Download Service Suggestions - The Children`s Society

Service Suggestions
The following service suggestions offer ideas on how to tailor the sample service to
whichever liturgical period you choose for your Christingle, for instance, Christmas,
Advent, Epiphany or Candlemas.
They also offer a range of talks and readings for you to choose from. They are all
available at www.christingle.org as editable documents for you to use and adapt to
create a celebration that fits your community.
Information is also available on the Church of
England Liturgical Commission’s Transforming
Worship website at:
www.christingle.org/transformingworship
The texts of the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
material from Common Worship: Times and
Seasons can be found in pdf format on the
Church of England website at:
www.christingle.org/timesandseasonsadvent
(Advent)
www.christingle.org/timesandseasonschristmas
(Christmas)
www.christingle.org/timesandseasonsepiphany
(Epiphany)
Celebrating Christingle
within the Eucharist
At the heart of the Church’s worship, Eucharist
celebrates the fundamental truths of our faith.
Many of these themes are reflected in the
Christingle; God’s creation of this world, his filling
it with his riches, surrounding it with his love, and
crowning his creation with the sending of his Son,
who is forever the Light of the World.
The central act of the Eucharist is the bringing of
gifts – ‘the fruits of the earth and work of human
hands’ – which God blesses, transforms into
himself and returns to his people. The Christian
mission is similarly to bring our world before God
so that he can transform them and make them
wholly his.
Sermon notes
The simple red ribbon, which encompasses
the Christingle, is potentially one of the most
complex parts of the Christian story to relate to
children. The colour of the ribbon is the colour of
bloodshed and it takes us into the realm of a very
particular kind of sacrifice.
Each of these sets of suggestions will no doubt
benefit from a few moments of reflection on the
symbolism of the ribbon, in a way that is perhaps
not so necessary for the other parts of the
Christingle symbolism.
The two aspects of the Crucifixion which we will
be emphasising in the discussion and sermon
ideas that follow are that Jesus gave up his life
for love of us, that he gave his life for the good
of others. Related to that, we will be emphasising
that Jesus’ sacrifice has brought us a kind of
liberation, has set us free from the power of sin.
Exactly how you want to explore and explain
these Christian truths with the children in your
church will very much depend on your particular
tradition, but the following talks will all be
enhanced by some introduction to these themes
of sacrifice and liberation.
Information on how to celebrate Christingle within
the Eucharist can be found in the downloadable
resources section at www.christingle.org
All-age worship resources
www.christingle.org
27
Advent – the promise
of things to come
Themes:
Talk/address/sermon ideas:
Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year.
It is a time of preparation and waiting for the
coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas. For children,
Advent is a season of great excitement and the
anticipation of what is to come.
Start a discussion about giving things up. Ask if
any of them can remember the time of the year
when lots of Christians give things up – sweets,
chocolates, TV etc? Ask if any of them gave
anything up last Lent – did they enjoy it?
Scriptures:
We often think about giving things up in a very
negative way, but actually it’s something we all
do a lot of the time – we need some volunteers
to help us think about this.
Philippians 4:4-7
‘The Lord is near.’
Hebrews 10:5-10
‘See, I have come to do your will.’
Luke 1:39-56
‘He has filled the hungry with good things.’
Luke 3:7-18
‘What then should we do?’
Get the dressing up box out and get the
volunteers dressed up in a variety of roles. For
each role the children are encouraged to think
about what things you have to give up, and why,
in each of the different roles. For example:
Ideas for discussion:
Football kit – have to give up eating all sorts of
rubbishy food in order to be a success in sport.
The Christmas holidays are coming up. Begin by
asking if anybody is going to be travelling away
from home over the Christmas holiday period.
Whenever we travel away from home we have to
leave some things behind, give some things up –
ask people what they most miss from home, most
dislike ‘giving up’, when they travel away.
White coat and stethoscope – have to give up
long years to study in order to heal people who
are sick.
As we approach the holiday season we need to
remember that some of the children that
The Children’s Society exists to serve are children
who have run away from home, often leaving
everything behind them. For example Robbie,
whose story you can read in the 5 minute script
on page 23.
Christians believe that Jesus gave up everything
for us on the Cross, everything except love, and
that’s what the red ribbon on the Christingle
reminds us of.
What things could we give up for love of those
who have had to flee their homes? You may want
to focus this discussion primarily on children who
have run away from home, or also include other
issues such as the stories of refugees. For more
information refer to the scripts on page 22 or visit
www.christingle.org/ourwork
28
Christingle order line 0845 600 8585
Movie star – have to give up some privacy and
freedom to bring entertainment to lots of people.
School uniform – have to give up the freedom to
play all day in order to learn and grow.
