjoyed a wonderful dinner and were about to open presents. They were feeling very snug together because a big storm was blowing outside and they were safe and warm -- that was until there was a big flash of lightning and a huge crash of thunder and the lights went out. It was pitch black. They looked outside, but their neighborhood was dark, too. Inside the house, people were trying to move around to find some lights, but they were bumping into the furniture and into each other. Finally she heard her dad call out to everyone to stay where they were. People settled back down and her dad began to throw out some ideas about what they should do. There were candles all around them, but they had put out the ones at the table and hadn’t lit the ones in the living room and no one could seem to find a match. Her brother, Tim, volunteered to go get the flashlight in the hallway, the one plugged into the wall until he remembered that he had used it yesterday until the battery was empty and he hadn’t plugged it back in to recharge it.

There were flashlights out in her aunt’s and uncle’s cars, but it was pouring outside and they would have gotten soaked. Just then Bethany had an idea. She remembered that in a little pocket on the outside of the sleeping bag storage bag that she had just gotten with her sleepover sleeping bag, there was a little flashlight that you strapped around your forehead to light your way even if your hands were full. 

Her head had cleared a little since she had bumped into the piano. She realize that she was standing in the hallway leading to her bedroom. There was nothing to bump into in the hallway except the walls and so with her hands out in front of her, she inched down the hallway into her room. She knew her room by heart and knew right where the sleeping bag was stored. She walked slowly over in that direction. Oh, she bumped into the bed and trip over some clothes that she should have hung up. But then, she found the little pocket on the outside of the sleeping bag storage bag and slipped her hand in to find the flashlight. She tried the switch. It worked! She strapped the light around her head and proudly walked back down the hallway without bumping into anything and into the living room where the adults were still sitting in the dark trying to figure out what to do. They clapped when she appeared and soon one or two adults at a time were following her around the house to find matches for candles or flashlights hidden in drawers. As she moved around the house it became brighter and brighter. The candles were lit in the living room and the fun of opening presents began.

As she sat quietly, very pleased that she had brought the first light into their dark house, she remembered some Bible verses that had been recited in the Christmas program at church, something about “people who lived in darkness who saw a light” and one about Jesus who was “the light of the world. She wondered, if when Jesus was born, people felt like her family had when she, just a little girl, walked into the room with that first light in the darkness?

A story on the theme of Genesis 50.15-21

Topic: Going Back in Order to Go Forward

Theme: God breaks the power of the past as we put trust in Him and in building up our own character that enables us to overcome all the hurdles of life.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Dan was afraid of what his big brother, Jeff, might do to him when their parents left the house to go to a BBQ that night. He had been playing with Jeff’s new skateboard even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to and he hit a sharp curb and took a big chunk out of the edge. He didn’t tell Jeff, but he knew that Jeff would know who did it.

Dan and Jeff’s parents said goodbye to them and told Jeff to take good care of Dan while they were gone. They’d be back in a couple hours. As soon as they left, Dan disappeared. As he heard Jeff moving around the house, he moved to places that Jeff wouldn’t find him. After about an hour, Dan heard Jeff call his name -- over and over. Dan decided he needed to come to Jeff or he’d get in trouble later with his parents. 

When he came into the room where Jeff was, Jeff could see something was wrong, particularly when he saw Dan’s shocked look at the skateboard in his hands.

Dan stood as far away as he could and was ready to run if he had to. Jeff laughed. 

He said, “I think I know why you’ve been hiding. You were using my skateboard, weren’t you? You took this chunk out of it, didn’t you?”

Dan said, “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Please don’t hurt me.”

Jeff said, “I thought about it. I knew you did it, but you disappeared when Mom and Dad left and I had time to think about what happened. First, I remembered that I promised them that I’d take good care of you. Then I remembered that I did something like this to our cousin Phillip’s skateboard and Phillip didn’t hit me, he forgave me. He said that it made his skateboard look cool. So I forgive you. I won’t hurt you. After all in a few weeks, I’ll have put lots more dents and gashes in it and no one will even notice this little chip out of it.

(editor’s note: You could include mention of Jesus’ saying if we want forgiveness we need to be forgivers.)

