All-age service: Blind Bart and the big question

For a free pdf download of this resource click here

Prayer / Worship Activity

Option 1

10 mins

This activity is based on Revelation 19:12: ‘His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns.’ Cut out enough crowns for everyone or provide card, scissors and tape for people to make their own. Ask: ‘What will you say to Jesus when you see him face to face?’ It could be a ‘thank you’ or a ‘praise you’ or just simply some words to describe him, eg awesome, mighty, holy. Invite people to write or draw their answer on the crown. Then pile up the crowns as though making a wall and pray together, thanking Jesus for all he is and all he has done.

Option 2

5 mins

This activity is based on Isaiah 9:2: ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.’ Provide LED tea-light candles, one for every two people. Turn the lights off in the building and ask everyone to walk in pairs around the room. Try to walk slowly in the same direction around the room. Read the above verse slowly. On the last line, have everyone turn on their tea-lights. As the glow fills the room, thank God that he is the light that dawned in the midst of our deep darkness. Pray that he will shine his light into dark places. If there are any particular needs in the church pray for God’s light to shine into those situations or areas.

Story

10 mins

Divide the congregation into three groups. The first group are to play the part of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar. They will need to wear a blindfold (you can use scarves for this too) and to be good at shouting! Group two are the crowd of followers and group three are to play the part of Jesus. Mark out a large section of your room with masking tape on the floor to be the road. Read the following story out loud and direct each group as you go along. Directions are in brackets. This will be chaotic and messy, but fun! Jesus was walking along the road to Jericho with his crowd of followers.

[Group three all stand together and walk along your ‘road’. Group two joins them. There should be a ‘hustle and bustle’ feel as they walk along]

Sitting beside the road was Bartimaeus, a blind beggar. [Group one sits along the side of the ‘road’ wearing their blindfolds.] Everyone knew Bartimaeus! He’d been begging there for years. When Bartimaeus heard the commotion of the crowd coming along the road he asked, ‘What’s all this noise? What is going on?’ [Group one shouts this out]

The crowd answered him, ‘Jesus, the one from Nazareth, is coming here!’ [Group two says this aloud.] Bartimaeus had heard about this Jesus. He’d heard of all the miracles he had done and the people he had healed.

So he took a deep breath, and shouted: ‘Jesus! Son of David! Please help me!’ [Group one shouts this.] But the people with Jesus, even those who were walking at the front of the crowd, told Bartimaeus to be quiet: ‘Shhhhh Bartimaeus! Jesus is busy – don’t disturb him! Shhhhh!’ [Group two replies forcefully.]

But Bartimaeus was fed up with being ignored and told to be quiet. This time he took an even deeper breath and shouted even louder: ‘Jesus! Please help me!’ [Group one shouts this even louder than before.] To the surprise of his followers, Jesus stopped and called Bartimaeus over to him. [Group three stops abruptly, tripping up the others for dramatic effect! Group two must then each go and find one person from group one and lead them by the arm to one person in group three. Group one must keep their blindfolds on throughout.]

‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked Bartimaeus. [Group three asks this aloud.] ‘Lord, I want to be able to see,’ Bartimaeus replied. [Group one speaks boldly.] ‘Then see!’ Jesus said. ‘You are healed because you believed!’ And with that, Bartimaeus could see again! [Group one can takes off their blindfolds at this point!] He joined the crowd of followers that day and everyone there praised God for all he had done. [Everyone can cheer, jump, shout and clap!]

Reflective response to the story

Option 1

5 mins

For this activity you will need one blindfold for each person. It may help to ask everyone to bring a scarf with them to the service. Invite everyone to put on their blindfolds and, while some soft music is playing (or in silence if preferred), ask people to think about which character they might be in the story. Would they be like the crowd who told Bartimaeus to be quiet? Or perhaps they are like Bartimaeus, daring to ask Jesus for something impossible. Give them a short amount of time for this. Provide paper and pens and invite everyone to draw themselves and write their prayer response, and then place it somewhere along your ‘road’.

Option 2

10 mins

Split the congregation into mixed-age groups. For each group provide (or ask people to bring beforehand): headscarves (tea towels), old / ragged shirts or t-shirts, sheets for robes, camera, large pieces of paper and pens. Give everyone the opportunity to dress up. Invite people to write or draw on the paper their own response to the story. This could be a prayer, a poem, a picture of something they would like God’s help with, the name of someone they are praying for or even their answer to Jesus’s question: ‘What would you like me to do for you?’ Once they are dressed up (if they wish), they can hold on to their paper and have a photo taken. This photo can be printed out and taken home as a reminder.