Worry Beads

Last Sunday our reading from the bible was from the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 26 to 39. This is one of my favourite bible readings. I love the parts in verses 38 and 39 where it says:

nothing can ever separate us from God’s love
Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,
or where we are - high above the sky
or in the deepest ocean -
nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God.

In different translations of the bible there are different lists of things suggested that can’t separate us from God’s love. All kinds of troubles and challenges are mentioned.

When I was looking up the children’s ministry websites for resources to help illustrate this bible reading, there were two books recommended. 

The first story was Florence Parry Heide’s Some Things Are Scary!

The book goes through a long list of things that some people find scary… like, stepping on something squishy when you’ve got bare feet or skating downhill when you haven’t learned how to stop.

There are lots of scary things in life, and they will be different for different people. But no matter what, there is nothing that can separate us from God’s awesome love.

The second book was written by Shel Silverstein and it’s called ‘Whatif’. It starts off, 

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?

And it goes on, so many ‘whatifs’ - so many worries. Do you ever worry about green hair growing on your chest? 

When I was younger, one of the biggest ‘What-iffers’ around, was my little sister. She had the longest list of ‘Whatifs’ you could imagine. So much so, that our Mum and Dad put a poster up on her bedroom wall that said, ‘Don’t tell me worrying doesn’t work - the things I worry about most never happen!’

It’s rather fitting that the story I chose to read to our Awesome Kids was written by my little sister. In it, the little girl has a long list of troubles, which she shares with her Great Uncle Arthur. But, as you’ll hear, Great Uncle Arthur has also had his share of fears and woes. 

You can find 'You Don't Know How Lucky You Are', written by Belinda O'Keefe and illustrated by Ross Kinnaird in the library. Or, you can watch and listen to me reading the book during the service by going to our church facebook page.

As it says in The Message version of our bible reading today “absolutely No Way! can anything separate us from the love of God; anything thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love.”

Out in Awesome Time, we traversed through a 'mine field', played giant snakes and ladders - and then made some worry beads, to remind us that wherever we go, whatever we do, God is always with us, loving us always.

Let us pray.
Loving God,
Thank you for your never-ending love. Help us to remember that through the scrapes and scares and in our pain and fears - you are with us, loving us always.
No matter what our worries or our whatifs are, You are always with us.
Amen.