A story on the theme of Genesis 22.1-14

Theme: As we are able to let go of the power and control we tend to need as humans, God strengthens our ability to trust Him through the most challenging of trials.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Lily saw a poster at school that invited students to try out for the school musical. Lily liked music and sang a lot when she was alone.  She thought she’d like to be in the musical, maybe in a big group that sang together, so she copied down the time and place for the first meeting.

Wow, was she surprised when she came to the first meeting and found out that everyone who wanted to be in the musical had to stand up -- alone -- in front of the teacher -- and sing a song. And not only would they be in front of the teacher, but everyone else who was trying out was in the big room, too.

She almost turned around and left, but she saw one of her friends, Clarissa, and told her that she was going to leave, but Clarissa insisted that she stay; at least to watch the tryouts. Besides Clarissa was from her church and Clarissa had heard her sing when the Sunday School class sang and she thought Clarissa had a very nice voice.

So Lily stayed and watched the tryouts. The more people she heard sing the more nervous she got. She could never do that -- either sing that well or sing in front of so many people. But Clarissa kept encouraging her to try out. She made a deal with Lily. If Clarissa tried out, Lily would have to, too. Besides, Clarissa reminded her that God had created her with a pretty voice and he probably wanted her to use it and sing.

Clarissa finally went up to sing her try out. Lily was so nervous she couldn’t sit still because she was next. Clarissa did fine and Lily was called up. She couldn’t even look at the teacher, but the teacher was very nice and patient and saw how nervous Lily was and soon she encouraged her to sing along with her to start. 

Lily just croaked out of few notes at first, but then her sweet voice began to come through and soon she was singing all by herself. She was still nervous, but it was like the voice, that God had given her, took over and sang for her.

The next day, Lily and Clarissa went to the bulletin board outside the choir room and there on the list were both their names, with a star next to them. The star meant that they were in the musical, but the teacher wanted them to come back and try out for some of the leading parts. Even if they didn’t believe it, the teacher thought their voices were very good and they might even be able to sing solos.

A story on the theme of Psalm 150

Theme: "No matter how much we suffer, no matter our doubts--everything finds its way into praise--the final consummating prayer." In other words, prayer pursued far enough becomes praise.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Selena was making a list. Her Sunday School teacher asked her to make a list or a timeline. She knew about time lines from school. It was a way to keep track of important events over time, in your life or in a countries life. You drew a long line on a blank piece of paper and along that line, you wrote down or made pictures of important events in the order that they had happened. She liked history at school and so had made a number of timelines.

But this time she decided that before she tried a timeline, she’d make a list. Her Sunday School teacher had asked Selena and the other kids in her class to think back over the past year of each of their lives and make a list of all the things that they had prayed to God about. Oh, it didn’t have to include when they said grace before a meal. And it didn’t have to include all the times they might have said the Lord’s Prayer. It was to include anything that they thought was important that they talked about with God.

She usually talked to Jesus when she prayed, so she decided she’d make a list of as many things she could think of that had been in her prayers to Jesus.  There were lots of good things -- a new friend who moved in next door; a really nice teacher at school, even though that teacher made them work really hard; a wonderful, surprise birthday party that her friends had for her; a new dress for Easter; a funny Halloween costume that her mom helped her make. There were lots of other wonderful things that she had thanked Jesus for.

But as she made her list, there were also some really hard things that she had prayed about -- that boy at school who had made fun of her; her not getting picked to be in the school play; the time her new bike had gotten stolen; the time when a group of other girls wouldn’t let her sit with them at lunch; lots of hard things. She had ask Jesus to make them better. Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t seem to. The hardest was losing her grandpa. He was pretty old and had been sick for a long time and she had asked Jesus to make him well, but he didn’t. It had been very hard to go to church when they had Grandpa’s funeral, but her grandpa had told her that he knew he wouldn’t get better and he was okay with that. He was looking forward to seeing God in heaven. He was really going to miss Selena, but he knew that she would still have a wonderful life and she should remember how much he loved her.

After writing all those hard things at the end of her list, she thought that she would be very, very sad; maybe even mad at God. But she realized that she wasn’t. She was still pretty sad about the sad things and even a little disappointed that they hadn’t come out better, but she began to remember how God had seemed real close during the hard times and had brought some special friends to help her through her sadness. And she only had to look at the things at the top of her list, so many good things, to realize how much God had given her.

