Everyone's invited!

This week's Awesome Time is brought to us by Jillian and Richard:

This week for Awesome time, our bible story comes from the New Testament book of Luke, chapter 14, verses 1, 7-14.  It is the story about when Jesus was invited to a wedding party. He watched some of the guests trying to puff up their own importance, by sitting in the best place at the table. They didn’t think they should have to sit next to people or leave space at the table for people they didn’t know, or ordinary people like you and me. But that could be embarrassing, because they could be asked to move to another seat.
 
Jesus tells us that God invites everyone to God’s party. God wants us to remember that God not only loves us and cares for us but cares for all people no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they act.  And God wants us to be kind to those people too. 
 
If you have a new person that doesn’t know anyone in your class or in an after school activity you’ve been going to for quite a while, it is so hard for them.  But if you talk to them, show kindness, and make them feel welcome and part of the group, it will feel amazing and so good for them and also for you.  It’s a great thing if we work towards including everyone and not having people feel like they’re being left out.   
 
For an activity this week, plan a ‘Celebrate Spring’ party and play some fun games with your family and/or some friends where everyone feels included all the time. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Bouncing Ball:  

Take a large sheet outside and stand around the edges, holding it taut like a trampoline. Choose a light weight ball and toss it into the middle. Keep the ball bouncing using the sheet alone. See how long you can keep it up!

The Human Ball of String:  

Stand in a big circle in a wide open space. Everyone puts their hands in the middle and grabs hold of someone else. One person is the ‘the end,’ and they let go with one hand only.  Everyone has to try to untangle themselves without letting go of anyone’s hand. No one is left out and everyone wins together.

Charades:  

Everyone thinks of one something that reminds them of spring, and they have to act it out with no talking, so the others can guess what it is.
 
Prayer:
Thank you God for loving everyone.
It doesn’t matter to you what we look like, or what we have. 
If we come first in a competition, or have a new toy, those things do not make us more important than anyone else, because everyone is important to you. 
Help us to show kindness to everyone, and make everyone feel important. 
Amen.

Just Do It

Here's Dave's message from last Sunday... Just Do It!

Sunday's service 10am

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This Sunday marks Youth Sunday and we want our young people to know how much we value you! Each one of you are treasured and loved. You are an important part of our church family and community and we appreciate you. 

We look forward to seeing you again soon in person, but until then, know that you are loved. 

The Good Samaritan

This week's Awesome Time Online is brought to you by Carol.

The story of the good Samaritan

What would you do if you were walking along and found someone in distress? Someone that was obviously suffering and needed help. You might be in a real hurry? Stopping would mean that you are late for something very important.

Would you stop and offer help?

The good Samaritan did just that – he stopped to help, while others didn’t. Tune in to the church service to hear the story of the good Samaritan.

Good Samaritan Prayer:

God of love,

May we always see the world through the eyes of the Good Samaritan and be filled with your deep compassion.

Help us to be kind to our neighbours even when it is inconvenient, when we don’t have time, or when we have other responsibilities to attend to.

Grant us the insight to see the need in those around us, the wisdom to know how to respond, and the strength to do so willingly.

We pray for those we might cross the road to avoid - the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised. Those, who in many and various ways, have been stripped, beaten and left for dead. Open our eyes, that we might not cross the road from human need. May our love of you and love of our neighbour call us to be people of peace and justice in the world. And may we, like the Good Samaritan, always ‘go and do likewise.

Amen.

Word Search:

Play the word search online at https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/3914961/

You can play it again and it will be a different puzzle. Let us know how long it takes you

to complete.

Watch a cool video of the bible story:

Love Your Neighbour Paper Heart Garland:

Make a paper heart garland like the one below. Click on the photo to go to the website for instructions.

Peace Sunday

 

There’s a story written by Ruth Paul, a kiwi author, about a king who loved bubbles. He loved them so much, he wanted to keep them all to himself. He spent so much time trying to figure out how to do that. He even had a big treasure room built to keep the bubbles in, all to himself. I’m sure you can imagine how that turned out! The rather silly and quite selfish king eventually finds out that letting the bubbles blow free and sharing with others was a far better idea.

There’s another story about a princess, who is not interested in the usual princess stuff. She changes her name to Princess Pulverizer, and tells her father, the king, she intends to become a knight and ride off on exciting adventures. The king tells her that there’s a lot more to being a knight. It takes great honour, kindness and sacrifice. 

In the bible, we’re told that there’s a lot more to being the people of God too… it takes things like doing good, seeking justice, standing up for others.

And earthly treasures - things, stuff - don't matter. It’s God’s treasures that are worth clinging onto. 

We are so deeply loved. God values us and gives us joy. God’s love is always with us. God wants us to celebrate that gift. Wherever we are, through happy times and sad times… whatever comes, God is right here with us. So don’t get distracted, or waste time worrying about the wrong things. 

God wants us to live amazing lives. To share, to love our enemies, to serve others and to live in peace. So let’s wake up to the job we’ve been given - watching for God’s presence. Look for joy breaking around us. Celebrate the love of God. 

Listen to Melanie read the story, All of Us, by Carin Berger. It's a great one for Peace Sunday!

You can watch Ruth Paul read The King's Bubbles here.