I’m sure you can think of lots of better examples
of your own. The point is to foster an awareness
that actually it is not unusual in life for people to
give things up in order to achieve something.
The red ribbon around the Christingle reminds us
that Jesus gave everything up, even his life, out of
love for us – why did he do that? Invite responses.
Around this time of year it’s easy to get very
distracted by the things that we’re hoping we’ll
get at Christmas, but we need to remember that
the measure of a Christian’s life is not what we
get, but what we give, and what we give up,
for others.
Christmas – the promise
of the gift itself
Themes:
Talk/address/sermon ideas:
Children need no introduction to Christmas! The
familiarity of the Christmas story and its traditions
always runs the risk of obscuring its real meaning.
The real St Nicholas has become Santa Claus; our
giving of gifts carries only the faintest echo of
God’s giving of his Son. Yet these traditions were
originally intended to help explain the meaning of
the Christmas story to children. Today we often
need reminding of the true significance
of Christmas.
When Jesus died on the Cross, he died to set us
free from all the bad things that can trap us in life
and stop us living fully in the love of God. That
is one of the things that the red ribbon on the
Christingle is there to remind us of – that Jesus
comes to us at Christmas to set us free.
Scriptures:
Isaiah 9:2-7
‘…a child has been born
for us…’
Luke 2:1-14
‘…to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour…’
Ideas for discussion:
Has anybody ever had a baby in their home?
Start a discussion with the children and their
parents about the sort of changes that happen
when a family has a new baby. Start teasing out
from them all the things that a family, adults and
children alike, have to give up (sacrifice) to care
for that new life. Hopefully you’ll end up with
quite a long list of these ‘sacrifices’.
At this point you need to dream up some sort of
‘liberation exercise’, and you can be as small or
large scale as you like – from liberating sweets
from an elaborate series of boxes and jars,
through to liberating one of the Sunday School
teachers from a remote part of the church
(or even a modestly booby-trapped pulpit).
Whatever you do and however you do it, the idea
is to get the children thinking about how to set
someone or something free.
Once the fun and games are over, lead into a
reflection on the different ways people can
become trapped in life and need liberation. What
sort of things could we do to help free someone
who is trapped in loneliness, sadness, anger or
fear? By fundraising for The Children’s Society
through Christingle we are doing this.
Jesus comes to free people from all those things,
and as his followers and friends, he calls us at
Christmas to be liberators for the love of God.
Move on to explore why on earth anybody would
want to give up all those things.
We sacrifice them for love of someone far more
vulnerable than us, someone who needs us.
Lead this on to a discussion about what other
groups in our communities might be more
vulnerable than us and need our support. For
instance children at risk on the streets, children
in trouble with the law, destitute families and
young refugees. For more information refer to the
scripts on page 22 or visit
www.christingle.org/ourwork
The discussion would conclude with reflecting on
how we could support some of those different
people by giving things up out of love.
All-age worship resources
www.christingle.org
29
Epiphany – the promise
of discovery
Themes:
The third part of the Christmas story is the arrival
of the wise men from the east. Woven into this
dramatic tapestry are the exotic and mysterious,
the evil and good, suspense and climax. No one
is quite sure who these men were who journeyed
from the east following a star. The wise men were
not certain who they sought but they knew he
was King of the Jews. The evil King Herod knew
nothing about a new king but set the wise men a
trap to ensure that he found out about any
threat to his power. The climax of the story comes
when the wise men discover the child, Jesus,
with Mary and offer him precious gifts which
symbolise his kingship.
Scriptures:
Matthew 2:1-12
‘…they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh.’
Ephesians 3:1-12
‘…the gift of God’s grace…’
Isaiah 60:1-6
‘Lift up your eyes and
look around…’
Ideas for discussion:
The Magi travelled a long distance to bring their
gifts to the infant Jesus – has anybody been
travelling over the Christmas holidays? Whenever
we travel away from home we have to leave some
things behind, ‘give some things up’ – ask the
children what they most miss from home, most
dislike ‘giving up’, when they travel away.
In this ‘holiday season’ we need to remember that
some of the children that The Children’s Society
exists to serve are children who have run away
from home, often leaving everything behind
them. For more information see Robbie’s story on
page 22 or visit www.christingle.org/ourwork
Christians believe that Jesus gave up everything
for us on the Cross, everything except love, and
that’s what the red ribbon on the Christingle
reminds us of.
What things could we give up for love of those
who have had to flee their homes? You may want
30
Christingle order line 0845 600 8585
to focus this discussion primarily on children
who have run away from home, or also include
other issues such as the plight of refugees, and
homelessness in general.
Talk/address/sermon ideas:
Set up a ‘throne’ at the front of the church, facing
the congregation – lots of cushions, comfortable
and bright. Set up a PS2, or one of those sorts of
things, for the person on the throne to play with.