She picked up her pencil one more time and with a very full heart, wrote in big, capital letters -- THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR BEING SO GOOD TO ME! AMEN.

A story on the theme of Psalm 109

Theme: We must pray who we actually are, not who we think we should be.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Freddy was so mad and hurt that he could hardly talk. But it was probably good that he couldn’t talk because he might have said something that would have made him really sorry later on or done some of the things that he might have said.

He had been walking with his lunch tray toward a table where some of his friends were having their lunch. He was almost there when suddenly he was flying through the air and his lunch was spilled out on the floor in front of him. And...everyone in the lunchroom was laughing at him. Laughing the loudest was a kid named Philip, a real bully, who was a grade ahead of Freddy.

Freddy was mumbling to himself as he cleaned up his lunch off the floor. He was mumbling all the things he’d like to do to Philip. He’d like to punch him in the nose. He’d like to trip him. He’d like to get together all the kids that Philip bullied and help him beat Phillip up really good. He’d like to get him in trouble with the principal. The list went on and on in his head. 

But a funny thing happened while he was mumbling to himself. He began praying. It wasn’t like when he prayed at bed time, but he found himself talking to God. He was asking God to make sure that all these awful things he was planning for Philip actually happened. 

As he thought about it later, he figured out that he knew he probably couldn’t do them, but he thought God was so powerful that God could and he knew that God didn’t like bullying so he had asked God to do them. But another funny thing happened as he was talking to God. When he sort of turned things over to God to do, he realized that God wouldn’t have wanted to hurt Philip. He would have wanted to love Philip, just like he loved Freddy. And as Freddy talked to God, telling him how he really felt, he realized that he wasn’t as angry as when he started out. In fact, he felt sorry for Philip that Philip thought he had to be a bully. He even began to try to think of ways to be kind to Philip so that Philip could act more kindly.

Freddy realized that he could have kept all his angry plans to himself, but that would have probably just gotten him into trouble later on. When he shared them with God, it changed Freddy and his feelings and he didn’t do anything, he’d be sorry for later.

A story on the theme of Psalm 90

Theme: Death is a "normal" part of life and the more we can maintain a healthy perspective on this, the more able we are to see the fullness of God.

from Eugene Peterson:  "We live in a society characterized by the denial of death.  This is unusual.  Most people who have lived on this earth have given a great deal of attention to death.  Preparing for a good death has been, in every century, an accepted goal in life."

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

It had been almost a year since Tim’s grandma had died and he still missed her very much. He had loved going to his grandma’s house. She had special toys for him to play with. Sometimes they did cooking projects together. He made the most delicious rolls when he worked with his grandma. They were sweet and had raisins inside and a little frosting on the outside.

He loved to cuddle with her and read his favorite books. She could even read books in Spanish and he learned how to count in Spanish from one of the books. He missed doing that.

His grandma had gotten very sick and she told him that she wasn’t going to get better from this sickness and before too long she would go to heaven to live with Jesus. She even asked Tim to draw a picture of what he thought heaven would look like. She said that she’d like to know what heaven might be like and what she could look forward to, even though she would be very sad to miss him.

When he felt saddest, he went to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer and took out a big envelope. Inside the envelope was the picture of heaven that he had drawn for his grandma. There was also a picture of him and his grandma cuddling up with a favorite book. Best of all, there was a letter from his grandma that she had written before she died. When he felt sad, it sometimes helped to read that letter. She wrote down some of the stories of what they did together; some of the trips they took to her favorite places and she wrote how much she loved him.

He wondered what it was like for his grandma in heaven. He wondered what she was doing right then. He wondered who she was with. When he wondered about his grandma, he didn’t feel so sad.

A story on the theme of Psalm 3

Theme:  Prayer begins in a realization that we cannot help ourselves, so we must reach out to God. 

from Eugene Peterson's "Psalms:  Prayers of the Heart" study guide:  "Help!" is the basic prayer.  We are in trouble, deep trouble.  If God cannot get us out, we are lost; if God can get us out, we are saved.

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

Lindy didn’t like to ask for help. She would always rather “do it myself.” But this time doing it by herself wasn’t working and she was getting worried. Sometimes she did sewing projects with her mom. Her mom even let her work the sewing machine when they were making a skirt for one of Lindy’s dolls. Her mom bent over her and with her hands on Lindy’s hands they guided the fabric through the machine.

