Children's Liturgy, Sunday January 11th 2009
The
BAPTISM of OUR LORD |
|
| Baptism is a New Creation. |
| |
 |
| |
In the Book of Genesis, when
the writer is imagining the beginning of Creation, the Spirit of God
hovers over the waters. Out of shapeless chaos (the Hebrew word for
this is Tohu Bohu), the world is formed.
Today we hear about the Spirit, in the shape of a dove, again hovering
over water- this time at the baptism of Jesus.
Jesus is baptised by John the Baptist in the river Jordan (Mark 1:7-11).
God's voice is heard, saying Jesus was the Son of God.
Baptism means "plunging". In the time of Jesus, people were
plunged right under the water when they were baptised. They thought
that, just as water made you clean, they could leave behind what they
had done wrong and make a new start in life.
We know that water can also be dangerous- we could drown or be swept
away by floods. When Jesus goes beneath the surface and rises up out
of the river again, we are reminded that one day, he will die and rise
to life again because he loves us- to give us New Life. We, too, can
be with God in glory.
The most important thing to remember about water is that it gives life
to everything; nothing would be alive without it. God has given us life
forever. Today, when we are baptised, the water is usually poured over
our heads, but it reminds everyone God gives us Love and Life. God gives
us life when we begin to grow in our mother's womb and will never take
away life and love, even after we die. We celebrate the New Life at
baptism. |
| |
 |
| |
We saw pictures of Father John baptising one
of us and we talked about the meaning of the water, the oils and candles
and the promises that are made. We made water drop badges with the names
given to us when we were bapitised.
The first thing to happen is that the priest welcomes the child and makes
the sign of the cross on the child's forehead to show they belong to God. |
|
 |
|
At baptism, we begin the journey of learning
to love and be with God. We begin to live and love as Jesus lived and
loved.
To remind us that God created everything and will never take the New Life
from us, we made Tohu Bohu bottles. In the New Creation God holds us,
safe.
We experimented to find out which objects floated in water and we put
these into our bottles, which were then filled with water. |
|
 |
| |
| We made figures which floated, out of pegs
weighted at the base with "blutac".We could turn the bottles
upside down, but the figures and all that was in the bottles would always
come to the top. |
|
 |
|
| If you look closely, you can see the words,
"love" and "life", floating on the water. |
|
 |
|
| Finally, on top of the bottles, we placed a
dove to remind us of the Spirit of God. |
|
 |
| |
Dear God,
Thank you for making me and wanting me to share your life forever.
Amen
|
|
( categories: )
|
