Children's Liturgy, Sunday, April 13th 2008
The
FOURTH SUNDAY of EASTER.
GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY.
World Vocations Day. |
|
| The
fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally Good Shepherd Sunday. We think
about Jesus as a shepherd and pray for more people to be called to serve
him as priests and in other ways. |
| |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
A
modern shepherd is running in the London Marathon today. Isaya, from Tanzania,
wants to raise money so his village can have a well. They have no fresh
water nearby. He says he runs for two or three days at a time with his
cattle, protecting them from lions.His shoes are made from car tyres.
We pray for his village.
( Isaya was taken ill during the race, but other members of his village
finished the race, so we hope they raised the money for the well.) |
|
 |
|
We
thought about the way Jesus talks about shepherds- how they care for each
one of their flock equally, leaving the others safe to seek out any individual
one that is lost. Really, he is telling the disciples how he himself is
setting an example of how to take care of others and how God cares for
each person. People who become priests, or choose a life of caring in
a certain way for others, are said to have a vocation- a calling.
Bishops can carry a crozier-something which looks like a shepherd's crook-
the shepherd would have used it for hooking round the necks of lambs which
had fallen into a hole, for example, and pulling them out.
The shepherd guides the sheep, at night making sure they are safely in
a fold, a three-sided pen, to keep them safe from wild animals. The shepherd
would have stayed at the open side of the pen, to guard the sheep.Jesus
tells the disciples the only way into the pen- Heaven- is through him.
Today our reporters were Angel and Leonard. They asked questions about
what it would be like to be a shepherd- of animals and of people.
We thought the best part of being a shepherd was to take care, being generous,
loving. That would be amazing.
The most difficult part would be worrying about people or animals, losing
them, feeding them.
We asked whether sheep can become shepherds. We decided that human 'sheep'
could, once they began to care for others. Father John was once a sheep
and is now a shepherd. He is still a sheep as well, being guided by God.
We thought that the best part of being a sheep was to be protected, to
have a role model, to know which direction to go by following the shepherd,
to never be cold, to have friends, to be cared for.
The most difficult part of being a sheep was if you thought you didn't
have a choice, keeping up if you thought you were not as fit as the others,
wanting to be noticed and fearing you wouldn't be, getting lost if you
fell behind, getting hurt by the other sheep sometimes, being surprised
often.
We thought it would be very scary, sad and miserable to be lost, but being
found would be:
GREAT!
JOYFUL!
BEING RELIEVED!
HAPPY!
CHEERFUL!
EXCITING!
BEING GRATEFUL!
Aren't we lucky God finds us all the time! |
|
 |
|
( categories: )
|
