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Beforehand, find out details about your local foodbank and invite the congregation to bring some small items of food for a collection.
PRAYER / WORSHIP ACTIVITY
OPTION 1
5 mins
Divide the congregation into five groups. Each group is the ‘caller’ for one of the statements. Everyone must sit down and only stand when they are speaking. Each group takes it in turn to read aloud their statement. The whole congregation must then stand to say ‘Let’s worship him.’ This will be a little chaotic, but lots of fun and can be repeated several times!
Group one: We praise God, who created the heavens and the earth.
All: Let’s worship him!
Group two: We praise God, who saves us.
All: Let’s worship him!
Group three: We praise God, whose Spirit is with us.
All: Let’s worship him!
Group four: We praise our God, the king of all kings.
All: Let’s worship him!
Group four: Our God is worthy of all praise, always and forever.
All: Let’s worship him!
All: Give God a very loud cheer!
OPTION 2
15 mins
Divide the congregation into three groups. Provide each group with a large piece of paper or cover the floor with lining paper. Each group is given one section of Psalm 24 and is invited to draw their interpretation of it. It is best if they make one whole picture, rather than lots of smaller ones, but the younger children may prefer to do that on their own which is also fine. Once each group has finished, put the pictures together and read the Psalm aloud together.
Group one: The Earth belongs to God! Everything in all the world is his! He is the one who pushed the oceans back to let dry land appear.
Group two: Who may climb the mountain of the Lord and enter where he lives? Who may stand before the Lord? Only those with pure hands and hearts, who do not practice dishonesty and lying. They will receive God’s own goodness as their blessing from him, planted in their lives by God himself, their saviour. These are the ones who are allowed to stand before the Lord and worship the God of Jacob.
Group three: Open up, O ancient gates, and let the king of glory in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, invincible in battle. Yes, open wide the gates and let the king of glory in. Who is this king of glory? The commander of all of heaven’s armies!
STORY
10 mins
Beforehand, record a phone conversation from someone who is pretending to be at the scene. Play the conversation for all to listen to. The ‘Simon’ character should then be available to tell the story to the ‘James’ character (you can change the names to suit genders).
‘Hello, James speaking.’
To read the rest of the story go to link pages
REFLECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE STORY
OPTION 1
15 mins
In groups and using the props from the story, re-tell the story giving it a modern twist. Who would the Samaritan be in a modern day story? Who would the priest or the Levite be? Think about how this challenges us to love and serve those who are different to us.
OPTION 2
10 mins
Provide different stations around the room with information about Christian organisations. Include local, national and international organisations: this could be local food banks, human trafficking organisations, Open Doors, Operation World, Compassion, prayer groups for local schools - use what you have closest to you and then spread further! Provide a small amount of information and then some prayer pointers. As individuals or small groups, slowly walk around each station praying through the prayer pointers. Give each person a piece of paper. If they feel able to support the work of an organisation through volunteering, praying, fundraising etc, they can write it on their paper.
GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
10 mins
• What was the most important part of the story?
• What do you think the injured man thought when the Samaritan, who he disliked, came towards him?
• Who is your neighbour?
• I wonder which character you are most like…
