Ciren Parish Youth and Children's work

02/02/2022

Candlemass
Candlemass is a traditional Christian Festival that commemorates the ritual purification of Mary 40 days after the birth of Jesus.
40 days after the birth of a Jewish boy (which Jesus was) it was the custom to take him to the temple in Jerusalem to be presented to God by his thankful parents.
It was also the day of the year when all the candles that were to be used in church during the coming year were brought into church and a blessing was said over them – so it was the festival day or `Mass` of the candles.
Candles were important in those days, because there were no electric lights.
Christians often talk about Jesus as being ` the light of the world`.

Luke 2:22-39

( you will need: a Children’s Bible, If you haven’t a Bible, you can read the Bible verses on the internet. The international Children’s Bible (ICB) through www.biblegateway.com is a good place to look. Just enter the Bible verse in the search bar. Card or paper, scissors, glue, craft bits for decorating pigeons/doves (see activity), craft bits for decorating candles (see activity), a baby doll, shawls/scarves. Extra option – real candles. If lighting these - adult supervision required!)

• Read: With your children read from the Bible about Jesus being presented at the temple in Luke 2:22-39. If your child is older, see if they can find the Bible verses for themselves and read them to you.

• Discuss: It was a big and special day when 40 days after the birth of your son you were to present him to the temple ` it is written in the law of the Lord: give every first born male to the Lord` and also for Mary as she was to be cleansed or `purified` by a ceremony at the temple, according to the law of Moses. I wonder how Mary and Joseph were feeling as they made their way there? The Bible tells us about the man called Simeon who the Holy Spirit led to the temple that day. I wonder how Simeon felt when he at last saw what the Holy Spirit had promised he would – the Christ! It says in the Bible that Jesus` father and mother were amazed at what Simeon said about their son. Do you think they understood what he meant though? Lastly Anna. The Bible tells us she was a prophetress – a person considered to have been sent by God to teach people about his intentions. Do you think she would have known then that this baby being coming to be presented at the temple would be God’s own Son?


• Activity: Make two doves or young pigeons. In the Bible reading it says that when Mary and Joseph went to the temple with baby Jesus they had to take two doves or two young pigeons with them to offer as a sacrifice. This was a rule at the time according to the law of Moses, for new mothers, (Leviticus 12:6-7) as a sort of cleansing ritual. On some card or paper, draw two birds large enough for you to decorate, and cut them out. I expect you have seen pigeons in your garden or on your house roof – they are a grey colour. Doves are similar but white. Either colour them or stick something on them as feathers eg tissue paper, or maybe torn up bits of white paper or newspaper. Then use your pigeons or doves to act out the story in the next activity!

• Activity: Act out the story. With your family act out what happened. If you haven’t enough people, have one of you being Mary and the other person taking in turns to be Joseph (going with Mary to the Temple), then Simeon, and then Anna. You will need a baby doll to be baby Jesus (or a teddy if no doll, or you could draw a baby), some shawls/scarves as costumes, and part of your room to be a Temple. Why not place some candles (real or draw them) on a table as an altar. If using real candles and they are lit, please have an adult with you and be very careful. Mary or Joseph – remember to take the pigeons or doves you made with you to the Temple! When you reach the Temple, Simeon can take the birds from you and lay them on the altar, and then hold baby Jesus and bless him. Say the words from the Bible reading that Simeon says. Anna can be there praying and then being very excited to see baby Jesus too – saying loudly “ Thankyou God! Thankyou God!”


• Make candles. Candlemass is the ` mass` of the candles – when they were all blessed. Make some candles – all different sizes - using card/paper and decorate them in different colours. Maybe you could stick them all up on one window to look bright all together. ( If you have any real candles too you could put these on a table together and light them. But please have an adult with you and be very careful)

• Prayer. (Bless your candles)

May God bless our candles.
May our candles give us light and warmth.
Thankyou God for giving us your son Jesus
Who is the light of the world!
Amen

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02/02/2022

My introductory video on Candlemass for 6th Feb

27/01/2022

Parables of `Yeast` and `Treasure`

Matthew 13:33 and Matthew 13:44-46

( you will need: a Children’s Bible, ideally some yeast, and ingredients to make bread, or you can buy packets with all the ingredients already in and you just add water, kitchen foil, paint, paper/card/green material, stick on `jewels` or shiny bits of paper/card.)

