Children's Liturgy, Sunday April 6th 2008

The THIRD SUNDAY of EASTER.

This week, something new happened at our liturgy. One of the older children, PAIGE, became a reporter, who noted down all the important things that she heard and interviewed the other children about their work. Here is her report:
THAT RINGS A BELL!
If you look at a person and you see them again, you recognise them. If you have never seen a person before, they are a stranger. This was said by Tom.
Meadow Mae said that her grandad reminds her of God. Eve said that her friend ,Alicia, is a kind friend and reminds her of God. Coutney, Anna and Alex made wonderful faces of people they love. Liam and Aaron tried very hard and with a bit of help did very well.

The road to EMMAUS.
In Saint Luke's Gospel (24:13-35), we hear how two of the disciples were walking away from Jerusalem, towards Emmaus, when Jesus joined them on the road. They did not recognise him, although they were moved by his explanations about the teaching of the prophets- so much so that , when he looked as though he was about to leave them, they begged him to stay to eat with them. As he breaks the bread at supper, they recognise him as Jesus and believe in the resurrection.

Here is a verse from a poem called 'Emmaus', by Philip Mansel.
"When hungry after journeying, we fed,
A radiance seemed to glow about his head,
Yet our hearts felt heavy still
While our eyes stayed blind until
We knew him at the breaking of the bread."

We talked about how it could be that they did not know him at first. What are the differences beween seeing and recognising? If we believe in God, do we recognise some things that we would miss otherwise?
We acted out a short play- some children spot people in the distance. They recognise one as Mary, who rings the bell for mass and the angelus bell every day.(You can see her in action if you click on the 'Baffling Bell' story at the side if the website page.)At this point, when we presented our play to the congregation, Mary really did ring a bell, back in church.
"That rings a bell!" someone says.
"Oh yes, Mary rings the bell every day to invite people to pray or to come to church," someone answers.
"If we didn't believe in God or Jesus, we wouldn't be reminded. We would think it was just a noise like any other noise."
"If we believe, we see Mary in a different way. We recognise her through the sound of the bell she rings for Jesus."

The disciples recognise Jesus through the most important thing he did for us- giving himself for us, to show how much God loves us.

Enya said it was like walking into a room where there was a poem you had once read, pinned to the wall. The next time you walked in, you would have feelings about the poem, even if you did not read it again.
We made masks, which became the faces of people we recognise by their kindness to us. We recognise people by what they do, not only how they look.