You might want to talk about how uncomfortable
the church pews or chairs can be and as a special
treat you’ve set up a throne for one special
member of the congregation to sit on. Invite a
child to sit on the throne and enjoy playing with
the game.
Tell the rest of the congregation that to make up
for the fact that they don’t all have thrones to
sit on you’ve brought something very special for
them to see. Invite them up in ones or twos to the
area behind the throne, to see a cage, hutch or
basket which is turned away from the throne and
in which there is a pet such as a rabbit or kitten.
The crucial thing is to have something behind
the throne that’s going to elicit lots of ‘oohs’
and ‘ahhs’ of excitement, and that’s strategically
placed so that the person on the throne can’t see
what all the fuss is about without leaving their
place of privilege. Hopefully the ‘enthroned one’
will become sufficiently intrigued to want to leave
their special place to see what all the fuss
is about.
Lead into a reflection on how, just as the
‘enthroned one’ had to give up a place of comfort
and privilege to see something special, so too the
Magi had to give up many things in order to travel
to see Jesus.
The red ribbon of the Christingle reminds us that
Jesus gave up everything, even his own life, out
of love for us.
This is a time of year when a lot of us are focused
on what things we can get – what presents, what
toys – but the story of Epiphany, and the story of
Jesus’ whole life – is a reminder that sometimes
we have to give things up and let go of things
if we want to truly see and know the thing that
matters the most in life, the love of God.
Candlemas – the promise
of revelation
Themes:
Candlemas is also known by two other names –
the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The
three titles give us a clue as to the three things
being remembered at this time: the recollection
of the prophecy of Simeon in the Temple that the
infant Jesus would be a ‘light of revelation to the
Gentiles, and for the glory to thy people Israel’
(Luke 2:22-40); the Jewish rites surrounding
the birth of a child (Leviticus 12:6); and the
presentation and offering of a first-born Jewish
child to God for his service.
The feast was first celebrated in Jerusalem in
the fourth century. In 542 the Emperor Justinian
ordered its observance at Constantinople as a
thanksgiving after a plague and then the custom
spread through the east. The introduction of
a procession with candles is believed to have
originated with Pope Sergius 1 (687-701).
At Candlemas some churches bless all the
candles that will be used during the year.
Scriptures:
Luke 2:22-40
‘…he would not see death
before he had seen the
Lord’s Messiah.’
Ideas for discussion:
Is anybody learning a musical instrument? How
much time do they give up each week in lessons
and practice? Why do they give up that time?
Does anybody play for a sports team? How much
time do they give up each week for matches and
training? Why do they give up that time?
Does anybody help with Sunday School? How
much time do they give up each week for
preparation and helping? Why do they give up
that time?
In Luke’s Gospel we read of the prophet Anna,
who had prayed in the Temple every day for
around sixty years: why do you think she gave up
all that time?
People often give up all sorts of things for love
of God and love of God’s people: what sorts
of things did Jesus give up for us? Make the
connection with the red ribbon around the
Christingle.
The Children’s Society exists to serve children
who need all sorts of help and a lot of love. For
more information see Robbie’s story on page 22
or visit www.christingle.org/ourwork
Can we think of people who might need our
help? What sorts of things could we give up for
love of them?
Talk/address/sermon ideas:
Simeon and Anna had been waiting for many
long years to see the Messiah, visiting the temple
and praying. When Mary and Joseph brought the
infant Jesus to the Temple, Simeon and Anna were
filled with joy and Simeon declared, ‘Master, now
you are dismissing your servant in peace…’ The
waiting was over, Simeon felt as if he had been
released, set free, simply through seeing Jesus.
Over the years that were to come, one of the
things Jesus did for people was set them free
from things that had been making life hard
for them – from guilt, from illness, from fear.
Above all, Christians believe that in his death
on the Cross, which the red ribbon around the
Christingle represents, he set us free from all the
things that stop us loving God and loving one
another. So we’re going to think about freedom
and liberation.
Now create a ‘liberation exercise’, as small or
large scale as you like – from liberating sweets
from a series of boxes and jars, to liberating one
of the Sunday School teachers from a remote
part of the church (or even a modestly boobytrapped pulpit). Whatever you do, the idea is
to get the children thinking about how to set
someone/something free.
Once the fun and games are over, lead into a
reflection on the different ways people can
become trapped in life and need liberation. What
could we do to help free someone trapped in
loneliness, sadness, anger or fear? By fundraising
for The Children’s Society through Christingle we
are doing this. Jesus comes to free people from
all those things, and as his followers and friends,
he calls us to be liberators for the Love of God.
All-age worship resources
www.christingle.org
31