• Read: Read the Parables of Yeast and Treasure from the Bible. If your child is older, see if they can find it for themselves and read it to you.

• Discuss: What do you think these Parables mean? Have you ever made bread and seen the yeast make it rise? Imagine you were out for a walk in the country side and you found some treasure in the long grass. How would you feel? One interpretation of these Parables is that just as yeast changes the dough and it grows, so Jesus changes us when we let him into our hearts and our lives, and then the kingdom of God grows with us and through us. With the Treasure Parable, the treasure and the pearl are so special that we are willing to do whatever it takes to have them, and the kingdom of God is that treasure and when we have found it we want to keep it in our hearts and our lives forever.


• Prayer:
Dear God,
Help us to understand these Parables that your son Jesus told us.
May your kingdom grow in us and remain special to us forever.
Amen.


• Activity: Make some bread or bread rolls. If you have some yeast, have a look at it before you add it to the rest of the ingredients. It’s hard to imagine it will change the dough so much. Maybe you could do an experiment and make a roll alongside it without adding any yeast to see the difference!

• Activity: Hunt the treasure! Screw up some foil into little balls (small pebble size) to be `treasure` and ask someone in your family to hide them in the grass in your garden and then see if you can find them! (If you don’t have a garden, you could still do this in the park, or on a walk in the countryside).


• Activity: Make your own field of treasure. Either use a piece of green material or paint a green field on card or paper, and when dry, stick on shiny bits/paint on coloured jewels, or use `stick on jewels` which you can buy really cheaply. Do you know the names of some real jewels and what colour they are?

27/01/2022

My introductory video on the Parable of Yeast and the Parable of Treasure.

20/01/2022

Parable of the Mustard Seed

Matthew 13:31-33

( you will need: a Children’s Bible, a flower pot, soil, a seed, items of your choice to make a tree eg clay, plasticine, paper, crayons, sticks, craft items of your choice to make birds, twigs, or cereal and melted chocolate to make nests.)

• Read: With your children, read the Parable of the Mustard Seed from the Bible. If your child is older, see if they can find it for themselves and read it to you.

• Discuss: A Parable is a simple story which helps teach a lesson by comparing things. Jesus often told Parables when he wanted to teach people about the Kingdom of Heaven. What do you think Jesus meant in this Parable? Does it help you to understand more about the Kingdom of Heaven? In the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught us, it says ‘ Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in Heaven.’ How can we grow God’s Kingdom here on earth? How can we make God’s Kingdom grow bigger, like the mustard seed grows bigger until it grows into a tree that is so big that birds come to nest in it? Jesus told us to love one another. Do you think he was telling us that love will make God’s Kingdom grow bigger?


• Gathering Prayer: Gather together in a circle and hold hands. Listen to the following words which one of you can read out.
‘God loves us and cares for us. He wants us to show others that he cares about them and loves them too. He wants us to show others that if they love and care for each other, we will all be growing God’s Kingdom.’


• Activity: Planting seeds. Plant a seed in a pot. What does the seed need to grow? Water and sunshine and our time to look after it – we have to care for it. Perhaps we could talk to it and pray for it. So perhaps if we give our time to people and talk to them and pray for them, and care for them, and show love to them and let Jesus’s light shine through us to them like the sunshine, we will be helping God’s Kingdom to grow. Each one of us is like a tiny seed and as we grow we can grow God’s kingdom by showing love and caring for each other.

• Activity: Make a tree. Make a tree like the mustard seed grew into. You can use your imagination. You could make one out of clay or plasticine, or sticks stuck in the ground or in a plant pot, or join pieces of paper together and make a really tall one to attach to a door.


• Activity: Make birds. Use whatever craft items you have, and your imagination to make birds to sit in your tree.

• Activity: Make nests. Make some nests for your birds to sit in using twigs. Or why not make some edible ones using cereal and melted chocolate? Your birds are now so happy to sit in your tree, just as people will love the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth and want to be in it!


• Song: ( sing to the tune of The Muffin Man)
`Please come to our church, our church, our church, please come to our church, we’d love to meet you!

Come and hear how God loves you, God loves you, God loves you, come and hear how God loves you, each and everyone.

Show us lord how we can help, we can help, we can help, show us lord how we can help, and we will do our best.

