A parenting support group just posted this on Facebook with the comment that it often applies to adults as well.
Where in our ministry with children and parents are we filling up their cups? Where are we – without meaning to – draining them? How do you, as a paid or volunteer minister with children, fill up your own cup? What would your PCC say if you showed them this and asked those questions?
Psalm 23. One of the first bits of Scripture many of us learned. One of the few Bible passages most people still recognise and find comforting. The theme tune for The Vicar of Dibley.
It’s worth breaking out of the Bible STORY mold occasionally and introducing children to the other parts of the Bible – primarily the poetry and prophecy. This has several benefits – first of all, the rich imagery of these passages can be very meaningful to children, and secondly, it plants the idea, early on, that the Bible is a complex book full of many genres of writing.
Here are a few of my favourite Bible books that can help do this, starting with two retellings of the classic 23rd Psalm.
FOUND, by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrations by Jago.
Simple text and beautiful illustrations remind children of God’s enduring love and care. A perfect book to read aloud at bedtime, give as a baptism gift, or have in your church creche/children’s corner. You can also use it as the story in Junior Church for an under-5s group. (We have a copy of this in the Resource Centre if you’d like to borrow it.)
PSALM 23, illustrated by Barry Moser.
This one was available in the UK when I bought it for my church, but doesn’t seem to be now. It’s worth keeping an eye out for, however, as it uses the Biblical text and the illustrations have lots of details that can start discussions with children about what the psalm means and how they feel about it.
The imagery – a modern-day child like them, in a T-shirt, and other details – helps ground the psalm’s reassurances in a world familiar to children.
PSALMS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN, and IMAGES OF GOD, both by Marie-Helene Delval and illustrated by Arno.
These books have a simple format – a line or two of Scripture on one side of each spread, and a beautiful illustration on the other to bring it to life. The text is accessible even to toddlers, without diminishing the richness of it, and each page has a Biblical reference, so parents and older children can look up the original line and its context. These are also in our Resource Centre.
For older children, the LION GRAPHIC BIBLE, by Jeff Anderson and Mike Maddox, is very good at showing how the prophecy and poetry came to be written, and when in the story of God’s people the different parts of it appear. You see the Babylonian exile, and then you read the psalms written at that time, and hear the words of the prophets. It’s a very good introduction to some of the story of how the Bible came to be, and how the poems and prophesies fit into the whole. (Bear in mind I haven’t read all of this book, so there may be glaring problems with it I haven’t caught. But I’ve used parts of it with small groups and it’s all been good so far.) Again, we have a copy of this in the Resource Centre, so do borrow it.
What books have I missed? Add your recommendations in the comments!
Every year, predictably, around the start of Lent, the Facebook groups for All-Age Worship planners light up with requests for Mothering Sunday prayers that go beyond “thank you, God, for my brilliant mum – help me remember to do more chores around the house.”
(Also, I can’t even begin to break down how much is wrong with that as the sum total of Mothering Sunday. Not everyone has a brilliant mum, and surely ‘doing chores around the house’ isn’t innately Mum’s job any more, and also, the amazing, heart-expanding, heart-breaking, world-changing, powerful love of God reflected in the love of mothers is bigger and better Good News than helping around the house. But I digress.)
Below is a shortened version of a set of inclusive Mothering Sunday prayers that a friend sent me a few years ago. If you know who originally wrote these, please let me know so I can credit them.
INCLUSIVE MOTHERING SUNDAY PRAYERS:
Loving God, we thank you for all the people who have mothered us throughout our lives. For all who have held us and fed us, cared for us and comforted us, challenged and encouraged us.
We pray for new mothers experiencing changes they could not predict. Grant them rest and trust in you.
We pray for girls and women who think about whether to become mothers. Grant them patience and discernment.
We pray for mothers who are raising their children in poverty. Grant them courage and relief.
We pray for mothers who face the demands of single parenthood. Grant them strength, support, and wisdom.
We pray for mothers who are separated from their children. Grant them faith and hope.
We pray for adoptive and foster mothers. Grant them gratitude and insight.
We pray for mothers whose relationships are going through difficult times. Grant them clarity and support.
We pray for women who long to be mothers. Grant them strength, hope, and opportunities to share their love.
We pray for those who have suffered from abusive mothering. Grant them healing and strength.
We pray for step-mothers, godmothers, and all men and women who have assumed a mother’s role in a child’s life. Grant them joy and the appreciation of others.
We pray for those people present who grieve the loss of a mother, and for mothers who have lost children. Grant them comfort, healing, and the hope of Christ’s resurrection.
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers, for the sake of your son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
INTERACTIVE PRAYER IDEA:
You will need:
As the congregation arrives, they are handed a paper heart with a hole punched in it. During prayer time, as music is played, they are encouraged to write the name, or draw a picture, of anybody who has played a mother’s role in their lives, and hang the heart on the tree.
Version for congregations who won’t leave their pews: These names are placed in the offertory plates, and placed on the tree (out of sight, during the Eucharistic Prayer).
Extension: On a nearby table, have white fabric, and fabric pens, and instructions telling people that this is a place to put the names, or images, of children they have mothered who have died. When this is finished, place it at the base of the tree.
Recently, we added a prayer station on the way back from communion, for people to write or draw names of children we have mothered who have died, or mother figures who have died, on a piece of fabric. This now goes with the tree.
At the end of the service, we bless the tree, and those whose names are on it:
Dear God, we thank you for mothers. We thank you for all those who care for us in quiet, often unrecognised ways; we thank you for all those who care for others in patience and love.
Bless, we pray, the women – living and departed – whose names adorn this tree and this banner. Bless their legacy of love and care in our lives.
Bless the children who we mothered, and who have gone before us, whose names are on this banner. Be with all mothers whose hearts, like Mary’s, are pierced with the sword of their child’s death.
And, we pray, forgive us for those times when we have failed to show a motherly love for others. Teach us to care as you do, and, we pray, hold all mothers and carers in the light of your presence and guide them to you. Amen.
Children's Ministry in St Albans Diocese 