Lindy had been carefully watching her mom the whole time and was sure she knew how to use the sewing machine. She watched her put the thread in. She watched what levers she flipped up and down when she put the fabric in place to sew it. She watched what pedal she pushed to make the machine run, forward and backward. She decided that it was time for her to sew by herself. And because Lindy’s mom wasn’t home right then and her dad was out in the yard working, she thought she could have lots of time to try what she saw her mom doing.

But five minutes later, she felt sick. She realized that she shouldn’t have been doing it herself. In front of her on the machine was a ball of tangled thread and the fabric all bunched up. She pushed the pedal to back up, but that only made it worse. She pushed it forward and more thread got tangled. Then the machine stopped working. Had she broken it? What should she do? What would her mom say?

She just stood there in shock and said, “Help, God!” Was that a prayer? She thought about it and guessed it was. God could help her. She got quiet and kept talking to God and then she got a feeling for what she should do. God seemed to be saying, “Lindy, go out in the yard. Get your dad and tell him what happened.” 

Well, it wasn’t her dad’s sewing machine so maybe he wouldn’t be as upset as she knew her mother would be...but she wasn’t sure. What would he say?

She did go out and talked to her dad. It was hard. It took her a while to tell him everything. He nodded as she told her story and said that they should go in and look at the machine. He didn’t think that whatever Lindy had done could break the machine.

Once they got inside, they tried the machine. It was still stuck, but Lindy’s dad took a scissors and began to cut away the fabric and the thread and pretty soon the mess was all cleared away. They tried the machine again and it ran just fine. Just then they heard the back door open and Lindy’s mom say, “Hi. I’m home.”

A story on the theme of Psalm 103

Theme: "As we identify the characteristics of God, we appreciate and savor the true gift God's salvation is to us."

Jorge liked the songs he learned in Sunday School that were about God and all that God wants to do for us. He forgives our sins when were sorry. He heals us when were sick. He gives us food when we’re hungry. God loves us. God doesn’t want to get angry at us. God knows that we make mistakes, but that doesn’t discourage him because he wants to help us correct them. 

Jorge decided that he wasn’t sure how to write a song about God, but he was pretty sure he could write a poem about God. How would he start? He thought and thought and thought. Well, "A" was the best place to start in the alphabet, so maybe he should just start there. Could he think of something wonderful that was or did for every letter of the alphabet?  He wasn’t sure about X or Z, but he didn’t have to worry about them right away because he was starting with A.

A - God is Awesome

B - God is not a Bully

C - God is Kind -- oh no, kind started with a K. He’d have to save that one. C? C?

God likes to Comfort us when we’re sad. Comfort has a K sound, but it really starts with a C.

D - God is Determined to love us, in spite of how we sometimes act

E - God is everywhere. I don’t have to worry that he’ll ever lose track of me.

F - God is Faster than anything else at finding us

G - God is Good, all the time. All the time, God is Good.

Well, Jorge realize he wasn’t actually writing a poem or a song, but he was having fun so he kept on going.

H - God sent Jesus to Help us know him better

I - God is very Intelligent. More smarter than anyone else in the world

J - God loves Justice - that is he wants everyone to be treated fairly

K - Now he could use: God is Kind

L - God is Love. He knew that wasn’t original. He had memorized a verse from the Bible that said, “God is Love.”

M - God is ....hmmmm. Oh, I know he thought, God is the Maker of everything including me.

N - God is Nice. That was sort of like loving, but not quite and God really is Nice.

O - God is Omnipotent. He heard his older brother say that he learned that about God in his Sunday School class, so it must be true, even though he didn’t really know what it meant.

P - God is Powerful. Oh, yes, that what omnipotent meant that God is more powerful than anything else. If he used Powerful for P did that mean

he needed to go back and think of something else for O.

Q - God is very Quick. He made the whole world in a very short time.

R - God is Reliable -- you can really count on him

S - God saves us through Jesus and gives us eternal life. That might be the most important idea he had had about God.

Right then his mom called him for lunch. He’d have to finish the alphabet later.

I wonder what Jorge thought of for the rest of the letters, especially X and Y and Z and what about O? What would you think of?