Help us lord to praise your name, praise your name, praise your name, help us lord to praise your name, wherever we may go.

Teach us lord to sow your seeds, sow your seeds, sow your seeds, teach us lord to sow your seeds, and fill the world with love.

20/01/2022

My introductory video for Sunday 23rd on the Parable of the Mustard Seed

12/01/2022

Parable of the Lost Coin

Luke 15:8-10

( you will need: a Children’s Bible, some coins, paper/card, colouring pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, aluminium kitchen foil, a small empty cardboard box eg a tissue box, or an empty plastic juice bottle or milk container.)

• Read: With your children, read the Parable of the Lost Coin from the Bible. If your child is older, see if they can find it for themselves and read it to you.

• Discuss: Discuss the Parable and whether you understand what Jesus means by it. Have you ever saved up lots of money, maybe for something special? What would be the best place to keep it so you don’t lose it? Have you ever lost something precious – maybe not money but something else? How did that make you feel? Did you spend a long time looking for it and if you found it how did you feel then? Maybe discussing this will help you understand the Parable a little better.

• Prayer:
Dear God,
Thankyou for your son Jesus who told us Parables to help us to understand you better.
Thankyou that we are so precious to you, and you are so happy when we come back to you after we have strayed.
Help us to always stay near you in what we do, think and say.
Amen.


• Activity: Make some coins. Make some pretend coins, either by placing paper over them and rubbing the paper with wax crayons so the pattern comes through, or by drawing round them, cutting them out and sticking aluminium foil onto them.

• Activity: Hunt the coin. Ask someone to hide one of your pretend coins in a room, and then see if you can find it. If you are doing this as a family, see who can be the first to find it!


• Activity: Make a money box. Use the empty cardboard box or milk/juice container to make a money box to keep your pocket money in, or money that you may have received for Birthday or Christmas so that you don’t lose it! If you need to make a slot in it, please be VERY CAREFUL with scissors and maybe ask a grownup. A juice/milk container will have the hole where the juice/milk comes out and coins should fit through that. Decorate your money box - be creative!

12/01/2022

My introductory video for the Parable of the Lost Coin

06/01/2022

Parable of the Wiseman and the Foolish man

Matthew 7:24-27

(you will need: a Children’s Bible, some wooden bricks, a tray, a largish flat stone, some sand, some water, Duplo/Lego figures(optional), recycling boxes etc to make a house from, glue, colouring pencils, scissors.)

• Read: With your children, read the Parable of the Wise Man and the Foolish Man from the Bible. If your child is older, see if they can find it for themselves and read it to you.

• Discuss: Discuss the Parable and what you think Jesus is teaching us. Do you think this is a good Parable? Is it easy to understand? I wonder if you have ever built a sand castle on a beach and watched the tide come in and wash it away....


• Prayer:
Dear God,
Help us to always listen to you, and obey you,
So that our lives can be built on a solid rock.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen
• Activity: Try out the Parable! On a tray put a largish flat stone and build a small house with bricks on it. Then pour some water onto the tray around the stone. Hopefully the house will stay standing! Then remove the stone and the water and put a pile of sand on it/make a sandcastle on it. Then build a house with bricks on the sand. Pour water onto the tray. Hopefully the sand will collapse and the house will too! Talk with your family about what your own house is built on.

• Activity: Make a house of your own. Use some recycling boxes or punnets to make a house/houses. Cut out windows and doors and colour it.


• Song: (this song has actions. If you don’t know them, have a go at making up your own!)
The wiseman built his house upon the rock,
The wiseman built his house upon the rock,
The wiseman built his house upon the rock,
And the rain came tumbling down.

The rain came down and the floods came up,
The rain came down and the floods came up,
The rain came down and the floods came up,
And the house on the rock stood firm.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand (x3)
And the rain came tumbling down.

The rain came down and the floods came up (x3)
And the house on the sand fell flat.

So build your life on the lord Jesus Christ (x3)
and the blessings will come down.

The blessings come down as your prayers go up (x3)
so build your life on the lord!

06/01/2022

My introductory video on the Parable of the Wiseman and the Foolish man

29/12/2021

EXPLORING THE NATIVITY
Epiphany – The Wisemen

Matthew 2:1-12

(you will need: a Children’s Bible or story book of the Nativity, the internet(please ask for permission from a parent/carer first), a cardboard tube eg the inside of a kitchen roll, glue and craft items for decoration and or paint or felt tipped pens)

• Read: If you have a book of the Nativity story read it to find out what the wisemen did. If you are older, look up the Bible verses above and read what it says in the Bible.

• Interesting information: Epiphany means ` to reveal` - when Jesus was `revealed` to the wisemen and to the world.
Astronomers (scientists who study stars and planets) have discovered fairly recently that the `star` that the wise men saw was probably two bright objects - the planets Jupiter and Saturn - coming close together in the sky three times over a short period.
The wisemen had studied Hebrew Scriptures, and therefore understood the timing of the Messiah (Jesus’) birth and the sign that would lead them to the place where he would be born.
The wisemen are said to have come from the East( the Orient). The Jews ( and Jesus was born a Jew), considered the area of northern Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia as the East. This is about 400-700 miles away from Bethlehem, depending on the region, and would have taken 2-3 weeks on camels, but if they only travelled at night so they could follow the star, it would have taken even longer.
Later on in history, the wisemen were given names – Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar (or Casper). Sometimes they are called Kings – and given countries that they may have come from - Balthasar as King of Arabia or sometimes Ethiopia, Melchior as King of Persia, and Gaspar as King of India.


• Discuss: The wisemen had studied the scriptures and believed a Messiah was coming. The Messiah being the person sent by God to save the Jewish people, as prophesied in the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament. Do you think that most people study the Bible today and know exactly what it says? The Bible is still relevant to us today and can help us with our lives. It tells us too that Jesus will come back to us and the signs when that will happen! The wisemen had to go on an incredibly long journey to find what they were looking for – the baby born King of the Jews – they persevered even when they had set backs – they thought they would find the baby in Jerusalem where King Herod lived. Things that are important to us in life don’t always come easily. Do you persevere when you have set backs? The wisemen gave baby Jesus three strange presents: Gold - for a King, Frankinsense – for honouring God, and Myrrh – an embalming oil as a symbol of death. Discuss why you think these were the right gifts for Jesus. At the end of the Bible verses something happens to the wisemen after they have seen baby Jesus that tells us that God was with them. What was it and why? ( If you are not sure read on to the end of Matthew 2 to find out).

• Activity: Our star signs. People have always been fascinated by the stars that the Bible tells us God created. Astronomers are people who scientifically study the planets and the universe. Astrologers are people who study the supposed influence of stars and planets on human affairs. The Wisemen were probably both. Thousands of years ago people found patterns in the stars and named them after their gods and heroes. Western Astrology is founded on the movements and positions of celestial bodies such as the sun, moon and planets. There are supposed star signs to go with the date you are born. These are said to give you certain characteristics. For example I was born in September and so my star sign is Virgo. People born in the star sign Virgo are supposed to be neat and tidy, and actually I am! You could look up your star sign for fun! The star signs are: Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Ta**us, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn.


• Activity: Make a telescope! People have used telescopes to see the stars more clearly for hundreds of years. Scientists use HUGE telescopes nowadays, but the first ones were small. Make your own using a cardboard tube and be creative how you decorate it! Take it outside with you on a clear night and gaze up at the stars!

• Activity: Find out about camels. The internet is a really good place to find out all about camels. Try YouTube. Two good videos to watch on it are ` Top 30 Amazing Facts About Camels` and `Top 10 Interesting Facts About Camels`. Please ask permission from your parent/carer first.


• Carol to sing together:
We three Kings of Orient are
We three kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we travel afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King for ever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

O star of wonder.

Frankincense to offer have I,
God on earth yet Priest on high,
Prayer and praising all men raising,
Worship is earth’s reply.

O star of wonder...

Myrrh is mine: its bitter perfume,
Tells of His death and Calvary’s gloom,
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in a stone-cold tomb.

O star of wonder...

Glorious now, behold Him arise,
King, and God, and sacrifice!
Heaven sings out `Alleluia`,
`Amen` the earth replies.

O star of wonder...


• Prayer:
May the joy of the angels,
The eagerness of the shepherds,
The perseverance of the wise men,
The obedience of Mary and Joseph,
And the peace of the Christ-child
Be ours this Christmas and throughout the coming year.
Amen

29/12/2021

My introductory video for Sunday 2nd Jan on Epiphany ⭐️